So many comments to address…can’t quote them all. But suffice it to say the following:
1) Health, your experience with Hatzolah was terribly unfortunate. None of us know the circumstances so in truth we can’t ever REALLY know what happened. What we DO know is that many thousands of people have been helped selflessly by competent friends/neighbors/strangers who dropped what they were doing to help us/our families out. Unfortunate circumstances and cases does not undo that. Consider the famous case of the unfortunate FF so many years ago who had an undetected, Hatzolah performed,
esophageal intubation (I think that’s what it was) who ended up dying. Terrible, yes. Still doesn’t undo the years worth of help they’ve provided pre and post incident.
2) Given the admittedly fraction of calls that you’re privy to, in which there was a bad outcome, does not reflect on the general competency of an organization that’s many hundreds strong. Even if we feel that bad outcome was the result of what we perceive as negligence or carelessness. The statistical numbers simply don’t allow for that.
3) There is a percieved notion that somehow volunteers are “less” than their paid cohorts. As you well know, the initial educational requirements are the same for both camps, as are the recert requirements. And don’t think for even a second that paid servicemembers spend even an iota of time more than the minimum required on CME activities. They don’t. As of now, I am unaware of any studies regarding the competence of paid vs volunteer.
4) In my experience, no one will ever care for you as much as your friends, neighbors, and “landsman”. I’m not putting down the muni’s, but some guy from some town, 150 miles away, riding a truck in the city….simply doesn’t have the same urgency in his step as your neighbor does. This is not a “Jewish” thing, I’ve seen this repeated over and over in paid services around the country. Local volunteers always seem to have a sense of urgency (sorry for the double use of the word) when they are caring for people of their locality. It’s a natural instinct. I want to make clear though, I do believe that many many EMS pros are caring and competent techs, I just think it comes more naturally when you do it for your own locale.
5) As I’ve stated before, the rate of incompetence (IMHO and agreed to by you) is pretty stable throughout all EMS agencies. And whether you’ve witnessed it or not, Hatzolah has pretty much the same remediation scheme and disciplinary processes as other agencies. Do bad eggs get through….yeah, same as EMS. Do some folks pull “protektzia” …..maybe. I’m not particularly ware of any cases, despite having been around way too long for my own good. And if it is happening…..once again, same as in EMS. I know the Chief, the borough commander…..the lieutenant……its exactly the same.
6) The age of the internet has made knowledge extremely accessible. One can have information immediately available, that previously took years of study and understanding. So just a small piece of advice, no matter what type of practitioner you are, or claim to be, Cutting and pasting chunks of medical info from websites is a poor way to bolster your point in an argument because even at the very best, it still undermines your perceived authenticity. At worst, it makes you seem a common liar.
As an aside, I am curious. If paid services, or muni’s should be trusted more because of their call volume and/or experience, and options for recourse…..why go to bat for EN? [Mind you, my PERSONAL feeling is that they should’ve been incorporated into Hatzolah (for logistical reasons), and if not, I have no problem with them being an independent agency either.] EN doesn’t (or wont) have the same percieved problems as Hatzolah?