I was working as a Shaliach- Courier on a scooter when a woman turned in front of me and I rode into her.

Now, in Israel the only quick way to claim damages is to lie still until an ambulance arrives.  When the Police also arrive they will take statements and this will save you a lot of the time and prevent you from having to pay for the damages yourself.

So, there I was, lying on the ground waiting for the ambulance seeing people rush around trying to look busy so that they can tell their family in the evening that they helped someone who was in an accident. I was in the Israeli Army and I drove an ambulance for the IDF, so I know that 90% of the people who are at the scene of an accident do not know what to do other than to look- pretty morbid if you ask me.

So, back to lying on the ground; I heard the police car pull up with its siren wailing, and I am thinking "good something is about to be cleared up," as I know that the woman cut me off!

Well, to my surprise, the policeman leans down and informs me that I was in the wrong and that I was passing on the right hand side,

Now lying on the ground in pain I tried to get a look at the woman.

I then realized why he accused me of being at fault.

The young woman was chatting and flirting with the cop and he was asking for her phone number. I gathered that it was to give to me in order to make arrangements to pay for the damages. Instead, he pockets the phone number and gets in his car and drives off.

At this stage I wanted to stand up but I had severe pain in my left hip, so I thought the better of it and asked a person next to me to get the woman's particulars as the cop was thinking with his small brain instead of the large one.

Eventually the Ambulance arrives.

"What happened?" I was asked.

"Well," I said, "is it not obvious that I was in a n accident?"

"Does your neck hurt?"  I was asked.

 "No"  I replied -when they promptly attached a brace around my neck.

While lying on the ground I noticed my watch and cell-phone lying a few feet away. I had to crawl to retrieve them myself.

On seeing me moving, the ambulance attendant said that there could not be something seriously wrong with me if I could move.

I said "Hold on, I have serious pain in my left hip."

So, I was placed on a back-board and gently lifted into the Ambulance.

I'm now thinking thank G-d, I am actually on my way at last. Now I can get some medical attention.

I hear the driver announce over the 2-way radio that it is a quiet evacuation- which means no siren. OK,  I'm thinking, but I'm in pain; does that not count for anything?

Then the ride from hell began.

The driver must of had a hot date waiting or something, as he pulled off with tires screeching and drove rather fast around the corner. I'm thinking, cool, I'll get there fast.

But no one had tied the stretcher to the Ambulance, so I started to rock left at the corner, feeling that I was about to fall out of the stretcher. I grabbed on to the side shelf, just as the bandages and plastic packages tumbled out onto me.

"Hey guys!" I yelled in Hebrew, to no avail. The next corner was like a roller coaster ride and so were the next few after that. I'm thinking,   it would have been better if I had just stood up after the accident and taken myself to the hospital.

After what seemed like an eternity, the back is in a shambles. Tubes, packets and bags are everywhere  when finally  the ambulance stopped.

The doors flew open.  I heard them curse the mess and I was pulled out.   Then the wheeled me  down a corridor, just like you see in the movies. Neon light ,ceiling, neon light, ceiling, neon light, wires-dark? Hey, where am I? The trolley stops moving and I can barely make out wires above my head and stars on my left.

So, I'm thinking this is it! You don't just see the light , it goes black first and very quiet. All the while, I am strapped to the trolley in a neck brace and chin strap, feeling totally helpless.

Minutes pass- for me it seemed like hours. The trolley starts to move forward, bump, bump, sudden bright light-"I'm not ready please send me back".

No, it was the waiting room. I'm still here, good.

Now, I need the toilet badly as I had been drinking a lot of water before the accident.

"Hello, I need the "sherutim."

"Not until the doctor has seen you" came the reply

Lie still and the pressure will not be so bad, I thought.

Cool so far so good.

All of a sudden I'm rocked back and forth. People are arguing. The ambulance needs their back-board, but I'm still lying on it.

No problem. I was moved over to a bed where I was un-strapped and unceremoniously dumped onto the bed so that the board could be removed. Oh! Sh#t! The pain in my side and my bladder was about to explode!

A doctor's face appears. "Please open your pants so I can see if your spleen is ok."

 "Sure"- I open my pants which he pulls below my hips and starts to feel around. First the inner thigh, then the groin.  Then he starts to push on my bladder and asks "does it hurt?"

 I could not answer, as I wanted to let go right then.

"OK" he says, "You need to go to x-ray your hip."

"Can I get up?"

"Not until you have had an x-ray", he responds.

He walks away leaving the curtain open for everyone to see me in all my glory, lying on the bed.

Luckily the attendant arrived quickly and placed a light blanket over me and started to wheel me down the corridor.

I knew it this time. When I hit the dark spot I smiled and thought well the worst is over.

Sumo wrestling comes to mind when the x-ray technician flipped me from the trolley onto the x-ray table, twisted me on to my side, and told me not to move. By now I had gotten used to the pain in my side and it had been reduced by the sudden pain in my back that I had received from the Sumo flip onto the table.

X-rays over, I'm flipped back onto the trolley and pushed into the corridor. Now I was quite frustrated with the fact that i needed the sherutim fast.

I undid my own straps and  climbed off the trolley and hobbled to the sherutim and relieved myself of all the pressure..

After that I sat down next to the trolley to await the attendant's return to take me back to the waiting room. I walked to the cool drink machine and had myself a drink and read the local news. Eventually he returned but was very angry.

"Where is the patient?" he asked the technician who by now had seen at least four others and did not remember what I looked like.

He started to panic because losing a patient is very serious. I said "it's ok, here I am."

"No" he said "My patient was lying down."

It started to sink in that it was a circus here with no ring master so I said "thank you for your hospitality" and left.

I phoned a friend of mine to collect me from the hospital

A month later I received a bill for 1200.00 nis for my first Ambulance ride

My name is, Allen Materin.  I'm 47 yrs old and live in Kfar Sava Israel
Please Note: all the above is true, my reflections on the situation came after the fact.