NWFDMedic

As an EMS supervisor, if an ER nurse got a substantiated complaint like this from a patient's family (especially a doctor), I'd expect them to be making a phone call to me. There's NO excuse for a medic to be trying to convince an elderly patient or their family that they don't need to go to the hospital. Furthermore, there's no excuse for that same patient, given the vital signs that you noted not to be an ALS patient.
In the words of the State, it is the responsibility of all EMS providers to suggest that a patient goes to the hospital for evaluation. I know there are situations that clearly don't warrant it but I've never found occasion to tell a patient that they don't need to go to the hospital. The closest I came to it was probably a patient who called because their home BiPap machine was set incorrectly when delivered that day and she was having trouble breathing in bed because of it. We fixed the problem and she immediately felt better. My response to her was "would you like to go to the ER to be evaluated?" not "now you're fixed, you don't need to go". As expected, she said no, so I then informed her that a period of time without the proper oxygen may cause problems that should be evaluated. Again, as expected, she said she was fine and didn't want to go. She was then advised of things to watch for and to call back at any time if needed.
I knew this patient needed a hospital no more than I did but it's my responsibility to do what's best for the patient, not to mention what the state REQUIRES. Stories like yours are precisely the reason why we don't have paramedic initiated RMA's in New York. It's a shame that we don't because sometimes I feel we are doing a disservice to the patient and the ER by transporting them for no reason but when you hear of medics who can't discern what a good reason is, I can see why the folks at SEMAC wouldn't want to even consider the paramedic initiated RMA.

I have to disagree with a lot of the comments supporting the youths actions and condemning the airline. I worked in NYC my entire career including Borough Park, Brooklyn, one of the most Orthodox areas in the city and never came across this practice. This aside remember the terrorist chant their prayers also prior to "self sacrifice" so the fact that the boy was "praying" is not a sole comforting factor for the flight crew. For this crew could have mistaken this to be his preparation for a terrorist act against the plane. It was said he was traveling with his "sister". How did they know that for a fact, could it have been an accomplice, remember there is a female terrorist on trial as we speak. While we are all entitled to our personal opinions remember when we second guess people for acting it will only cause inaction which will lead to larger problems. While people got delayed and a young man got an education into the fact that the entire world is not as familiar with his religion as he thought, in the end the all arrived at their final destination safely and yes now the world has been educated and also now knows what a phylactery or Hebrew tefillin is.

We got them at Mobile Life about 3 months ago and after the initial glitches (mostly connection and learning curve issues), the majority of staff seem to have adapted. Personally, I absolutely love them. My paperwork gets done quicker, I think it's more complete, and I don't end up with cramping hands after writing a couple of calls like I did when using paper and pen.
The one down-side ... when the crew you relieve doesn't plug the Toughbook in all day and you do a call right out of the door. I had a critical patient where the staff wanted paperwork before she went to the cath lab and I had to keep running back and forth to the charger in the ambulance because the computer kept going into hibernate due to a low battery. Pens and paper don't require batteries.