ER Arrival Options

04 Feb 10

Hospital ER Arrival:

With regard to the last Quip, nearly all MDs, EMTs, nurses, and medical bureaucrats seem to agree that, when going to the ER, you are far better off arriving in an ambulance than you will be walking in, or arriving in a private car.

When arriving via ambulance, escorted by uniformed EMTs, you will likely be ushered past receptionists and other disinterested gate-keepers, going directly to a treatment room and into the presence of an MD or someone else who has at least some capacity for actually helping you.

Hospital ERs, by law, cannot outright "reject" anyone. So, most ERs have become little more than walk-in clinics, crowded, indeed overcrowded, with "users, boozers, and losers." Few of these "walk-ins" even remotely qualify as an "emergency," but they have the effect of clogging the system to the point where real emergencies can't get through.

Thus, arriving via ambulance offers you the best chance of breaking through the congestion and getting the emergency treatment you need quickly.

/John