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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to think this was ludicrous abuse of the emergency services

60 replies

LifeIsButtercream · 26/07/2011 13:58

Ok, Disclaimer - there may have been underlying medical issues but I personally didn't see any evidence of them in this situation.

I was at the park with DD (2), when another two mothers arrived, each with a child I'm guessing 3ish in age. They park their buggies up at a bench a few metres away from me. DD is running about in shorts, trips up and skins her knee, nothing drastic, I'm cleaning and patching her up and comforting her when this happens:

Child of one of the mothers falls over and grazes her face, I think from what I saw it was her bottom lip, the mother picks her up and literally screams into her face, then brings her over to their bench in a slight flap and says to her friend: "Euergh, I can't deal with blood it makes me feel sick", the other agrees and says she can't either, the childs mother hands a tissue to her bleeding daughter and gets up to make a phone call. I pause in patching DD and come over to see if I can help. The other mother waves me away and says that her friend is 'calling someone'.

She was calling......... an AMBULANCE

Meanwhile her daughter had stopped crying (she wasn't very distressed) and was calmly sitting with her tissue on her mouth. The mother finishes on the phone and talks to her friend about how she can't bear to look at her child with blood on them and 'the paramedics will deal with her'. She then has a few fags to calm her nerves.

My DD at this point runs off and I have to go after her, but a lot of me wanted to offer to take a look at their daughter (I'm a first aider) and if needed patch her up incase she doesnt really need an ambulance (can you cancel an ambulance?) but I have to catch up with DD.

A few minutes later an ambulance arrives and ferries both mothers and their children away.

AIBU in thinking this wasn't really an ambulance-requiring situation? I've never had to call one so I don't know, and for all I know there could be medical conditions that would make a small cut into a dangerous situation, but it didn't seem that way!

Oh, and yes, I know I should mind my own business......

OP posts:

A1980 · 27/07/2011 00:30

Poweredbypepsi Don't be embarrassed at all. The possibility your baby may have choked to death was a totally valid reason to call for an ambulance. What if you hadn't and the food didn't dislodge? It doesn't bear thinking about. Also she wasnt right for a few days afterwards, so you 100% did the right thing that could have been very serious.

oldenoughtowearpurple · 27/07/2011 00:36

Pepsi your call was completely justified (IMHO).

In some areas ambulance crews have to take under 2s to hospital; in most areas a crew has to take you in if you want to go although they can advise you not to go and leave you at home if you want to. They would only have taken them to hospital, not home or anywhere else. If the mum insisted it would probably have been quicker and easier to take them in than try to convince them not to go. Of course it may be that they thought she needed a&e or the local walk in.

If you've called an ambulance and the situation changes you can tell them you don't need them anynmore (just redial 999).

I think the statistics are something like one in ten calls for ambulance actually needs immediate medical attention and four in ten actually need a ambulance - the rest could get there safely and quickly under their own steam or don't need to be at hospital at all.

A1980 · 27/07/2011 00:36

Here you have to pay 110? to go to A&E.

I don't pay anything to go to A&E but I've been once in my adult life and I was genuinely very ill and was admitted overnight.

I was at A&E once as a child too, for a serious playground accident and ended up in hospital for a few days.

Most people would not abuse A&E even though they don't have to pay upfront (in addition to what they pay in NI) but that doesn't mean we should all be penalised with charges becasue of idiots who can't deal with themsleves. The idiots should be charged for non essential trips there.

kateyjane · 27/07/2011 00:41

I had a really interesting chat to a lovely paramedic when transferring my son between hospitals. He said one of the most frequent call outs they have is for parents whose children had been sick (as in D&V) and the parents couldn't deal with it! According to the Local Health Authority policy they have to take a child under 2 to A&E regardless of the reason.They have a great deal more patience and empathy than I have!

brighthair · 27/07/2011 01:58

I've been working tonight taking 999 calls...

Lovesicecream · 27/07/2011 03:34

I know someone who phoned an ambulance because their child was bitten by a hamster , barely even grazed the skin, still she insisted that they take them to the hospital

toomuchmonthatendofthemoney · 27/07/2011 03:46

ooooh brighthair, go on, do tell !!! bet you have some cracking stories!!

toomuchmonthatendofthemoney · 27/07/2011 03:46

and yes i think the woman in the OP was a loon, and think charging is not a bad idea at all...

girlsyearapart · 27/07/2011 03:57

Yanbu op.
I had to call an ambulance for my 2 yr old the other day & felt a bit of a fraud doing it..
She has allergic reactions & started having one with eye swelling shut & going down to the side of her mouth.
It was quite a slow reaction and not her worst by far but because her previous reaction a few weeks before was pretty bad the paediatrician said we had to phone 999 as soon as any reaction began.

So I phoned and said about 5 times I was sorry to waste their time they told us to give epipen & by the time the crew arrived it had worked.
They took us in as still a bit swollen & to monitor after effects of adrenaline shot but we couldve chosen not to go.

They said that about 80% of their call outs were totally unnecessary for an ambulance - though apparently not our call though I did feel like it was!

Groovee · 27/07/2011 08:54

When my now 14 year old niece was 1, she cut her finger. Her mum dialled 999 and had her and her sister collected. My sister works in A&E at the children's hospital and was horrified to see our 3 year old niece stood in front of her smiling and the ambulance crew whispered to my sister "lovely kids, shame about the mother!" My brother's ex was so drunk which was why the ambulance crew brought them in. So there was my sister having to deal with 2 nieces and keep her temper at their mother who was so out her face, kept having digs at my sister. Eventually my mum was called to go and pick up the girls and she removed the "bottle of coke" which was in her bag. But my sister says it's very common and that many foreigners just turn up at A&E at 6pm with their baby who hasn't eaten their tea (true, I heard it for myself when dd fell and hurt her elbow) or has a cold and claim the GP has sent them without a letter.

BumWiper · 27/07/2011 09:24

I am going to play devils advocate here because I have been that mother calling an ambulance for a ''cut''.In fact DC has a blood clotting disorder which means the most minor of injuries can cause massive blood loss.A cut lip could mean a blood transfusion.Maybe this womans child had similar and that is why the paramedics took the child in.

I have had the catsbum face when DC fell in the shopping centre and an ambulance was called straight away.All it looked like was a little nosebleed.By the time it arrived,maybe 10 mins,her top was soaked,we had to use towels and her eyes were streaming blood.

The slightest knock can cause huge amounts of blood loss and not always on the outside.DC may seem well but may have internal bleeding.Im sure people think I am a super over protective parent.My new neighbours thought that when they saw the ambulance outside my house twice in their first week and a seemingly fine DC being loaded into the back.They mentioned the ambulances and I explained about DC and that I am now on first name terms with most paramedics.I don't even need to give details to emergency services anymore.Just my DC name is enough.

BTW if you can please donate blood.Without blood donors my child would die.

LineRunner · 27/07/2011 09:39

They wouldn't take the other mother and child though in the back of the ambulance.

fastweb · 27/07/2011 09:42

Here you have to pay 110? to go to A&E

I clocked the name ( ) and guessed we are in the same place. We've never been charged for an ambulance, and god knows we use them often enough (slight issue with MIL's health). Is that only if they deem the calling unnecessary, or if you get the professionals rather than the volunteer service ?

bumpsoon · 27/07/2011 09:50

Most A&E departments have a book full of ludicrous phone calls /attendances to the department , i spent a very very quiet shift reading it once , wished i hadnt though ,because the next day i ached from laughing so much .

Cyclebump · 27/07/2011 09:54

Unfortunately this story doesn't surprise me at all.

I've been to A&E quite a few times for various family members and twice for myself. We've only called an ambulance once to get there and it was a serious cut to the wrist that was spurting blood so the crew said it was completely the right decision.

What always shocks me is the attitude of people to the staff and other patients. It's disgusting. The sense of entitlement to care because you have a snotty nose is horrible. Last time I was there a young couple ran in with their tiny baby, it was purple from not breathing properly and they'd driven in themselves. They were, of course, immediately descended on by doctors and whisked through to the treatment area. What made me angry was that a couple of people in the waiting room then went to the front desk to complain that 'they'd been there first'! Aaaaaaargh!

Rant over.

Rhian82 · 27/07/2011 09:56

My understanding is that if ambulance staff refuse to take someone to hospital, and that person later has further complications, the ambulance staff will be in very serious trouble. So generally ambulance staff will never refuse to take someone to hospital, even if they know it's ridiculous. It's fair enough really, I think I'd do the same, especially if it was a child.

TruthSweet · 27/07/2011 09:57

DD3 was transferred from local walk-in centre to big regional hospital with paeds A&E with bronchiolitis at about 3m, she needed continuous oxygen so we weren't allowed to drive her ourselves, she got admitted for 1 week and had a NG tube for part of the time.

Paramedic and I got to talking about daft call outs and he told me about one which was called through as a dog bite. It turned out the dog had basically knicked the skin so the 'bite' was smaller than a paper cut and not bleeding .

And I was worried about wasting the hospital's time....

LineRunner · 27/07/2011 09:58

Yes, but they wouldn't take the other mother and the other child in the back of the ambulance.

Kladdkaka · 27/07/2011 09:58

My dad was at the doctors once and the doctor called an ambulance for him. He was so embarassed about putting them out and kept insisting that he could drive himself to the hospital. The doctor was having none of it. The silly old sod was having a heart attack.

slowshow · 27/07/2011 10:03

It's a horrendous abuse of the emergency services (with the emphasis on emergency) but sadly fairly representative of the petty crap paramedics have to deal with on a daily basis. Someone linked to the Random Acts of Reality Blog - this blog also tells you all you need to know about the tiny injuries that end in an ambulance trip. I don't know how they do it

theparamedicsdiary.blogspot.com/2011/07/help-aged.html

soverylucky · 27/07/2011 10:32

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Kveta · 27/07/2011 10:49

when DS was about 8 months old, he pulled a cup of boiling hot chocolate over himself in an M+S cafe - now, my response (as a lapsed first-aider) was to whip his trousers off (they were v. thick trousers) and get him under a cold tap in the baby change room, which I did, and he seemed fine. M+S cafe people did the following:

call 999 and get ambulance and police to attend. (so 2 paramedics, and 2 PCs)
one of them called her friend, a policeman, and he arrived (plainclothes) with his colleague.
2 M+S first aiders were called to the scene.

the store manager was called to the scene.

DS had a small red mark on his leg, about the size of a 5 p piece, and it looked (to me) like it wasn't going to blister (it didn't; in fact it had gone by the time we walked the 15 minutes back home later). That was all. But still, the paramedics had to do all the paperwork, they insisted on checking him all over, giving him calpol and the police had to take notes, and photograph the scene (not joking).

It was an absolute farce, and all about arse-covering by M+S. the paramedics said they could take us to hospital if I wanted, but it was up to me. I chose not to go!! But did have to sit in the back of the ambulance on our town high street, with the doors open, feeding DS (who wanted the whole world to see my boobs that day! wriggly sod :o), whilst locals rubbernecked their way past us.

Had we been at home, nobody would have been called.

I apologised so profusely to the paramedics I think they wanted me to shut up in the end. But that was also a colossal abuse of the emergency services, and still pisses me off that it happened.

so, IMO, YANBU!!

AlpinePony · 27/07/2011 10:49

soverylucky "Maternataxi" is I believe the technical term!

Kladdkaka You've just reminded me of a time I went to the doctor and was made to wait in the waiting room until the ambulance (not the "emergency" one, the kind of "lie-down-in-a-blacked-out-window-taxi" one would take me to hospital. I was absolutely mortified and worse of all - sat in the bloody waiting room was recognised and as you can imagine the rumours were RIFE! (Tonsilitis with trouble breathing, but really... my boyfriend could've driven me.)

lashingsofbingeinghere · 27/07/2011 11:19

We do see

Cyclebump · 27/07/2011 11:26

Ah maternataxis...

I don't drive and was shocked when my friends all assumed I'd call an ambulance when I went into labour. My mum drove us, I would have called a cab if she hadn't been around.

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