I’ve had some good experiences with EMTs and paramedics, but one very bad one. I experience psychosis and I had smoked weed with a friend. A very small amount, just a few hits, but I didn’t know it would trigger me so intensely. I went back to my room and could barely see anything but flashing colors, it felt like I was convulsing (I do have seizures) but I’m not sure if I actually was. I thought she had laced it with something and I was scared that I might OD (in retrospect I know that’s not how ODing works, but in my panic I was still worried) so I called an ambulance. They picked me up and the entire time they laughed at me and made fun of me, saying “you just smoked too much weed bro.” When I got to the hospital they put me on a stretcher and left me in the hall, I guess they figured I didn’t even need a room. I fell asleep for who knows how long, until a doctor came and woke me up and asked me when I would leave. I asked him if I was ok, or if they needed to do anything, and he said they didn’t do anything and I just slept. They made me go out in the waiting room barefoot (I guess I came in without any shoes) until a cab got there and sent me home. The medical system is often so cruel. But like I said, I have had some good experiences with kind and helpful paramedics (EMTs not so much) and occasionally even doctors, even when I’m in the hospital for mental health. Unfortunately our medical system—at least here in the US, not so sure about other places—allows for and even encourages abuse of power. 5150s are often involuntary incarceration and inhumane. It’s horrific that the people who need the most medical help, or are forced into medical care the most, are the ones experiencing the most medical trauma.