You know, I can kind of understand the logic there. I can’t imagine them showing up to an accident scene with clipboards making everyone sign an agreement for services before rendering aid. That would be the height of ludicrous beurocracy. With that said, those who don’t need immediate medical attention or life saving services should be warned that fees will be involved if they so much as receive a bottle of water.
There’s likely a reasonable middle ground here.
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Songs about Nigerian money scams are great, but I like the Infocom one better:
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You are clearly unfamiliar with how The Greatest Healthcare System in the Universe!!!1111oneoneone works.
Hint: it works exactly like what you just described.
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I think we can allow that ER departments and accident scenes are not the same thing and are not handled by the same people.
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Simple answer send a bill to the first responders for doing their job for them. Make it about 10 to 20 times what they charged him.
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These are insane comments on society and our priorities.
When a medical professional asks me my name, I think they are checking me for a concussion, not trying to grift me.
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brought to you by Carl’s Jr
Um… pssssst!
Our society is insane.
(Don’t hate the player, hate the game.)
That being said, I’d likely stop to help if I saw someone in an accident; that’s just my nature.
But it’s also in my nature to be highly suspicious of pretty much everyone whom I don’t know for a fact has my best interests at heart. (So basically, everyone who isn’t me.)
That includes professionals in uniform who want to know my name and address when it does not seem germane to the situation.
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Protects you from being sued, not billed…
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An experience we had last summer seemed to be the right compromise to me: I obviously had a broken wrist and was exhibiting shock symptoms so of course the EMS folks starting treating me immediately. Once the shock was taken care of, they started asking about my daughter, who SEEMED fine but they were checking by asking both of us questions. They then said that I could refuse treatment for her, which would mean signing a release form, or they would have to officially start treating her and take her to the hospital as a patient as well. I can’t remember how they worded it, but they did make it clear that it was time to decide, and from that point onward there would be costs for her if we didn’t sign the form. She repeatedly insisted that she was fine (she was), and I verified that she could come in the ambulance with me (Because how else would she get to the hospital in the middle of nowhere? She had just crashed the car!), so I signed the release form to exempt her at that point.
That seems reasonable to me. I had to be treated for shock before anything else could happen, but since that was the only life-or-death issue, they stayed put until I was coherent enough to make a decision about my 17-year-old (still a minor at the time). Then, we left for the hospital. If only every jurisdiction did it the same way.
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Still ridiculous.
The idea that you should have to be thinking about billing at any time when your focus should be on getting emergency medical treatment is abhorrent. The whole concept disgusts me.
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Point taken. It’s reasonable within the context of the U.S. system of medical costs.
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I have a child with epilepsy, so have faced this again and again. She has learnt, when she comes out of seizure, groggy as hell, she has learnt that the first words out of her mouth should be “No EMS!”
Sorry to hear that. Live in Australia and I now have ambulance cover. But I didn’t have that cover when I had a seizure on a road in 1986. Ambulance officers apparently accepted my argument that I was okay to go home so they drove me the rest of the way and I didn’t get billed.
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Wait, that’s not true. I believe emergency personnel should be doing their jobs “for free”- in the sense of not charging the people they are helping - and so does most of the developed world.
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I agree, but I was addressing the other person’s concern that emergency personnel need to be paid. Even with our shitty system, I don’t think its proper to charge someone $143 for a bottle of water and a pulse check.
I’m thinking this might cause California lawmakers to visit the possibility of legislation requiring all private and public EMTs to be more forthcoming about what they consider billable “treatment” because I can’t even imagine someone saying yes to being billed for this.
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Firefox gives you optional freedom from autoplay 
$143 is the lowest medical bill I’ve ever heard of. Amurica!
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Yeah, but … like … USA.
Default is - as soon as an incorporated entity gets involved - everything is chargeable. A citizen should know that by now. No excuse.
Or possibly writing down your details for reference or so they can contact you later - “when we arrived, the family had already been removed from the vehicle by this person.”
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What kind of civilised country bills good samaritans for emergency care at the scene of an accident? It’s not a private service, it’s a government service. Bill the tax coffers instead.
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