A&E could charge to treat binge drinkers after night out

[MrsKittyFane]

AIBU to think it may be a good idea or am I being heartless?

charge for abortions when contraception has not been used?

Think of all the tax they're paying when they but the booze! Seriously, whenever I hear these arguments, whether it's smokers or drinkers, they are paying a lot extra into the system for a long while before they get health issues!

Also what stranded says, where do you draw the line, skiing accidents, at-fault car crashes, attempted suicides? We should look after for everyone free at the point of care, as a civilised society. This would be the start of a slippery slope towards the USA's model of healthcare, where if you don't have money you don't get looked after, and that's not something I want to see happen here. Unfortunately, with this government, I'm quite pessimistic about the future of our NHS

YABU!

Sports injuries? DIY injuries? Work injuries?

Privatisation via the back door.

Smokers and drinkers pay more in tax than the cost of all thier treatment on the NHS.

In the long run they actually save the NHS money by dying sooner and not costing the earth in elderly care.

YABU

I can see why the OP posted it. I am fed up with town centres full of pissed up arses fighting and puking then blocking A&E preventing people with seizures, heart attacks etc getting in. We waited 45 mins one saturday night and the paramdeics told us it was because of the drunks and fights. 45 mins with a child having a seizure. I do not feel sympathetic towards those who go out and get pissed out of their minds.

Agree with those who say it's the thin end of the wedge. I took a bad e when i was 17 and ended up in hospital. If they would have charged me i probably wouldn't have gone, or my friends may not have called the ambulance. I may have died in that circumstance.

Great idea. not only do they take EMERGENCY care away from other people who may be more needy, they vomit, piss everywhere and make a night out very unpleasant.
By all means go out and have a good time but why make it horrible for the rest of us who are also taxpayers!
disgrace to the UK

How would they collect it, though? It would be unworkable.

Yeah fine but then let's charge smokers, over eaters, sunbed users, cyclists/motorists/pedestrians, people who fail to use contraception whether planned or not, drug takers, suicide attempts etc etc.

yabu, introducing charges for drunken accident victims is a blanket approach which doesn't address the problem at all. Much much much better to approach the problem from the other end, better education, higher charges for alcohol, prosecution for a bar licencee who knowingly serves alcohol to someone who is obviously very drunk and then goes on to commit a crime/cause an accident. There's a whole range of approaches to tackle the drink problem, charging people at A&E isn't it.

The collecting of it is another issue. You'd have to treat the person in the first instance, then what - bill them? What if they don't pay, debt collectors? CCJs? Bailiffs? Do you really want to live in a society that will persecute it's people like this, get them blacklisted and thrown out of their homes because they couldn't afford basic healthcare?

Have none of you ever done stupid things when you were young, got too pissed and ended up in a state? I know I did, and although never needed to be hospitalised it may have been pure luck rather than anything else. I know there is an issue with alcohol in this country, but i really don't think this is the way forward.

Maybe the focus should be on trying to change the drinking culture, be more like France and allow our youngsters to have a little wine earlier at home, so they learn about how to handle it in a safe environment. The way I learnt about it was as soon as I got the urge when I was 14 or so, me and a friend raided the drinks cabinet of her mum and mixed everything together. Not a good result! I do think that if I'd had a little regularly at home it wouldn't have had that forbidden allure, and I'd have known how much was too much too!

There's a difference between someone who has an an accident (e.g. car crash or sporting accident etc.) and someone who deliberately goes out with the intention of getting drunk, behaving like a pillock, and making life a misery for everyone else. If people want to drink alcohol and donate tax to the government, they can do that quite happily without wrecking town centres, vomiting, fighting and ending up in hospital. I'd love to see those morons charged and fined and made to face up to their stupidity for once.

www.dh.gov.uk/en/Managingyourorganisation/NHSInjuryCostRecovery/DH_4000509

the NHS already cliams on motering accidents under the The Road Traffic (NHS Charges) Act 1999

Yes yes yes - bloody charge them. It's disgusting how much A&E time they take up.

Agree with Spuddybean - remembering how broke I was in my own youth, drunks may not be able to afford the charge so may not seek help if they need to. That would just make problems worse.

all those saying charge them, have you never ever ever had too much to drink? And if say one of those super rare times you accidentally had too much to drink you tripped off a kerb and broke your ankle would you hand on heart be 100% happy to cough up for your medical costs?

People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

I think they should charge the drinks industry.

I tripped and fell on a bottle and cut my knee quite deeply once. DP and I turned up at casualty dressed as batman and robin a'la Only Fools and Horses

there is too many reason why someone ended up in hospital because of drink related problems.

a) council didn't attend an issue of a pothole, someone drunk crosses the road and didn't see the pothole.

b) sensible drinker get attacked on a nightout.

c) someone who has a a few over the safe drinking limit gets spiked

Would also increase the violence in a and e as drunks kick off that they shouldn't be charged as their not drunk, they were set upon, the kerb was too high etc

YABU. Too much potential for the death of innocents. Some medical conditions mimic being drunk and what if you've been drinking and end up needing medical attention through no fault of your own?

do other European countries have this culture of going out with the intention of getting so drunk you dont know your own name? I've not seen it in Spain, Italy, France...