Calling 911 for a drink of water?

[cindybubbles]

My mother relayed this story to me. She worked for over 40 years as a nurse in a few hospitals.

Anyway, they had a very anxious patient. He rang the bell for a nurse because he wanted a glass of water. The nurses were busy and told him that they would come to him in a minute. I should also let you know that this wasn't a life-or-death emergency. So what does he do?

A: Wait a minute for the nurse to give him the water?
B: Complain to management about the so-called "bad" service?
C: Call 911?

I'm pretty sure that most people would pick A. Most SCs would pick B. THIS patient chose option C!

The dispatcher then called the hospital to ask them why the patient called. They said that they were busy, and would attend to him soon.

Calling 911 for a drink of water? I've heard of calling 911 for silly reasons, but this one takes the cake!

[Kristev]

I was told that if you call 911 without good reason, they can prosecute you.

[Little Retail Rabbit]

Calling 911 for a drink of water? I've heard of calling 911 for silly reasons, but this one takes the cake!

Recently, in the UK, a lad was receiving such a terribly poor standard of care in hospital that he died of dehydration. He actually did call 999 (our version of 911) because he was scared he was going to die...which he did. The inquest has shown that the hospital staff were negligible.

Just throwing that out there <.<

[PepperElf]

I was told that if you call 911 without good reason, they can prosecute you.

afaik the answer is "yes".
whether or not they actually care to do it though is a different story.


I tried looking up the news to see if the crazy lady who called 911 on our store last year (for not letting her return a 3 month old computer) was charged with abuse of 911, but couldn't find anything.

[Spork4pedro]

In my area a lady called 911 on Burger King The 911 operator is great and calls her on her bs.

Hopefully the patient in the OP was just being obnoxious and not like the one in Little Retail Rabbit's post! Yikes!

[cindybubbles]

He was old and confused, actually; my mom is a great nurse, and if the staff were negligent, she wouldn't have told me this story.

[Sapphire Silk]

Anyway, they had a very anxious patient. He rang the bell for a nurse because he wanted a glass of water. The nurses were busy and told him that they would come to him in a minute. I should also let you know that this wasn't a life-or-death emergency. So what does he do?

C: Call 911?

Calling 911 for a drink of water? I've heard of calling 911 for silly reasons, but this one takes the cake!

I've had this happen before. I've had impatient patients call 911 from the ER waiting room, thinking that if they came in through the ambulance they would get roomed right away.

One was a histrionic pregnant gal who was only a few weeks pregnant and claiming to have abdominal pain and an ectopic pregnancy. Which we would normally prioritize and see right away but couldn't because we were dealing with a mass trauma: very bad car wreck. Dead kid on the scene, one kid flown to the Level 1 trauma center, we got 3 other victims with serious injuries at our Level 3 trauma center. It was an all hands operation; even I who nominally was in triage spent a lot of time doing patient care in the back while we tried to get things under control.

So I get a call from the local dispatcher saying the girl had called 911. Policy was she had to send an ambulance; they had no choice. She just wanted to give me a heads up.

I hurry up to triage to find the paramedic yelling at the dumbbunny for wasting her time. DB insisted on the ambulance ride around the corner of the buidling in spite of being warned the charge nurse would just send her back to the waiting room . . . which he did.

15 minutes later, things were under control, we had a pelvic room cleaned, and I went to room her. She'd gone to another ER.

Two hours later we get a call requesting a copy of the urine pregnancy test I'd collected when she first came in. We get a release and fax it. An hour after that, the other ER doc calls our ER doc and wants to send DB back to us for an ultrasound to rule out an ectopic.

What was the result of the bimanual exam, asks our Doc (my FAVORITE ER doc of all time, Dr. H.) (In the bi manual exam, the doc puts a hand in the vagina, and presses the ovaries between one hand externally and one hand internally to feel for swelling, lumps, or tenderness).

I didn't do one, other doc admits. She was too hysterical, he claims.

I will not accept her back here until you do a COMPLETE medical evaluation, says Dr. H.

Three hours after that DB rolls back in the door by ambulance. Dr. H sends her for an ultrasound . . . which shows a normal intrauterine pregnancy, approximately 5-6 weeks gestation. She walks out calmly, all smiles.

All this so she can get a picture of her baby.

I was told that if you call 911 without good reason, they can prosecute you.

You can get prosecuted, but it has to be pretty egregious for it to happen. Generally speaking, an emergency is what the patient says it is.

Recently, in the UK, a lad was receiving such a terribly poor standard of care in hospital that he died of dehydration. He actually did call 999 (our version of 911) because he was scared he was going to die...which he did. The inquest has shown that the hospital staff were negligible.

Just throwing that out there <.<

Stuff like that happens; no excuse for it what so ever. Did you mean the hospital staff were negligent?

[kpzra]

There were a number of times we'd bring patients into the waiting room. If the ER is full and you can wait, you wait. You sprained your wrist? Sorry but the guy who's chest I'd pushing on got the last room, go wait. Arriving in an ambulance does not always mean you will get back right away.

[crazylegs]

I once attended a call to a headache in the hospital carpark. Upon arrival we find that the patient had waited in the waiting room for 'too long' (his opinion) so to get to the front of the queue, or so he thought, he dialled 999. We took them back to the ED and plonked him into the waiting room where he was now at the bottom of the queue & lost his previous place.

[PepperElf]

On the flip side of ambulance abuse...

I found out in the Military that after hours, base medical really can't do jack shit. Had a cut that was borderline needing stitches. They couldn't even give me a bandaid or hand me anything to clean it with because "their hands were tied." Unless I requested an ambulance.... They could treat me on the way to Portsmouth. That was it.




Ended not taking that option. Although the cut wasn't pretty, it wasn't life/death either. If it'd been any bigger though I'd have taken it.

[kpzra]

I found out in the Military that after hours, base medical really can't do jack shit. Had a cut that was borderline needing stitches.

That depends on location. Every base/post hospital I've been in has a 24 hour ER with full medical care. Sick call has their set hours but the hospitals don't. The NAS here doesn't have any facilities beyond sick call, they have to head into town to the hospital. If they are bad enough they do a direct medivac to Carson City or Reno.

[Little Retail Rabbit]

Stuff like that happens; no excuse for it what so ever. Did you mean the hospital staff were negligent?

In the case I mentioned they very much were...they didn't even hook the poor lad up to a drip! As I said, he died as a direct result of their negligence and were found to be so after an inquest.

But I apologise, I can see now how what I put before might have implied the staff in the OP's post were, and I didn't mean that. Sorry!

[cindybubbles]

That's OK. It was the patient that was sucky, not the staff.

[PepperElf]

He was old and confused, actually; my mom is a great nurse, and if the staff were negligent, she wouldn't have told me this story.

I can understand the cops - or DA - not wanting to press the issue then. It could make them look bad if they chose to stick it to him.

[kpzra]

As I said, he died as a direct result of their negligence and were found to be so after an inquest.

You had posted that they were "negligible", not negligent. I read it and assumed you meant negligent and just used the wrong word on accident. VERY different meanings in this case.