the treatment

I was feeling a little ill so I went to the emergency room at the local hospital.  They decided "feeling a little ill" wasn't an emergency so they stuck me in the back of the waiting room to wait until my "little illness" became a "big illness".

I don't remember how long I waited for my illness to become terminal but I am sure it was more than an hour or two or maybe three but more than likely ten or twelve.  I know I missed my breakfast and most likely my lunch but it didn't matter because I was being used as a volunteer in a medical experiment.  One nurse or another, some male and some female, would peer through their little window to see if I was still alive and I am sure they were hoping I wasn't.

Finally, when I was sure my "little illness" had incubated itself into a "big illness" using the proof that I just thrown up all over their nice new furniture, I approached the sacred little window and inquired when my turn was?

"We are very busy", I was told. Your need to wait because your illness is still not important enough to us.  "Go back and sit in your vomit."

I decided the treatment I received was not worth waiting for a treatment I may never receive and left leaving my last nights dinner all over their waiting room furniture.

11 comments:

  1. Well, it's kind of a comfort to know that health care is similar wherever you live and however much you pay for it! I am glad you left a little something of yourself in their shiny waiting room..thanks for your visit..Jae

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  2. I had a friend who waited in an er for four hours. when his wife went to the window to tell them he was having difficulty breathing, they brought him an oxygen tank. Fifteen minutes after he was finally taken back to an exam room, he died. It was his third visit in two months. He had pancreatic cancer and they were treating it like an ulcer. He left behind a wife and two small daughters. I detest emergency rooms and have a very real problem with them not training the people who make the triage decisions of who gets treated and when. I'm sorry you experienced that. Makes me what to yell and stomp my feet!

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  3. nothing worse than an ER waiting room ... ack!

    I have a new blog: www.janepoet.com - stop on by!

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  4. love the two treatments - the one you gave them and the one they gave you. clever.

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  5. Many of your readers will applaud you actions and why not? Many of us have experienced such neglect and sometimes misdiagnoses in ER. Let's hope next time your vomit will be directed at the offender and not the poor cleaner.

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  6. Sometimes doctors can be so insensitive..

    a child's play

    And do get aboard the Poetry Train every Monday mornings and thereafter!

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  7. Emergency departments are the same all over it would appear. Is this a true story?

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  8. I hate you had that lousy experience. I've made quite a few ER visits with my husband over the years and recently with my sister. No problem in the waiting room... always went through triage quickly. The problem is spending 10-12 hours in the treatment area, waiting for Dr./RN to return, for tests to be scheduled, for reports to come back, etc. Guess we're lucky to be near UNC Hospitals.

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  9. Old Grizz, post something so I'll know you didn't return to the ER and get lost in the bureaucracy!

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  10. Hey Grizz, whatcha doin'? I hope you are well.

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