I think the cop was wrong to stop them from going into the emergency room.
I also think the husband was dumb not to call 911 and have an ambulance, probably with two paramedics, take the wife to the hospital.
Ambulances are emergency vehicles that can legally go thru red lights - and paramedics can give immediate aide en route to the hospital.
It is an emergency? Call an ambulance!
Well- the husband IS a paramedic! There is nothing a paramedic can do to stop a stroke from happening. It was probably faster for him to drive to the hospital than to wait for an ambulance—or so he thought.
You are shameless for trying to rationalize this obvious bureaucratic buffoonery.
A. The paramedics in the ambulance aren’t going to do anything to treat a stroke.
B. Calling 911 and getting an ambulance takes time. A stroke is one of the few times when minutes count.
C. The cop should have backed off once it was clear there was a medical emergency ( guy carrying his wife into the ER ). He can site the guy later.
Speaking as an ER doc who was an EMS medical director in a good sized city.
In many cases that is not the answer.
Where time is critical, it can take twice as long to get there waiting for an ambulance. I live 10 minutes to the nearest hospital. It would take at least 10 minutes and likely much longer for an ambulance to get here just to start the trip to the hospital.
The woman was possibly having a stroke. Minutes count. The ambulance would have to be dispatched, drive to the home, and then take her to the hospital. With him taking her, it was "drive to the hospital". Depending on exactly how far the ambulance was from the house, we could be talking quite a few minutes.
I hate to say it, but in the case of a true stroke you have what is called "the golden hour". If you get to the hospital and they are able to diagnose your problem and administer the proper drugs within an hour of your symptoms starting you are likely to have a good outcome. Longer than that and your chances of becoming a permanent drooler start increasing greatly.
So the question is should you call 911 or have your family member take you to the Emergency Room. That is going to depend on a number of factors, but I know that in my family's case we will be better off transporting ourselves.
I have worked for a city fire department for over twenty years. Even our medic units carry no drugs that will help in the case of a stroke. I live in an outlying area where we are served by a volunteer fire department.
I am certain that even if we were to call for stroke symptoms it would be fifteen or twenty minutes before anyone showed up. Then they would take around fifteen minutes before transporting. It would take another fifteen minutes before my family member made it to the hospital. At least another fifteen minutes would go by before a diagnosis would be made and drugs would be given. These are actually ideal times. If anyone screws up somewhere along the line, if the nearest fire engine or ambulance is on another call, if you get a crew who has one finger in their butt thinking that you are a whiner and not really sick all of which is highly likely our "golden hour" will be history.
So in our case I am taking our family member straight to the hospital where they can get some real help before it is too late. If I have to deal with the police afterwords that will be a very small price to pay. Despite what we have been brainwashed to think for the last thirty years... 911 is not the best solution in many cases for many situations especially if you are a self-reliant person.
Fine if you live in "Gotham City" but for those of us with a more rural life it's not so clear cut. I can drive to either of two area hospitals in under ten minutes. If however, I call for an EMT squad (volunteer) it takes them about twenty minutes to get to the wagon and roll out to my house and then another ten minutes to get to the ER. Bad idea to wait...
Regards,
GtG
In the case of a stroke it is the seconds and minutes that count...in the time he would have waited for an ambulance to arrive and they finally got there and did vitals etc...she could have lost a lot of her brain.
My father had a massive stroke at 37 yrs of age and lost half of his brain due to lack of oxygen and slow paramedics taking 17 mins to get to the house.
My ex-wife had an allergy to aspirin that went undetected for a years. One night she took some asprin for a minor ache and started to develop symptoms of an allergic reaction. i put into my truck and we went to the Base Er (we retired off base). I got her to the Er just as her heart stopped.
After everything got settled down and my nerves were under control the Er Doc told me that if I had called 911 and waited for an ambulance it would have been too late.
The right answer in a case like this/ The one that gets the person to the ER in time. Tickets, etc can be settled later a life can't.
“I also think the husband was dumb not to call 911 and have an ambulance, probably with two paramedics, take the wife to the hospital.”
.
BS!
This is the kind of thought that is destroying this world.
Everyone can legally go through a red light, after using due caution, and judging by the paramedics that I know, she was in better hands with her husband.
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Additionally, if you call 911 and advise them of an emergency in progress, you can frequently get a police escort.
The guy was a paramedic, his wife a nurse. He drives ambulances for a living. He didn't just blow through the red lights, he stopped and then proceeded to drive through after checking for oncoming traffic. Nothing he did was unsafe or reckless, and if he didn't want to risk his wife's life on waiting for an ambulance, well then, I suspect he knows much better than you what to do in that particular situation.
I was going to blast you for your post, but I see others have done so...
Having recognized my father was having a stroke, I put him in the car and drove him to the ER. Way faster even though the fire station was close. I would have passed the EMT’s on the way to the house, and I would have already been half way to the hospital at the point I would have passed them.
So I didn’t bother calling them.
She was having a stroke. Seconds count. Obviously, his wife was more important to him than worrying about waiting on an ambulance.