Temple Bar to get its own A&E unit

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

snickerpuss wrote:

Please €500 for being drunk? How are you gonna decide the level of drunkness? Yeah it sucks people get drunk and end up wasting hospital time but what are you gonna do if they can't pay? Jail them?
Most people will probably get so drunk at least once that they're walking funny but i don't think it deserves a €500 fine.

At this point, I think we need to differentiate between 'fines' and 'costs'. I don't know off hand what the fines/penalties are for being drunk and disordlerly, nor are they relevant. I'm saying the COSTS should be high and paid for by the 'drunk'. If you're not so drunk you need medical help then you won't to pay for it, now will you? If you are, then you need to be held responsible for such costs, end of story.

Dr Galen

okay i see your point alright....but what if

i'm a chronically depressed 40 year old man, borderline personality disorder as well. who uses drinking as a means of solsace to take the pain away? I'm homeless by the way too.....who'll pay for me? do i deserve to get it free? if i do, doesn't that leave the state/HSE open to claims of discriminatory treatment?

i'm just playing the devils advocate on this, so you know. I agree that drunks coming in to A&E are an issue, but we can't be turning our backs on the real issue (which u pointed out) and thats the social acceptability of being locked and falling over.

Dr Galen

and can i just add that these drunk people aren't really the ones who clog up the A&E's causing the crisis we're in now, its mainly people who could go to their GP or local pharmacy and get seen that take up spaces in the waiting room.

snickerpuss

Yeah thats true. I wish there was somewhere you could get smaller things looked at, like when you need stitches or like when ive an asthma attack, all i really need is a nebulizer and a plug socket you know?