What do others think about asking questions about their own care or lawsuits?

[mycrofft]

I know that we sometimes use our own care as an example, but we have had a few posts here where first the scenario is spun out, and then post-er's interest revealed after we make comments. This makes me feel a little ambushed. Anyone else care to comment?

 

[ffemt8978]

Why does it matter if the poster is the patient? Should our answers change just because the question is asked by a patient instead of a provider?

Something to keep in mind is that people come here for information, and not everyone that does so is in EMS.

 

[mycrofft]

The difference is that they could reveal the intent in their question, not followup.

What if a potential plaintiff in a civil suit against an ambulance company drops in a question or a post without revealing they are fishing for info, get what they are looking for (say, expert witness for the plaintiff), then their lawyer starts emailing the website participant (poster), or subpoena's the website for the poster's real identity? Or an employer trolls to find out if an employee is venting a little too much?

Used to get lawyers calling the jail like that, asking questions as though they were someone but not explicitly identifying themselves. If we asked, they were required to identify themselves, and the call was cancelled at that point but anything we said up to that point was fair for use in court.

Just a matter of courtesy and style, not an enforceable rule, but it could have a chilling effect on the website's freewheeling discussions.

 

[ffemt8978]

The only way that they could get "expert witnesses on their behalf" from anybody here is if the poster gives the person fishing for the info their personal contact information.

If we tried to limit the type of discussion that you provided, it would have even more of a detrimental effect on the forum.

In addition, our rules clearly state,

No Legal Advice or Attorney-Client Relationship

• Information contained on or made available through EMTLife Message Boards is not intended to and does not constitute legal advice, recommendations, mediation or counseling of any kind under any circumstance and no attorney-client relationship is formed. Do not act on or rely on any information from EMTLife Message Boards without consulting with a licensed attorney.

and also

Opinions, advice and all other information expressed by participants in discussions are those of the author. You rely on such information at your own risk. Participants are urged to seek professional advice for specific, individual situations and not rely solely on advice or opinions given in the discussions.

I don't see how a post on an anonymous internet forum is going to provide anyone with the magical proof they need.

As to the employer issue, that is why we encourage our members not to give out any specific information that could come back and bite you. We have had several issues of this in the past, and the person getting in trouble has asked us to remove or modify their post so that they won't be in trouble. Here's the deal on that...generally we will not edit or remove any post just because you got in trouble with your employer (although we may do so for other reasons). To put it bluntly, THINK BEFORE YOU POST...AND THEN THINK ABOUT IT AGAIN!

 

[mycrofft]

Yes. Agreed. Not worth going around about. Sorry. Mea culpa.

I was just pointing out what I consider to be a bad manner some people have. If I was that worried, I'd not "be here". I think all folks are welcome but they might fail to understand the excllent warnings (e.g., the earlier post where their loved one was allegedly walked to an ambulance and they wanted opinions about how appropriate it was, based upon their own version of events).