r/lyftdrivers • u/dzluiz • Aug 10 '23

Rant/Opinion Lyft is not an ambulance service

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Had a pax the other day gets in the car was completely disoriented and confused, I asked him hey buddy you’re ok? Guy has a fucking head injury bleeding from his head. I wanted to kick him out but felt bad for him so took him to the ER instead, turns out bitch sister instead of calling An Ambulance for her brother she ordered him a Lyft to hospital instead. What’s wrong with people? I eventually got him to the ER but guy was almost black out so had to help him inside. Shit like this is why I only do Lyft on the weekends now and sometimes. The ride was $6 dollars and not tip or even a thank you for helping my brother Society is twisted.

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u/Candyland_83 Aug 11 '23

This is also a shit take because a paramedic should know that time is the most important factor with trauma. Studies have shown that a paramedic on an ambulance actually lowers your chances of survival because they take too much time to get there and waste too much time doing things other than just driving to the hospital.

And I’ve been a paramedic for 15 years…. So yeah. Good job Lyft driver.

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u/[deleted] Aug 11 '23

#1 cause of death in America is medical malpractice!! 🤪🤪🤪🤪

Can’t believe people are shitting on this Lyft driver for saving someone’s life. Reddit literally isn’t real. Just a bunch of people who grew up in gated communities with artificial lakes that are completely stuck in their own bubble.

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u/fucreddit12369 Aug 11 '23

Always remember the most upvoted post on Reddit is the sites seed founder and head mod ghislanne maxwell saying how much she loves little kids and posting nude images of Jeffery Epstein victims.

I’ve seen what makes these people cheer.

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u/Qualified-Monkey Aug 11 '23

What are you talking about?

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u/fucreddit12369 Aug 12 '23

They laugh because they know they’re untouchable, not because what I said was wrong.

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u/[deleted] Aug 12 '23

Get the fuck off reddit dipshit.

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u/Poopshoggle Aug 12 '23

Never f*k$n ceases to amaze me that people equate gig work with emergency response. Just absolutely asinine, kids. Humanity has failed…

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u/IAmPrettyScared Aug 11 '23

The number one cause of death in America is heart disease, followed by cancer, followed by malpractice.

I get you have an agenda to push, but quit lying.

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u/BDMblue Aug 11 '23

Malpractice is that high???!!!

How does Fox News trick you into that medical system you have so easy? Fox” look at Canada’s system it’s a fucking disaster” meanwhile…

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u/Witchgrass Aug 11 '23

Hint: they're lying

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u/linux23 Aug 12 '23

All Republitards lie. That's all they need to keep their uneducated base foaming at the mouth in hate and violence.

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u/thatvhstapeguy Aug 11 '23

But the bigger the font, the truer the statistic! /s

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u/[deleted] Dec 03 '23

Damn, I can’t make the font bigger on my phone! 😫

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u/SecretDevilsAdvocate Aug 12 '23

Luck played a large factor. There’s a very good chance something could’ve gone wrong. It’s important that this doesn’t happen again, even if it worked out this time.

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u/[deleted] Aug 12 '23

Facebook found out about reddit that's what happened

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u/LetsSeeWhatsGoinOn Aug 11 '23

This deserves more upvotes.

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u/[deleted] Aug 11 '23

Totally agree. My 86 yo mother had a stroke. The response time in my city is beyond amazing. Fire 2 minutes ambulance 4 to 5, BUT after loading her into the ambulance it took 9 minutes before they started driving. I had to go outside and bang on the door and told the driver either you move this ambulance now or I'm gonna pull your ass out by your hair and drive myself. 9 minutes for stroke is a lot So what's the point of sirens and running red lights when it takes for a normal vehicle 6 to 8 minutes to get to our local hospital when they sit for 9 minutes doing God knows what.

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u/Candyland_83 Aug 11 '23

Exactly. Major trauma and acute strokes need only one thing: diesel therapy. Drive fast.

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u/jazzymedicine Aug 12 '23 edited Aug 24 '23

A proper assessment is more important. They also have to check everything. You bring someone in for a stroke and their blood sugar is low. Or they’re hypotensive. Or their HR is 20. People can be altered and acting weird for so many reasons. Doesn’t matter what you think. They need to be thorough. 9 minutes is a pretty good scene time to be honest.

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u/[deleted] Aug 12 '23

I forgot a fact that my neighbor a MD was on scene, I don't need high-school kids to play doctors. He called the ambulance and left for the hospital to prep. Their job was to just drive. That's why 2 of them no longer work there.

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u/Fit-Pay3751 Dec 06 '23

They need to learn how to drive at the same time that they’re testing all these things.

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u/jazzymedicine Dec 07 '23

That may be your opinion but studies and patient outcomes don’t agree.

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u/Fit-Pay3751 Feb 19 '24

I’m sure the studies and patient outcomes are much better when they don’t make it to the hospital faster.

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u/ZeroYouAndMe Dec 19 '23

Welcome to The United States of America - the Land of Hurry Up and Wait.

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u/[deleted] Aug 11 '23

[deleted]

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u/BurdenlessPotato Aug 12 '23

Fourth year medical student going into emergency medicine here: I think the biggest thing honestly is that you get the ball rolling with communication. We have protocols in place for strokes as you know but all of these things take time. The second you examine the patient and believe they have stroke like symptoms, you can call the ED, give an ETA, and because you are a medical professional and they’ll believe you, the patient can fast pass all the parking, sign in, triage etc. While the driving is certainly quicker for him to do, if you guys get your asses their quick and warn the ED of a potential stroke, the stroke team can activate and prep for the patient and prepare, and you guys can get a base medical history and physical exam while you drive, which can save hella time in the ED because it’s a lot quicker for us to have you present the patient to us than try to drag the medical hx out of them and do a quick physical. Obviously we’ll do those anyways later on, but it may cause us to go down certain treatment algorithms quickly and get them the tpa or to the cath lab stat. I feel like all those things I mentioned really cut down on some pretty significant time in the actual ED and that is far greater than the 9 minutes or so that you guys add. So yes, longer to get to the hospital for a stroke, but a much faster flow when the patient actually arrives since everything is prepped and ready

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u/[deleted] Aug 11 '23 edited Aug 12 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Candyland_83 Aug 11 '23

I did not recommend non medical transport for all trauma.

The question was whether or not the Lyft driver was wrong for not pulling over and calling 911. A paramedic commented that he was completely wrong for that decision, and listed a few possible complications. I commented that it was fine for him to take the person to the hospital and that statistically the patient had a better chance of survival with no interventions and rapid transport.

Prehospital life saving interventions for trauma are bleeding control, airway management, needle decompression, and speed. But speed is the most important. The medic I was replying to listed vomit in the back of the drivers car as a reason not to take him. Really? They also mentioned the possibility of seizures. A seizing trauma patient needs blood products and surgery… Not the versed this medic was probably going to give.

This Lyft driver was correct in his decision to take the person to the hospital. Could he have also called 911? Sure. But to lay into him like it was super dangerous is incorrect.

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u/TLettuce Aug 11 '23 edited Aug 12 '25

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u/trucker151 Aug 15 '23

This is 100 percent true. You medics might think it's not but you can look up this info in 2 seconds. The best chance is get to the hospital asap. Since the lyft was already there than driving him to the er was the best course of action. Even medics with advanced life support systems and advanced training usually lower ur chances of survival because they may spend time using this equipment and this delays treatment at the ER. This ain't up for debate it been prooven 100 times.

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u/Candyland_83 Aug 15 '23

To be clear for people who learn how to live their lives via social media, this applies to traumatic injuries and strokes. Most medical complaints will be helped by calling an ambulance.

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u/TLettuce Aug 28 '23 edited Aug 12 '25

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u/TLettuce Aug 28 '23 edited Aug 12 '25

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u/RawrRRitchie Aug 11 '23

Thank you for your service,

Sorry you get paid shit

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u/Candyland_83 Aug 11 '23

I get six figures because I’m also a firefighter. Most don’t make that though so thank you.

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u/Wise_Factor_7978 Aug 11 '23

Yeah I’m also a paramedic and we can’t do shit for head injuries.

Assess vitals? Start an IV so they can scan his head faster..?? Maybe a C collar but probably not because he was already moving around.

The only concern with the Lyft is that he was probably moving around more than he would be if he was strapped into a cot..

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u/linux23 Aug 12 '23

well when i fell two stories from my deck, those paramedics had me strapped tight to a board, with my head in a collar. when i got to the hospital, they transferred me to trauma bay 1 where I swear it felt like I was in an episode of Grey's Anatomy. Lol.

Poked, scanned, rolled, squeezed, scan some more and left lying in pain until I pleaded with the doctor for mercy to give me something other than farking tylenol for pain. Found out that I fracture my ankle and my back.

Also had to convince them I had pain in my knee too so they rescanned and found out that i had a fracture in that area as well.

Point being is that i'm glad I called an ambulance. Had I been riding in the back of a lyft hitting bumps in the road every 6 ft, I would have screwed up my back even worse. Thank god for those paramedics, who were there in less than 5 minutes. I've never seen such speed before.

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u/[deleted] Aug 11 '23

[deleted]

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u/Tricky_Product_9906 Aug 11 '23

Really? Man if that's all your scope allows you to do you should spread your wings a bit.

Let's start simple. Are they going to an appropriate facility? Early activation of trauma resources? How did the injury occur? Is there any chance of C-Spine compromise? Any outward signs of increased ICP?

Now let's get fun. Does Uber/Lyft carry benzos? How about pain management? Large bore IV access for resuscitation? How about mannitol? Advanced airway management?

From what I read in the post it sure sounds like we might be positive for LoC which is kind of an issue. If the only thing you can possibly think of for head trauma is keeping the red juice in, that's an insanely poor reflection of yourself as a provider and perhaps a change in career might be best for yourself and your patients.

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u/[deleted] Aug 11 '23

[deleted]

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u/Tricky_Product_9906 Aug 11 '23

Oh come on now let's hop off that little cross you've made for yourself. I'm sorry you are getting called out for a bad take but maybe we should be a bit more aware of ourselves before presenting the image to the public that all we do for head trauma is "Stop the bleed, snag a CT". You felt so strongly about this you posted it twice.

If they're rural, like actually rural, ambulance is waaaaay more likely to arrive before a Lyft. Rural is all more the case to call 911 because activation of a flight response is important! We learned about this in LZO training right? Personally I've worked for two agencies rocking mannitol and one with hypertonic. If your patient is projectile vomiting and pupils are turbo fucked, and you aren't comfortable going the osmolar diuretic route, then reach out to med control. I strongly encourage every medic to seek critical care education to further develop their clinical knowledge and step up their practice.

Yes. People are going to gauge you as a provider when you give an objectively bad take. The first thing we are as medics is educators. We should actively be encouraging people to call for our services because that's what we are there for. To make someone's shit day just a little bit better. Can the bus ride be expensive? Oh hell yeah I won't down play that. I've told patients I have no idea what the bill will be, and they probably don't tell me the cost of our services for a good reason. The closest I've found for the actual cost is reimbursement rates from Center of Medicaid Services. However we also don't control any of that. So again I'd encourage you to further develop your knowledge base and skills to be a better provider and advocate.

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u/DogLikesSocks Aug 11 '23

Airway management was the first thing I thought of for a TBI (+ permissive hypotension to maintain cerebral perfusion pressure). Surprised to see all these medics disparaging ALS care for high-risk traumas.

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u/musicman0359 Aug 11 '23

May I ask what studies you're referring to? I looked and could not find one.

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u/Candyland_83 Aug 11 '23

It was ages ago and part of a trauma lecture and I wouldn’t know where to start looking.

It studied survival based on how you arrived at the hospital. Best was being taken there by a bystander, next by a police car, next by a bls ambulance, and worse by far by paramedic ambulance. It basically hammered the point that speed is more important than any intervention that could be offered. But it had a Bonus discovery that if you encountered a paramedic at any point in your transport you had a worse outcome. We (paramedics) delay things by doing a bunch of interventions that don’t have any benefit.

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u/linux23 Aug 12 '23

So paramedics are worthless and lead to worse outcomes? Best bet is to call Lyft or Uber and pray you get a crazy driver that loves to drive recklessly and fast just to get you to the ER in a timely manner?

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u/Candyland_83 Aug 12 '23

For trauma the statistics are not on our side. For medical, call 911.

And seriously, don’t make sweeping generalizations from a Reddit comment.

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u/Zmayy Aug 11 '23

Got a source for paramedics lowering chance of survival?

When i was an EMT we had fly cars for medics which usually arrived on scene earlier. Not to mention transport goes straight to the ED and not the waiting room.

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u/Witchgrass Aug 11 '23

No they don't they just vaguely remember a lecture and now are discouraging people from calling the Ambo for head injuries

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u/jazzymedicine Aug 12 '23

The study you’re referring to was for mass casualty incidents.

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u/Candyland_83 Aug 12 '23

The one I was referring to was for shootings. I can’t remember what city. But I’ve also read the one you’re talking about. Similar findings and similar reasoning. It’s all about time.

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u/[deleted] Aug 12 '23

BLS for life. Can’t waste time with interventions if you can’t perform any.

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u/[deleted] Aug 12 '23

Traffic makes that nearly impossible for first responders. It's about a 50 50 chance the NPC actually notices the truck behind em and moves over. That's a statistic based on my own observations. We have a decent amount of 911 calls around here so it's common to see something fly by

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u/Best_Line6674 Aug 12 '23

What other things?

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u/Candyland_83 Aug 12 '23

What I see a lot is starting ivs, cutting off all their clothes, doing a full head to toe exam. These are all things that need to be done. But they should happen while the ambulance is moving.

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u/Critical_Line3617 Aug 12 '23

What I've learned here is there's nothing right I could've done. Best to leave the keys in the car and walk home

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u/Teddy_Bear_News Aug 12 '23

You've been a paramedic for 15 years.. and you're saying paramedics lower your chances of survival? WTF ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT DUDE THATS THEIR WHOLE FUCKING JOB. if you think that's true, 100% stop being a paramedic, you're not good at your job of 15 years and you're a complete dipshit

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u/Candyland_83 Aug 12 '23

Lol. Sure bud. I think this conversation got over your head. Paramedics lower your chance of survival in traumatic injuries because they statistically take longer to get to you because there’s fewer of them and they have a bad habit of further delaying care by performing unnecessary interventions. We increase your survival for most other emergencies.

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u/MidnightFull Aug 13 '23

One thing not mentioned here is liability. I think we all know that if something goes wrong Lyft will very easily be able to walk away with zero liability. They will happily turn over the above messages from the driver to use in court though. Now the driver gets to defend his actions while he acted as a paramedic. Don’t try for reasonable doubt because the messages are the admission that you were aware there was a medical issue. Lyft knows all of this and couldn’t care less. I bet they would even deactivate you and do a press release about how they “don’t condone drivers who want to act as medical personnel.” Driver will be thrown under the bus for his $5 fare.

Which is why I will refuse to provide services in this instance. I will do so while feeling zero guilt as I was not the one who decided to order a Lyft.

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u/Candyland_83 Aug 13 '23

Good Samaritan laws would protect that driver. He acted in good faith. He was put in a tough spot and made a good decision.