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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think that anybody who bowls up at A&E to have drink-induced damage to themselves repaired...

77 replies

duchesse · 26/05/2011 16:04

...should be charged a token but significant £100 by the hospital? Might make em a bit wary of pissing away £50+ on drink then taking on the first person that eyes em up wrong? AIBU?

OP posts:
MrSpoc · 26/05/2011 16:08

good idea.

Now lets do it for smokers, druggies, ice hockey players, ballet dancers and oh nearly forget, dollies too.

sausagesandmarmelade · 26/05/2011 16:09

Not good....

As it will deter them from seeking medical help

fairydoll · 26/05/2011 16:11

do you feel the same about sports injuries, op?

LineRunner · 26/05/2011 16:13

Impossible to implement and enforce.

How about taxing the alcohol industry's profits a bit more?

CogitoErgoSometimes · 26/05/2011 16:14

YABU to put this at the foot of A&E staff. However, I think the police could make a few quid if they dusted off the Drunk and Disorderly legislation and handed out spot fines. And maybe we could reintroduce the idea of fining licensees for keeping on serving alcohol to drunks? All proceeds to the cash-strapped NHS, naturally.

adelaidegirl · 26/05/2011 16:14

I work in A&E. I would say 90% of our patients have something in some way self inflicted- drunk, overdoses, overweight, smokers, sports injuries, stupidity, pregnancy.

While I agree with your sentiments in many ways and it makes me really annoyed that people don't take responsibility for their actions it is just too hard to draw a line and say where it is someones own fault they are there.

Plus it is the people who waste the NHS resources by calling an ambulance because they can't be bothered to drive/get a lift/pay for a taxi that get me really mad! At least 50% of the people who call the big yellow taxi cannot even vaguely justify it.

AgentZigzag · 26/05/2011 16:16

How about people who try to commit suicide?

Pah, leave them too it, their own fault for not being right in the head Hmm

Oh and DIY injuries, crashes in the car, people getting run over, children running around blatently courting a broken leg etc etc etc.

Just shut the hospitals down and save the cash.

MonstaMunch · 26/05/2011 16:16

what about the kid who has parents that cant be bothered to watch them adequately and they get into the bleach/contraceptive pills/knocked down

:)

sausagesandmarmelade · 26/05/2011 16:17

What about over-eaters...and those who eat a crap diet?

Don't agree with higher taxes on alcohol. Why should those who drink sensibly be penalised.

PaperView · 26/05/2011 16:19

If you think hard enough you can probably find a way to make every single person in A&E pay a fine....burnt yourself? SHouldn't have pit the hob on......slipped in the ice? Should have stayed in.

LineRunner · 26/05/2011 16:22

I said tax the profits. The alcohol industry makes billions in profits. It doesn't have to raise prices.

BimboNo5 · 26/05/2011 16:23

They should be properly punished by the judicial system not the health system which is there to treat people not be judge and jury.

CogitoErgoSometimes · 26/05/2011 16:24

The OP raises a serious point, even if the solution is a little wide of the mark. Alcohol is a big factor, not just in self-inflicted injuries but also assaults on others including. And the problem seems to be on the increase. Take alcohol out of the mix and the average A&E unit would be a very different place on the typical Saturday night. Leaving aside the unworkable £100 hospital fee idea for a second, how do we get people to drink more responsibly and not end up harming themselves and others and landing the NHS with a big bill? Higher drink prices? Education? Raising the drinking age? Stiffer fines for being drunk and disorderly?

Original poster
duchesse · 26/05/2011 16:25

Most of your examples are just not the same are they though? If you drink to excess, possibly several times a week, you are almost certainly going to end up suffering ill-health through it, even if you don't get run down by a bus in the town, need stitches from falling over or ending up in a fight, trip over the curb because you are stumbling about. If you routinely drink to excess, teh chances are that one way or another you will come to grief.

Riding a horse or even a motorbike, or climbing, or dancing, or DIY, riding in cars, all have potential and actual benefits and advantages. I cannot see a single redeeming feature of excess alcohol. And I would say that one is unlikely to end up in A&E through smoking. And children accessing bleach or whatever through parental neglect are already protected by the laws on child neglect.

Drugs are another matter, as there is it seems a high degree of dependency. Of course people with a physiological addiction to alcohol need help and treatment. My scheme is about the people who drink heavily as a hobby.

OP posts:
southeastastra · 26/05/2011 16:26

yeah fuck em

cannydoit · 26/05/2011 16:28

nearly died in a and e because it was friday night and it was full of piss heads and drugies and they didnt have the staff to see to me, quietly bleeding to death in the corner from a miscarriage. in some ways i didnt mind because one of the guys did die and i didnt and in some ways i did because i came closer to dying than i should have.
makes me angry but there isnt a whole heap you can do about it must drugies and piss heads are not going to have 100 quid on them to pay a fine.

mosschops30 · 26/05/2011 16:30

There is a huge difference i think to what the OP means and what everyone is postng.
We accept that there are alcoholics, smokers, drug abusers, self harmers etc and these people all need help and neec to be treated.
However what i think OP is alluding to is the vast amount of pissed 15-35 year olds who end up in A&E on friday/saturday night having fallen over drunk, got in a fight etc etc.
If those people were charged a fee maybe they would think twice before rolling up to a&e for a cuppa and a chair

BimboNo5 · 26/05/2011 16:31

Canny those 'druggies and piss heads' are skin and bone just like yourself. They have as much right to be treated as you or anyone else in need.

Thingumy · 26/05/2011 16:34

leave them in the gutter to die.

Hmm
QueenStromba · 26/05/2011 16:34

People would wait until they've sobered up instead which could be dangerous if e.g. the person has a head injury or cost the NHS more money if they end up needing physiotherapy because they've made an injury worse by not having it seen to straight away. You also can't tell for sure if someone who is drunk and injured is injured because they are drunk. Do you get charged if you have a couple of pints and then get run over by someone who was driving dangerously. The idea is dangerous and impractical. There would be all sorts of additional admin costs involved in taking the payments, chasing people who haven't paid and dealing with appeals from people who claimed that alcohol did not contribute to their accident - it would cost more to administer then they would gain by charging. You'd also need to breathalyse everyone that came into A&E which would use up precious resources that the NHS is lacking.

And why not stop with drunks? How about we start charging for maternity services too? The vast majority of pregnant women either got pregnant on purpose or made the decision to have sex which they knew could lead to them getting pregnant. Why not also charge schizophrenics who stopped taking their meds? How about people who tried to commit suicide or their families in the case where they died after having some medical treatment? And naturally diabetics who've eaten not been able to control their eating sufficiently should have to pay for their own foot amputations.

EduStudent · 26/05/2011 16:34

Okay, OP, real-life scenario.

My cousin went out on her birthday and ended up in A&E after she got drunk and fell over, dislocating her kneecap.

However, she found out afterwards she has underdeveloped muscles in her knees and has been having physiotherapy for the last 6 months.

So, should she have been fined £100 because she fell over drunk and injured herself, or would she have been excused because it was actually an injury she could have incurred at any time, had she stumbled awkwardly?

It is just completely unworkable.

southeastastra · 26/05/2011 16:35

or maybe bars and clubs could stop selling shots and spirits so cheaply or stop selling to clearly drunk people. or maybe make them pay, though some do have private medics already afaik

AmazingBouncingFerret · 26/05/2011 16:36

It is not the "druggies and pissheads" fault that you weren't seen in good time. It's the fact that the NHS is overworked and understaffed.

PaperView · 26/05/2011 16:41

Canny - everyone in A&E is triaged according to need.

Being drunk doesn't mean you get seen any quicker, you are seen according to seriousness of injury.

What about the people who are a bit tipsy and have an accident thru no fault of their own? ie a bit unsteady on their feet and waiting for a cab outside a pub/club to go home and someone trips them up and they break their arm? (this was an actual injury i witnessed btw)

sausagesandmarmelade · 26/05/2011 16:46

If those people were charged a fee maybe they would think twice before rolling up to a&e for a cuppa and a chair

yeah...maybe they'd go home and die of alcohol poisoning instead because they couldn't afford the £100 fee

It's a ridiculous argument...not thought out at all.

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