What is the point of the ER?

Christian White3 said:And honestly: if I’d known they were going to take forever, I would've just dragged him to my car myself. I drive like a maniac—I could've been at the Highland hospital in five minutes flat. Now I’m just sitting here spiraling, thinking if I hadn't waited, things might be different. Who knows how much longer this weight is going to stay on me.

How long did you actually wait for the ambulance?

Stop blaming yourself. It isn't on you. The real question is whether you driving him yourself would have even made a difference in getting him there in time. 😢

melloworca6 said:How long did you end up waiting for the paramedics?

And don't go blaming yourself—it's not on you. Even if you had driven them to the ER yourself, there's no guarantee you would have made it in time. 😢

About 20-25 minutes. I was in the Highland area near the local Walmart. If they had come from a suburb like St. Louis, they wouldn't have made it in time either—not that I'm claiming emergency crews are everywhere at every single second. It was an incredibly quiet night, at least where I am, though this area usually deals with broken car windows every Saturday and Sunday morning. Plus, looking at the news and local sites lately, I haven't seen much more than a few minor fender benders around New York City and the surrounding areas.
And I wasn't the only one waiting; some people were stuck for over an hour.

I feel terrible about it. 😢

I’m not from New York City, so I have no clue how things work in your neck of the woods since you guys have hospitals everywhere. Where I'm from, we basically have one main hub, so there's zero confusion about who covers what. Out here, things get messy if you're in a wreck out in Napa Valley—then you've got different jurisdictions fighting over which district is responsible for you.

I actually know a girl who was injured out in the Meadowlands and had to wait forever for an ambulance because the departments were too busy arguing over whether she fell under Indianapolis or some other jurisdiction. Honestly, I don't even know if she made it. 😢

Could someone who works as an EMT here in the States please shoot me a DM? I have a few quick questions. I’d be incredibly grateful—it's kind of urgent.

Some pretty bad experiences 😢
I really have to give a shout-out to the ER teams in St. Louis and Slough; honestly, everyone there was amazing. Every time I had to call for my parents, they showed up right away and were incredibly patient, professional, and efficient. Seriously, kudos to the emergency crews—thank you guys!
Now I’m starting to realize that wasn't the norm, but unfortunately, just a lucky exception.

Ryan Bailey79 said:Can someone who works as an EMT here in the States please DM me? I have a few questions. I'd really appreciate it, it's kind of urgent.

What specifically do you need to know? If it's about employment or industry stuff, just post it in this thread: Jobs and Careers . It's better to keep it here.

Here’s a story from San Francisco...

At 3 AM, they arrived within five minutes because the apartment is so close—kudos for the speed. But the doctor was mostly angry, rude, and just plain unpleasant (probably because she was woken up). She kept asking stupid questions while the patient was actually bleeding instead of helping; honestly, it's a miracle the patient survived. So much for the ER...

Ashley Gonzalez27 said:Here’s a little horror story from San Francisco...

3:00 AM. They showed up within five minutes given how close the apartment is—so, props to them for the speed—but the doctor? Absolutely infuriating. Rude, unpleasant, and just plain gross. Honestly, she was probably just cranky because she was woken up, but she was busy asking a bunch of mindless, pointless questions while the patient was literally bleeding out right in front of her. She should have been helping! It’s a miracle the woman survived. That’s my experience with the ER for you...

Look, if you’re going to complain, the least you could do is provide some actual details. What kind of "bleeding" are we talking about here? And what exactly were these "incompetent" questions this doctor was supposedly asking? Give us something to work with.

I need to file a claim for the paramedics and doctor at the game. Where can I find that form?

I’m starting a new thread because, honestly, I just need to vent about this. I just witnessed someone collapse right on the street. They were totally unconscious, then they drifted back to some sort of consciousness for a second—completely incoherent, by the way—and then they just went down again. They couldn't even stand up. So, naturally, I called 911. I mean, what else am I supposed to do? It’s not like I can just stand there and watch them fade out. This actually feels like déjà vu, too; I had to call an ambulance once before at work for a client in a similar state. But here’s the thing—the part that keeps looping in my head—is how much age matters in these situations. When the paramedics arrived, the first thing on everyone's mind was, "How old is this person?" I honestly had no clue. I just figured, who knows? Maybe they're young, maybe they're old. But the point remains: regardless of whether you're twenty or eighty, when someone is crashing like that, things are bad. Period. Everything comes back to age, doesn't it? It's always about the age.

So, does anyone actually know why the dispatchers at 911 seem so obsessed with asking how old the patient is? Every single time I’ve called for an ambulance, it’s just a relentless loop of "How old are they? How old? How old?" It feels like that's the only piece of information they actually care about. Is there some secret medical logic behind it, or are they just testing my patience? What's the big deal?

Alex Roberts4 said:Seriously, does anyone actually know why they always hammer you about age when you call 911? Every single time I've called, it’s just "age, age, age..." What is the big deal? Why is that the most important thing?

Look, I'm not an EMT, but I am a medical professional. From a clinical standpoint, you aren't looking for the same physiological red flags in a twenty-year-old that you would in an eighty-year-old. You ask for the age because you need to know what kind of medical crisis you're walking into so you can prepare accordingly. It's basic triage. Plus, if there's only one ambulance available and multiple calls coming in at once, that age factor changes how resources are dispatched.
Next time you find yourself on the phone with dispatch, just ask them! There might be a perfectly logical, life-saving reason behind their interrogation.

brightgull95 said:Look, if you aren't rushing into an emergency but you *are* a clinician, you aren't looking for the same red flags in a kid that you would in a senior citizen. It’s basic logic. You ask for their age because you need to know what kind of physiological fallout to expect and how to prep. Plus, the math changes entirely if you've only got one ambulance on the road versus having multiple units available for simultaneous calls.
Next time this happens, maybe consider that there might actually be a legitimate reason they're asking for an age.

Yeah, okay, but in both scenarios, it's just "age, age, age..." Like, just give me a ballpark! You're guessing this, guessing that, and meanwhile, there's a person lying on the floor. Honestly, this whole thing just rubbed me the wrong way because it feels like nothing matters if you don't have a specific number. And what if I totally whiff it? What if I give a number that's way too high or way too low? Is the person who collapsed going to feel better because I guessed wrong? I thought the distinction between a child and an adult was actually significant.

The rest of it just seems unnecessary to push so hard. You either know or you don't. It's not like I'm going to go digging through someone's purse to find their driver's license—it doesn't matter when someone is unconscious.

Look, if they actually bothered to ask you for that person's vital signs beforehand, then by all means, feel free to grill them about their age until they're blue in the face. But if they didn't? Then yeah, your anger is totally justified. The real question here is who was on duty—was it some lazy desk clerk or someone else entirely? Personally, I wouldn't let it get under my skin too much if I were in your shoes; honestly, stressing out like this isn't good for your health.

brightgull95 said:Look, if they actually bothered to ask about the person's vitals before jumping in, then sure, feel free to grill them about their age all day long. But if they didn't? Then yeah, being pissed off is totally justified. It really comes down to who was asking—was it some nosy bystander or an actual first responder? Honestly, if I were you, I wouldn't let it get under my skin. It’s just not worth the blood pressure spike.

So, here's the deal: I started talking, and this woman immediately cuts me off to ask how old I am. I told her, "I don't know." So she pushes, and I'm like, "Look, I can give you a ballpark range along with a comment, but who knows?" Not everyone wears their age on their sleeve, right? Then she tries to double down, asking if I'm *really* that old, so I just cut her off again. I told her straight up that I couldn't judge, but I *did* know that X, Y, and Z happened, and now the situation is like this and that, and clearly, the person on the ground isn't doing great regardless of how many candles were on their last birthday.

And what does she do? She stops asking about the person on the floor entirely and starts grilling me about my exact location, acting like she's going to send someone over and I'll just be stuck waiting. Seriously, what a brainless conversation. The next time it happens, it'll be the exact same nonsense. It makes zero sense to me.

Alex Roberts4 said:So, basically, I started talking and this woman immediately cuts me off to ask how old the person was. I told her, "I don't know." Then she goes, "Well, roughly?" And I’m just like, how should I know? I threw out an age range along with some context, but who can really tell? Not everyone wears their age the same way... So then she asks if they actually look that old, and I had to cut her off again! I told her I couldn't judge, but I *did* know that X, Y, and Z happened, and now the situation is like this and that, and clearly, the person isn't doing well regardless of what their actual age might be.

And the woman didn't even follow up about the person lying on the ground! Instead, she just kept grilling me about my exact location so they could send someone out and leave me waiting. Honestly, the whole conversation was just incredibly moronic. It happened again later—same nonsense. It makes zero sense to me.

Look, alright, it's stupid. But I'll say it again: if the dispatcher who answered the call has absolutely nothing to do with medical training, then the behavior is completely understandable. I don't get it either, but personally, I wouldn't let it get under my skin.

Just contact the local EMS agency directly with your complaint and suggest they update their protocols.

brightgull95 said:Alright, look, it’s totally idiotic, but I’ll say it again: if the dispatcher on the line doesn't have any medical training, then honestly, it makes sense why they were useless. I don't get it, but I wouldn't lose sleep over it.

Just reach out to the EMS agency with a complaint and suggest they update their protocols.

Thanks.🙂 I’m pretty sure it was just a dispatcher. I think I’ll send them an inquiry along with my feedback. Man, I really hope I don't have to call 911 again anytime soon. They were fine enough—showed up in about 15 minutes—but I was sitting there thinking, "What if this gets worse?" because they didn't tell me what to do; they just told me to wait... It's been ages since I took my first aid certification, so most of it has slipped my mind. A little refresher right then would have been nice...

Because I had quite the crowd gathering around me: one guy was standing there shouting instructions at everyone, asking what to do next (which is exactly why I got off the bus and ended up calling 911 in such a panic), another guy was hovering half an inch away trying to offer me water, and then two women burst onto the scene with this whole "you need to eat and drink so you don't collapse" routine. Like, seriously? There was an unconscious man, and they were trying to force him to drink water by sheer willpower. I eventually had to tell them all to back off and just go home. Some people genuinely have no clue how much they don't know—it's pure ignorance. Once the paramedics arrived, I could finally handle things properly.

Alex Roberts4 said:Thanks.🙂 I’m pretty sure it was just a dispatcher...

So—getting back to the actual point of this thread—the real question isn't even "what is emergency services for?" It's "why on earth do the dispatchers answering the 911 calls ask the specific questions they do?" Because honestly, when you look at it from a strictly medical standpoint, half of what they're doing seems to have absolutely nothing to do with providing actual emergency care.

brightgull95 said:So—sticking to the topic here—the real question isn't "what is EMS for?", it's "why do the dispatchers answering the 911 calls ask the specific questions they do?" Because honestly, it doesn't have much to do with actual medical emergency care.

I'm with you on this.

I saw a show once where those 911 operators in other countries have a strict script of questions they have to follow for certain situations. It’s highly likely it works the exact same way here in the States.

Question for the nurses on here:
If you've only got one ambulance and two unconscious patients—one who's 30 and one who's 60—do you go for the older one? Is that why they ask about age?

It doesn't make sense to me. Age isn't even a rule for determining who's sicker; being older just means they might be less mobile. Besides, nowadays you see twenty-year-olds with a laundry list of diagnoses, whereas it feels like the older generations are actually healthier than the young ones today.🤔

Christian White3 said:Exactly what happened with my old man. He took a turn for the worse at 3:35 AM, they finally rolled up at 4:00. He was already gone. We live out in the Highland area—there’s plenty of ambulances near the old Democratic Party headquarters by the depot, but clearly, these idiots sent a crew all the way from Heinzelov. It was Saturday night heading into Sunday, nothing on the roads. They crawled in like snails. Didn't even bring a defibrillator inside; just felt for a pulse and told us he was dead cold right there in front of everyone. But why am I surprised? Most of these ER people are just general practitioners who don't know their heads from their elbows. They didn't even bother checking his medical history or asking if he smoked. The guy kept rambling about an aneurysm, but my dad actually died from a blocked coronary artery. We were stuck waiting for the coroner until noon. 👎

In the end, nobody could tell me what kind of shock it was, but based on the symptoms (slurred speech, breathing but no pulse, cold sweat on the forehead), it was obviously cardiogenic shock. But those retired general practitioners working the ER probably haven't even heard of it, given how "expert" they are.

They aren't even real doctors most of the time; mostly just recent grads and people who haven't finished their residencies yet. ☕