EMS Patient Bill of Rights

[crotchitymedic1986]

Shamelessly hijaked from the SI thread: Lets say that your Director has decided that you need to develop an " EMS Patients Bill of Rights" for your service, and will print this list of rights on the front of your uniform shirt, so that every patient gets the chance to see it (not all patients make it to the back of the ambulance). Or if you prefer, you could print these rights on a piece of paper that is handed to each patient and signed for.

What would be your top 3 rights that should be listed ? For instance:

1. The RIght to be transported regardless of illness/injury, or ability to pay.

2. The right to have a supervisor or another ambulance respond if you do not like the crew you got.

3. The right to have an interpreter if you do not speak english.

4. THe right to be transported in fully functioning ambulance with no mechanical problems or equipment issues.

5. The right to be transported via stretcher instead of being asked to walk to the ambulance.

Your thoughts (funny or serious) ?

[Michael]

Laws don't arise out of thin air. Laws, both wise and foolish, arise from the perception of un-remedied grave injustice.

There'll be no law mandating that everyone get sufficient sleep, until sleep-deprivation begins to be seen as a serious problem the culture fails to address. There's no law stipulating that couples must compromise on their vacation plans, or that friends must remember one another's birthdays or give one another good advice. Let the consequences of neglecting these practices appear harmful enough, and you'll soon see laws proposed to govern them.

OSHA wasn't the result of altruistic management policies, HIPAA didn't come about because personnel were being sufficiently discreet, and Miranda wasn't a sign of scrupulous law-enforcement. A statute mandating that a medical provider address patients by their last names preceded by a respectful title would indicate that someone somewhere had become very unhappy with the unregulated practice.

The way to bring about exactly the situation you propose in jest is to initiate widespread neglect of those services and someone being injured through ignorance of what they're entitled to.

Hijacking, btw, is not what you've done. This is called, honorably, a Spin-Off Thread. Be careful or I'll have you arraigned for delivering a false confession - talk about Self-Injury! :wink:

[crotchitymedic1986]

Here are some more:

6. Patients have the right to be treated by competent personnel who have received regular training.

7. Patients have the right to be transported to the most appropriate facility (in their area) for the condition that they have.

8. Patients have the right to have a pillow and blanket.

9. Patients have the right to not have their body parts exposed for the whole world to see. Ambulances will carry gowns to cover female patients while a 12-lead is being performed.

[explenture]

1. The RIght to be transported regardless of illness/injury, or ability to pay. (Comment: Kind of like the signs you see in ER's....usually end with this hospital does/does not take medicare)

2. The right to have a supervisor or another ambulance respond if you do not like the crew you got. (Comment: Couldn't that be a can of worms based on certain calls....

3. The right to have an interpreter if you do not speak english. (Comment: In person, or via phone or radio?)

4. THe right to be transported in fully functioning ambulance with no mechanical problems or equipment issues. (Comment: Is one scene light out a violation? How about we have no sam splints so are using a pillow?)

5. The right to be transported via stretcher instead of being asked to walk to the ambulance. (Comment: What if you are one of those folks that like to meet us at the door?

6. Patients have the right to be treated by competent personnel who have received regular training. (Comment: So training=competence? If I have say ACLS as required by my med control and you take a 12 lead class are automatically more competent?

7. Patients have the right to be transported to the most appropriate facility (in their area) for the condition that they have. Comment: Don't they have the right to chose their destination already?

8. Patients have the right to have a pillow and blanket. Comment: What about a sheet?

9. Patients have the right to not have their body parts exposed for the whole world to see. Ambulances will carry gowns to cover female patients while a 12-lead is being performed. Comment: What about males? Are your rights asexual?

[spenac]

1. You have a right to be treated and/or transported for emergent condition regardless of ability to pay. Regardless of how rich you are we will deny transport if non emergent.

[crotchitymedic1986]

Ok, so you dont like my suggestions -- lets hear some better ones.

[Michael]

Ok, so you dont like my suggestions -- lets hear some better ones.

Now that's the only motto a provider needs to wear, in big letters, on a tee shirt!

[Chief1C]

5. The right to be transported via stretcher instead of being asked to walk to the ambulance.

..and where the hell do people get the idea that we're supposed to carry them - literally- to the ambulance? This isn't 1950's Hollywood ambulance services.. I had a patient file a complaint because the stretcher ride from her living room to the ambulance was bumpy. She thought it was our job to carefully carry her to and from the ambulance. Her C/C was a dry eye. A dry eye. No ailments preventing her from walking, which she just did, down the stairs, to greet us at the door. She wanted help up from her couch, and demanded we stretcher tx her 60 some feet to the ambulance.

Sure, if the patient is on a spine board, or one of those stretchers w/ only two wheels on one end.. We'll carry them. But I see no purpose on lowering the cot and carrying the whole package.

[crotchitymedic1986]

Same reason the pizza delivery guy has to come to your door. Why cant he just sit in the car and beep the horn, and let you walk to him ?

[spenac]

..and where the hell do people get the idea that we're supposed to carry them - literally- to the ambulance? This isn't 1950's Hollywood ambulance services.. I had a patient file a complaint because the stretcher ride from her living room to the ambulance was bumpy. She thought it was our job to carefully carry her to and from the ambulance. Her C/C was a dry eye. A dry eye. No ailments preventing her from walking, which she just did, down the stairs, to greet us at the door. She wanted help up from her couch, and demanded we stretcher tx her 60 some feet to the ambulance.

Sure, if the patient is on a spine board, or one of those stretchers w/ only two wheels on one end.. We'll carry them. But I see no purpose on lowering the cot and carrying the whole package.

A patient that can walk to the ambulance w/o further harm occurring in other words 90%+ patients should walk. Why should EMS providers keep getting injured carrying people that can safely walk?