BossyCow
Forum Deputy Chief
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Just checking to see if anyone else has found a way to deal with this. We have a frequent flier. She has been responsible for over 70 calls in the past 6 months with sometimes 4+ calls in a 24hr period. She's elderly, recently lost her husband, living alone and really likes her wine. She gets drunk, falls down, pushes her lifeline button and has us come pick her up off the floor.
90% of the time, she is unhurt. Often, we find that she is not only unhurt but has pushed the lifeline button, reset the machine and then 'fallen' across the room.
She has recently become verbally abusive to our volunteers as we become less invested in making her feel loved and adored at 3am.
Our MPD has told us that if she is A&Ox3, and is refusing medical treatment, we are under no obligation to pick her up from the floor and can leave her there.
The last call, she was lying on the floor of her kitchen, with her walker about 3 feet away. When I asked her what she called us for, her response was... "expletive meaning female dog I'm on the floor!" I said "I can see that, but we are EMS, we are here to help people who are hurt, are you hurt?" She says she isn't hurt, then attempts to talk to another person on the scene about how worried she is about her dogs being outside. I ask the other responder to leave the room and tell her that we are not there to take care of her dogs, we are EMS, (bear in mind, this is our third call to her address in 4 hours) I ask if she wants me to examine her for possible injuries, at which points she makes several points about my lineage and gives me several suggestions about some actions she would like me to take. I ask her to tell me her name, she does. I ask her if she knows what day it is, she does, I ask her if she knows where she is "I'm on my f:censored:ing floor you :censored::censored::censored:" I ask her if she wants medical treatment, she says no, I tell her that if she wants no medical treatment to sign the release and we will leave. She refuses to sign the release. I document that the pt refused to sign the release but had repeated refused treatment.
In the meantime, she has sat up, moved around the kitchen floor, even though she has said she can't move. We've even seen her pull herself into a chair after saying she has been down for 1 hour plus and can't move.
I have now reported her multiple times to Adult Protective Services as an Adult at Risk for Self Neglect. The local sheriff's office has also had multiple dealings with her. We have had her ITA'd more than a few times, due to injuries sustained from falls, including one major subdural bleed that had her airlifted out for a 2 month stay in Seattle. She signed herself out of the nursing home AMA and is now back in our district.
She is very well off financially and has great medical insurance. She doesn't care how many times she calls us. We are a volly agency and only bill for ALS calls on what is called a third party payer system. She is abusing the system, our volunteers and everyone she knows. We have to respond because there have been times when she was seriously hurt. There are currently about 5 different agencies trying to deal with this woman.
Any suggestions?
90% of the time, she is unhurt. Often, we find that she is not only unhurt but has pushed the lifeline button, reset the machine and then 'fallen' across the room.
She has recently become verbally abusive to our volunteers as we become less invested in making her feel loved and adored at 3am.
Our MPD has told us that if she is A&Ox3, and is refusing medical treatment, we are under no obligation to pick her up from the floor and can leave her there.
The last call, she was lying on the floor of her kitchen, with her walker about 3 feet away. When I asked her what she called us for, her response was... "expletive meaning female dog I'm on the floor!" I said "I can see that, but we are EMS, we are here to help people who are hurt, are you hurt?" She says she isn't hurt, then attempts to talk to another person on the scene about how worried she is about her dogs being outside. I ask the other responder to leave the room and tell her that we are not there to take care of her dogs, we are EMS, (bear in mind, this is our third call to her address in 4 hours) I ask if she wants me to examine her for possible injuries, at which points she makes several points about my lineage and gives me several suggestions about some actions she would like me to take. I ask her to tell me her name, she does. I ask her if she knows what day it is, she does, I ask her if she knows where she is "I'm on my f:censored:ing floor you :censored::censored::censored:" I ask her if she wants medical treatment, she says no, I tell her that if she wants no medical treatment to sign the release and we will leave. She refuses to sign the release. I document that the pt refused to sign the release but had repeated refused treatment.
In the meantime, she has sat up, moved around the kitchen floor, even though she has said she can't move. We've even seen her pull herself into a chair after saying she has been down for 1 hour plus and can't move.
I have now reported her multiple times to Adult Protective Services as an Adult at Risk for Self Neglect. The local sheriff's office has also had multiple dealings with her. We have had her ITA'd more than a few times, due to injuries sustained from falls, including one major subdural bleed that had her airlifted out for a 2 month stay in Seattle. She signed herself out of the nursing home AMA and is now back in our district.
She is very well off financially and has great medical insurance. She doesn't care how many times she calls us. We are a volly agency and only bill for ALS calls on what is called a third party payer system. She is abusing the system, our volunteers and everyone she knows. We have to respond because there have been times when she was seriously hurt. There are currently about 5 different agencies trying to deal with this woman.
Any suggestions?
