When do I have the right to call an ambulance without worrying about the cost of a wrong call?
Each patient in accordance with Art. 7 sec. 1 of the Act on Patient Rights and the Patient Ombudsman, has the right to immediately grant him he alth services due to the threat to he alth or life. If a person, when assessing his or someone else's he alth, believes that it is serious and requires the arrival of an ambulance, he or she should call an ambulance. A state of sudden he alth emergency is a condition involving a sudden or short-term deterioration of he alth, which may also lead to death - it requires immediate medical rescue activities and treatment. The tasks of medical dispatchers include receiving notifications about incidents, prioritizing and immediately disposing of emergency medical teams to the scene of an incident. The dispatcher decides whether the reported case requires the arrival of a team: - a specialist team consisting of at least three persons authorized to perform medical rescue activities, including a doctor and a nurse or paramedic; - basic, consisting of at least two people authorized to perform medical rescue operations, including a nurse or a paramedic. In the event of problems, the solution of which goes beyond the skills and powers of a medical dispatcher, he or she may ask for help from a medical emergency coordinator or a senior doctor on duty appointed by the dispatcher of the unit. The dispatcher is obliged to ask appropriate questions to be able to determine whether the reported case requires the arrival of the emergency medical team, and in what composition - with or without a doctor. The dispatcher is also obliged to indicate other options for obtaining medical assistance, if he does not see any indications for the arrival of an ambulance, e.g. night medical assistance.
Legal basis: Act on patient's rights and patient ombudsman (Journal of Laws of 2012, item 159)
Remember that our expert's answer is informative and will not replace a visit to the doctor.
Przemysław GogojewiczIndependent legal expert specializing in medical matters.
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