Why Don't People Call 911 When They Suffer A Stroke?

So why don't people call 911 when they suffer a stroke?... Would you?

I can recall thinking when I was experiencing my stroke. (and friends were making the call for me) "The're calling 911 FOR ME!" Then in my mind's ear I  heard my inner voice again. "Shut up, you fool! You are having a stroke and you NEED 911."

It is strange how even as it is happening to us we have a tough time possessing the fact in our own mind.

Click Through to read this very interesting article.

Action Points:

• Nationwide, only about half of stroke patients arrived at the emergency department via ambulance and that figure did not change over a 10-year period.
• The trend was apparent for all subgroups, except for young patients and those with a payment source other than private insurance, Medicare, or Medicaid, which experienced a downward trend in ambulance use between 1997 and 2008.

"Stroke Patients Don't Call 911" 
by By Kristina Fiore, Staff Writer, MedPage Today

Published: March 13, 2012

Reviewed by Robert Jasmer, MD; Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco.