Patient Has A Service Dog

[crotchitymedic1986]

So you arrive at the home of John Doe who is blind and has a service dog. He needs transport to the hospital, but refuses to go unless he can take his large german shepherd service dog with him. What do you do ? You are the only emergency vehicle on the scene, do you:

Transport the dog in the ambulance ?

Refuse to transport the dog due to allergies future patients may have in your vehicle ?

Leave the patient and his dog, once he refuses ?

And yes, this is from a real call, so it can happen to you.

[HERBIE1]

So you arrive at the home of John Doe who is blind and has a service dog. He needs transport to the hospital, but refuses to go unless he can take his large german shepherd service dog with him. What do you do ? You are the only emergency vehicle on the scene, do you:

Transport the dog in the ambulance ?

Refuse to transport the dog due to allergies future patients may have in your vehicle ?

Leave the patient and his dog, once he refuses ?

And yes, this is from a real call, so it can happen to you.

Service dogs are allowed in the ambulance. There is no reason to deny this. Heck, dogs are far cleaned than many of the humans we pick up.

You can always clean the rig when you are done with the call.

[fakingpatience]

Personally, the fear of potential future pt's with a dog allergy would not be a concern. That said, my response would depend largely on the situation. If the pt is ill, and the dog appears calm/ doesn't try and attack me (and the owner says the dog is fine with others), I would use the dog's leash and tie it to something by the jump seat (perhaps the seatbelt there), with a very small amount of slack. If we have time to wait on scene, I would try and talk to the patient about calling a friend to come watch the dog and bring it to the hospital, however if this does not work out, I would proceed as above. I don't know a lot about service dogs, but with most dogs, they are calmer around their owners, and trying to separate the dog from the patient, and have a different provider (such as a supervisor ) transport the dog may make for more problems. Now if the dog appears violent, I would refuse to transport the dog in my ambulance. The scene would not be safe.

Here is why I would not consider the allergy problem. First, after the call, I would ensure I decon the back of my ambulance, and try and air it out as much as possible. The ambulance is not a sterile environment. There are an infinite amount of things people are allergic to. I may be wrong, but I don't believe it is possible to have an anaphylactic allergy to dogs. Also, I will not stop eating food with peanut butter in the front of the ambulance for fear a future patient may have a nut allergy, and be exposed to trace elements of peanut butter on me, thus causing an allergic reaction. People are exposed to allergens every day, and our ambulance is no exception.

[Just Plain Ruff]

Dog goes unless he's gonna eat me.

I've transported many service dogs and most of those dogs have been nicer than their owners.

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[WolfmanHarris]

Under the Ontarians with Disabilities Act we are required to make all reasonable accommodations. As a result my service has instituted a couple of policies:

- we transport wheelchairs and walkers. If they cannot be secured safely the transit operator sends over a vehicle specifically to bring the chair to the hospital.

- we transport service dogs unless doing so would hinder care (cardiac arrest comes to mind due to number of people in the back and space). We carry a large sized dog seatbelt harness in all our vehicles and our Sup's and PRU's carry the rest of the sizes in case they're needed. If the Ambulance cannot reasonably transport the animal the Sup or PRU handles it.

[island emt]

As a breeder , trainer & handler of service dogs , I am a little biased in my views:

However the Law is very clear on where service dogs must be allowed to go. That is anywhere that the partner may need their assistance.

You should in all but the most life threatening cases take the service dog with you. They are trained in many different situations during their initial training period to go anywhere and if you don't feel comfortable with the service dog in the Pt compartment , then pit it up front with the driver.

Service dogs are not just used for visually impaired people. They can be mobility dogs or seizure detection dogs or used for folks with brain injury to allow them to lead a reasonably normal lifestyle with a little assistance from their partner.

Most of our service puppies are more educated and just plain smarter than many of the partners I've worked with over the years. :-}

[FireMedic65]

Not a good idea to try separating the owner from the dog. They are trained to look out for them and protect them. If the blind person is capable of telling you he won't go without the dog, then he is capable of giving the dog commands.

I say, take the dog.

[paramedicmike]

Service dogs go with the patient. Period. No questions asked.

What do you mean, "...it can happen to you"? What can happen to me? This is a non-issue and I'm having a hard time believing it was even brought up for discussion.

[emtannie]

Service dogs go with the patient. Period. No questions asked.

Absolutely.

I have a hard time believing that someone would even consider separating the patient from their service dog. That just shows a complete lack of education, compassion, and empathy on the part of the EMS provider.

My previous dog was a working dog - she was certified with the RCMP for Search and Rescue, and we would get called for both people and evidence searches. The training that we provided was very thorough, and I know it was far less than what a service dog would get. The training my dog received, and the competencies it was forced to prove in order to maintain certification every year, included being able to handle stressful situations without becoming aggressive.

If there are providers who would consider not bringing the service dog along - please please PLEASE contact a local group who handles service dog training, and educate yourself. There is absolutely no reason to leave the dog behind.

With regard to safety, most dogs have harnesses that have a seatbelt attachment, and will sit in a vehicle seat and allow themselves to be seatbelted in place (this was the only way my working dog travelled).

As for the next patient being allergic to dogs.... that service dog is far cleaner than a lot of the patients we take... at least that dog won't have fleas or lice, and has been bathed more often than many of our patients. Clean your rig after, and you won't have any problems.

[Happiness]

Service dogs go with the patient. Period. No questions asked.

What do you mean, "...it can happen to you"? What can happen to me? This is a non-issue and I'm having a hard time believing it was even brought up for discussion.

You really need to take each encounter for its own merits. If the dog is aggressive in any way I cant take it with me, as I know that if the situation in the back with the pt the dog is going to react. I would have to ask the owner to make arrangements to get the dog to him in the hospital.

Ok lets take this to another level Mike. I personally do not have any fear of dogs, so it unlikely I would leaving a service dog behind, but what if you afraid of dogs. There are alot of people that are terrified of dogs, and a big german shepherd can be intimidating to someone with fears.