[blub]

"Even the example given of a broken hand is not an injury that is helped by an ambulance ride, if anything you are delaying treatment by calling 911 and waiting for an ambulance to be dispatched for a very low priority injury"

The thought processes of some of you genuinely scares me. What happens if the person goes into shock from the pain and loses consciousness in the taxi? How the f do they even put the seatbelt on, if their hand is broken? What kind of small talk will the Lyft driver make with them? "Is that a piece of bone I see peeking there you naughty naughty boy!"

[24gttghh]

I don't want get too involved in this discussion, but in the medical sense, one does not simply "go into shock from the pain". For shock, there needs to be some mechanism that is interrupting the circulatory system and preventing proper blood flow to the tissues of the body[0]. Sure, that mechanism could be something that also causes one to go unconscious. It may be also be an "Acute Stress reaction" [1], and it does not seem to involve a grave threat to the circulatory system. It's psychological. Note: I am not a doctor, and anything I've said here should not be misconstrued as medical advice/diagnosis. I've simply taken a first-aid course.

[0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shock_(circulatory)

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acute_stress_reaction

[toast0]

Most people have two hands, and in a pinch can buckle themselves with either. Anyway, the driver or a coworker/onsite medical staff can buckle them in as well.

If the person loses conciousness on the way to the hospital, the driver can either call 911 on the way and arrange a transfer to the ambulance or just pull up to the emergency room and yell / honk / go in to get help getting the person out. Hopefully the onsite clinic would call ahead so that the ER / urgent care knows what to expect.

If the patient is in fairly stable condition, and it's quicker to get them to the hospital with a taxi than an ambulance (because of ambulance priorities), it seems prudent to take a taxi.

I see further in the thread that an ambulance was denied for a back injury, which seems less prudent.

[wiseleo]

Driver is likely not to notice the passenger is unconscious. I completed well over a thousand rides and many of them were with passengers who did not interact with me. Once they are in the rear seats, I do not observe them. Looking at traffic keeps me busy enough.

Driver has no duty to alert ER staff or arrange supplemental transport.

Lyft and Uber could offer medical transport service at an appropriate rate where the driver would get trained and tasked with additional duties.

Navigating into Tesla factory from the freeway takes time. Most drivers will get pinged from the freeway. Unless the driver has been to that facility many times, finding the right pickup point on any large corporate campus is a challenge.

I have transported several people to ER. Those were demanding rides due to elevated risk of passenger causing damage to my car.

Ambulance priority - patient stability Rideshare priority - no damage to the vehicle

As you can see, they are not aligned.

[ameister14]

Are they alone all this time? Why would they be alone in the car?

[Spooky23]

The same thing that happens to a person who is sitting in an office chair waiting 90 minutes for an ambulance to be dispatched for a low-priority injury.