Woman left to die on hospital floor

Yeah - I have to agree with WoB, N_P. Not all people are capable of being sweetness and light under the stress that having to go to the ER can cause. People are frightened, sometimes that expresses as anger and agression - ER staff are trained to deal with that. They certainly should NOT let it effect their ability to triage efficiently.

My own personal experience of ER has covered three countries - in all three there were long waits and levels of apathy that only changed when the seriousness of the problem was determined. All four times during the wait time we conducted ourselves politely and tried not to hassle the staff beyond the absolute necessary - we got dealt with no faster than anyone else. In two cases the problem was determined to be minor but painful and the patient (not me) was treated efficiently and given pain meds. In the other two cases the problem was determined to be serious and the patient (me) was given as much treatment as ER had to offer til a bed became free on a ward.

The ER staff I dealt with on those 4 occassions were all very professional and the medical service, when it got to us, was good - but in 3 out of 4 cases we, and the other people in the waiting room who didn't arrive by ambulence, were treated like time wasters until an actual problem was determined. In 3 out of 4 cases (in Ireland and the UK) the front desk staff were not medically qualifed and no account was taken of the type of problem presented and we were sent to wait in the normal fashion - in 2 of those three occassions that exacerbated the problem (or could have). The other time (in France) a qualified nurse took my details and determined I was at risk of PE and had to lie down, not sit, while waiting. This may well have saved my life - I'll never know.

And also, in line with what WoB says, who and what you are has a lot to do with how you are treated. In the UK the young Irish couple presenting with him in pain were treated impolitely and were accused of being under the influence of drink and or drugs (we were neither). In France I was assumed to not really know what I was talking about because I couldn't, at the time, express myself as fluidly as I needed to. There was a significant change in the attitude of the staff when the seriousness of the problem was determined.

There is no excuse for what happened to that woman - it is not a problem that could only happen in the US either. There is indifference and prejudice everywhere.

Here is some advice. If you want to be seen quickly and it is something urgent call an ambulance. They don't make you wait in the waiting area if you arrive in an ambulance.

Yeah, you just gotta wait for the ambulance.

And then pay for it.

Not to mention that, certainly IME (well, anecdotal from others, I've never called an ambulance) ambulance crews and their ERs get REALLY pissed if you call em for no good reason. And rightly so. You should only call an ambulance if you need emergancy care and can't get to the hospital or can't get there quick enough. They aren't a taxi service.

We do actually HAVE taxi services specifically for medical non-emergencies in France that can be billed to your social / private insurance (if your doc signs off on it) - it is very useful!

That's okay, money grows on trees. And if you ask really nicely, they'll excuse the charges. Oh, wait.....

My experience has borne this statement out, in several states in the US (where, believe it or not, the standards of care are by no means monolithic) as well as France.

It's a sad fact that the quality of care comes down to how busy the ER is, who is working, and at what specific time you arrived.

One specific time (in New Haven, CT) I was treated (eventually) on a gurney in a hallway in the ER. There were evidentially no rooms available.

But to credit where it's due, the county hospital down here in South Florida was speedy and efficient, the triage nurses professional, and everything was relatively clean. The attending physicians were cold fish, but when aren't they?