UK: Elderly woman forced to drag herself up steps into her own home (Medics refused to help)

The Daily Mail (U.K.) ^ | October 23, 2006

[x_plus_one]

So the ragheads have taken over the ambulance service too?

Is this the way to eliminate the surplus population?

[woofie]

dragging is good exercise

[Walkenfree]

Sorry to hear of your unfortunate experience, and yes we thank you for your service in WWII.
On the lighter side;
We received an email about your question, "Which came first the chicken or the egg?" It said the chicken came first, as some brave soul had to watch the chicken lay the egg and then say, "Wow, I think I'll cook that sucker and see how it tastes!"

[Vanders9]

This has nothing to do with the rights and wrongs of the British National Health Service. This is a product of legalism, a rising tide of bureaucracy tied to a blame culture and an insistence on "rights" over duty and form over substance.

And don't sneer USA. It's coming your way soon.

As a sidenote: There is nothing worse on this earth than a Health and Safety rep who enjoys his work!

[dljordan]

"oh come now, we get horror stories from the US regarding litigation and unmeritorious lawsuits. Some of these are absolutely ridiculous"

I can't argue with that.

[drlevy88]

Is the Brit health service unionized? They pushing for more perks for themselves by "work-to-rule"?

[Vanders9]

It is unionized, but they're not the problem here. The root of this is fear - fear of getting into trouble with the Health and Safety executive.

The way things are going, every worker will need to be followed around by a personal lawyer before too long...

[Stoat]

Why are paramedics escorting this woman home from the hospital? In a major metropolitan area like London, they should have better things to do.

In fact, why didn't the hospital just call a patient transport service? Why was an ambulance dispatched for this when anyone with an EMT-basic certification and a handicapped-accessable van could have done it?

All excellent questions and entirely valid and insightful points.  As someone who works in EMS here in the USA, one thing I can tell you is that there is a tendency among a great many members of the public, including those in the media, to refer to anyone they see working on an ambulance as a "paramedic", just as all semiautomatic rifles are 'machine guns' and all rifles that have a dark finish and / or look ugly are "assault rifles".  Most people aren't aware of the existence of certification / licensure differences among EMS workers, nor do they particularly care.  My first guess is that this ignorance MAY be part of the equation in this article, which is the reason why I chose the expression "Medics" in my own added title description....I didn't want to repeat something that I felt may be untrue.  Given this uncertainty, I am furthermore hesitant to fully accept that the vehicle involved was a true 'ambulance' when it may have only been a van with flashing lights on top.  In general, I am hesitant to give a tremendous degree of assumed credit for verbal and / or factual precision to journalists...I haven't been given much reason to, given their track record over the past several decades.   :-)

That being said, if the basics of this story are indeed true then this lady was treated in an absolutely abominable and inhuman fashion, and all parties involved should be instantly fired from whatever positions they do in fact hold and should be banned from ever holding any form of caregiving position until the end of time.  No person should treat someone under their care in such a breathtakingly brutal and potentially dangerous manner. If it's true that they were in fact paramedics, then this also explains in large measure why the UK healthcare system is being crushed by it's own largesse.

Why are paramedics escorting this woman home from the hospital? In a major metropolitan area like London, they should have better things to do.

In fact, why didn't the hospital just call a patient transport service? Why was an ambulance dispatched for this when anyone with an EMT-basic certification and a handicapped-accessable van could have done it?

[hnj_00]

unions/muzzies/hillarycare.......

just wait until is happens in the US!!!!1

[Stoat]

Hillary-Care.

This story is an excellent reminder of what may be in store for us here in the USA if we allow the Left to gain full control of healthcare.

• Excessive Unionization
• A dramatically lowered standard of care
• Excessive regulation
• A reduction or full elimination of human kindness, as that would surely be against the rules somewhere.