My question is how you that work US ED'S deal with the population that have no insurance and come in for OD's.
I've been an ED nurse in the suburbs of Vancouver, Canada for 16 years. In our department, we see 15-30 overdoses in a 12 hour period (many with the Xylazine additive causing bradycardia and need for telemetry beds). I'm sure seems like a lot, but we see 350 people in 12 hours here. Even though our Healthcare is free, you do have to register with the government for it, and this population obviously doesn't. The government still pays our ED Dr's for seeing these people but it's a lot of extra paperwork for them. These same Drs do, at some point, see people for free but only when a out of country person comes in and cannot pay the 450$ doctors free (It's a total of 1850$ for the ER visit, only including bloodwork/xrays billed later) but we usually only ensure the physicians are paid. I'm just curious how the hospitals in the US handle these situations. Do ambulances pick them up and drive to a further hospital because only certain one's deal with the uninsured? From my recollection, you have some government funded facilities and mostly privately owned. If someone is in active arrest, even from OD, do they go to the nearest hospital? Forgive me for my ignorance, I'd love to understand more and please correct me if I'm wrong!