These copsa re starting to piss me OFF.

[Brown-Bear]

You fellow EMS guys and gals will appreciate this one.


Is there anyway we can find out when exactly the public drunkeness law was repealed and why it is now a medical emergency requiring EMS, when some one is intoxicated in public.

I know that heavily intoxicated pt's are in danger of real problems, but lately there has been a significant rise in the number of calls we have been called to for the ploice with an intoxicated subject. There is no medical complaint, they're just drunk. The police will even tell us that there is nothing wrong with the guy/girl they just want us to take them somewhere. This is a waste of my time and our resources. Is there someone that we can contact at the dept to educate them on this, If there is no medical complaint, then why aren't the police taking the subject to the hospital, or to jail? I don't belive it is based out of genuine concern for the suject, as the police generally hightial it off the scene as soon we establish contact.

Perfect example would be our 1st call of the evening. Class 1 unresponsive person. County advised PD on scene with a woman who may have been drinking, and has some meds in her purse. Pt is awake, alert and refusing EMS. Why were we even dispatched then? When we get on scene, the cops says " This is Amy, she's been drinking and needs somewhere to go for the night. You wanna go to the hospiatl with these guys Amy?" She says yes, because she knows the cops are gonna bust her being drunk in public, beacuse thats what they told her. I've heard them say it a hundred times. " You can either go with the medics, or get arrested for being drunk in public. So then the pt looks at us and says " Take me to the hospital" and by law I have to. They asked for my services, and now I have to provide them, regardless of the original intentions behind the request.

Keeping the drunks, and bums off the street is their job not mine. This is also the kind of crap that helps drive up health care costs. There was no reason to take that woman to the hospital other than her asking us to out of fear of arrest. So the insurance (if she has any) is not gonna pay our costs, or the hospitals. So its gonna get written off and the govt is gonna pay for it in the end, so in the very end we all pay in the form of higher health care premiums.

AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGHGGGGGHHHHHH.

Dave

[stinkymcdoober]

wow, man, that sucks, really it does. It really seems that this happens a lot; people in the lower eschelon of the community getting shuffled around in one way or another. stinks.

[mikepro8]

They call you because the County Jails and local booking centers are being more cautious about admitting extremely intoxicated people.

When my PO's try to take a very drunk person to jail, they are greeted with "take them to the hospital and get them medically cleared" before they will take them.

The cops are just putting off doing anything, taking custody of the person, or taking them to a central booking/holding area and shucking the drunks off on you guys.

Also, I'm pretty sure the Pub. Drunk. law is still on the books.

[Brown-Bear]

I know the pub. drunk law is still on, it just pisses me off that they don't want to do the basics of their job.

[Dave in PA]

I have heard about EMS being dispatched to the 3rd street area of Easton, when the ambulance gets to Easton hospital, the patient says basically "thanks for the ride" and walks away from the hospital. very unnecesary 20 some block ride!

[str8shooter]

You fellow EMS guys and gals will appreciate this one.


Is there anyway we can find out when exactly the public drunkeness law was repealed and why it is now a medical emergency requiring EMS, when some one is intoxicated in public.

I know that heavily intoxicated pt's are in danger of real problems, but lately there has been a significant rise in the number of calls we have been called to for the ploice with an intoxicated subject. There is no medical complaint, they're just drunk. The police will even tell us that there is nothing wrong with the guy/girl they just want us to take them somewhere. This is a waste of my time and our resources. Is there someone that we can contact at the dept to educate them on this, If there is no medical complaint, then why aren't the police taking the subject to the hospital, or to jail? I don't belive it is based out of genuine concern for the suject, as the police generally hightial it off the scene as soon we establish contact.

Perfect example would be our 1st call of the evening. Class 1 unresponsive person. County advised PD on scene with a woman who may have been drinking, and has some meds in her purse. Pt is awake, alert and refusing EMS. Why were we even dispatched then? When we get on scene, the cops says " This is Amy, she's been drinking and needs somewhere to go for the night. You wanna go to the hospiatl with these guys Amy?" She says yes, because she knows the cops are gonna bust her being drunk in public, beacuse thats what they told her. I've heard them say it a hundred times. " You can either go with the medics, or get arrested for being drunk in public. So then the pt looks at us and says " Take me to the hospital" and by law I have to. They asked for my services, and now I have to provide them, regardless of the original intentions behind the request.

Keeping the drunks, and bums off the street is their job not mine. This is also the kind of crap that helps drive up health care costs. There was no reason to take that woman to the hospital other than her asking us to out of fear of arrest. So the insurance (if she has any) is not gonna pay our costs, or the hospitals. So its gonna get written off and the govt is gonna pay for it in the end, so in the very end we all pay in the form of higher health care premiums.

AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGHGGGGGHHHHHH.

Dave

What am I missing, isn't an unresponsive person, even if they regain consciousness, someone that should be checked by a doctor? I hear what you're saying and share your frustration. I've had my share of calls where the police basically avoided adding to their paperwork by adding to mine, so maybe this particular incident wasn't the best example to illustrate your point.

IMHO, the cops are as much to blame as the judges, juries and lawyers who have everyone so scared of making the slightest mistake and end up losing a major law suit. If someone looks drunk, acts drunk, and smells drunk, they're probably drunk. But, if they also just snorted gramma's oxycontin or drank half a bottle of grampa's cough syrup and they die in the holding tank, it's the cops who end up getting served because they didn't recognize the difference between a stinking drunk who's sleeping it off, and a stinking drunk who's gone into respiratory arrest. If they stick a combative drunk in a cell for the night to cool off, they run the risk of finding him hanging by his pant legs the next morning because he's bipolar and his agitation was caused from missing dose or two of Paxil.

Another contributer to the CYA "here, you take 'em" attitude are incidents like the one below where some guy nearly died in the hands of the police because they thought he was drunk. Turns out after they ground his face into the macadam, they found his insulin pump and realized he was a having a diabetic emergency. The family is suing for $20 million, and although the police reports (as written) support the actions of the responding officers, the man is still in a coma and may not live to tell his side of the story.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...EWS02/80922045

I have a track record of presenting an alterate viewpoint when it comes to condemning the actions of LEOs, and have been called on it many times so feel free to point out the errors in my thinking on this issue. All I ask is that you be civil.

[Dredly]

he is saying the people are fine, the cops are calling in bullshit requests because they don't want the drunk puking in their car and they don't want to spend the cash for gas or time to take them back to the jail so they can sober up.

[str8shooter]

I have heard about EMS being dispatched to the 3rd street area of Easton, when the ambulance gets to Easton hospital, the patient says basically "thanks for the ride" and walks away from the hospital. very unnecesary 20 some block ride!

I've been called to a scene where a guy was picked up for being drunk in public, and when they were putting him in the squad car he escaped (cuffed) and ran head first into a tree on purpose, splitting his head open. The cops uncuffed him (illegal to cuff a patient in the ambulance) and he refused immobilization so we, uh, secured him to the gurney with a couple cravats, for his own safety. When we got to the hospital and cut off the cravats, he got off the gurney and said so long assholes. Different county, different jurisdiction, so no one cared. And I did, in fact, feel like an asshole.

[LittleRedToyota]

i think str8shooter prolly has it right. it is prolly mostly about CYA...

and you can't really blame the LEOs. they are acting rationally given the legal environment they are operating in.

it's all part of the social diffusion of responsibility we love so much here in america. we can't blame the person who got so drunk/high they are risking their own death...gotta blame someone else. the cops rationally don't want to be the scapegoat.

[fingers80002]

i think str8shooter prolly has it right. it is prolly mostly about CYA...

and you can't really blame the LEOs. they are acting rationally given the legal environment they are operating in.

it's all part of the social diffusion of responsibility we love so much here in america. we can't blame the person who got so drunk/high they are risking their own death...gotta blame someone else. the cops rationally don't want to be the scapegoat.

So I'll request an emt when confronted for OC'ing!!!!!!!!!!!!