This review is from an experience my wife and I ha...

This review is from an experience my wife and I had nearly 1.5 years ago, but I am just now getting around to it after reading about similar practices from a book called 'An American Sickness' by Elizabeth Rosenthal...

My wife and I had a baby in Oct of 2017, and a week later we had a scary experience that resulted in my wife hemorrhaging and bleeding so I called 911 for support. Long story short, I decided to just put my wife in my car and drive her myself to a hospital that we live less than 1 minute from. I realized after calming myself down that this made more sense than waiting for an ambulance. I could get to the hospital faster.

The 911 dispatcher still went through and sent an ambulance, who showed up as I was loading my wife and newborn baby in my personal vehicle. Long story short, the paramedics enticed me to get in the ambulance and claimed I would not be responsible for any payment from the ambulance ride. With a newborn baby in my hands, a wife that was actively bleeding and my judgement clouded, I took their word for it and allowed them to drive my wife to the hospital.

Several months later we were charged over $500 ($529 to be exact) for the ambulance ride that I clearly could have swopped my own vehicle for free of charge. My wife says that looking back, she should have known that an ambulance could not have provided any additional support in the 8 min drive that I couldn't handle. She was still coherent, she was bleeding, yes - but she was stable (She is a nurse by trade). Short of it is, she knew better than what she decided in the moment.

The paramedics preyed on the fact that we were in a situation where they could take advantage of our decision-making and made empty promises of how the ride is free and the care she will receive is better than what I could have provided myself.

While I agree that the care is better with them because they are trained in this typical environment, they had ABSOLUTELY NO RIGHT to state that the ride would be free just to get us in the vehicle and charge us an absolutely over-priced ride several months later.

They count on people (in the moment) on putting their loved ones risk of disaster as a good, clear basis for manipulating the overall decisions. It is pathetic, and this type of service is absolutely irritating.

To the paramedics who made that statement to my wife and I: I don't know if you are trained to say that, or if you are so blinded by reality that you truly don't think about the financial cost of your patients - either way, educate yourself so you don't come across as money-hungry liars who prey on the "emergencies" of your clients. Feel free to reply to this and I am happy to meet in person to explain what went wrong from a "business standpoint." You may have pulled a fast one on me, but I assure you, after reading that book - I am going to address healthcare matters in a different light from here on out.

I hope you take a look inside your company and change the way you do things. I bet the news would love to hear a story like this.