On 15 Feb 2005 16:14:02 -0800, jim rozen wrote:
In article , Dave Hinz says...

Even a *low* speed fall-over is going to have bad consequences
unless the rider has a helmet. The helmet is the best way
to see to it that the rider gets admitted to a hospital
at the end of the ambulance ride.

...or, gets a ride in the ambulance at all, instead of leaving
the scene in a bag.

My guess is that the body would probably go via ambulance no
matter even if it were in a bag.

Nope. Not in our district, that's the Coronor's function.

First off to put the person
in the bag, somebody has to pronounce, right? Which means
a doctor in most states.

In Wisconsin, in cases of "obvious death" (which is, er,
obvious) the EMTs can do it. If it's not absolutely
obvious, we'll work the patient until Flight or the coronor
show up, and they call it. The Coronor (again, in our area,
which is rural if that matters) will coordinate with the
funeral home, who often transports the body directly from
the scene. We don't transport bodies, unless they start
out as patients.

I'm not sure if the wagon rolled up with a DOA victim that
they would probably just wheel him/her right downstairs.

Nope, if they're alive enough to transport, they'll be worked
for the whole ride and then either worked, or called, on
arrival.

But the days of hearses picking folks right up are probably
gone. I recall my mom saying that when they had a car wreck
in Kansas, in the early 50s, she was transported to the
hospital in a hearse. The community did not have an ambulance
so any vehicle where the person could lie down was better
than nothing.

The first ambulances were run by the funeral homes. Something
about "conflict of interest" bugs me about that.

She did say it gave her the creeps a bit.

I can appreciate that. Not to mention the people in the
other cars, that she was waving to from the back, I'd think.

Dave Hinz