what if you don’t have someone to drive you home from a procedure?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a very small network of people I feel comfortable asking for a personal favor. I need to have an outpatient procedure done at Johns Hopkins in a few weeks (like a colonoscopy) and they say I need someone to take me home bc of the anesthesia (which I find ridiculous because the doctor will review results with me afterwards- so I am considered “with it” enough to intake important health info, but not with it enough to take an uber??).

I asked the 2 people I feel comfortable asking and neither is free that day. If I don’t do the procedure then, I will have to wait several extra months as the doctor is fitting me into an already booked day.

There must be people like me who don’t have many people to ask for such a favor. What do they do in this situation? The scheduler wasn’t helpful when I asked her.

You can call your doctor's office and they will help you find someone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have to extend your circle of "people you are comfortable asking". This is why social people are more likely to have a better quality of life. What about a neighbor? Coworker?

I would never do this for anyone but family or an etremely close friend. Far too many liability issues involved. OP needs to look into at home medical care.

What are the liability issues that you are concerned about?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For my colonoscopy, the office said an uber wouldn't work because the person needed to come inside to check me out-- that they wanted to make sure there was someone who would look out for me.

I went to a lot of trouble to have my daughter leave work early to come get me. She called me from the car. I told the checkout as much. And they let me go without her coming upstairs.

That said, if I'd had a different person checking me out perhaps it would have been an issue. (I think the result would have been them keeping me a couple of more hours til they concluded I was fine.).

The problem with Ubers is that they're kind of anonymous. If you called an old fashioned taxi company on the phone, you could probably offer to pay extra for them to come upstairs.

Thinking about it... there' s also a way to communicate with the uber driver right when they accept the drive request. you could text them the situation and offer a big tip to come upstairs. That said... there's a reason they want you to be picked up by someone you trust. You're slightly out of it when you wake up, and a stranger could take advantage of the situation.

[Anonymous]

This is a problem for me because everyone I know nearby works in an office or travels extensively. Who has hours to wait around?

[Anonymous]

Reading this thread reminds me of having a scheduled induction at 1 AM because I was past my due date and the hospital had too many scheduled already for me to get induced during the day. 1 - 3 AM were the times available, between shift changes.

I am single, so I didn't want my friends to have to wake up to drive me 2 miles to the hospital. I took a cab.

[Anonymous]

Honestly, I was told I needed someone to take me home from an outpatient procedure too and I managed to arrange it but having done that, I absolutely could have walked the mile and a half home. I 100% could have been with it enough to take an Uber. Just tell them your ride is outside and go get in an Uber.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, I was told I needed someone to take me home from an outpatient procedure too and I managed to arrange it but having done that, I absolutely could have walked the mile and a half home. I 100% could have been with it enough to take an Uber. Just tell them your ride is outside and go get in an Uber.

They don’t let you walk out.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all of the good ideas on here. I’m going to see if I can find an “escort” via care.com- that and the med transport are great ideas, and this also comes up every several years when I have a colonoscopy so will be great to have ideas of what to do.

I live in MoCo and this procedure is at Johns Hopkins - so as a poster supposed, it will require someone to stick with me for almost 6 hours between driving to/from, needing to be there 1.5 hrs before the procedure, the procedure itself and the time I need to wake up. There are just very few people I’d ask to do this for me.

I know for routine colonoscopies at a local endoscopy center, they are strict about my needing not just a ride home but also someone to come up and get me - I have to give the person’s name and number when I sign in, and they won’t release me from the post-procedure area until that person has arrived. I have to assume a hospital will have the same procedures and they told me so when I scheduled the procedure.

Thanks again, everyone.
- OP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, I was told I needed someone to take me home from an outpatient procedure too and I managed to arrange it but having done that, I absolutely could have walked the mile and a half home. I 100% could have been with it enough to take an Uber. Just tell them your ride is outside and go get in an Uber.

They don’t let you walk out.

A medical office that attempts to take me prisoner better have good lawyers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lyft or Uber is fine. Even a cab.

I drove myself home once after a non-anesthesia procedure in office after resting in the waiting room until I felt I could drive. I pulled over and took a few breaks on the way but I was fine to drive.

I didn’t have medication in my system that compromised driving. If I had, I would have taken a Lyft.

No, the problem is the doctors office requires you give them a name and phone number of the person who will pick you up. If you can't do that, they don't do the procedure.

I don't know OP but I hope others post ideas! I am single and have the same problem.

[Anonymous]

I saw an article recently about how this is becoming a big barrier to people who need treatments.

Here is a mayo clinic article on what to do

https://mcpress.mayoclinic.org/healthy-aging/no-ride-home-what-to-do-instead-of-canceling-your-procedure/

[Anonymous]

OP, I wish you luck in finding someone. You have hit on a growing problem in health care, as more people are single and living alone as they age, and fewer people have cars. A year or two ago I read an long article about the number of people who don’t get colonoscopies because they don’t want to ask someone to do this. The article asked whether the requirement to have someone come in was really necessary, or whether, while done in the name of ‘safety’, was actually keeping people from accessing good preventive care. It noted the rise of Uber and asked why health care providers weren’t adapting to such a world. I know that Lyft has supposedly been interested in trying to move into this space of medical transport, but I haven’t seen any actual evidence of services such as you need. It definitely seems like a need begging to be filled.
Years ago I had a woman I used for pet sitting who picked me up from a few appointments like this. If Care.com doesn’t work out, maybe try Task Rabbit, or try posting on your neighborhood group.
Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have to extend your circle of "people you are comfortable asking". This is why social people are more likely to have a better quality of life. What about a neighbor? Coworker?

I would never do this for anyone but family or an etremely close friend. Far too many liability issues involved. OP needs to look into at home medical care.

Plus people have to use vacation time to take off work to drive someone. It's a lot to ask. Don't let this PP make you feel bad, OP. Pretty mean post, if you ask me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they won't let you take an uber than they must arrange for medical transport. It's typically an ambulance without lights on. They required it for my adult son, and coded it as a medical necessity.

Lol, no. Not for a scheduled outpatient colonoscopy. It's not their responsibility, it's the patient's. If your unwilling to expand into your social circle, and unwilling to reschedule, then maybe you can hire an aide from a private duty nursing agency.

Just walk out of the hospital with your cell phone and call an Uber or Lyft from a block away. It’s a hospital not a prison. They can’t hold you hostage.

If you know when you are going to be released, you can prearrange an Uber or Lyft. I do this often for airport rides, too.

OP, I am seen as the Strong One in my circle of friends and family. They call me to ask for favors but if I ask them for a similar one, they are too busy. You can’t force people to give a damn but Lyft drivers are some of the kindest people I know. I’ve taken them out of Hopkins Bayview before easily.

I don't know how it will work in OP's case, but the last time I did this for a relative, I'm pretty sure they checked that I was there before they started the procedure.

That or you have to give them a cell number and they call the person. Thanks to covid a lot of places now let you show up by yourself, thankfully, but still make you have a driver home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You have to extend your circle of "people you are comfortable asking". This is why social people are more likely to have a better quality of life. What about a neighbor? Coworker?

Not OP but your tone is not helpful.