So what if we go “universal”? The hospital might say “well, you’re over 65 years old, and we have some 20-40 year olds already, so you’re just going to have to wait — sorry!”
Or, there’s just so much overflow compared to capacity that what is currently her 2 hour wait becomes a 10 or a 20 hour wait?
Heck, look at our county hospital here in Dallas — they estimate 20% of ER patients walk out of the hospital without seeing a doctor because of the lines. A man just died of a heart attack here — he waited in the ER for over 20 hours, nobody treated him and he died.
sounds like another lawsuit coming. 20 hrs is too long a wait. if i was a lawyer, i think i be sitting next to the er waiting to see what happens. afterall, i get paid either way – if i win….whoa, i would be able to hit the jackpot!
2 hours is not that long of a wait in the overall scheme of things. I realize that in this particular case it was the difference between paralyzed and not-paralyzed, but equipment is busy, people are busy, preparations must be made, all that jazz. Not everything can happen on a dime.
What time of day did it happen – how many staff were available – were there others in front of her? All of these questions seem important. I find that even if you have an appointment, you may have to wait a while because of other folks in line, delays due to scheduling, the list goes on and on. I think it was another case of juries picking the deep pockets.
An appointment? I didn’t know that you could make an appointment at the emergency room. Great concept! Charge a few $ more, and you can guarantee a time slot.
Lastbat,
2 hours is 1 hour and 59 minutes too long to wait. In the event of a head injury,
I would consider thie an emergency and would assume that the ER would get this done STAT. If this were you or a member of your family, I think you would agree.
Wouldn’t a possible bleed int he brain constitute an emergency? I wou=nder what was going on in the ER that day….I shudder to think.
Oh, FYI, when I had to go to the ER recently for Supraventricular Tachycardia
(a heart condition), I was told by the triage nurse I had to wait becuase the patient before me had kidney stones and was in too much pain….Boy, did my hubby get FURIOUS…..made such a scene that they took me in right away.
It’s just that only the illegals get treated for free. ER waits in S Fla average 4 hours because every illegal with 6 kids with colds are ahead of you in line. It’s the people that treat the ER like a primary care physician that drive up wait times and cost.
If they could ONLY treat true emergencies and turn away the rest the wait time would drop. Keep in mind down here there are clinics every few blocks that will treat any insured or cash paying patient- so the only way I’ll even go to ER is by ambulance so I’ll actually be treated. If I don’t need the ambulance I can go to the clinic and bypass ER completely.
What I don’t understand is why don’t more hospitals have after-hours urgent care facilities to deal with those patients who have non life-threatening emergencies?
Then they can take patients on a “pay as you go” basis.
I know of one hospital here that has this available for their pediatric patients. It would be a no-brainer to have this available to everyone. Then maybe the
ER’s won’t get clogged with non life-threatening emergencies.
By the way, what ever happened to treating
life-threatening emergencies first? The sore-throats later? Hmmmmm…….
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So what if we go “universal”? The hospital might say “well, you’re over 65 years old, and we have some 20-40 year olds already, so you’re just going to have to wait — sorry!”
Or, there’s just so much overflow compared to capacity that what is currently her 2 hour wait becomes a 10 or a 20 hour wait?
Heck, look at our county hospital here in Dallas — they estimate 20% of ER patients walk out of the hospital without seeing a doctor because of the lines. A man just died of a heart attack here — he waited in the ER for over 20 hours, nobody treated him and he died.
sounds like another lawsuit coming. 20 hrs is too long a wait. if i was a lawyer, i think i be sitting next to the er waiting to see what happens. afterall, i get paid either way – if i win….whoa, i would be able to hit the jackpot!
2 hours is not that long of a wait in the overall scheme of things. I realize that in this particular case it was the difference between paralyzed and not-paralyzed, but equipment is busy, people are busy, preparations must be made, all that jazz. Not everything can happen on a dime.
I would be interested in knowing what cases were ahead of her. Was this a case of poor triaging or simply too many high needs patients?
What time of day did it happen – how many staff were available – were there others in front of her? All of these questions seem important. I find that even if you have an appointment, you may have to wait a while because of other folks in line, delays due to scheduling, the list goes on and on. I think it was another case of juries picking the deep pockets.
An appointment? I didn’t know that you could make an appointment at the emergency room. Great concept! Charge a few $ more, and you can guarantee a time slot.
Lastbat,
2 hours is 1 hour and 59 minutes too long to wait. In the event of a head injury,
I would consider thie an emergency and would assume that the ER would get this done STAT. If this were you or a member of your family, I think you would agree.
Wouldn’t a possible bleed int he brain constitute an emergency? I wou=nder what was going on in the ER that day….I shudder to think.
Oh, FYI, when I had to go to the ER recently for Supraventricular Tachycardia
(a heart condition), I was told by the triage nurse I had to wait becuase the patient before me had kidney stones and was in too much pain….Boy, did my hubby get FURIOUS…..made such a scene that they took me in right away.
Sadly, sometimes it’s a case of “the squeaky wheel gets the grease.”
It’s just that only the illegals get treated for free. ER waits in S Fla average 4 hours because every illegal with 6 kids with colds are ahead of you in line. It’s the people that treat the ER like a primary care physician that drive up wait times and cost.
If they could ONLY treat true emergencies and turn away the rest the wait time would drop. Keep in mind down here there are clinics every few blocks that will treat any insured or cash paying patient- so the only way I’ll even go to ER is by ambulance so I’ll actually be treated. If I don’t need the ambulance I can go to the clinic and bypass ER completely.
Dawn,
What I don’t understand is why don’t more hospitals have after-hours urgent care facilities to deal with those patients who have non life-threatening emergencies?
Then they can take patients on a “pay as you go” basis.
I know of one hospital here that has this available for their pediatric patients. It would be a no-brainer to have this available to everyone. Then maybe the
ER’s won’t get clogged with non life-threatening emergencies.
By the way, what ever happened to treating
life-threatening emergencies first? The sore-throats later? Hmmmmm…….