Bill For Late Ambulance Sparks Outrage, Questions Of Racism


A bill for a late ambulance is sparking outrage after a Washington, D.C., department failed to reach a dying 71-year-old man in time but still felt it appropriate to charge the late man’s son.

The man, Durand Ford Jr., said he got a $780 bill from the District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Service Department, NBCWashington.com reported. The only problem was that the ambulance was late when Ford called on January 1, taking more than 30 minutes to arrive. During that time his father, Durand Ford Sr., died.

Ford Jr. has expressed outrage, calling on D.C. lawmakers to investigate what happened.

“And I’m disturbed that we even received this bill…. My sister and I are still grieving about the situation. [We’re] very angry about what happened and the service we did not receive from the district.” Ford Jr. said.

He’s not the only one outraged by the bill for the late ambulance. A headline from the New York Daily News shouted “Outrageous,” while on internet forums people debated whether race placed a role in the ambulance’s slow response. (Ford is black and lives in a predominantly black neighborhood.)

Others took the bill for the late ambulance as an example for not only the failures of the health care system but the unnecessary and bloated costs it imposes on average Americans.

Ford Sr. died close to two weeks before his 72nd birthday. He was an Air Force veteran and worked as an “advisory neighborhood commissioner” in his local Ward in D.C.

The bill for the late ambulance is not the first scandal for D.C. Fire and EMS, Fox News noted. In August, the service came under fire for delaying the transportation of a 93-year-old woman who suffered a head injury.

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