Her Date Collapsed at a Bar, But He’s Demanding She Apologize For Calling An Ambulance
Pexels/Reddit
When someone suddenly becomes unresponsive after drinking, most people would rather be safe than sorry. But one woman’s decision to call 911 after her date collapsed has left her wondering whether she crossed a line, or simply did the responsible thing.
The 28-year-old says she and a man she’d recently started seeing had been drinking together when, without warning, he slumped over in his chair at a bar and became difficult to wake. Bartenders were alarmed, offered Narcan, and even asked if an ambulance should be called. After getting him back to her house, his condition didn’t improve, and he struggled to answer basic questions about where he was.
Fearing something far more serious than intoxication—especially given his history as a competitive fighter—OP called an ambulance after he told her “maybe” when asked if he needed one. Thankfully, doctors later determined he was simply extremely intoxicated.
But instead of thanking her for looking out for him, he accused her of overreacting.
AITA for calling an ambulance for my friend?
Me (28F) and a guy (31M) I’ve been seeing were at my house last Wednesday hanging out. This is the third time we had met up. He had spent the night, and we were just relaxing and cuddling and whatnot after getting something to eat earlier in the day.
He was doing some day drinking, but I wasn’t monitoring his intake, as I wasn’t drinking myself. At some point later in the evening I decided I wanted to walk to a nearby bar, and he came with me. He was acting a bit tired, but he’s also a sleepy person.
I asked him if he was drunk, and he said he wasn’t. We had two beers at the first bar, then walked to a second bar for another drink and a shot, we had the same exact drinks. He was getting sleepy, but I again asked him if he was okay, and he said he was fine.
Doesn’t seem fine…
When we got to the second bar, we were talking and he was engaged. About 20 minutes later, seemingly out of nowhere, he slumps over in his chair. Me and the bartenders were very alarmed because it happened very quickly. He seemed like he had been spiked/was on opioids and the bar staff also were pretty shocked.
They offered narcan, but I know he hadn’t taken anything else. We managed to drag him out of the bar where he laid on the ground and couldn’t get up or walk. I called an uber back to my house, and had a very difficult time getting him into the car. The bar staff asked if he needed an ambulance, and I said no.
At this point I was very concerned because he has been competitively fighting since he was very young, and although I’m not a doctor I do know it’s not normal to pass out from being drunk so quickly, and it seemed almost neurological.
Wow, that escalated.
I managed to get him into my house and onto my bed, where he continued to not be particularly responsive even though I was trying to keep him awake to figure out what was going on.
I’ve been around a lot of drugs and been in the club/rave scene for years, so I have a lot of experience with this kind of thing, and something seemed off. I asked him if he needed an ambulance and at some point he said “maybe”, so I called one. I know he is uninsured, but I know I could cover the cost and would do that.
The EMTs arrived, checked him out, I filled them in on the history i knew about him, He was having trouble answering questions about where he was. They decided to take him to the hospital.
Holy moly.
They took him there and I met them after ubering and going to his ER room. He was very distressed and tried a few times to remove his IV’s and get up but i tried to calm him down (they would probably force him to stay anyway).
They ran tests and found that he was only drunk which was a relief, and found no evidence of neurological issues.
After that I took him back to my house and we slept, the next morning he got up and started drinking again.
Someone didn’t learn their lesson.
He thinks I overreacted, and that I was being silly. He didn’t apologize. Last night he came to my house, already drunk, didn’t apologize.
When I asked why he didn’t, he says he thinks its absurd that I think I deserve one because I was so overreactive, and that I should be apologizing to him.
AITA?
Reddit overwhelmingly voted NTA, with many commenters saying OP made exactly the right call based on the information she had at the time. Readers pointed out that sudden loss of consciousness, confusion, and an inability to answer simple questions can be signs of life-threatening medical emergencies, including alcohol poisoning, head injuries, strokes, or drug exposure. In those situations, they argued, it’s always better to risk an unnecessary ambulance ride than risk someone dying because no one acted.
Sign up to get our BEST stories of the week straight to your inbox.
Many commenters were even more troubled by what happened afterward. Instead of expressing gratitude that someone cared enough to help, OP’s date reportedly resumed drinking the very next morning, showed up to her house intoxicated again days later, and insisted that she owed him an apology. To many readers, that response was a much bigger red flag than the night in question.
Several also noted that OP had only known this man for a short time, making his expectation that she should have simply ignored such alarming symptoms even more unreasonable. The overwhelming advice was not to second-guess calling for medical help—and to seriously reconsider continuing a relationship with someone who minimizes dangerous behavior and blames others for trying to protect him.
Trending and Popular
The consensus was simple: you can replace money, pride, or an awkward ER visit. You can’t replace someone’s life.
This person is warning OP that she’s dating an alcoholic…
Same here…
This person is telling it like it is.
When someone suddenly collapses and becomes unresponsive, calling an ambulance isn’t overreacting, it’s exactly what a responsible person does.
Trending and Popular
Sign up to get our BEST stories of the week straight to your inbox.
