Love that UK NHS - many horror stories about them.
My Brother died of a heart attack. Knowing it was serious his wife drove him to the nearest hospital around 11 miles away, nearly all of it interstate. She knew that would be much faster than an ambulance.
One of their children phoned the hospital and they had people waiting in the parking lot. He was dead by the time they got there. Still they did what they could.
I think most American hospitals would do the same.
Coming to America if the dimoKKKRATS have their way.
Hospitals are not in the transport business.
I know it sounds unusual, but if something negative happened in the transport, the hospital would be exposed to litigation. What’s more, it wouldn’t be prepared or capable of giving the kind of care the person would need.
They don’t have the type of gurneys or portable defibrillators and other things that Emergency Responders do. Emergency responders are taught to stabilize and transport. They have the precise training that would be called for, and the exact equipment that would be called for. If immobilization is required, they have lots of experience in the field.
Hospital staff are not trained as a first responder. It’s something that is different than the service hospitals provide.
National Health Service not at your service.
That’ll happen in the states in some places. Strong EMT unions will prohibit hospitals from directly accepting wounded without coming in by ambulance service.
I recall another case where the EMT’s were on break and could not respond to a call and the person died as they waited for another ‘on-duty’ response from some distance to come.
This has nothing to do with socialized medicine. The hospital near me has multiple offices and buildings around the hospital. One is even attached to the main building, but if you have a medical emergency there, they will call 911.
...and stooopid Kalifornia wants single payer?
The scary thing is that despite the full socialized medicine, the United Kingdom has a higher life expectancy than the USA according to the UN stats. On the bright side, not even Bernie Sanders is calling for more than socialized insurance like Canada has which is less onerous than the full socialism of Britain.
People in upper New York State know what socialized medicine is like. They see thousands coming over the Canadian border to get medical care. They don't want to wait 10 months to get a CT scan.
I would like to invite you all to view the other thread I posted a few places below this one. The post about ‘posters at a school polling place’. It doesn’t sound glamorous and the main point isn’t in the Body of the Thread. The children’s posters at the polling place had hammers and sickles on them. Another interesting turn of events in Britain, as the children in some schools are apparently being indoctrinated into, not just Socialism, but actual Communism. I used to live in Britain and both stories just break my heart.
I once saw a woman collapse in a hospital. While I was trying to assess whether she needed CPR, a crash cart and crew came running in and scooped her up. I think they had her into the emergency room inside of three minutes.
The idea that a hospital wouldn’t have an emergency team on standby is ludicrous.
Socialized medicine, of course, is not about saving lives. It’s about providing the most cost-effective interventions (e.g. vaccines) while rationing anything more effective.
If you are any distance from a hospital calling 911 is a good idea. It does become a dilemma sometimes, but take into consideration that ambulance personnel can administer oxygen, aspirin and nitroglycerine to a potential heart attack victim, oftentimes delaying their heart damage vs. having their heart starved for oxygenated blood enroute. They also have the spare hands and knowledge to give CPR and defibrillate if necessary. They can give nebulizer treatments and epinephrine, etc. They may be closer than you think too.
Mrs AV
Found the hospital on Google Maps. The hospital is on the right and the front door of the emergency department is at the end of the silver building, not even 40 yards away by the looks. Dying outside a hospital's front door as nobody lifts a finger to help. Terrifying.
“We ain’t got no time for that. You best call Herman Cain.”
Ain’t national healthcare wonderful?
I love the NHS. Saved my life last year when my GP picked up that my anaemia might be signs of colon cancer.
Unlikely, she said, but nonetheless she booked me in for a colonoscopy at the cancer specialist unit and I was seen within 2 weeks. She was dead right. Operation 3 weeks later.
I survive.