Call an Ambulance

T · December 2003

I have an ee who was stung by a wasp. She is allergic, and of course she has no medicine with her.

Should I call an ambulance to come get her or have someone in the office take her to the er or let her drive herself. If I have someone drive her and they get into an accident, then I have another issue? What if the person driving the injured worker is not on the clock?

This question would apply to anyone who isn't feeling well or who might get hurt on the job.

Thanks.

Dfox · December 2003

We always call an ambulance for a few reasons. First, to guarantee that the ee receives the proper medical attention (what if your ee had a seizure on the way to the er?). Second, as you mentioned, the other ee is on the clock (what if they both got into an accident?).

DeidreFR5 · December 2003

I'd call an ambulance. They can begin treatment as soon as they arrive. It was the policy of my previous employer that if someone had to go to the hospital (non-emergency/ambulance, i.e. worker's comp back injury, slip and fall,) their manager was the person to go (using their own vehicle). Since it was company related business, they felt it would be covered under the company's insurance. It always made me a little nervous - but I didn't trust then anyway.

Parabeagle · December 2003

We never, EVER let another employee drive another employee or a guest to the hospital. We always call an ambulance or our emergency response service. Maybe we're being overly cautious, but I just don't want the liability exposure of having a fellow employee at the wheel -- unless, of course, the situation is life-threatening and there are no alternatives.

T · December 2003

Thanks everyone. That is exactly what I would like to do.

What if they don't want you to call an ambulance?

I would make them sign a refusal?

Thanks again.

Hunter1 · December 2003

The employee can't keep you from calling an ambulance, but on our ambulances, we allow the 'patient' to sign a declination form which says they were offered transport and refused.

Leslie · December 2003

We have our security department respond every time an injury occurs. We do not call an ambulance for every slip and fall - a judgment is made. If it is called and transport is refused - as it is on many occassions - it is so noted in the report.

marc · December 2003

Call the ambulance first, then post the question on the forum!x:D

Don D · December 2003

And to complicate the issue, a wasp sting can indeed be life threatening! If we were diagnosticians, we wouldn't be in HR.

TN HR · December 2003

>And to complicate the issue, a wasp sting can
>indeed be life threatening!

Very true. My brother is allergic to them and he can go into anaphylactic (sp?) shock! He has to carry an epinephrine (sp?) auto-injector anytime he may be exposed to stinging insects.

To answer the poster's question: CALL THE AMBULANCE! On a side note, I'd hate to be the company official on the stand during a wrongful death suit trying to explain why my first course of action in a medical emergency was to post a message to an HR forum?!?!?!?!?!?!?

No further questions, your honor.

Gene

Balloonman · December 2003

I can only hope the individual did not die. As someone who has been in charge of the first responders, and often dealing with injured employees I am used to being second guessed. I tell all my first responders to do what they believe is correct based on their training and comfort level. I also tell them no one will ever complain if the call an ambulance and the incident turns out to be not as bad as it seems. But being mistaken the other way could have significant impact.
Yes a lot can go on, even with a wasp sting. But first thing you should do is question the individual. "What is your reaction to a sting"? "Do you need to go to our clinic, or should you go to hospital"? Should we call an ambulance"? Of course if unconcious call 911.....and whenever you suspect heart attck call 911 regardless of what the affected employee says. All of my heart attack victims at a previous employer did not want an ambulance called. Doing cpr sucks. Get the ambulance rolling.
MY $0.02 worth.
DJ The Balloonman

T · December 2003

EXCUSE ME Y'ALL. The situation was done and over by the time I got in the forum to ask the question!! I was trying to get your professional views on the situation to see if I handled it correctly.

Some of you can be quite testy!!!!
-T

marc · December 2003

That's why I had the big smile ICON after my post. I was just teasing a bit about the way the post read.

Whatever · December 2003

We have ees that we have gotten first-aid training etc. We, also, have on the staff someone who use to be a nurse. Therefore, I never call an ambulance. I leave that to the individuals who have more medical expertise than me to make that decision (though sometimes it is very obvious that an ambulance has to be called).

Dutch2 · December 2003

A quick question... if you call an ambulance for an employee, who pays for it? Does if fall under the employees insurance policy? The reason I bring it up is that we had a Branch Manager call 911 because he thought one of our employees was having a heart attack, turns out she was not. When you call 911 you get who ever they send to you. The Mgr. was not aware that the cost of this trip was over $600 to pick her up from this very rural setting and take her 20 to 30 miles to the nearest hospital just to be observed for a few minutes and released. Of course the ambulance service billed her insurance company, (us as we are self insured) It turns out that there are no ambulance services in our geo. area that are in the same "network" as our Health Insurance Plan. We have since amended our health plan to cover ambulance service. We also picked up the cost of the ambulance for this employee since our Mgr. called for it and she did not want him to call 911.
If it is not something, it is one thing else.

Don D · December 2003

The individual who is riding prone in the ambulance is the patient. Unless the injury is a comp accident, the patient's insurance is billed. If they have none, they are privately billed.

rad · December 2003

Good advice from all, call the ambulance deal with the employee's refusal when it gets there. In addition, you may want to suggest she keep an epinephprine pen at work...you never know. Most people I know who have those allergies never leave home without one.

Call an Ambulance

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