Dallas is fretting over "what happened that night at the er".

[SoCalDem]

Anyone who has ever been to an er at night pretty much knows what happened.

Our youngest son was a sports guy, and we have spent lots of time in ers waiting for an injury to be attended to.

Once, there was a kid next to us who had cried for so long that no sound came out anymore. He and his frazzled Mom took turns tending to the ugly gash and bloody rag on his head, and the blood that dripped (more like streamed) down his arm and off his elbow. She patiently moved their stuff as the "mop guy" mopped up the bloody floor at least 3 times. This little guy was about 7 or 8 years old.

They were there when we arrived at midnight. Our son woke up with palpitations so fierce that I could see his heart beating. He was a strong 15 year old, but it scared the life out of me. He was having trouble breathing too.

There was an elderly lady who was wincing every few minutes as she sat slumped in a chair along the opposite wall..

In total, there were about 50 people waiting to be seen

There were two nurses visible to us.

The little boy was seen a few minutes before we were.

We waited 4 hours to be seen, and they ended up admitting our son and a cardiologist fitted him with a holter monitor in the morning

Emergency rooms are chaotic, and a patient..a foreign patient with rather vague symptoms can easily fall through the cracks.

[Ilsa]

1. It's not "first come, first served."

It's about medical priority. And if they were getting slammed that day at that hour, then yes, someone with flu-like symptoms might fall through the cracks. And being an uninsured foreigner doesn't help.

Still, someone should have given it thought.

[SoCalDem]

2. Once at Hoag Memorial's ER, it was like something out of a movie

While we waited to have a broken ankle tended to (soccer injury)
they had a surfer with a shark bite
a near drowning
cops & firemen all over the place with a shooting victim ( we actually got kicked out of a room for that one)
another crew arrived with a hit and run victim

I don;t know how they manage to stay sane

[Tracer]

5. It's all about triage.

I've been to the ER many times with my kids and myself, and only use it if I thought that the situation was really serious.

There were two times that it was not only more than serious, but life-threatening:

- Teenage son's choking episode: The hospital could have been on fire, the way everyone reacted. Not only an immediate reaction, but people racing down the hall to find him (he had run to find a bathroom).

- Myself: Acute hydronephrosis. Seen before anyone else in the ER, put in a bed with IVs and morphine.

[Shrike47]

3. Haven't the fretters ever been to the ER?

I'm sure the medical staff do the best they can but they have to make decisions under very stressful circumstances and sometimes they make errors or just aren't up to the task.

A few years ago I had a terrible infection that developed into MRSA after going to the hospital. After I was released, the ongoing care people sent me back to the ER one afternoon ( second ER trip for this infection ) and the poor kid who was supposed to get a line going couldn't find a vein. He was over in the corner saying 'I can do this, I know how to do this.'. He never got the needle in, they had to get a really experienced nurse.

My point is, he was a good kid and he's great now at getting a line going ( he works at my doctor's office now so I see him all the time ). He just couldn't manage that night in the ER.

Humans make mistakes. It's just odd how many mistakes have been made regarding this patient.

[SoCalDem]

4. Mistakes often cascade

as different people get involved

[HereSince1628]

18. Maybe not. Although nearly 43 percent of Americans seek help in an ER sometime

in their life, many don't do it until later in life...falls, angina, TIA's and such...

I made it 56 years without a visit, and the visit I made wasn't an emergency. I was told to do it so that I could be entered into care at the V.A.

[Chemisse]

6. I don't understand why the media is so fixated on this.

It was a mistake, but the kind that is easily made in a busy ER. Nobody in the entire nation had been diagnosed with Ebola, so it's not like they would have been on the alert for it.

Now if he had told them he had been exposed to Ebola - which he clearly should have done! - then they would have been negligent in not considering it.

[treestar]

8. Agree that would have been a big help

It's a big mystery to me why he didn't tell them himself.

[magical thyme]

9. he didn't tell his girlfriend or son, either

exposing all of his family and friends.

[notadmblnd]

7. Since the ACA went into effect urgent care facilities have popped up around here en mass

and are rarely busy. I went to one in April when I experienced breathing difficulties due to acute bronchitis. Honestly, I was treated like I was royalty. I was taken in the exam room while my son took care of paperwork. I don't know, maybe they were just happy that they finally had something to do but I was treated and feeling better within an hour. The added bonus was that my co-pay was about half of what I would have paid had I gone to an Emergency room.

My question is, are there no urgent care facilities in Texas for people to utilize?

[MineralMan]

10. I'm sure there are urgent care facilities there,

if you have a car to get you to one and you know where it is. For an immigrant family, that can be a tough thing. I've been to many urgent care clinics. One is in the same place as my regular clinic. I've also been to emergency rooms. I've taken both of my wife's parents to both, too, and followed ambulances to ERs a few times for her parents, too.

Each visit has been different. Each visit has been unique.

[notadmblnd]

13. I wasn't suggesting that immigrants would be aware

But I would think that Americans with non life threatening injuries such as cuts, sprains, broken bones and colds would be aware of them and utilize them leaving ER visits for the more serious medical emergencies.

[MineralMan]

14. More and more, they're doing exactly that. Since the ACA went into effect,

more people are insured. Without insurance, those urgent care facilities, which are almost all privately owned, you'll be told to go to the ER if you show up at an urgent care. The ER has to accept you. The urgent care facilities don't. They'll just send you to the ER.

In other cases, people go to the ER because, for them, whatever is going on appears to be an emergency. Most people aren't really all that aware of what is an ER emergency and what is an urgent care problem. And the ER won't tell you to go to urgent care. They'll just deal with whatever you show up with.

It's just not that simple, really.

[notadmblnd]

16. Yes, ignorance is bliss I guess. So if people are happier paying more and waiting longer

more power to them I guess.

[SoCalDem]

17. And many clinics close at 9 PM..ERs never close n/t

[Dreamer Tatum]

11. It took hours for Drs Green and Ross to see me, that's for sure.

I had to visit the craft services table twice to fend off hunger until I was seen.

[seabeyond]

12. i do not live in nearly the size of community of dallas. i too was in a er about a month ago,

for my son, a gash in the back of head, lots of bleeding. i try to keep it with urgent care as opposed to er. but, they sent us to the er for a cat scan.

i had been in er in the past, a couple times. but the mess of it this last time, is like what you see on tv. five hours wait, harassed and hurried employees. dirty. i didnt want to get close to anything, let alone anyone. it had been a handful of years, since previously being in an er, and this surprised me to know end. i better understood exactly what people are talking about, hence the use of urgent cares, rather than ers.

after that trip a month ago, i totally get it.

[Barack_America]

15. My diagnosis: Compound medical error secondary to a strained and...

...profit-motivated medical system.

My plan: Single-payer

NEXT!