Maybe the connection is defensive medicine or maybe there are something about the expectations that seem relevant to medical malpractice, or maybe I’m just being too imaginative. But this jumped out at me:
I explain exactly how this is a waste of an ambulance, especially as how the hospital is 800 yards away from the woman’s address. I suggest that a taxi would have been more appropriate. I could explain how people who are actually ill are now waiting for an ambulance while she gets a free ride to hospital. I could refuse to take her.
Then I get a complaint, then I get fired.
The writer, not being stupid, doesn’t do any of the things described above and so getst to keep his job. And he actually makes the defensive medicine connection explicit.
The problem is this, the people up in Control aren’t allowed to use the 3lb of grey squishy stuff nestled between their ears to determine how important a call is. They have to mindlessly follow a computer script, if they deviate from the script they’ll miss out on any chances for promotion.
While the computer script is useful it’s a real shame that our call-takers can’t use their common sense. It’s why we end up going to people who ‘aren’t breathing’, yet are able to make a 999 call.
And all because the computer system we use has never been sued.
I think the overarching medical malpractice point is that it demonstrates unrealistic expectations. Those expectations certainly could be affecting what sort of medical malpractice cases are allowed and how much damages are assessed for. In fact, I can’t help but suspect that one side effect of “defensive medicine” is that it confirms those unrealistic expectations and trains patients to go look for a lawyer whenever they are not met.
