Thank you for calling 911. Will this be cash or charge?

[Foxrac]

The artical didn't say much...

I remember from read several werid threads - example: called 911 because the fast food resturant do not have lemonade, refused to serve the beer, etc. etc. and mother have to die because the emergency operator thought 3 years old boy's call is fake...

To my opinion, if they want to charge for fake calls then do penalty fine...

In US, if you make any fake 911 then you will go to jail, it's already on current law.

 

[VamPyroX]

Another example of morons who think they know how best to run the system, why didn't they consult professional advice?

Wait until those who signed the bill... end up getting billed for their 911 calls.

 

[Jolie77]

I live about 15 minutes away from Castle Hills.

I don't like this new ordinance. It will greatly discourage low-income people who have true emergency but have no money from calling 911, and as a result, many tragedies/deaths will occur and if there is a fire or something, somebody will be homeless or even dead because no one called 911. Sad. I hope San Antonio does not follow suit. I hope this ordinance gets overturned.

This is really scary.

I think the only reason they did it is because of the given grim situation of the economy which makes them find different ways to 'reap' the cash in to keep the 911 system going on.

But then again - the article was not exactly clear on how it would apply to people in immediate medical/emergency needs. I think they also need to look more into it because like you said - there are some people who are on low/limited income and that alone can be imperative.

I can understand that there has been an enormous amount of abuse on the 911 system which drains the resource, time and money when others really need it at the most - but - I also have to wonder; Are there any waivers included? Would that even be excluded if a true emergency arises?

 

[dead money]

It sounds unconstitutional and will probaly be taken to court.

no kidding.

 

[LuciaDisturbed]

They should just fine those who abuse the system and not fine those who really need it.

Yeah, that would be a better solution than fining everybody who makes more than one 911 call a year. What if someone has multiple medical problems like diabetes and heart problems and something else? That wouldn't be fair.

I've had to call 911 about 4 times for my ex-roommate who was diabetic - a severe type 1 diabetic. I always check her blood sugar before I call, and if it's over 200 and she is puking her guts out, I call 911. If it's under that, I just take her to the ER myself. But all those 4 times, her blood sugar was 400 or over, and one time it was even 800, and I had to call 911 all those 4 times. (normal is around 60-80 to 120-140 depending on who you ask).

I think they should just make all 911 calls free to start with, and if a 911 call is found to be abused/false, then they can just go ahead and fine that person. Simple. Don't punish all of us just because some ignorant people chose to abuse the system for fun and laughs.

I think it should be charged. I am tired of people abusing 911. My mother worked as a 911 dispatcher and told me that so many calls were totally unnecessary. Mentally ill are notorious for making 911 calls and they should be charged. I don't care if they're broke, the mentally ill should be committed anyway.

Netrox, that was a rather ignorant statement you made about mentally ill people. Not all needs to be committed. Geez. You know, a good percentage of the people who abuse the 911 system are also teenagers/young adults just out of high school and don't know better. And others aren't even either mentally ill or a teenager/young adult but is simply being an idiot. Not all the false 911 calls are made by mentally ill people. True, many calls were totally unnecessary, but if you looked at the real statistics of how many false 911 calls were made by what kind of population, you would be surprised to see that it's not mostly mentally ill people. And, not all mentally ill people are so bad that they require hospitalization. There are so many mentally ill people that are around us in the community, working jobs, going to school, etc, and you wouldn't even know it unless they told you because they are med-compliant.

 

[LuciaDisturbed]

I live about 15 minutes away from Castle Hills.

I don't like this new ordinance. It will greatly discourage low-income people who have true emergency but have no money from calling 911, and as a result, many tragedies/deaths will occur and if there is a fire or something, somebody will be homeless or even dead because no one called 911. Sad. I hope San Antonio does not follow suit. I hope this ordinance gets overturned.

This is really scary.

I need to correct myself.

It should say "It will greatly discourage low-income people who have true emergencies but have no money to call 911..."

My English skills are not up to par tonight. Sorry about that.

 

[Hear Again]

Maybe they will waive the fee for elderly with bad health problems.

I hope they do. I was personally thinking about people like my mother who become severely ill due to cancer or those like myself who need to call 911 for migraines or mental illness on a regular basis. I'm on a limited income and can't afford a $55 fine.

 

[Hear Again]

Lucia,

I agree. I know there are people who abuse the system, but at the same time, I think 911 should continue to remain a free service that is available to all regardless of income.

 

[Liebling:-)))]

In US, if you make any fake 911 then you will go to jail, it's already on current law.

Oh I see but I personally do not support for put them to jail for fake 911 calls to cover taxpayers' cost... They should pay the fine out of their own pocket, not taxpayers. IMO.

 

[Hear Again]

I was nearly fined for calling 911 four times while in a manic/psychotic state
3 years ago because of my bipolar. When my sister ended up calling 911 to get me help so that the police could take me to the ER, the operator told her if I had called one more time, they would have fined me. I don't necessarily disagree with that, so what I've done is to call the non-emergency number and inform them about my bipolar so that if I am ever in that kind of situation again, they will understand why I'm calling 911.

 

[Jolie77]

Wait until those who signed the bill... end up getting billed for their 911 calls.

Tis the irony for the ones tho signed the bill knowing that they would need the 911 system at the most but no, they'll be charged.

 

[Hear Again]

Originally Posted by VamPyroX
Wait until those who signed the bill... end up getting billed for their 911 calls.

That will be a drop in the bucket for them unlike those of us on limited incomes.

 

[Byrdie714]

That is why if any of you live in areas where they have Fire Levies on the ballot--you should vote 'YES' for it.

If you vote 'NO' for the Fire Levies--this scenario can happen to you.

 

[Babyblue]

For the elderly that have Medicaid or Medicare. Doesn't it cover EMS 911 calls?

 

[Reba]

...I think they should just make all 911 calls free to start with, and if a 911 call is found to be abused/false, then they can just go ahead and fine that person. Simple. Don't punish all of us just because some ignorant people chose to abuse the system for fun and laughs.

Exactly.

 

[LuciaDisturbed]

Originally Posted by LuciaDisturbed View Post
...I think they should just make all 911 calls free to start with, and if a 911 call is found to be abused/false, then they can just go ahead and fine that person. Simple. Don't punish all of us just because some ignorant people chose to abuse the system for fun and laughs.

Exactly.

And to make up for the wasted money from frequent 911 calls, they can cite that person who abused the system with a very hefty fine, like say about $1,000 per false 911 call instead of just a $55 fine, since I think kids and young adults who abuse the system will feel that $55 is just a mere slap on the wrist cause the kids' parents will end up paying for it or the young adults will have jobs already that allows them to be able to afford the $55 fine. They need to really feel the pinch in order to think twice before making another false 911 call ever again.

Young adults' reasonings could be:

$55 = "HAHA, so what? I have a job, I can pay for it, ain't no big deal!"

$1,000 = "oh my god, $1,000? :jaw: How will I ever pay for it? I have rent to pay, student loans to pay off, bills to pay off, and now I can't buy that computer I wanted! Oh man, I wish I had never made that false 911 call, I'll never do it ever again!"

Kids' reasonings:

$55 = "Oh well, my parents have jobs (if their parents do have jobs), they can pay for it. *shrugs* "

$1,000 = " :jaw: Oh no. My parents are going to get so mad at me, they are going to hate me, and they will take away my TV/cell phone/computer/XBOX 360/other expensive cherished possessions and they will ground me for the rest of my life and I swear I will never do it ever again, and I'll have to get odd jobs to help pay the $1,000 back to my parents."

And all persons who have made false 911 calls or have abused the 911 system should also be ordered to make a public apology on the news, and then be forced to walk around busy neighborhoods (with more people shopping and whatnot) wearing a sign on her/his front and back that says "I've been wasting the city's money by abusing the 911 system for my own amusement because I do not care about other people's true emergencies". He or she needs to receive humiliating attention in order to learn that people who have legitimate reasons to use the 911 system will frown upon those who abuse the system for their own amusement and to learn that the person has wasted the city's money by abusing the 911 system, and it will also make a good example and show and teach others that this is what will happen if you abuse the 911 system, so that others will think twice before making a false call. You all may think that this is too harsh and too humiliating, but too bad. If we did this to every single person who has made a false 911 call or abused the 911 system in any way, then after about a year or so of this, the unnecessary calls to 911 would greatly reduce and free up a lot of operators and lines for those who do have true emergencies, thus saving a lot of money and time and making more dispatchers available to answer the 911 calls and send out an ambulance, police, firefighters, or other help out right away to those who do have a true emergency. More lives would be saved, also.

I also said that the fine should be $1,000 instead of a lower fine because that is about the cost of an ambulance or higher depending on where you are...I am not sure how much exactly it costs to have an ambulance take you to the hospital, but I believe it is around $1,300? I collapsed in the supermarket once in 2001 in Minnesota from a large ovary cyst that ruptured and they had to call 911, an ambulance came to get me, and I got a bill in the mail for about $1,300 for the ambulance ride to the hospital which Medicaid and Medicare thankfully were able to pay - I was billed because I didn't give the EMTs my insurance information as I was in pain and the EMTs were too busy taking care of me to ask me about my insurance (putting an IV in me, etc) - when I got the bill in the mail I called Medicaid and Medicare and they took care of it immediately. I know that if you refuse an ambulance when they come to get you, you don't get billed for it, at least not in Minnesota, but when you do accept the help and the ride to the hospital, you would get billed for at least $1,000 or higher, so that is how much a person who abused the 911 system should be fined, to learn that it is at least how much it costs to respond to an emergency, evaluate the emergency, and then to transport a true emergency patient to the hospital. I actually think the total would be closer to about $1,500 or even $2,000. If the total is actually closer to $2,000, then the person should be fined that much instead of $1,000. I'm sure the cost of an ambulance ride has gone up since 2001, anyhow. My bill for $1,300 was from 2001, and I have not had another serious emergency like this since then and have not needed an ambulance ride since then, so I do not really know the exact cost. But it most definitely should be a VERY hefty fine that will make the 911 system abusers feel the pinch and pain of the bill and make them think twice the next time they want to abuse the 911 system again.

Just my own harsh opinion, just because I have no empathy for those who abuse the 911 system and tie up the 911 operators/dispatchers making them unavailable to answer the calls from people who have true emergencies, thus possibly causing loss of lives and worse injuries or worse situations such as completely losing your home to a fire because the call did not go through right away, so firefighters weren't dispatched in time to respond to a fire quickly enough to save most of the home so that the part of it can be rebuilt or whatever. In a nutshell, making true emergencies even worse because the operators aren't available to take calls from those with true emergencies right away. I used to hear the phrase "every second counts". The 911 system abusers are wasting those every valuable seconds.

 

[Reba]

And to make up for the wasted money from frequent 911 calls, they can cite that person who abused the system with a very hefty fine, like say about $1,000 per false 911 call instead of just a $55 fine, since I think kids and young adults who abuse the system will feel that $55 is just a mere slap on the wrist cause the kids' parents will end up paying for it or the young adults will have jobs already that allows them to be able to afford the $55 fine. They need to really feel the pinch in order to think twice before making another false 911 call ever again.

Young adults' reasonings could be:

$55 = "HAHA, so what? I have a job, I can pay for it, ain't no big deal!"

$1,000 = "oh my god, $1,000? :jaw: How will I ever pay for it? I have rent to pay, student loans to pay off, bills to pay off, and now I can't buy that computer I wanted! Oh man, I wish I had never made that false 911 call, I'll never do it ever again!"

Kids' reasonings:

$55 = "Oh well, my parents have jobs (if their parents do have jobs), they can pay for it. *shrugs* "

$1,000 = " :jaw: Oh no. My parents are going to get so mad at me, they are going to hate me, and they will take away my TV/cell phone/computer/XBOX 360/other expensive cherished possessions and they will ground me for the rest of my life and I swear I will never do it ever again, and I'll have to get odd jobs to help pay the $1,000 back to my parents."

...In a nutshell, making true emergencies even worse because the operators aren't available to take calls from those with true emergencies right away. I used to hear the phrase "every second counts". The 911 system abusers are wasting those every valuable seconds.

I agree that the penalty for intentionally misusing the 911 system should be heavier and age appropriate.

 

[AlleyCat]

One free call a year. :roll:

Heaven forbid any of us need to make more than one call a year. I understand completely if it's a false alarm or accident (and then we should likely be billed for it), but when it's a TRUE medical emergency that is just ridiculous.

Growing up, my parents had an alarm system in our home. Over some 15 years living there, it was set off accidentally by the garage side door blowing open 2 or 3 times, probably by either not being secured tightly or by wind. Police responded (we were not home at the few times this happened) and realized it was nothing more than that side door being open. But my parents did get billed $250 each false-alarm visit. Thankfully it only happened a few times over those 15 years.

 

[Kateweb]

I don't think the law will hold up , poeople who abuse 911 face fines and do have to pay when fire or ambulance show up , a short ride is about $500-800 and that if your insur pays, I happen to have gotten a recent wiff when i got hit in the head and the cop would not let me walk the 3 blocks. anyway this law is just downright wrong, the number of people abusing the system is small compared to people who don't and some of that abuse comes from people not getting the services they need. I hope this law is overturned quickly. seeing as 911 comes out of the phone and cable tv tax and other public taxes.