So What Exactly IS an Emergency

Earlier this week, I had the misfortune to cut my hand badly enough that I needed to go to the emergency room. I went to Newton-Wellesley's brand new ER, actively bleeding, but not expecting to be seen right away since you never are. However, amid the brand new chairs, the flat screen TVs, the wood styling and vaulted ceilings, I noticed that I was the only person actually "wounded" in the whole place. Sure, there were other people that didn't look that great, but there were no other bandages, no limping, no fluids spilling onto the tile floor. From the time I first signed in until I was treated it was EXACTLY three hours. During that time, a nice woman for the hospital explained that all cuts were "fast-tracked" but there had been a lot of ambulances coming in which was why the flow of people in the waiting room actually being treated was pretty much nil. When I finally saw the doctor, I asked her what would have gotten me in any faster, and her response was that if I had actually severed my digit, I might have been bumped up a few spots. I also noticed that this woman was the ONLY doctor actually in the ER. There were plenty of people to take your blood pressure or get your insurance card, but not actually treat you. So while the hospital is patting its back on how nice the facility is, I would gladly sit in the old, dingy waiting room and give that money to actual healthcare providers who could speed up the throughput on the place. It, of course, goes without saying that there is also the chronic problem of folks coming to the ER when they should just go see a primary care physician, but that's a whole other story.