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Let's Replace ER Complaints With Solutions

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By STEVE OTTO

sotto@tampatrib.com

Published: February 17, 2009

Here are a couple more letters on your experiences in Florida emergency rooms. Everyone seems to have his or her own tale. Instead of publishing more of them I'd prefer to hear possible solutions such as patient representatives to local urgent care centers.

•Christie Musick writes: "I've been very interested in your articles on emergency room delays. I think a large part of the problem is people who come to the ER when they don't need to. I worked as a volunteer in an ER for more than a year and I was astounded at the number of people who came in with little cuts or scrapes that did not need stitches and could easily have been treated at home. The one I remember most was two women who came in wanting us to pierce an 18-month-old baby's ears.

"People it's called an EMERGENCY room for a reason, like the 9-year-old boy who rode through a barbed-wire fence or the woman who handed me a paper towel with her son's thumb and asked if I could put it back on. I have no doubt that the stories quoted by other people could have been seen a lot sooner if not for people who crowd the ER with non-emergency complaints."

•Here's one more from Margaret Fox, who might not feel the same way.

"Super Bowl evening in 2008 and the game was only a few minutes old when I started feeling nauseous. Luckily my husband and I were next door. I excused myself saying I did not feel well, came home and proceeded to have the worst bout of food poisoning ever. My husband had had knee replacement surgery just two weeks prior and could not drive. Fearing that I might make a mess in someone's car and on the advice of a neighbor ER doctor who was not on duty, we called 911 and they send an EMT truck. At my stage of dehydration they decided to start an IV and we went to the nearest ER, which is University Community on Fletcher Ave.

"The nightmare began. This was approximately 10:00 p.m. I was 'dumped' out of the EMT truck just inside the entry of the waiting room of the ER. My neighbor followed in her car and joined me in the waiting room. After intake we could not find another staff person without searching empty hallways. I was attached to an IV and needed to change clothes

"...There were other people in the waiting room, one woman cried and sobbed and cried out her pain for hours. It was so cold I thought of pulling my IV and leaving but I was afraid I would have other 'incidents' on the way home and I still needed ER care.

"Approximately 3:00 a.m. my name was called and my friend wheeled me into an examining room. There was another wait until we saw a physician. When I was finally discharged my friend picked me up at the exit and drove me the fifteen minutes to my home. We pulled into the driveway at 6:00 am.

"The billing to my insurance company? A total of $13,386 for eight hours of torture, neglect, misery and I'm sure I recovered by myself. It's the not knowing how serious things are and having to rely on doctors for their expertise that gets us in trouble, I guess.

"What can be done? We don't live in a Third World country and we are always saying we have the best of everything. Somebody has to do something to help patients in the ER. By the way, when I had my annual checkup with by GP physician I told him of my ordeal. He shrugged and told me hears the same story from his patients about all the emergency rooms in this county."

Keyword: Otto Graphs, for more of Steve Otto's musings.

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