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Passengers Who Call Uber Instead Of An Ambulance Put Drivers At Risk (buzzfeed.com)

Sick people are increasingly using ride-hail to get to the emergency room, putting drivers in an uncomfortable position and a potentially tricky legal bind, BuzzFeed News reports. From the report: Mike Fish was driving for Uber 10 minutes outside of Boston when he picked up a second passenger in his Uber Pool who, he said, seemed "out of it, drowsy -- almost sedated." When the drowsy passenger asked him if Boston's Mass General hospital was the nearest emergency room, "that set off a red flag," Fish told BuzzFeed News. "I said, 'Do you need the ER?' He said yes. It came out that, over the last few days, he'd been passing out and losing consciousness." But instead of calling an ambulance to get the urgent medical attention he needed, the sick passenger called an Uber Pool. The shared ride would save him a few bucks, but it meant he'd have to wait for Fish to drop off the first passenger before he'd get to the ER. "I was a little nervous," Fish said. "I didn't know what was going to happen."

Ride-hail drivers are, by and large, untrained, self-employed workers driving their own cars on a part-time basis. They're not medical professionals. But as health care costs have risen and ride-hail has become more pervasive, people are increasingly relying on Uber and Lyft drivers to get them to the hospital when they need emergency care. A recent (yet to be peer-reviewed) study found that, after Uber enters new markets, the rates of ambulance rides typically go down, meaning fewer people call professionals in favor of the cheaper option.

5 of 334 comments (clear)

  1. More like $15-$25 vs $500-$1000+ by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    More like $15-$25 vs $500-$1000+ more then a few bucks.

    1. Re:More like $15-$25 vs $500-$1000+ by sinij · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Getting sick in US often means bankruptcy, nearly certain if you are under insured. So extra $1K for an ambulance ride on top of $100K+ for a short hospital stay won't matter - you are about to be bankrupt and homeless anyways. Better ask them to drop you off at the nearest bridge, so you can jump off it.

    2. Re: More like $15-$25 vs $500-$1000+ by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 5, Informative

      I got a *copay* bill once for a transport from one hospital to another (4 miles) of $2300. The full bill was $3500. This was a municipal ambulance run by a paid fire department. I drove the injured kid to the first ER and the hospital staff did nothing to stabilize, nor did the ambulance crew. It took them 15 minutes to arrive too (10 minute drive to the other hospital). $0 value.

      I can't blame anybody who calls a taxi for anything that doesn't need on-scene EMS.

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
    3. Re:More like $15-$25 vs $500-$1000+ by gnick · · Score: 5, Insightful

      They dicked around with him for like 45 minutes before they finally loaded him into the ambulance...

      I wasn't there for your incident, but a lot of the "dicking around with the patient before loading him" is the reason you call EMTs instead of Uber. Getting the patient to the hospital as quickly as possible isn't necessarily as important as getting the patient stabilized before transport.

      --
      He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
  2. Secret bills passed by XXongo · · Score: 5, Informative

    They had to vote on the ACA bill first before they could find out what was in it.

    Yes... the Democrats passed the ACA after 79 hearings, and about two months of discussion, including multiple amendments from Republicans: https://mic.com/articles/17630...

    I was paying attention to the Republican complaint at how "quickly" ACA was passed right up until I saw how they decided to do in the "repeal and replace" bill, which was NO hearings, a bill written in secret, and an attempt to pass the bill before the budget office even stated what the cost would be.

    Not to mention provisions being added to the bill handwritten in the margins overnight before voting... which no senators or representatives actually admitted to adding https://www.vox.com/policy-and....

    The Republicans did everything that they accused the Democrats of doing, but even more so.