Uber?

Now you can own the paper on a fleet of Uber vehicles!

This is probably not that groundbreaking, investors have backed this kind of thing for years. But it may be the sign of Uber going to a de facto two-tier system. Easy to see it being a two-level service. You want a basic car or a black-car type car? You willing to pay more for the later?

As to drivers, you lease and you get further up the list to be picked. Those doing a side-hustle get picked second. The side-hustlers would eventually end up in the lesser parts of town but in the right area still be able to make decent cash. Becomes a stronger competitor to cabs on one end and a safer alternative to jitneys on the other.

Quote: Fleastiff

NOTE:
In response to an upstream post.

Versed is an often used initial substance to put someone under.

Remember that 'short term memory' does NOT mean impairment for a short time period. It can mean impairment that is permanent and involves the capacity to store short term memories: ie, you happilly read the same 'morning paper' for years and years and do not recall whether you've had morning coffee or not. Each headline is "new" to you since you can not store any memory into permanent recall.

Versed does have side effects and some of them can be very severe but overall it is 'fairly safe' for most people.

If any procedure is going to make you woozy.... get a trusted friend or a Medical Transport Company to pick you up. I think Lyft is stronger in Phoenix than Uber but I would not trust some random Lyft/Uber driver not to roll a "drunk" who is on Versed. Remember to 'blow air out your mouth' frequently or your body will reabsorb the Versed. In the 'average' ride from teh recovery room to the main entrance you should fully expel air from your lungs and breathe deeply at least ten times and keep it up for five minutes every half hour for two hours. Else you are self administering Versed.

Just saw this. I didn't know the short term memory loss was permanent, but have read each time a person "goes under" more brain cells die?.

In Phoenix, so it must be in other places, there is a medical transport company. After sedation, a patient cannot self check out. They are supposedly vetted. What I found is, they should be paid for the round trip, if that is what you are taking on the initial pick up, instead of paying them when you are under the influence of the versed. You have to sign a paper acknowledging you won't make any legal decisions the day of the sedation, and I can see why. I gave a way bigger tip than I would have sober.

Even though the versed is administered IV, does exhaling through the mouth still reduce the toxicity in the blood? It takes me hours to sleep it off, and I really dislike the wooziness it leaves me in. It seems like it takes days for my blood to clear itself of the versed?

Your resident anesthesiologist here..... Versed (midazolam, a cousin of valium [diazepam}) is rarely used by itself during these procedures. It is usually combined with a narcotic (fentanyl, dilaudid, demerol) and sometimes with Propofol as well. Versed by itself can have amnestic properties. Used alone, it is possible to be pretty awake during your colonoscopy and not remember a thing.
When I chat with a patient before their minor procedure that will be performed with just sedation, I tell them that if necessary I will put them fully under, but it is rare for me to need to do so. One patient, after being given his slug of versed, just started bemoaning the skills of the Bills head coach at the time, Dick Jauron. When I saw the patient in PACU he thanked me for putting him all the way under, and I told him I actually didn't. He didn't believe me. When I told him about his mentioning his 'favorite coach, Dick Jauron' he then believed me!
The longer term woozy feeling is more likely due to dilaudid or demerol, which lasts longer than versed.
Exhaling won't help get rid of versed.... but is a smart thing to do after inhaling....

Quote: SOOPOO

Your resident anesthesiologist here..... .

Okay, so you are a licensed physician and a board-certified anesthesiologist.... do you think your qualifications will ever intimidate Know It All Fleastiff who can't even figure out how to open a band aid?

NON-OR nurses who deal with only Post-op recovery and monitoring of patients face significant exposure to patient exhaled anesthesiology products.

Anything that a patient exhales will likely be partially re-inhaled by a patient. Whether it be in a recovery room or much later such as at home, FULLY expelling air from the lungs is what keeps the patient from rebreathing various anesthesiology products or by-products. Failing to do so, means there will be some degree of rebreathing of such agents which of necessity will slow down the process of completely freeing the patient of the effects of having been "under" to ANY degree of sedation.

Quote: SOOPOO

Your resident anesthesiologist here..... Versed

SOOPOO, is Versed known to cause any permanent short term memory loss or cognitive function impairment?

Quote: petroglyph

SOOPOO, is Versed known to cause any permanent short term memory loss or cognitive function impairment?

As I said NOTHING stops Know It All Fleastiff from donating his two cents worth.

First of all it is a benzodiazepam and is administered to 'interfere' with the storage of memory. Nurse spills hot coffee on you... but you only notice your shirt has a stain on it, you do not recall the incident or the pain. Nurse drops you off the gurney onto the floor... you wake up with your arm in a cast, but you do not recall the incident or any pain at all. These are examples of short term memory loss... you EXPERIENCED pain but will swear on a stack of Bibles that you don't recall having had any pain because your Versed dose disabled you briefly from being able to send those memories to your brain for later recall.

Long Term or "Permanent" loss of Short Term Memory Skills. Ie, reading the same morning paper over and over for a week, a month, a year or a decade. Or happily drinking a hundred cups of coffee a day because you literally do not remember having had your morning coffee any more than you remember the headllines in that same paper you've already read dozens of times. YES. It can happen. Idiosyncratic reaction to drugs can be rare but is always a potential. It happens to a few people, perhaps very few... but it DOES happen as many Judges and Juries have ruled. Now its a situation that might only last six months or a year or two years, but for some, heck they read a paper that falls apart from over use before they even suspect its five years old.

If you contact a Trial Lawyer I'm sure you can get a list of notable cases and expert witnesses. If you have access to Westlaw or Lexis Nexis or any similar legal database you should be able to find cases and experts on it. I am not saying it is COMMON, just that it DOES indeed happen and many people having the risks explained to them verbally or in writing do NOT understand the legal and medical meaning of the phrase "short term memory loss". It is a FUNCTION of the brain and it does NOT in any way have anything what so ever to do with DURATION. Five minutes, Five hours, Five Years... all are possible though each is very much less probable than the lesser time period. Short term memory loss for a short period of time, is not a big deal. That is why they send you home and tell you do not sign any contracts or drive or make important decisions for a day. Short term memory loss for FIVE YEARS is a living hell for the spouse.

Yeah I know. I know.... I too hope SooPoo responds.

According to today's news, Uber drivers plan to march through the city in protest against Uber. Their top demand is the elimination of the Uber Pool service, which they claim hurts them badly.

Today I received an email from Uber extolling some virtues of Uber Pool, and announcing a contest to "share your vision of Uber Pool." The prize is one year of free Uber Pool service.

Irresistible Force, meet Immovable Object.

Another demand from the drivers is that they want to charge for their services from the moment they're requested, rather than from the moment the passenger comes aboard the car. That, IMO, means going Republican on themselves (i.e. shooting themselves in the head with a howitzer). While at times I've been picked up within five minutes, the usual wait with traffic is closer to 15 minutes, with waits of 20-30 minutes not uncommon and waits of 40 minutes not unheard of. Add that to the fare, and I'll never get an Uber car again.

Quote: Nareed

the Uber Pool service, which they claim hurts them badly.

Of course they don't like it. Imagine you're waiting
for a fare, and guy above you gets 3 different
fares in his cab. Is that fair? Uber gets paid for
all 3 fares, what do they care.

Quote:

Add that to the fare, and I'll never get an Uber car again.

Uber is nothing but a cab co now, and it will have
all the problems of a cab co. It was bound to
happen now that drivers see what a scam Uber
is for them.

I would suggest Uber pay their drivers who are enroute to pick up a fare, but only at a nominal rate so that the real pay would begin when the passenger enters the cab. Drivers could still zig zag and stack passengers but it would be costing them the higher rate to do so.

If Uber is to exist it must provide benefits to both drivers and passengers. Safety and speed to passengers, decent income to drivers and minimal scrambling of fighting over fares on slow days.

This is what Artificial Intelligence and computers can excell at. Shaving pennies at different times of the day so drivers still are available at non rush hours and not over worked or under paid.

Quote: Nareed

While at times I've been picked up within five minutes, the usual wait with traffic is closer to 15 minutes, with waits of 20-30 minutes not uncommon and waits of 40 minutes not unheard of. Add that to the fare, and I'll never get an Uber car again.

I must be very fortunate. I've used Uber and Lyft about 40 times and I have not had to wait longer than 6 minutes and I have not had a single ride that didn't deserve 5 stars. Hopefully it doesn't regress.