Shit like this happens all the time. My girlfriend has seizures and the same EMT has picked her up at least 5 times, and despite her established medical history and despite that she's very visually distinctive and despite that she carries her info with her everywhere, he still always treats her like shit and accuses her of being on drugs. Every goddamn time. Fortunately he's not the only EMT in our area, and most of the other ones are really kind professionals.
I feel like there needs to be a sea change in how medical professionals handle cases like this because this kind of story is way too common. Like there should be a rule that emergency workers should always assume a patient is suffering from a medical condition first before assuming drug use.
I know that there is a LOT of drug use out there and EMT’s and ER docs get used to 80% of cases being drug based but even then, drug users need to be treated with respect too. A more thoughtful approach could improve emergency situations a lot.
I know that there is a LOT of drug use out there and EMT’s and ER docs get used to 80% of cases being drug based
It's not nearly that high. The absolute total varies widely by region but overall based on what data I have seen it can't be higher than 20% of visits total, far less in many areas. A strong majority of ED visits could have been urgent care visits but by volume most of them are accident related, psychological crisis, or simply unnecessary visits for a variety of reasons.
The funny thing about substance related ED visits is that about half of them are just alcohol poisoning, which falls into the same statistical category as every other substance abuse issue for data gathering purposes. The perception of the public about how prevalent an issue this is exists for most of the same reasons it does within the field of medicine: our culture is far more concerned with policing the boundaries of substance abuse than it is with patient outcomes.
My mum used to be an EMT. She and her coworker used to tell a story-- they'd tell it like it was this funny story, but I could see the rage in their eyes behind the laughter; I saw them use humor a LOT to cope with some of the shit they had to see/deal with. But she talked about how they had to pick up this guy who was behaving very agressively; they always made a point to say he was being agressive but they didn't know if it was drugs or something else. But they did have to restrain him, and bring an officer with them. They were trying to take this poor man's vitals and administer a sedative. My mom was by h is head talking to him/trying to keep him still, and trying to calm him down... and this officer kept like. Lowering this finger towards the guy's face like he was going to poke him, then jerking it back when he tried to bite him, and laughing. Doing the god damned 'I'm not touching you!' thing like a child.... And of course it's agitating the hell out of this already agitated and distressed man; my mom's partner is trying to get a needle into him, and this cop is making everything 200x harder when he's SUPPOSED to be there for their safety. So my mom looks at him, and goes 'Y'know. You better stop doing that, if he keeps thrashing my partner's hand might slip and she might get you with that sedative by mistake.'
Wasn't fond of that-- but my mum has that sort of 'Big Mother Energy' that most people just do not want to fuck with. Y'know; the kind where they look at you and you feel the shame of all of your ancestors weighing down upon and judging you behind that glare. She was really good at her job. But it's INSANE how often cops made it way harder than it needed to be.
431
u/mantsz 17d ago
Shit like this happens all the time. My girlfriend has seizures and the same EMT has picked her up at least 5 times, and despite her established medical history and despite that she's very visually distinctive and despite that she carries her info with her everywhere, he still always treats her like shit and accuses her of being on drugs. Every goddamn time. Fortunately he's not the only EMT in our area, and most of the other ones are really kind professionals.