EMS abuse: The Ride to get High

I hope you're not suggesting that I'm part of the blame here. To answer your questions, I have refused people for lice and herpes and pregnancy tests, but that doesn't stop them from calling 911 and tying up the resources. And as a paramedic, you have to be extremely careful if you refuse to transport someone. I'm sure you can understand the ramifications.
When I worked fulltime as a paramedic my boss would say, if someone calls 911 you better put 'em in a truck and take 'em wherever they want to go. He was an elected official and more interested in potential voters than the welfare of the community and certainly not the respect of EMS workers.
It's easy for you or anyone to ask those questions, but what would you suggest? If a paramedic tried to go public they would lose their job in a heartbeat. where is an effective EMS lobby? the answer is: it doesn't exist. One of the reasons I became an RN, it's much more organized and effective. My job as a firefighter/medic is now part time and my fire chief trusts my clinical judgement as to whether or not someone needs an ambulance ride. But it's easier and safer (for the medic) to just put them in the truck and ride 'em to the ER. I've seen plenty of medics get fired for not taking a stubbed toe seriously.

I agree. As much as us medics would like to refuse calls for so called "emergencies" that can actually be taking us away from "good calls", sometimes we are better off just taking them. Granted it's another report to write and yes of course they all seem to come at 3 in the morning, but I can't tell a patient what he/she is/isn't feeling and I can't risk losing my job for that.

Several of our docs are now documenting in their assessments and notes that they have educated the pt about use/abuse of the EMS system. I'm hoping that one day this will help fine or prosecute the ones that have demonstrated abuse of the system, showing that these people were informed of the correct use of EMS.

One doc in particular recently got extremely irritated at a woman who came in via EMS with her 6m old r/t a diaper rash (if it could be called a rash. The area was slightly red, child interactive and smiling) x4 hours. The woman has a big hx of EMS abuse. I wish more of the docs would speak up, because coming from me ("You're JUST a nurse, not the DOCTOR!") doesn't seem to have much effect.