A needless death

"A dying paraglider pilot refused an ambulance for 40 minutes after a crash landing because he thought he could not afford it, the Christchurch Coroner's Court heard this week..."

This is an older story but worth bringing up again.

The Coroner had this to say:

"...Obvious lessons" could be learned from the case as there was "no cost to the person" requiring an ambulance in this case as it was covered by ACC.

However, in non-accident callouts patients are charged $50..."

For a change, I'm not having a go at the deceased. He made a bad call, but you don't make good decisions when injured. An honest mistake and sadly, it cost him his life.

I have seen this sort of thing so many times- blokes with an arm half off drive in to A&E 'because they don't want to bother the ambulance people who might have something serious to attend to'

A woman having a heart attack who 'doesn't want to be a bother'

Then there are the others.

They well know about ACC and EVERYTHING is an accident (the injuries/condition were usually chemically induced)

They will call the ambulance to a stubbed toe and bleat about how they are ENTITLED to, when taken to task.

Here is the rule of thumb:

If the problem needs immediate attention at A&E, you are justified in calling an ambulance.

If you want to know more, go and do a first aid course!