In ironic coincidence with the 50th anniversary of the Woolworth lunch counter sit – in down in Greensboro, NC (the counter and stools are part of the Smithsonian now), I had a patient who staged his own sit – in, albeit under less noble circumstances. He marched into a local diner and plopped himself down at the lunch counter and demanded to be served. He was refused. He then broke into loud protest and the police were called. When they arrived he was passed out face-down on the counter, retching and sinking up the place. See, this place had a segregation policy. They would not serve drunks who slobbered all over the counter and yelled curses at other customers. Personally I am in favour of such policies.
When I got him, he was in full protest mode. I served him myself. With a delicious cocktail of Haldol and Ativan!
Hey, if alcoholism ish an illness, then aren’t you discriminating against ush sick people?
Well, I think it IS, but you wouldn’t serve someone with, erm, symptomatic norovirus either, would you? Anyhow the patient got better service from ERP. Vitamin A *and* vitamin H simultaneously! Yum!
While is it sad, it is a reminder for those of us who got sober that that could be us.
Thank you for posting on this subject.
Another sober day!
….and HOW is this different from idiots marching into the ER and demanding free “medical” care for non-existent “illnesses”??
And aren’t we in the medical field discrimating by not giving everyone the hot, fresh servings of MRI and morphine that they WANT, with a safe, comfortable bed to nap in and a ride home for dessert….all at NO charge, of course??
Whether we get paid for OUR effort of not is immaterial as long everyone else gets what they want, when they want it!!
Makes you wonder why the cops didn’t just throw him in the drunk tank if he was conscious and in full protest mode when you got him – they probably didn’t want to deal with him. Another misuse of the the ER – dumping grounds for the cops for pain-in-the-ass citizenry.
@ Pattie, RN
“Whether we get paid for OUR effort of not is immaterial as long everyone else gets what they want, when they want it!!”
What, you don’t get paid for your effort? The hospital (or wherever you work) deducts the cost of free services from your PERSONAL paycheck?
BULLSHIT!
do what the psych hospitals do and add some Thorazine for good measure!
ACZ…or AZZ, to be concise: It is difficult to muster a rebuttal to your well thought out and clearly indexed response regarding the sufficeincy of payment for emergent care as mandated by EMTALA. Please continue to dazzle us with your insight, ability to extrapolate data, and your firm grasp of rhetoric. However, a brief review of literature on this subject might significantly aid your understanding in the future.