Hacker News Reader

Comment by jstclair | Hacker News Reader

I had to go to the main emergency room in Oslo last week. iOS6 couldn't find it, or even the correct street. Looking at the map in detail later, it didn't even have a building at the correct location. I was furious.

View on HN

Did you find it on the Google Map website/web app?

Yep; on the first try. Unfortunately, I was trying to drive my son (who had broken his arm) and the Google driving directions would only display the list mode, rather than on the map. I ended up finding the building on Google Maps, then dropping a pin on iOS Maps, and using the turn-by-turn.

All-in-all a stressful experience

How would you have found your way there 5 years ago?

Why didn't you call an ambulance? When I worked for the redcross during civil service I always wondered why we have patients with nose bleed or some other bubu to drive in and then we take back some guy with a broken leg or life threatning pneumonia that got in himself.

Actually, my big mistake was not keeping the taxi I'd taken from work (normally, I take the tram & train) to pick him up at school.

He was in pain, but not anything I'd consider taking the ambulance for (and the driving distance from his school to the emergency room is ~2-3 km). I shouldn't have gotten my car, and instead just have dumped him into the taxi. Norway covers a share of the taxi fare when it's for medical reasons.

Maybe this is a stupid question but being from Europe and having worked as a paramedic I just have to ask... aren't there any emergency services or ambulances available to rush your son to the ER? I know over here, in cities they are sporting response-times of 5 to 10 minutes to your doorstep, 24/7.

Yes, of course, but see reply down-thread. I was called by the school, so the school nurse had made an assessment that the situation was non-critical. Since ambulances are a limited resource, why take it away from someone who could be in critical condition?

Fairly new to Oslo?

I'm not saying you should have known where it is or anything like that, mind you.

About a year, after living in Bergen for 10. But only my second trip to Storgata 40, and if you've actually driven there, you'd know that the signage is pretty terrible, and -- along with the construction -- it's pretty non-intuitive to get to the entrance.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com