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Comment by tajen | Hacker News Reader

Plus, hospitals are not really drive-in. You get much, much better safety of you're driven in by an emergency vehicle, who books the doctors upon approach, gets priority lanes and who can open the gates. Driving in and having to explain yourself at the reception is another story.

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Uh... I don't know what hospitals you've been going to. A few years back I brought a friend with a perforated ulcer to the ER. They had her under the care of nursing in about sixty seconds.

You brought your friend, ie she was escorted. In the tesla case we're assuming you are in a condition to open the car door and walk in the ER and then explain your medical emergency...

At my hospital we have near-weekly cases of patients arriving in cars to the front of the Emergency Department, necessitating a resus crew operating out of the car->trolley->resus bay

You can always call the hospital from the car to tell them your emergency and mention them your plates.

There's nothing preventing you from calling 911 enroute, or coordinating with the operator to pull over for ambulance pick up once you know that they are very close.

I'm picturing someone expiring in his car outside the hospital because nobody was around to get him into the ER. The ambulance crew does more than just drive - otherwise you might as well take a taxi.

Even a taxi driver could make sure the patient can exit the car.

I'm picturing an unconcious guy arriving in a car and expiring in the car outside the hospital.

> Driving in and having to explain yourself at the reception is another story.

I wonder if the paramedics do some of the work and notetaking a triage nurse would do in a crowded ER. They certainly have a lot of that stuff ready to hand off when they roll into the ER.

It's odd, in a way. In the area I live the hospitals typically say that walk-ins get the same level of priority in the triage process as patients driven in by EMS but no one who is not employed by a hospital's PR department would agree with that.

If you don't need hospital care, EMS might just treat you onsite and not drive you in. EMS does triage because they see you.

> You get much, much better safety of you're driven in by an emergency vehicle, who books the doctors upon approach, gets priority lanes and who can open the gates

There is no truth to this whatsoever. Totally false. I'm a Paramedic, and I still see people claiming this. Sorry, but if you call 911 because you tripped over a rug and your ankle hurts, it's likely that you're going to get wheeled right through the ER and out into the waiting room.

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