Possibly the Last Free Emergency Room Visit - Times Past
These days, an emergency room visit for the uninsured is likely to put a person in serious debt, with hospitals almost immediately sending the huge bills even a simple visit can run up to a collection agency. It wasn't always so. Here's an emergency room visit from 1975 - an embarrassing story told on myself:
My thenwife and I decided to go, in 1975, to see the new movie, Jaws. I was just 30 years old then, which really seems impossible now. As was our habit in those days, we rolled up and smoked some medicinal herbs just before heading to the theater. As the movie progressed, I began to feel odd. My heart was racing, and I was breathing hard. I kept my silence until the movie was finished, and then told my thenwife about my symptoms, which seemed to be getting worse. A decision was made to pay a visit to the emergency room, not far away.
We walked in, went up to the nurses desk, and I described my symptoms to the nice nurse there. She grabbed a stethoscope and had a listen to my racing heart and my fast breathing. Then, she asked, "So what have you been up to today." My thenwife explained that the symptoms had started while we were watching Jaws. "Uh-huh," the nurse said. Then she asked, "Have you two been smoking any illegal substances today?" We fessed up.
The Nurse said, "Well, we could have the doctor take a look at you, but that would cost $100. Just between you and me, I think you're having a minor panic attack, made worse by that illegal substance you smoked. It's up to you."
Embarrassed and a little sheepish, we decided to take our leave. No charge.
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That was then. This is now. Today, the story would have been different. For many reasons, the nurse at the desk no longer sends people away if they come in with such symptoms. Instead, I would have been whisked off into a room, connected to an electrocardiogram machine and been poked and prodded, poked with a needle for some blood tests, and so on. I would still have been having a mild panic attack and would have been embarrassed, but the bill for my visit would have run into the thousands of dollars.
It won't be until we have single-payer healthcare, with universal coverage, that we'll return to the day when the ER nurse will once again be able to chuckle and send a couple of 30-year-olds off after inquiring about their dope-smoking and movie-going. More's the pity. I'm hopeful, at 67 years of age, that I'll get to see that happen. I'll keep working towards that, and hope everyone else will, too.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Why not call it by its proper name? Cannabis.
Thank you!
Cool story, bro. 