Firstly, ensure you use a reputable service. Some services could end up sending you a massive bill for treatment or for taking you to hospital. Many smaller services thrive on motor vehicle collisions to claim from RAF and medical aids too.
If you are involved in a collision, it is your legal right to request which service you would like to go with and also deny going with a service. Do not be fooled and allowed to be pulled into an ambulance under false pretenses.
If you are on any medical aid, take note on the card of which medical ambulance service your provider is affiliated too. Some could end up costing you if you go with a wrong service. Keep handy reputable service numbers handy. If you or anyone you know is in a collision, remain calm and do not move them if they are injured.
If a paramedic asks you to walk to an ambulance or if you are suffering from certain injuries it could further aggravate the injury, and even be life-threatening. Most treatment should be done in the position you are in, be it trauma or medical.
READ ALSO: Emergency care: Life support or hindrance
It is your right on a scene, even if you are being treated, to refuse the treatment, or ask for another service. If you are not happy with any level of care, report it to the Health Professions Council of South Africa (www.hpcsa.co.za).
You have a right to ask if any journey will have any costs. If there are costs, then the paramedics have to give you an estimated cost. The emergency medical field is full of fly-by-night services, who arrive on scenes and try and load patients and take them away as quickly as possible without the proper care being done on scene. Know your rights as a patient, civilian and citizen. A reputable medical service provider will never force anyone into an ambulance for any reason.
Source: Vema Paramedics.
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