Asclepius

Doesn't mean we just ignore our responsibility. Someone needed to be send to this patient to assess him. It's just that simple. Once you've started to make patient contact, which means they were assigned the call, you don't just say "ooops, there's too much snow so make the patient walk to me." You go to the patient. It's really that simple.

These types of things never cease to amaze me. I'm amazed first because someone could get so angry about a video game that they'd stab someone in the head. I'm also amazed that his guy walked into the ED and is going to have nearly no symptoms from this attack.

I'm sorry Dwayne, but we assume a certain risk with our career choice. I have a bad right leg, but I know sometimes I might have to trek through the woods or walk up several flights of stairs to get to my patients. I know that I'll hurt when that call is over and probably for days afterwards, but it is my job and I do it. Treking through some snow to get to a patient unless they did so on a slick road with cars wizing by, probably isn't going to pose any inherent risk to the responders; and if it did, then they have radios to call for help. The point is, they didn't call for the resources they needed to get to this patient. They just gave up and forced the patient to do all their work for them.

Can I just say this...I work as an investigator for a state department of health. Just because the state regulating agency says that they broke no state laws does not exonerate these medics. As a regulating authority we're bound by the language of the statutes. In my state, and I wish to remain anonymous about the state I work for, we have no laws that would cover this specific incident, but there are laws and regs that talk broadly about morality, ethics, etc... This was a senseless, needless death. Simply put, if the ambulance can't get to the patient, you get out and walk your happy butt to the patient, or you bring in an ATV or you do something. Simply walking away from the patient or making a patient work harder than they need to when they're sick is absolutely improper. One article I read on this case said that "the state exonerated" responding crews. Well that is patently false. The state exonerated nobody...they simply said they could not identify any state laws that were broken. I'm not saying the responding crew is the only ones at fault, but they were the ones that were trying to get to the patient. The circumstances of this tragedy falls squarely on their shoulders for not calling for additional resources. It was their call, ultimately.

Newsflash...Fire Departments don't do their work for free. We pay for their services with our tax dollars. Despite paying for it with our tax dollars, most bill your home insurance and some bill you directly. Nothing is free...not police, not libraries, not the postal service...nothing. We pay for all of that. In fact, we pay for the services that other people do not pay for with our taxes. Those of us who pay taxes anyway. The government doesn't pay for your homeowners insurance. They don't pay for your auto insurance. Health insurance is not a right! What the heck makes you think (not you specifically, but anyone) that you have the right to health insurance or welfare or any entitlement. Nobody has a right to that stuff. It's that stuff that has got us to the point where so many people are without the means to care for themselves. What incentive do people have to go out and earn their own way? Why should they get off their butts and do anything for themselves when the government will do it all for them. A small percentage of people who receive government assistance actually really need it. We've bred whole generations of families who know nothing else but welfare and medicaid. They have no ambition to educate themselves, learn a trade or seek employment.

I'm pretty sure that's what I said. Government hand-outs is not the answer. Everyone has a sad story and I sympathize with yours. Forcing American's to foot the bill for your problems doesn't hardly seem fair to me. Most American's are charitable almost to a flaw, but when you force us to give...charity goes right out the door. I support making it illegal to deny someone coverage because of pre-existing conditions. I support cost caps. I support tort reform (which is where huge health care savings could be found). I don't support this massive tax bill veiled as health care reform. I don't support our lawmakers overriding the will of the majority, just to save the face of the president. Ramming through a bad bill that nobody wants and at the very least that everyone thinks should have been scrapped and started over is wrong and it is costing us our freedom and will worsen this economy to the n'th degree.

You're missing the point here. The point is they defied the will of the people; the overwhelmingly against this bill people. But yes, this bill is terrible for this bill. No one disagrees reform is necessary, but not this bill. Not this bill, in this economy.

Actually, technically, you're covered by Good Sam laws regardless of whether or not your are licensed or certified in anything. If you're working as an EMT-Basic on duty and you render care, you are not protected by the Good Sam Laws. Good Sam Laws are meant to protect off-duty personnel and lay people.

No, now you just have to live in fear of the federal government and the rationing that will certainly follow. Now you have to worry about the huge tax and fee increases that are absolutely going to have to take place for this to have any chance of being funded. Then you have to worry about whether or not there will be a doctor to see you, since now there will be huge shortages. This bill, did nothing for American's except complicate everything and make health care worse! <BR><BR>Sorry, I'm new to this place, but I have strong opinions. The vote last night was the worst day in American History. It's the beginning of the end of America as we know it, unless we all do something to stop it!