OT: When does an ER become negligent?

[starkvegasdawg]

Mods, feel free to move this. I just wanted it here to get some quick visibility.

I got a text from my mom saying she has been up all night nauseous and severe abdominal pain. She went to the ER at 9:00 this morning. As of 2:00 she is still sitting in the same 17ing chair that she sat down in 5 hours earlier with no hint of seeing a doctor. I won't mention the hospital yet but it is a delta town on Highway 82. Is that kind of wait now par for the course or is this just gross incompetence? I told her to walk out the door and go across the street and call an ambulance but she said she's now too weak to do that.

[Mjoelner34]

When people use it as their regular family practioner because they have the sniffles or a nagging cough. I've been to the one in Oktibbeha County 3 times. 1. I was barely able to walk and gasping for breath through the pain of acute appendicitis (they came running and carried me straight to the back as soon as they saw me come in). 2. I had a large sliver of dried resin from work lodged under my upper eyelid (again, straight back. they don't screw around with eye injuries). 3. I busted a knuckle working on my brakes and needed stitches and a buddy drove me there. I sat there for about 30 minutes dripping blood on the floor while several people that seemed to only have a mild cough or nothing noticably wrong with them went ahead of me. I guess 'mild cough' ranks ahead of 'dripping blood' in their triage priorities there.

[Political Hack]

I waited 8 hours in Baltimore one time with a broken humerous, every ligament in my shoulder completely torn, and my bicep no longer attached to my shoulder.

The lady in front of me had been stabbed in the stomach and she waited damn near as long as I did. She wasn't bleeding bad or anything, but she had been stabbed. Some incoherent guy in a wheelchair in the corner and soiled himself. Stank really bad. He was there the whole time and was there when I left.

But that was Baltimore where people get shot daily. That's pretty bad to have someone with severe stomach pain sitting around for 5 hours. Could be minor, but they can't know that without examining her.

[TrapGame]

I wheeled my wife into the ER in agonizing pain from kidney stones. She fainted filling out paperwork. They took her straight back and started an IV. This was Baptist on State Street.

[dawgs]

When people use it as their regular family practioner because they have the sniffles or a nagging cough. I've been to the one in Oktibbeha County 3 times. 1. I was barely able to walk and gasping for breath through the pain of acute appendicitis (they came running and carried me straight to the back as soon as they saw me come in). 2. I had a large sliver of dried resin from work lodged under my upper eyelid (again, straight back. they don't screw around with eye injuries). 3. I busted a knuckle working on my brakes and needed stitches and a buddy drove me there. I sat there for about 30 minutes dripping blood on the floor while several people that seemed to only have a mild cough or nothing noticably wrong with them went ahead of me. I guess 'mild cough' ranks ahead of 'dripping blood' in their triage priorities there.

It's almost like promoting preventative care and figuring out an insurance plan for everyone that doesn't break the bank and covers preventative care for sniffles and coughs would help clear up ERs to handle true emergencies.

[starkvegasdawg]

At five and a half hours they finally got her in a triage room with an IV and something for pain.

[MadDawg]

My dad had to go to the ER several times for excruciating pain he had after a recent colonoscopy. My dad, who never complained about pain said it was the worst pain he had ever felt. After a couple trips to the ER, and 8-12 hours waits, they told him he just had a bad case a hemorriods. They told him go home and don't come back. Literally don't come back, they were tired of seeing him. After finding a dr that would finally see him again a few days later, it was discovered his intestines were ripped open from the colonoscopy. They scheduled surgery the following Monday. He died a couple days later due to his heart giving out. The pain had put such a stress on him, his heart just quit. So the last days of his life he spent in excruciating pain thanks in large part to ER doctors not giving a shit about helping him.

[Boodawg]

I've always been told to tell them you are short of breath and they will take you immediately. Don't know whether that's true or not, just what I was told.

[starkvegasdawg]

My dad had to go to the ER several times for excruciating pain he had after a recent colonoscopy. My dad, who never complained about pain said it was the worst pain he had ever felt. After a couple trips to the ER, and 8-12 hours waits, they told him he just had a bad case a hemorriods. They told him go home and don't come back. Literally don't come back, they were tired of seeing him. After finding a dr that would finally see him again a few days later, it was discovered his intestines were ripped open from the colonoscopy. They scheduled surgery the following Monday. He died a couple days later due to his heart giving out. The pain had put such a stress on him, his heart just quit. So the last days of his life he spent in excruciating pain thanks in large part to ER doctors not giving a shit about helping him.

My deepest condolences on losing your dad in that manner. While different circumstances, I lost mine early and untimely and it's not easy to deal with or accept.

[Activated Alpha]

From several years of experience in dealing with health care and EMS, it is not strange to wait several hours in the waiting room. ER nurses are trained to triage patients as they come through the door as in severe trauma over minor wrecks, chest pain over chronic headaches. Now abdominal pain with nausea can be concerning because chest pain in women is often referred as abdominal pain.

Now dealing with your mom, I hope the nurse at least triaged her first before sending her to wait 8 hours. In triage she should have gotten an EKG performed which would have been signed off on by the doctor. If nothing was serious then she would have been put on the list for a room. Abdominal pain should be a higher priority then others because of a lot of organs and tissue located within the cavity. I have waited over 4 hours with a patient on my stretcher at some of these local hospitals. And it's not the doctors our nurses; it's the mentality of the public.

[Skeptic]

The ER becomes negligent if and when they do not triage in a timely manner or delay care for an unnecessary reason (other higher acuity patient care.). Alpha is right. When nonemergent patients take up the time and resources of the ER, it slows down everything and costs society 10x more than the same and appropriate care in a clinic. A few years ago, a study came out citing 4 hours as a national door-to-doctor time. Sad but true.

Hope your mom is well.

[starkvegasdawg]

From several years of experience in dealing with health care and EMS, it is not strange to wait several hours in the waiting room. ER nurses are trained to triage patients as they come through the door as in severe trauma over minor wrecks, chest pain over chronic headaches. Now abdominal pain with nausea can be concerning because chest pain in women is often referred as abdominal pain.

Now dealing with your mom, I hope the nurse at least triaged her first before sending her to wait 8 hours. In triage she should have gotten an EKG performed which would have been signed off on by the doctor. If nothing was serious then she would have been put on the list for a room. Abdominal pain should be a higher priority then others because of a lot of organs and tissue located within the cavity. I have waited over 4 hours with a patient on my stretcher at some of these local hospitals. And it's not the doctors our nurses; it's the mentality of the public.

To my knowledge she sat in the waiting room of the ER with nobody having done anything for 5 hours. But I'm not sure. Haven't heard anything in over an hour now.

[parabrave]

Wow I will never complain about the VA again. Seriously though I get dam good service at the Coast VA.

[dparker]

My dad had to go to the ER several times for excruciating pain he had after a recent colonoscopy. My dad, who never complained about pain said it was the worst pain he had ever felt. After a couple trips to the ER, and 8-12 hours waits, they told him he just had a bad case a hemorriods. They told him go home and don't come back. Literally don't come back, they were tired of seeing him. After finding a dr that would finally see him again a few days later, it was discovered his intestines were ripped open from the colonoscopy. They scheduled surgery the following Monday. He died a couple days later due to his heart giving out. The pain had put such a stress on him, his heart just quit. So the last days of his life he spent in excruciating pain thanks in large part to ER doctors not giving a shit about helping him.

Sorry to hear that. He isn't from around the coast area is he? I had a second or third cousin where the same thing happened.

[RocketDawg]

So she hadn't even been triaged ... was just sitting there for 5 hours? That's really unacceptable.

Best I can tell, around here as soon as you walk in you're triaged, then you may sit for a while if your complaint isn't life threatening. Last summer, I left the house heading to the golf course, but arm and chest pains made me detour by the ER. They saw me immediately and I left the hospital about 6 days later wearing veins where three arteries had been.

So yeah, in my opinion, they should have seen her, then decided if immediate attention was necessary. They apparently didn't do that. As someone said, you might need to call an ambulance for immediate attention.

[BoomBoom]

Mods, feel free to move this. I just wanted it here to get some quick visibility.

I got a text from my mom saying she has been up all night nauseous and severe abdominal pain. She went to the ER at 9:00 this morning. As of 2:00 she is still sitting in the same 17ing chair that she sat down in 5 hours earlier with no hint of seeing a doctor. I won't mention the hospital yet but it is a delta town on Highway 82. Is that kind of wait now par for the course or is this just gross incompetence? I told her to walk out the door and go across the street and call an ambulance but she said she's now too weak to do that.

those delta hospitals could really use that expanded Medicaid funding.......

hope she's doing better, Stark.

[msbulldog]

Obama Care!

[starkvegasdawg]

Called the hospital. Woman at front desk said she hadn't been admitted, but she transferred me to the ER. They said she wasn't there so they must have sent her home. Five minutes later I get a text from my mom...still at the hospital. So nobody knows she's there evidently, but she's still there. Anyway, they said she has two kidney stones.

[IMissJack]

In bigger cities, like here in Houston, there are Emergency centers popping up as stand alone businesses all over town, because no one wants to go to a hospital ER and sit for hours.

[Gutter Cobreh]

I've always been told to tell them you are short of breath and they will take you immediately. Don't know whether that's true or not, just what I was told.

Chest pain (even hinting at it) will get you back without a wait.

Called the hospital. Woman at front desk said she hadn't been admitted, but she transferred me to the ER. They said she wasn't there so they must have sent her home. Five minutes later I get a text from my mom...still at the hospital. So nobody knows she's there evidently, but she's still there. Anyway, they said she has two kidney stones.

This is nothing new either. Depending on capacity for inpatient beds (if they've decided to admit her), people can wait in the ED for hours on end. Not to mention, patients do get "forgotten" about if it's a busy night.

I had a kidney stone early last year and it was the absolute worst pain I've ever experienced. I finally validated for my wife, with the help of others, that it's more painful than childbirth. I'm sorry that she's going through this. Hopefully, they'll go in and zap them to tiny particles without her having to pass them naturally.