I had the distinct dis-pleasure of accompanying my elderly and frail father at the local hospital emergency room a couple of nights ago. It started when he called me at 1:00 am to complain of chest pains and wondering what to do. He wears a "first alert" kind of badge which summons emergency care when pressed. I told him to press his button and I would catch up to him in the hospital as soon as I could get there. By the time I got the assisted care facility where he lives (about 30 minutes later), he had been picked up by the local ambulance service and transported to the ER.
I went to the local ER to find him, but instead was told that he wasn't there. Luckily, it was pretty slow that night, so in a little while they came out and informed me that he has a heart emergency beyond their capabilities, so he had been transported to another hospital about 30 miles away. They gave me the name, address, map and phone number of that hospital. I went there, dodging drunks on the roads after the 2:00 am bar shutdown time - and being tailed by several highway patrol cruisers along the way.
The ER was much busier than at the first hospital and I was told they would let me know when I could visit him. So I sat and waited - for an hour or so. Finally, they called me to the desk to inform me that he wasn't there, he had not been brought there, but instead had gone to some other hospital. They were polite enough to call around and find him for me, and gave me the new hospital name and address.
After another half-hour of driving back in the direction I had come, I arrived and was allowed to be with him. I stood around next to his bed for a half hour or so until I realized that nobody was going to come tell me what was going on, or help me find a chair to sit in. I had to go round up a chair and we waited - and waited. He was totally ignored. They took his cloths off when he got there, but failed to provide blankets other than a thin sheet. It was cold in there, so he was freezing. I managed to get his robe on him, which helped - but when they came by they would pull his covers off and leave them that way. My father couldn't fix his bed, so I did it for him. He tried to get water, but was ignored. He asked for coffee, which they agreed to do- but was ignored. He had to go pee, but couldn't get up and I couldn't find anyone to help - so he peed his bed and just had to lay there in it. They said they would change the blankets to get dry ones, but never did.
My feeling was that we were being given the lowest priority possible, and generally ignored, while the nurses surfed the net looking for new vacation spots and places to purchase things (I could see their screen, so know what they were "working" on). They sat around chatting about vacations, family stuff, etc. while their patents were ignored and forgotten. It wasn't that they were busy, it was just that they were too busy for the folks in the beds.
Oddly, this rather cold and heartless treatment didn't anger me, I just sat and watched what was going on. When I got home and told my wife what had happened she had an interesting insight. She said it sounded like the staff considered emergency room patients to be lowlifes and cheats. As I thought about it, that seemed to be correct. They seemed to be reacting as if we had no insurance or ability to pay, and were just freeloading off of the system. It wasn't just us who were being treated that way, it was everyone. As I thought back on the night, that is how two of the three hospitals treated me - as a bother and someone who didn't really deserve their attention or compassion. We were all just bodies to deal with, and not very important bodies at that.
The hospital in Davis was not that way, and in fact has never been that way. Sometimes it is very busy, but they don't forget you are treat you like pond scum. Possibly because Davis is a pretty affluent city and people who show up at the ER are actually having emergencies. The other two hospitals are in Sacramento, which has a much higher population of poor and homeless people, so maybe they just expect that "emergencies" are just a way to get medical treatment without paying for it.
If that is true, then this is another good reason to have 100% medical for all Americans (and extremely affordable care for "guests" in our country). If everyone would get the same coverage then there would be no reason to look down upon the folks who have to use the ER, and maybe there would be much better care and attention at those facilities. Also, since it is undoubtedly true that some folks use the ER are their only source of medical care, universal health care would free up the ER's so that they could be much more efficient and actually attentive to those in need of emergency care.
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