Have u ever been to a county Hospital or any other hospital where people don't have insurance?

[LovinLife]

Maybe they're called something else besides County Hospitals like they are in California, but those places are pure hell. I went to 1 last yr and have been so scared to go back. And I'm not a person that's easily scared. It was just hell. Then in the ER it was was a burning smell. It was so unique. I've never smelled flesh burning, but that's what I imagine it was. I waited there for 7hrs and didn't see a dr. I finally went home and just took some medicine my sister gave me. If I get sick now, I just try to suck it up.

I salute Obama for trying, I just hope he hasn't sold us out to corporations.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

1. In Houston we have Ben Taub hospital. It's famous as a trauma center.

I think the only charity hospital that anyone in Texas can go to is in Galveston, John Sealy Hospital, which is connected with the University of Texas Medical School - Galveston, the oldest medical school in Texas.

Back in the early 1960s, a man named Jan de Hartog worked as an orderly at Ben Taub and wrote a book called The Hospital. He exposed the bad conditions and I remember he was written up as a hero in LIFE magazine.

[izquierdista]

2. With that kind of wait

You could drive down to Mexico and get seen right away (and be able to afford the bill).

[havocmom]

3. Yep, 9 hour wait, and more violence than on TV

Police had to come to the ER to deal with some chair throwing rage freak who broke a couple of glass walls. Then they were called back chase down a naked women on drugs who KOed a doctor, sent a nurse flying and ran two laps through the ER waiting room before making her escape out the door. Two squad car teams and an undercover cop brought in some gang members who had various knife, gun, car injuries from a drug deal gone bad. Cops called back when perp of a domestic violence inspired trip to ER followed his beaten wife & her family in and proceeded to go another round.

A grizzled old police sargent finally came by, pulled the shift boss for hospital security aside and said "Another night like this and we are gonna have to pull your liquor license."

Most educational 9 hours of my life. Glad I was just there with a smashed thumb and was lowest priority so I got to see ALL the acts of the play. The rattled doctors & staff were useless by the time my case was called. Poor schmuck drilled three holes through my nail and missed the hemotoma completely.

I walked the 3 miles home (just before dawn by then) but got an escort by a family of coyotes. Felt much safer with all those four legged animals around than sitting with the two legged ones at the ER. Got home, put pillows on the tile floor, knelled at the bathroom vanity so I wouldn't have far to fall if I passed out, and drilled into the damned thing to relieve the pressure myself.

Oh, and I had insurance.

Don't even ask about the time I had to drag my 6'4" brother in when he was purple from inability to get enough air for all the coughing....

It isn't just a matter of insurance, it's the whole delivery system. It's broken.

[Jamastiene]

7. Most of the time, I'd rather spend time with four legged critters

than the two legged variety. :scared:

[boppers]

15. Coyote is a friend.

Bit of a trickster, though....

It's always interesting to see the drama with lesser pain. I'd likely skip the ER if I could now, for similar reasons.

[AspenRose]

4. My grandfather died in a county hospital over 25 years ago.

[napoleon_in_rags]

5. You're way better off with coporate care for anything you could take medicine for at home.

Its bursting the rhetorical bubble here, but its true. WA has a program (Basic Health) I was on like this plan that helps with low income people get health care through corporate providers, and its a godsend from being poor and uninsured. The first most immediate difference is that you don't HAVE to go to the emergency room or some clinic when you are sick, you don't have to let is escalate that far. You just call your doctor at the first sign. If you must, you wait a few days for an appointment and pay $15 dollar co-pay, get medicine. End of story, very little cost for insurer, doctor, and you, because it always gets nipped in the bud. If you are low income it will be a HUGE improvement.

[ChicagoSuz219]

6. Stroger Hospital in Chicago Rocks!!

(the one ER is based on)

NEW building... may have to wait an hour or two (bring a book), but once you get behind the doors, everything is state-of-the-art, and each doctor is nicer & more competent than the one before.

Went there originally when I had no insurance (pre-existing condition)... paid on a sliding scale. Now I have Medicare (the best!) & can go anywhere. I still go to Stroger 'cause I love the doctors!!

[busymom]

12. Medicare stopped being the best on Jan 1

Any consulting physician called to your case can only bill a few dollars for their time. It won't be "the best" once people realize that their doctors are too busy to see them. :( My mom's neurologist is already unavailable AND the hospital here is facing huge budget shortfalls due to this and announced that they won't be able to keep the free clinic open through the end of the year. Also, the psych facility here will likely have to cut inpatient services completely in the next two years. People forget that medicare reimbursement pays for the facility, tests, overhead and staff. If you pay too little and it doesn't cover the cost of the care, then you short the system. Scanners and technology are not free.

[ChicagoSuz219]

14. Are you talking about Stroger in Chicago?

Where are you?

[Born_A_Truman]

8. Actually yes...

UCSD-San Diego in 1976 for cancer surgery that saved my life. Paid for by the State of California because I was a single mom on AFDC/MediCal.

[busymom]

13. Congratulations ! I mean this seriously...

as a 3.5 year non-hodgkins survivor diagnosed during my pregnancy with our youngest.

Rock. On!

[crispini]

9. Not me, but a friend.

Went to the county hospital in Dallas (Parkland). A 10+ hour wait but she got her broken arm treated, even the surgery she needed for a plate.

[CreekDog]

10. You are referring to the clientele, not the medical care provided

SF General Hospital gives very good care, but since they serve a large number of the indigent, the atmosphere is like what you describe.

Yet, you are still better off there than a lot of other hospitals.

If we had a single payer style system, the indigent wouldn't overwhelm certain hospitals and you wouldn't have this crazy system where some hospitals you don't feel safe in and others look like country clubs.

[busymom]

11. Try being a patient with private insurance...

I sat in the ER for nearly 7 hours with a child sobbing in pain over a gash that tore his lip open nearly to his chin. Although we had private insurance, the triage was based on severity of illness and not insurance coverage. By the time he was seen by the plastic surgeon, I was told that it had been "too long to do a good job". Whose fault was that? Not mine.

Fortunately, 9 years later, the scar is not visible...

But yah...this happens at county facilities as well as to regular folks with insurance in non-county hospitals.

Just something to keep in mind.

[boppers]

16. 4 times I've been there.

I get these:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumothorax#Spontaneous_pneumothorax

I'm currently uninsurable, AFAIK. Most of the time, though, I don't bother... I know my disease, and the recovery, as well as how to take care of it.

What really stands out to me from my experiences is the amount of people there who *DON'T* need a doctor, they need to have had some basic medical training growing up.

Some examples of gross ER abuse I saw from past trips:
Broken finger (uh, duh, learn to set it and splint it yourself)
Broken nose (natch)
Superficial cut (stitches are not rocket science, and do not require a trained medical professional, if you learn the basics)
Screaming baby (Oh, how I loathe these folks. Learn to be a parent, FFS)
"I have a cough" (Really? Go sit in the waiting room until you have a serious medical issue.)
Minor (<106) fever. (Go sit)
Tingling minor body part such as a hand/foot (Go sit)
Sprained/torn muscle (Go sit)
Still drunk/stoned/high (Go sit)
"I ache" (Go sit)
"My stomach hurts" (Go sit)
"It hurts when I pee" (Go sit)
"I have a funny bump/lump/growth" (Go sit)

Seriously, the ER is for people who are about to die, not people who are in pain, discomfort, or are mildly ill. In free time spaces, they can take care of minor stuff, but expect to wait until the *actual* emergencies are covered.

[Tippy]

17. Not all County Hospitals are like the one you went to,,,,

Please don't try to scare people....when your poor you gotta do what you gotta do to stay alive.