• Lifeguard gets bill after ocean rescue
    58 replies, posted
[url=http://www.koinlocal6.com/news/local/story/Teen-Rescue-Bill/1hLdhlt14kGX5C4GvnvKww.cspx]Source[/url] [quote]VANCOUVER, Wash. -- Seventeen-year-old John Clark, a senior at Hudson's Bay, says he didn't think twice about running into the ocean to save a drowning 12-year-old. But what he hasn't stopped thinking about, is the bill he received as a result of his effort. What started at Rockaway Beach The guardian angel is busy this week teaching Boy Scouts to tie knots. It's a far cry from the sand at Rockaway Beach nearly a month ago -- when John Clark heard screams for help from a 12-year-old swept out to sea. The call for help came just five days after Clark had been certified as a lifeguard. "He had to do something," said Dan Clark, John's dad. So John Clark dove in -- through the breakers and heavy swells -- to reach the boy in the ocean. Then he calmed the boy down, and kept him afloat. "I don't know exactly how big the swells were," Clark said, "but they were big enough to push both of us underwater -- all the way down to where we were touching sand." Jet skis arrived and pulled both of them to shore. John had a headache, and the 12-year-old was wrapped in a blanket to warm up. Into the ambulance they both went. 'When we got the bill it was a shock' Clark thought the trip to Tillamook General Hospital was standard procedure; he didn't give it a second thought until several weeks later ... when the bill arrived. "I am extremely proud of him," his dad tells KOIN. "When we got the bill it was a shock." The emergency room bill came to $449. The physician's bill was $227. The 15-mile ride in the ambulance to Tillamook: $1,907. The total bill for saving a young man's life? Nearly $2,600. [/quote] [B]Read more[/B]
commendable that he saved that boy, but i thought it was common knowledge that hospitals cost money?
For a moment, I thought the lad had to pay the bill for the boy's hospital visit. Now I see it's his own bill. Well, that sucks, but we all know that having no proper health-care sucks. It's even worse when you think about it. If he had been the only one at the beach, and hadn't saved the boy because of fear for the hospital bill... He'd go to prison for failing to help someone in lethal danger. So... technically, just be BEING there, he'd either go to prison or have to pay a huge hospital bill.
[QUOTE=zzzz;37055605]commendable that he saved that boy, but i thought it was common knowledge that hospitals cost money?[/QUOTE] Saving someone's life shouldn't net you a $2600 bill.
Oh America
Congratulations, he received treatment at a hospital and it cost him money. It's great that he saved that boys life, but is the hospital just supposed to magically eat those costs because he was doing his job? That's not how the world works.
$2000 to drive 15 miles in an ambulance? what
Near 3 fucking thousand dollars for a fucking life god damn corrupt bullshit man
[QUOTE=Justjake274;37056142]$2000 to drive 15 miles in an ambulance? what[/QUOTE] you know shit dude gas is expensive now-a-days we can't just be drivin people around in cars w/o making them pay $2000 all jokes aside there's a payment for almost anything you have done in a hospital
I think the point is that the guy who saved the kids life had to foot the hospital bill
[QUOTE=Last or First;37055787]Saving someone's life shouldn't net you a $2600 bill.[/QUOTE] not from a moral standpoint, but i dont think a hospital intending to make profit would cut the costs just because what the man did was honorable i know everyone on FP is moral and thinks for the best, but in a country without free government mandated healthcare, a hospital is a business and still needs to be able to support itself regardless of the actions of those who get sent there that being said i would think it would be the drowning person's job to pay for their own shit, not the lifeguard
[QUOTE=Socram;37056085]Congratulations, he received treatment at a hospital and it cost him money. It's great that he saved that boys life, but is the hospital just supposed to magically eat those costs because he was doing his job? That's not how the world works.[/QUOTE] That's how it works in pretty much every other western nation, actually.
[QUOTE=zzzz;37055605]commendable that he saved that boy, but i thought it was common knowledge that hospitals cost money?[/QUOTE] Just in America are people forced to foot the bill. :v:
Jesus christ, that's an inhumane health system the Americans have. The price of the 15 mile ambulance ride especially is utter bullshit.
[QUOTE=Justjake274;37056142]$2000 to drive 15 miles in an ambulance? what[/QUOTE] Ambulance services are almost entirely private companies.
[QUOTE=Ridge;37057582]Ambulance services are almost entirely private companies.[/QUOTE] Remind me next time I go to america to have a little note on me that says to just call a cab to bring me to a hospital in the event I get injured.
Except hospital bills are bullshit nowadays. At this point they're actually incentivized to do unnecessary procedures so they can charge patients more.
Why was it the lifegaurd that was charged, instead of the family of the child?
"The emergency room bill came to $449. The physician's bill was $227.-" Oh that's not so ba- "The 15-mile ride in the ambulance to Tillamook: $1,907." [I]Jesus christ[/I] does it run on fucking liquid diamonds?!
[QUOTE=Socram;37056085]Congratulations, he received treatment at a hospital and it cost him money. It's great that he saved that boys life, but is the hospital just supposed to magically eat those costs because he was doing his job? That's not how the world works.[/QUOTE] No, the hospital should be completely government funded
[QUOTE=Ridge;37057582]Ambulance services are almost entirely private companies.[/QUOTE] And that suddenly makes it okay to charge $127 a mile to transport someone?
If he saved the kid while working as a lifeguard, his employer provided insurance should cover that. If he saved the kid on his own time, his own or parents' insurance should cover him. If he's out there playing lifeguard with NO insurance, he's a dumbass. The whole essence of being a lifeguard is that there is physical danger involved. How could anyone one do that without health insurance?
America is really advanced, holy fucking shit, i broke my arm years ago, i paid 30€ (equivalent, i was 8 and we had other currency)
[QUOTE=cecilbdemodded;37057893]If he saved the kid while working as a lifeguard, his employer provided insurance should cover that. If he saved the kid on his own time, his own or parents' insurance should cover him. If he's out there playing lifeguard with NO insurance, he's a dumbass. The whole essence of being a lifeguard is that there is physical danger involved. How could anyone one do that without health insurance?[/QUOTE] "Drowning is a preexisting condition"
[QUOTE=MightyMax;37057809]"The emergency room bill came to $449. The physician's bill was $227.-" Oh that's not so ba- "The 15-mile ride in the ambulance to Tillamook: $1,907." [I]Jesus christ[/I] does it run on fucking liquid diamonds?![/QUOTE] no, it runs on donated blood blood ain't cheap
[QUOTE=Camundongo;37057883]And that suddenly makes it okay to charge $127 a mile to transport someone?[/QUOTE] Dude he might drown as well! Better take all the life support with us I'm pretty sure we won't need it, but just in case man.
Meanwhile in Pakistan [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiMv95Z-bow[/media]
And this is one of the reasons why I will never visit the US.
the high ambulance cost is likely due to having it full of trained personnel that could be doing other stuff so there's like a "tied up" cost or something.
[QUOTE=Parakon;37059722]the high ambulance cost is likely due to having it full of trained personnel that could be doing other stuff so there's like a "tied up" cost or something.[/QUOTE] "While we're here, saving your life, we [I]could[/I] be somewhere else, doing something else like saving someone's life for instance, a drowning victim and a lifeguard but since we're busy saving someone's life, we can't save someone's life" I'm not making fun of you, I'm making fun of the system. I understand the reasoning behind a cost like that, but it's not [I]good[/I] reasoning. Their job is to save people's lives, as long as they're occupied saving someone's life, they're not wasting time. The "wasting our time" cost shouldn't really be involved unless if they're actually wasting their time. Although I think it's more a mix of doing emergency work in the ambulance and the guys in charge of ambulance costs just being dicks. Plus the fact that this is America, of course.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.