N.S. man angry hospital wouldn't help father having heart attack in parking lot

**lewisipso** · 12-05-09, 08:31 AM

HALIFAX, N.S. — An elderly woman with a cane and a heart condition was told to bring her husband into a Nova Scotia hospital on her own or call 911 after he suffered a heart attack 10 metres from the facility's front door, the couple's son said Friday.Patrick Smale said his 81-year-old father began having chest pains last weekend and drove to the Soldiers Memorial Hospital in Middleton, about two hours outside Halifax.
Smale said his mother, who doesn't drive and has had two heart valve replacements, went inside the hospital to get help because her husband was unable to walk on his own due to the pain.
She was told by hospital staff that they couldn't come out and she should bring him in herself or call 911, Smale said.
"I couldn't believe it. I just assumed that if someone's having a suspected heart attack at the front entrance, at least a nurse or security guard would get a wheelchair to get him in the door," he said in Halifax, where his father was receiving treatment.
"It just seemed ridiculous that they had to call 911 to get an ambulance to do it."

The Canadian Press: N.S. man angry hospital wouldn't help father having heart attack in parking lot

**Jenna** · 12-05-09, 09:14 AM

They were probably worried about liability issues.

**121Traffic** · 12-05-09, 10:47 AM

Originally Posted by Jenna

They were probably worried about liability issues.

Who gives a shit what they were worried about? That's what's wrong with this world. It also wouldn't surprise me if they made her call 911 for an ambulance so they could charge her $2000 for scooping him from the parking lot and wheeling him into the hospital on a gurney.

I wonder who told them that anyway because from how it's been explained to me, there's a lawful duty to provide care issue. Here in the US, if you tell a doctor/nurse/EMT/whatever that there's a medical emergency, they're obligated to assist barring some reasonable circumstance that would prohibit it. Further, they have to continue providing care until relieved by someone with a higher technical skill level, i.e. an EMT administering First Aid can't just pick up and leave because he has somewhere to be, until a Paramedic/Nurse/Doctor takes over. Failure to provide medical care when you're trained to do so is punishable by law in some places I would imagine.

At least that's the way it was explained to me.

ETA: Just realized this was in Canada, too. Welcome to the world of socialized medicine. Wait your turn, Comrade.