HEART A TAXI: The call was for difficulty breathing at a police station situated in an area notorious for attacks on ambulance staff, vandalism on ambulances and even hijacking of buses. I didnt even feel safe walking into the police station that seemed abandoned at 3 in the morning. The only life in the charge office was a young man looking questioningly at me and an older man half asleep on a chair with a few bags at his feet. He raised his head to look at me and nodded off again. I virtually had to climb over the bar style desk to get attention from one of the police officers behind the one way glass off to the side. He also looked at me like I had just crawled out of a piece of cheese. One would suspect that I wouldnt have needed to explain the nature of my visit but I still had to ask where the patient was. It turns out the slumbering man behind me was the one they had called for. I never assume that the ailment I have been dispatched to will be the one I will end up treating so I asked him what was wrong with him and he confirmed my general mistrust of given information by calmly telling me he was having chest pain, a pain he had for a few hours or a few years, he was very vague. Our ambulance was right outside the door so I told him to remain seated while we brought in the stretcher from the bus, we didnt even have time to pull it out before I noticed him strolling out the door with his bags in hand. I loaded him and started treatment for a heart condition but we quickly began the discussion about the destination hospital. I informed him that I would be taking him to the nearest appropriate facility but he decided it was time to put in his request. Hospital B was closest to his home, 5 minutes walking distance actually. A man in his mid 40s that is a known hypertensive and a diabetic with some kind of a cardiac history that he could not really explain is not a candidate for where would you like us to take you. The ECG told me that all was not 100% but not panic stations, he was clearly post party and had admitted to taking a taxi into the area from 5 minutes away from hospital B! He assured me that he knew he would make it just fine to hospital B, all he left out was a nod and a wink. I try hard not to look for the worst in people but I could not help asking him if he called for an ambulance or a taxi. He paused slightly and answered, ambulance. I said right, and you will be treated as a patient and not a customer, you will be taken to hospital A. Hospital A was even further away from home than the police station we fetched him from, do I feel bed, it is not my place to concern myself with the outcome as all I did was follow my protocols and company policy. Maybe I can say, he got the treatment he deserved.
Posted on: Sun, 31 Aug 2014 15:33:33 +0000
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