Paramedics made my father go to hospital

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My father has atrial fibrillation. He has had this for years.

He has been told multiple times what to do in the case of an episode of AF. Today, he had one while I was visiting. It took a long time to pass, so in line with his consultant’s plan my mother called 999, after the usual medications had been given at home.

In the time it took for the paramedics to arrive, the attack passed and when they did arrive, it had been nearly an hour since it had ended.

They still made him go to hospital as they “couldn’t rule out a heart attack”, despite my father insisting that he knows his body, knows what an AF episode feels like and knows when it has passed. All he wanted was to go to bed and sleep off the effects of the beta blockers he had taken.

They still essentially made him go to hospital, saying that they would make him sign forms if he didn’t which showed he had refused medical advice. I was present and the paramedics essentially made it sound as though he would be at the back of the queue if it returned and he needed an ambulance again.

Fast forward 10 hours and he’s still in hospital, no doctors available to read his ECG or his blood test results, and he’s been sleeping in a hard plastic chair. AIBU to think this is ridiculous? Paramedics really shouldn’t be encouraging patients to attend hospital when it’s not necessary.

I mean, it's their job. As a carer I remember one client whose family told me about how he'd never bother, no way etc. The paramedics insisted and he said 'I better do it then'. He loves with a worrying condition, fear must lurk a bit and a change from what he knows is probably unsettling.

There is literally a box for "patient refused to sign" on their paperwork.

So no other patients in the room had obs, meds or bloods done

It’s a disgusting thing to say to someone, especially when they have 0 symptoms of a heart attack. Coercing someone into medical treatment is pretty vile.

OP, on MN you’re not allowed to be anything but grateful for shitty NHS treatment. All NHS people are saints and apparently never ever say or do anything wrong

10 minutes ago it was an insinuation, now they said it. Your not helping your argument by trying to change it to suit what you want people to say!

By the sounds of it no! I’ve dipped in and out through the day but I’ve had children of my own to run around after.

So why have you changed your story, what's your agenda here?

Upthread you said..... "When he was leaning towards not going, they insinuated that if he had a heart attack today, another ambulance wouldn’t be sent."

But now they actually said it? 🙄

What exactly did they say? I'm very sceptical that they said no ambulance would be sent if he had a heart attack.....

it just makes me so angry. Fair enough if he had been seen as fast as they said, but he has languished there all day.

So why didn't you find a staff member and tell them he wants to be discharged. Bloody hell

I ended up going into cardiac arrest as the paramedics pulled up outside A&E. I'm only alive because of timing. What if they had listened to my ex husband who insisted I just need to relax and have a cup of tea and let it pass? I wouldn't be here to tell you that the paramedics absolutely did the right thing by your dad.
I have chronic AF. AF can lead to heart attack/arrest or stroke and yes, for the most part, we sort of live with it and know how to manage it but there's always that risk of it growing teeth and claws.
Your dad is in the best place. An acute medical unit is a perfectly reasonable place for him to be. I know it's not fun and it's a long wait and the rest. But he needs to be there, OP. Be glad today was not his very last episode of AF and that he's being looked after.

Its not an uber - if you don't want an ambulance don't call one - the fact it took so long is because they are really busy and you have essentially wasted their time if you didn't want them there - but then to complain that you may not be a priority if you called again having ignored their medical advice - have you heard of the boy that called wolf

Then why the need for signing in the first place if they can just tick a box?

Funnily enough he’s threatened a PALS complaint and they’ve magicked a doctor up to check his bloods. Quelle surprise, no heart attack and he can come home. Awful, awful treatment.

But either you don’t believe that, in which case who cares what they say? Ignore them, and complain about the inaccurate information. I don’t see why you’d go in.
Or you do believe that, in which case probably sensible to go in - and if you do believe that’s the policy, it wouldn’t be the fault of the paramedics.

He does not need to be there. Chronic AF can be a risk factor, but only if it is chronic. Not a transient episode, like this one. I think half the issue is the paramedics have never heard of it so don’t know how to treat it.

You both sound awful people

I know making sure he was safe. Shocking how dare they!

Yeah but can you tell us why one minute they 'insuated' he wouldn't get a second ambulance and then the next they actually said it?

You’re changing your story as the thread goes on.

At the beginning it was “they made it sound like”

Half way through the paramedics were “insinuating”

Now “they said an ambulance wouldn’t be sent…”

I maintain, one of you should have cancelled the ambulance if you didn’t want their services.

Did they mean that they expected to be really busy later because of the event and waiting times? Of course they wouldn't refuse your father treatment because he didn't go the first time.

You should have cancelled the ambulance in the hour between the attack ending and the ambulance arriving. Why didn't you?

Well obviously it’s not policy to not send an ambulance to someone having a heart attack! But it’s not me, what was I going to do? Hold him back? They bullied him into saying yes.

I think he threatened to remove the cannula himself. He was fed up. The health system really is breaking down and when you experience it close up you get it. I'm surprised the ambulance crew insisted on his admission. Most crews would discuss with my husband and would leave him at home if at all possible. Sometimes he'd outright refuse. I'm sorry you're going through this.

Well they weren’t doing that. They left him sitting alone on a fucking plastic chair for 10 hours