I didn't know this actually happened

Specialties Ob/Gyn

Published

Had a patient who called 911 for her water breaking at full term.

I mentioned it to another nurse who was like "and why are you surprised by that?"

i didn't know people actually did that. Not an emergency!!

maybe she didnt have a car, that i get. but, how did the rest of her family arrive shortly after?

Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
we must just get more patients who manipulate the system in ob than in other places in the hospital. without a doubt there are many single, unemployed mothers who obviously have more income than just what public assitance provides. i've watched it day after day for the better part of 16 years. i'ts hard not to form a sour attitude when you are a member of the 'working poor', who pay the most taxes but get the least in return.

i guess i have a different viewpoint. we were so low in the echelon in the military that we made just barely too much to qualify for food stamps...we did qualify for wic but actually i was told to have another baby by a state aid counselor (i was looking for tuition assistance for nursing school)---so we could get "everything". i of course, refused. but we definately ate a lot of beanie weenies and ramen. and times were tight----lots of 2nd hand clothes for my son and my clothes lasted me for years.

i remember my bil looking at my dh's military pay stub asking " how do you people live on this pitiful pay?" humiliating? yes. but also gave me an appreciation for how little we could make do on---and do well.

so i appreciate the difficulties people face, the "working poor" especially as i was truly there. but i cant' say i know how it feels to be that desperate, needy or whatever to steal whatever i could from the hospital to get by. i guess that is just my feeling on the issue.

everyone is entitled to his/her opinion here. i respect the varying points of view.

I hear ya, 33-Weeker. I cannot afford to have a weekly manicure or hair appointment, but many of my pts mothers can.Then upon d/c when I get my paperwork together I find they are on PA and need a WIC form filled out.

No, it's not everyone. But I could guess it's close to 25%.The other 75%, I make sure they have a pack of diapers and if bottle feeding, I will give them a weeks supply of powdered formula, (The hospital doesn't pay for it! What's it to them?)Then I clean out the bed of everything except what we need for a day.

As far as the ambulance, they have put BILLBOARDs up in my area telling people it is not a taxi service. That is how bad it is. And I don't see these billboards out toward the suburbs, they are in the city.

...As far as the ambulance, they have put BILLBOARDs up in my area telling people it is not a taxi service. That is how bad it is. And I don't see these billboards out toward the suburbs, they are in the city.

Did they put billboards in Spanish too?

Have to be equal you know...

Did they put billboards in Spanish too?

Have to be equal you know...

I don't go to that part of the city. :chair:

Specializes in L&D, Postpartum/nursery, high risk antep.

That may have been the first time you saw 911 called for SROM, but I am positive it will not be that last! You'll see 911 calls for SROM, "labor" that turns out to be one contraction every 15 minutes that are so mild you can barely palpate them, "bleeding" that turns out to be a spot no bigger than a nickle on her toilet paper ( which the EMT's will bring you wrapped in a huge reg bag ) after having sex or having a vag exam in the office that day, "pain" that turns out to gas or round ligament stretching, etc, etc, etc! There are alot of uneducated people having babies, lots of overly dramatic women seeking attention from signifcant others, lots of panicky grandma's who tell them to call an ambulance.

Please keep in mind, though, sometimes ambulance calls are for good reason... never believe the report you are getting from dispatch or the EMT's, and NEVER blow off these women, never try to assess them by the looks on their faces as they roll through your door, always assume the worst and assess them until you can prove otherwise!

I have had several over kill ambulance call situations, but I've also seen "my water broke" be complete and crowning on admit, "a little bleeding" be a complete abruption with FHT's in the 50's on arrival, "a headache" be severe preeclampsia, with BP 200's/120's, "pain" be uterine rupture, and sometimes the initial complaint is completely benign but you discover something else in the process of assessing her... the day you assume everything is ok... is the day you will be bitten so hard, you'll feel it for years to come!

Actually, I think that she made a good call compared to some others. I run on a Life Squad as a volunteer EMT-Basic for the city I live in. You would be absolutely amazed at some of the things that people call the Life Squad for. I have been on calls for toothaches, headaches, stomach aches, nose bleeds, small, superficial cuts to the foot, and needing transport to the hospital because they need labs drawn or to see their PCP. It actually is amazing to me what we will sometimes get called for. I guess I was raised differently....you only called the Life Squad if you thought it was a near death situation!!

Not getting involved in the argument as most people I see here on public assistance are hardworking people or immigrants who are doing what they can to survice. My patients are usually very grateful for the care I have given, rich or poor.

But a common way the system can be manipulated is by remaining single. Mom doesn't marry dad, dad doesn't officially live with mom, and mom can collect welfare. Meanwhile dad may have a good job and live with the family. This is how many people on welfare driving Expeditions manage to do this.

I personally know of 2 "system milkers". One, (I am ashamed to admit), is my own cousin. She is 32, and on full disability. She had cancer. It is gone now. Miraculously, they got it all! She has NO symptoms whatsoever, and although she was very sick for about 4 months, after her surgery, the cancer is gone. However, did she give up her check and go back to work? Hell no!! She also wont marry her fiance of 4 years b/c they are living together (unofficially, of course) anyway and if she married him, she would have a smaller check. She has not been to ANY Dr. in over 3 years!! However, when she got on SSD, she was considered terminal. So, they didnt schedule her for review for 7 years. She definately has that sense of entitlement, thinks the world owes her something. She also recieved multiple benefits from the community at the time and raked in $26,000. (Several of the largest donations came from area churches..even though she attends nowhere....Three each gave her $3000 because at that time, they heard she had no insurance and it would be a while before disability came in. She had lied. She DID have insurance, and disability only took a month in her case b/c she was terminal. She also had a cancer policy that paid alot. However, do you think she gave any of it back to them when she didnt need it? NOPE! After her surgery when she was cured, she went on several shopping sprees, plus a cruise, and spent the rest to remodel a house someone gave her (she lived in an old run down trailor and a rich woman passed away and left my cousin her house after she heard she had cancer and was living in a run down trailor.) At the time she was given the house, the cancer was gone!! Did she tell anyone that? Nope!!! It steams me beyond belief!!

Then, the other one I know is on SSD for a "bad back". However, he does manual labor jobs ALL THE TIME, off the books, for cash. What kind of manual labor? Framing houses!!! Yeah, he has a bad back alright!!!!

Sorry for the rant, but as you can see, this is my pet peeve!!! But, suffice it to say, there are LOTS of ways of abusing the system, and unfortunately, anyone with those kind of inclinations will have no trouble figuring them out.

Had a patient who called 911 for her water breaking at full term.

I mentioned it to another nurse who was like "and why are you surprised by that?"

i didn't know people actually did that. Not an emergency!!

maybe she didnt have a car, that i get. but, how did the rest of her family arrive shortly after?

my 3rd child came withing a few min of my water bursting all over the place - could be she just sat around the house with labor ( not me lolol - i am one of the "wimps" as some think of some of us that prefer pain management and getting to the hospital as soon as it starts lol) and when she realized she needed to go now with feelings of pushing - if she hadnt called the ambulance- even if she had family to take her could they have delivered the baby in the car? ive heard of it happening!!

I hate to see people abuse the system. 3 years ago my husband accidentally stabbed himself in the leg while trying to cut a plastic band. He sliced both his artery and vein in his leg and the only thing that slowed the knife down was when it hit his bone. We literally lived 2 minutes away from the hospital, only 1 stop sign between us and the hospital. We called the ambulance because I couldn't get the bleeding to stop. He bled through 3 hand towels in the kitchen and the entire kitchen floor was covered in blood, not to mention it was squirting straight out. It took the ambulance over an HOUR to get there. By the time they got there I had managed to stop the bleeding so the EMT/paramedic (not sure who exactly it was) told him it was fine, wrapped it up and told him he didn't need to go to the hospital. Needless to say 3 years later he has to have surgery because his artery and vein fused together during healing due to the wrapping (according to his surgeon.) Sorry for the off topic vent but I can't help to think that if it weren't for misuse of abulance we could have gotten him proper care and avoided this upcoming surgery. Looking back, I should have just tried to take him myself!

i agree - i drove myself to the hospital once in horrific pain in my rt arm and neck - they checked my heart and said iwas fine asked me what drugs i was on ( due to when i was young id tried to commit suicide - though not funny it is funny they put 2 and 2 a few yrs apart and made 6 , even though i was clean and didnt even drink by then lol) anyhow- gave me a hypo - sent me on my way ( by the way remember i wsa driving?) never made sure i had a ride - i drove off to get my SIL - and her kids- we went to my aunts - by then the hypo wsa wearing off anbd the pain was coming back ten tiimes worse- my aunt assuming the docs werew right and i was nuts refused to call ambulance- so i called - sat outside i was so mad at her. she came out told ambulance guys i was JUST at the ER and doc sent me home and nothing was REALLY wrong - of course they called in and hospital said yeah i was just in and nothing wrong - so they sloowwwlly started on way to hospital as i refused to NOT go - not sure how far from town but i went diaphoretic, pale and vitals went wacky- the last thing i recall is hearing the ambulance driver say holy **** hit the siren and get her in NOW she is going out on us, while they tried to get an iv line in me. the next thing i recall is waking up 2 days later - apparently they JUST made it to surgey as a cyst the size of an orange that was gangrenous ruptured - i ws in hospital for a week or more - and quite ill. never got an apology from the ER doc ( who i did go see on my way out and said so im a drug addict huh? good idea to send me driving oon a hypo idiot!! ) ( shoudl have sued his butt but he retired soon after so i felt vindicated) or the nurses who kept insisting i was just having a reaction to drugs ( hello? anyone think to do a tox screen? idiots - i looked later in life - they never did) anyhow- a series of judgemental docs ( family !!) and ambulance staff near killed me. they assumed cause i had done some stuff when iw as younger i was a drug addict and "frequent flyer" which i wasnt - ONE time in ER with to many drugs and alcohol - by the way not illegal drugs even - well per say - they were legal but not mine so i guess they were illegal in that sense lol - and im a bad person. i am sure frequent flyers who WERE like what they thought i was - was probably a lot to do with the attitude or theyd not have had that attitude. LOL sorry - just had to tell this story as its eaten on me for yrs and seemed a good place to put it. abuse of the system isnt a new issue is another point ( this happened about 18 yrs ago or so - ) and that is why at least our state no onger gives out "welfare" cause to many abused it - sad that a minority ruines it fdor everyone.

Since when is a paramedic able to make a diagnosis??? That is not their job and that is why, unfortunatly, they have to bring everyone in.

there is a good point of ambulance trips- when my grandmother had a stroke and was out of it fighting us she was so confused we drove her to ER figuring we could get her there faster - hospital sent her home cause she refused treatment ( though she was obviously confused , did not know her name or who we were who brought her in - heck she walked to the outside door instead of ER door thinking she was heading into the ER ) we had to go all the way back hom - 20 min drive ( now between getting her in car and driving we have wasted over an hour - called a friend who runs a doc office - she said if sent via ambulance ( wish we had called her first) they HAVE to take in and check them - so we called ambulance- another half hour has gone by now..... she finally got there and was trasfered out via ambulance to a bigger hospital as she was to far gone for the small hospital - cant help but wonder ( she died thankfully in a coma and no pain 2 days later) could she have been saved and lived longer if they HAD treated her when WE took her in. suppose we will never know.

I collapsed at work once (I found out later it was from exhaustion), and I got a bill from the ambulance service.

Do some people get this paid for?

i know some insurances pay but i would think they may pay according to what the emergency is - and if it was really an emergency - at least that might be a good way to stop abusers if they dont do it that way.

You sent him from where?

He called 911 from the ER for what and to go where?

i have seen nursing home residents a - call the desk asking to get an ambulance and once we had one call for one and thankfully when she told them where she was they called us first cause she was quite confused and noting was wrong hahhaa.

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