ctmed5408

I think you are totally legitimate with you expectation that the patient be searched prior to being placed in your vehicle. I search every patient under these circumstances, both 911 and non-911 transfer. I ask them to comply vountarily and most do. If they refuse, I will call PD and that usually gets them to comply once they see I am serious. In the event that a patient does something like what yours did, they would be secured immediately. By secured I mean as soon as I saw that knife, needle, etc. come out of their pocket, they need to be physically secured immediately. Unfortuantely, I don't have the luxury of having PD immediately available, especially on every call, so that's the way we do it. PD would then be requested and the patient would be charged accordingly if a crime was committed(drugs, weapons, etc). We have a great relationship with our PD so they are great about getting there ASAP once requested. There just isn't enough of them. Things used to be pretty bad but now we have minimized problems and most patients are cooperative and comply with our requests no problem. Many are "regulars" and know what will happen if they don't behave.