Observations from the Emergency Room

[Grumpyguy]

My elderly father, with alzheimer's fell today while I was at work and I met him and my mom at the emergency room--(they are keeping him over night, but I think he just ended up with a broken rib, but no broken hip).

The emergency room was packed this afternoon-- 1 pm. What a gaggle of the underside of humanity.

-the average weight of people in the ER had to be at least 300 pounds (reminder-lose the 20 that I'm overweight)
-if you didn't have a Mt. Dew dangling from you hands, you didn't fit in.
-since when did people start feeding their 6 month old babies bbq Fritos?
-90% of the people were filthy, with dirty, dirty clothes. Reminder to self, dress better and don't dress like a slob.
-tattoos everywhere and let me just note that tattoos on your hands, neck, legs look bad to start with. They even look worse when you stretch them with 300 pounds of fat and 20 years of smoking.
-several mentally ill, drunk, or OD'd people making a racket in the waiting room.

Once back in the ER, the woman next to us, wretched and screamed for 3 hours as she was having withdrawal symptoms from drugs.

Honestly, if there were 5 "normal" people there, I'd be surprised.

No wonder our medical system is in trouble. The ER is used for everything but emergencies.

[Mike Johnson]

People have access to health care in America. After all, you just go to an emergency room.

[Grumpyguy]

It would be worth while to give everyone $300 a year so that they could visit a family doctor, say 3 times a year.

The ER is no place for about 75% of the ailments that I saw today.

[Acer]

Acer hides his Mountain Dew behind his monitor.

[mattkime]

>>No wonder our medical system is in trouble. The ER is used for everything but emergencies.

I blame the medical industry for it. They've gotten used to using insurance companies as their first point of contact.

A couple of years ago I had a bad cold and was having trouble breathing. I didn't have health insurance. I called a number of places and nobody could even direct me toward a doctor that could see me that day. Finally, I go into the emergency room where i sit around forever until they explain to me that it was asthma - asthma that i was well experienced with, just not in that form.

I could have seen a non-emergency doctor had they simply been able to point me to one.

[Grumpyguy]

ACER ; )

[MacMagus]

> It would be worth while to give everyone $300 a year so that they could visit a family doctor, say 3 times a year.

As a start for a national health plan, a $300 dollar yearly credit towards any doctor's visit or prescription wouldn't be too bad.

[Black Landlord]

Sorry to hear about your dad.
Any report on your neck problems?

[Grumpyguy]

BL,

Been seeing the chiropractor for about a week and a half.

So far no difference....

[DavidS]

I'm curious as to which ER you went to. I did my residency in Cincinnati and that sounds suspiciously like University Hospital, though it certainly could have been Jewish, Christ, or Bethesda North on a bad day.