Posted on 11/10/2013 11:41:27 AM PST by Kip Russell
Martha Rigsby collapsed to the ground for the first time in 1977. The spells continued, and she began calling 911 for help.
She hasn’t stopped.
In the past year alone, she’s accounted for 226 calls to 911 and been whisked by an ambulance to a hospital 117 times.
Among firefighters in the District, she’s a dreaded legend. They can recite her date of birth and Social Security number from memory.
Over 30 years, Rigsby has become the most frequent 911 user in D.C. history, totaling thousands of emergency calls and trips to the hospital after falling down, court papers say.
Dubbed “super users” or “frequent fliers,” repeat 911 callers have long been identified as burdens on the health system and a drain on public-safety resources. That’s why a group of city officials met earlier this year to figure out how to solve their problem with Rigsby.
The situation has led to the first known attempt in the city to seek guardianship for a serial 911 caller. The Department of Behavioral Health filed a court petition in April, alleging that Rigsby, 58, has bipolar and borderline personality disorders and does not have the mental capacity to handle her medical affairs.
These are “uncharted waters,” said David Miramontes, medical director of the D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department.
Public documents and legal proceedings detail Rigsby’s 911 habits and assessments of her mental state and medical problems. They also reveal continued concerns from D.C. officials about the impact of one woman’s troubles on public-health and safety resources.
Although Rigsby has had various medical insurance plans throughout the years, she has an outstanding balance of $61,366.33 owed to the D.C. Fire and EMS for ambulance transports, according to Andrew Beaton, the department’s management program analyst.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
There was a story some time ago about a local Buffalo woman on welfare who called for an ambulance any time she wanted to go visit her family who lived near the hospital.
once there she would miraculously recover and walk to her families house for a visit
by some conservative (heh heh) math estimating she has called over 6,500 times
at 50% transport and $480 per trip, that’s over 1.5 million dollars JUST for the ambulance trips
She’s obviously not paying. In my town you are billed for services of the EMT crew and the ambulance. So who’s paying for this? We are, suckers!
The 911 operators have more important things to worry about.....like if McDonalds runs out of french fries. /s
Martha Rigsby is just being cautious. She doesn’t want to die like her sister Eleanor, the one the Beatles wrote a song about.
It’s the same all over.
Cities are a bit worse than rural ambulance services ,but the problems are the same.
A possible mitigation for this effect may be for the “patient” to do a few leg isometrics before attempting to stand. The muscle squeezing forces blood from the lower limbs to the heart where it can be routed to a useful location in the body (head).
Buy her a mobile home, put her in it and park it on a hospital parking lot.
Put her in a cabin in the woods. Check up on her next spring.
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