Funny, we get called for much less than a hurt knee and failing vision via 911 every day. I don't have a choice other to send them to the ER if that is what they want. I recently went to a call where the young man thought he took too much "extenze"... Long story short, we checked vitals and asked if he wanted to be seen at ER for further evaluation. "Nah man, I got work to do now... just thought I was gonna die for a second." Anxiety and Panic... number one call type.

My wife called for me because I accidentally drank my mouthwash. I couldn't speak and technically couldn't breath for a minute. And I would have been fine, but the bottle said to call poison control (or something - this was 10 years back) if ingested. So my wife called while I was wheezing. By the time the ambulance arrived I was totally fine... sorry about that too

> And they eventually put it out to prevent it spreading.

Reading the article, that's not true.

They watered down the fence line to protect someone else's land.

> Firefighters did eventually show up, but only to fight the fire on the neighboring property, whose owner had paid the fee.

> "They put water out on the fence line out here. They never said nothing to me. Never acknowledged. They stood out here and watched it burn," Cranick said.

So to your examples...

> They will save your life. They won't treat your trick knee, erectile dysfunction, or failing vision.

It would be closer to the story if it was "they won't save you, but they'll spray down everyone else with a disinfectant to protect them from your disease."

> They will save your life. They won't treat your trick knee, erectile dysfunction, or failing vision.

I thought in the US, hospitals were only required to stabilize, not treat, non-paying patients. For example, if someone has cancer, they are not required to perform surgery or chemotherapy, just stabilize their symptoms at the moment.

They will evaluate you and give you a ride home if you are indigent. There are places where it's not uncommon to call 911 for a runny nose or whatever, request ER care, and get the medicab home.