D.C. ambulance service is infamous for longstanding service problems. Life and limb tragedies are regularly compounded by bureaucratic inefficiency. From the mistake of a late arrival after an ailing father had passed away (and billing the grieving family) to an ambulance shutting down due to an EPA-mandated emissions reduction device resulting in the death of a suspect shot by police.
Another critical, little-known problem reported by local channel 4 last week: typical wait time after patient drop-off at a hospital is excessive at 40 minutes (10 to 20 minutes more than other comparable urban cities is a lot when every minute counts). This unfortunate statistic precisely mirrors a 2007 Task Force on Emergency Medical Services Report under then Mayor Adrian Fenty that has not improved one iota in the intervening years.
Privatization—supported by D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser—is a capital idea whose time, like D.C.'s ambulances, is long overdue.
