Who should Pay the cost?

Question

I'm in the habit of watching the police program Crime on our streets on TV, One thing that makes me mad is seeing those drunkards b----ds on the streets. when they get put into the Ambulance and taken to hospital they should be made to pay for their treatment. Because it all self inflcted.

Answer 1

yes your write

Answer 2

Absolutely right. Ambulance calls to motor accidents are charged to motorists and these accounts are normally paid by drivers' insurance companies. Drunks requiring ambulance attendance should be presented with an invoice for the full cost of the service; this would probably have a sobering effect on them.

Answer 3

I used to work in the emergancy room at a local hospital. This hospital was not for profit. They had many charitable givers who would donate monies towards people who could not pay. We had a "drunk tank" at the hospital. It was a enclosed room kind of like a padded room. As much as you see drunks on TV getting taking to the hospital or locked up, usually the drunk get taken home or thrown in jail till they sober up. Plus, isn't better that they are not driving or lesser out and about doing God's knows what?

Answer 4

This wouldn't really work as it applies to too many things.
The fatty admitted with a heart attack should pay becuase they chose to eat the junk food.
The smoker with lung cancer chose to light up.
The bugee juper with the broken back chose to leap off the bridge.
The mountaineer with hypothermia chose to go up there.
The woman in labour chose to have sex.
The list goes on.
I see your point though, and the only solution I could think of would be to reform the NHS and adopt the system used in America and many other countries, whereby basic emergency care is provided by the state, but everything else requires you to have adequate insurance.
The cost should be the same to the taxpayer as insurance wouldn't cost any more per person than we already pay to fund the bloated NHS.
If your insurance bill went up by a few hundred quid every time you got p!ssed up an had a fight, would you not stop fighting / drinking.
The government moan plenty about the cost of patching these people up, but they don't complain about the tax revenue on alcohol sales do they? As they complain about smokers but not revenue on tobacco.
If these things are so terribly bad, why are they not illegal and banned?
Thisbrings me on to my favourite campaign of legalising cannabis. It would probably be taxed to an equal extent, but couldn't possibly cause any more harm than alcohol.

Answer 5

I really don't know how people can get that drunk. I agree with you, I went to A&E about 22 miles from my home at 4.30 in the morning and there were two blokes asleep lay on the chairs, the staff had given them each a blanket and a pillow, they had both been drinking you could smell it on them. When I eventually got treated there were two cubicles opposite with drink related illnesses patients in them as well, what the hell is the NHS coming to when the first people to be seen are the drunks and drug related illnesses.

Answer 6

Im in agreement with you, unless they are in an accident that is not their fault.
As for the drunks who get taken to hospital and attack the nurses, I would throw them out on their ear immediately.

Answer 7

yeah theyre a real drain on the NHS in the UK which is struggling enough as it is without having to use taxpayers money to pay for people who are drinking themselves to death. If they have enough money to pay for that amount of alcohol then they have enough to fork out for the consequences, too.

Answer 8

Drunk in a public place, now carries an £80 fine

Answer 9

Half of them are probably on the dole. Sure, make em pay out of their benefits that we already pay for.... see where this is going?

Answer 10

due to high taxation on alcohol they already have paid extra to the NHS for treatment, if you want them to pay for treatment instead take tax off beer

Answer 11

I agree with you 100 per cent.