Hoax Calls

[paramedix]

Friday night I attended to a MVA where a police vehicle was involved in a serious accident. The vehicle overturned and both the driver and his partner were code red.

We later found out they responded to a house robbery in progress - for the second time. The first time when they arrived the people were noisy and laughing.

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What I could gather from the duty officers on scene, is that the guys responded to the call, but were under the impression that it was a different situation all together.

We often get hoax calls placed to our emergency contact centers nationwide, not only police, but EMS and FD as well. We have a duty to turn out to the incident or investigate the incident called in.

I know of colleagues that were involved in collisions on their way to a "so called collapse and patient not breathing".

What is your feeling about this and how do you handle this situation? I once was sent to the same location four times and the fourth time there was actually an incident! Now what....

 

[el Murpharino]

Unfortunately, we have to treat each call like it's a "real call". If you are able to make patient contact on these "hoax calls", get the whole story from them - what's going on, why you were called, etc.

This doesn't take away the fact that we need to drive with due regard when responding to emergencies (and non-emergencies). I can't say for certain (because I wasn't there), but it seems the police officers in your original post were at fault in regards to their specific accident. Emphasize proper driving habits when responding to all calls to minimize these types of events.

 

[Jon]

Every call is a "real" call, unless your company has policies otherwise... You can't justify a response to be any different based on your personal opinions... the liability is huge.

Just because you can't blow off some calls doesn't mean you shouldn't be prepared for the worst.
I always use caution when approaching residences, etc, and do try to look around the houses, espicially at night, in case someone is 'lying in wait' to attack me or my crew. This isn't a paranoid thing... it is basic scene safety. Remember that most paramedics carry IV supplies and pharmaceuticals... and therefore someone could attempt to attack EMS to get that equipment.

Be careful... and stop for all stop signs and red lights!

 

[paramedix]

Every call is a "real" call, unless your company has policies otherwise...

We have to turn out to all emergency calls as code red, even suspected being a hoax call. We do not have a policy in place that determine this type of call outs, all calls are responded to. If it is suspected that this call is a hoax call, the police are contacted and informed and the dispacther at our contact center try to constantly phone the caller back - if possible - to try and obtain the "full" story.

This doesn't take away the fact that we need to drive with due regard when responding to emergencies (and non-emergencies). I can't say for certain (because I wasn't there), but it seems the police officers in your original post were at fault in regards to their specific accident. Emphasize proper driving habits when responding to all calls to minimize these types of events.

Sorry I wasn't clear on the specific point what had happened or rather caused the accident. You are absolutely correct in taking care whilst driving, especially when you have a code red at hand.

UPDATE: Both officials are doing fine now.