Ambulance charges

[gardengirl]

What's the matter with profit?
Do YOU work for free?
Does your son work for free?
If not, why not?
I don't.

It is not evil to make money providing a service. Just because your son can't pay all of it at once, does not automatically make profit evil, or ambulance companies evil.[/QUOTE]

I don not work for free. But, I also do NOT gouge and have a monopoly on medical services.

 

[Silverplum]

I don not work for free. But, I also do NOT gouge and have a monopoly on medical services.

Kinda like the monopoly on bottled water at the airport?

 

[Zigner]

Kinda like the monopoly on bottled water at the airport?

...Which, I must now say, I think is BS.
(meaning, I KNOW there's a drinking fountain somewhere at that airport!)

 

[seniorjudge]

...Which, I must now say, I think is BS.
(meaning, I KNOW there's a drinking fountain somewhere at that airport!)

A short Google stint will reveal all sorts of requirements by FAA, FDA, etc. about drinking water availability on airlines and airports.

Methinks sonny boy did not tell mommy the truth.

 

[gardengirl]

A short Google stint will reveal all sorts of requirements by FAA, FDA, etc. about drinking water availability on airlines and airports.

Methinks sonny boy did not tell mommy the truth.

Sonny boy, who you seems so inclined to believe is a jerk, did tell mommy the truth - I have been in that airport, and have spoken with the airport manager, who admits that after you go through security, where you surrender your bottled water, there is no drinking fountain. The airport manager suggested that he should have tried to drink out of the bathroom faucet. Methinks even you would have hesitated to do that.

 

[lealea1005]

Ya know, gardengirl, it comes down to choices.

Your son is an athlete who just made a college team, so he must have years of experience playing/practicing. He made the choice not to buy a bottle of water. There are water fountains just outside the rest rooms at every airport (and there have been plenty) I've been in. He could have chosen to ask a flight attendant for a cup of water. Instead he chose (and correctly, IMHO) to notify a flight attendant that he wasn't feeling well.

He was transported for emergency treatment for dehydration. As I said earlier, his condition could have deteriorated quickly without intervention. Emergency transportation was provided to your son. They derserve to be paid. They are under no obligation to negotiate their fee. It was just a thought on my part.

Again, I wish him luck in college and I hope he's learned the importance of adequate hydration, especially since he's an athlete.

Edit to add: No water fountain!! How small was this airport?!?

 

[seniorjudge]

Sonny boy, who you seems so inclined to believe is a jerk, did tell mommy the truth - I have been in that airport, and have spoken with the airport manager, who admits that after you go through security, where you surrender your bottled water, there is no drinking fountain. The airport manager suggested that he should have tried to drink out of the bathroom faucet. Methinks even you would have hesitated to do that.

Madam, what would YOU call a person who intentionally did not drink enough water to keep him from being sick?

 

[VeronicaLodge]

...Which, I must now say, I think is BS.
(meaning, I KNOW there's a drinking fountain somewhere at that airport!)

im sure there are sinks in the bathroom too!

oh she said there was but she wouldnt have drank out of it

 

[Silverplum]

Ya know, gardengirl, it comes down to choices.

Your son is an athlete who just made a college team, so he must have years of experience playing/practicing. He made the choice not to buy a bottle of water. There are water fountains just outside the rest rooms at every airport (and there have been plenty) I've been in. He could have chosen to ask a flight attendant for a cup of water. Instead he chose (and correctly, IMHO) to notify a flight attendant that he wasn't feeling well.

He was transported for emergency treatment for dehydration. As I said earlier, his condition could have deteriorated quickly without intervention. Emergency transportation was provided to your son.

Edit to add: No water fountain!! How small was this airport?!?

And, I must add, not just emergency transportation was provided: it was transportation on a specially outfitted vehicle (not free stuff, is it?) and staffed with trained medical professionals whose only concern was the life of your son.

 

[fcobarr]

If the flight attendant had not listened to your son and something worse would happen once they were airborne...you would blame the flight attendants. If your son would have needed life-saving surgery, you would be thankful that everyone did what they needed to in the shortest amount of time and a $1200 ambulance bill would seem a small price to pay in exchange for saving your sons life.

The flight attendants aren't doctors, they couldn't diagnose, let a lone treat your son. Sounds like everyone did the right thing to me.

Do some fund raising, sell lemonade, ask relatives to borrow money...where there is a will there is a way. Pay the bill.

 

[ecmst12]

Son should work with the ambulance company. While they are not obligated to accept payments, it's quite possible they will be willing to set up a payment plan. He received the services, he owes the bill. But it's not so much that he shouldn't be able to pay it off relatively quickly. You should realize that ambulance services are expensive to the patient because they are expensive to provide. They require a highly trained staff, expensive equipment, and tons of supplies, all of which must be poised and ready to respond within minutes of a call - to say nothing of the infrastructure needed to dispatch the units and make sure they know what the problem is and what hospitals are accepting patients etc. And being an EMT is an EXTREMELY difficult, stressful, emotional, and dangerous job. They have to respond to gang fights and huge car crashes as well as relatively tame calls like this one - and their pay rate doesn't change based on what kind of emergency it was.

Probably the MOST important lesson he should learn is that he should take better care of himself. That $2.50 bottle of water probably seems like a pretty good deal now!

 

[Silverplum]

You should realize that ambulance services are expensive to the patient because they are expensive to provide. They require a highly trained staff, expensive equipment, and tons of supplies, all of which must be poised and ready to respond within minutes of a call - to say nothing of the infrastructure needed to dispatch the units and make sure they know what the problem is and what hospitals are accepting patients etc. And being an EMT is an EXTREMELY difficult, stressful, emotional, and dangerous job. They have to respond to gang fights and huge car crashes as well as relatively tame calls like this one - and their pay rate doesn't change based on what kind of emergency it was.

100% agreed.
And thank you, for enumerating everything so well.

By the way, last year my oldest hurt his back quite badly ratcheting up a 400-lb. patient from the floor where she fell and stayed. Then he hurt it again a couple of weeks later on another 300-plus-lb.er.

He has not sued the state to require every patient be slender.

I add that little note to let people know that there is a LOT more to helping the public and providing emergency services than one may realize.

 

[gardengirl]

100% agreed.
And thank you, for enumerating everything so well.

By the way, last year my oldest hurt his back quite badly ratcheting up a 400-lb. patient from the floor where she fell and stayed. Then he hurt it again a couple of weeks later on another 300-plus-lb.er.

He has not sued the state to require every patient be slender.

I add that little note to let people know that there is a LOT more to helping the public and providing emergency services than one may realize.

Gee, didn't he make a choice to pick up the patient without assistance, and then he chose to do it again?? Lets all be consistant here!


This has been a very interesting discussion. Thank you all for your various points of view. It was/is clearly a learning opportunity for my son.

Also, seniorjudge, had he KNOWN that the issue he was having was dehydration, he probable would have made more of an effort to get a drink, however the symptoms were not all that clear. He does drink water as a matter of habit, none was readily available (I doubt even that previous poster would have drank out of a public rest room sink). You may have been wise at 20, but I sort of doubt it -

I posted this whole topic to get advice/help with a financial issue - for what I see as exhorbitant charges - this seems to have turned into a "lets find fault with a young adults' judgement" - Time to end it.
Thanks again.

 

[Silverplum]

Gee, didn't he make a choice to pick up the patient without assistance, and then he chose to do it again?? Lets all be consistant here!

No need to be so rude and uncaring, lady.

He HAD assistance. He's a PROFESSIONAL. It's still amazingly tough to get a 400+lb DEAD PERSON off the floor, so that their families don't have to do it.

And, funnily, he often speaks of the ingrates with whom he deals. I'm not at all surprised.

 

[Zigner]

Ok, let's bring it back in to focus.
Ambulance Co. provided emergency services.
Ambulance Co. has every right to expect payment.
Your son doesn't want to pay.
Ambulance Co. may or may not take a payment schedule.
Ambulance Co. may or may not turn son over to collections.

Have son call the Ambulance Company. If that doesn't work, then arrange a loan for your son so he can pay his debt.