I don’t know if you’ve had the pleasure (or misfortune) to visit an emergency room lately, but if the ER visit is a litmus test on the current state of the US healthcare system, we are badly failing as a society.

Let me relay our most recent experience with a local health system provider – whose name I will withhold, but if you live anywhere near me, you’ll know exactly what organization I’m talking about.

My mother was involved in an accident recently where she fell and broke a lumbar vertebrae in her lower back.  She was transported to the ER via ambulance on a stretcher (which should indicate the seriousness and extent of her injury).  Upon arrival, ER personnel removed her from the stretcher, and with little to no triage, placed her – upright – into a wheelchair, where she spent the next five hours waiting to be evaluated.  No one checked on her, no pain meds were administered, and due to current hospital rules and regulations, the person sitting with her was asked to leave the waiting area (and wait outside) until she was taken back to be seen.  So basically, she was left to endure her own pain and discomfort – alone – in a waiting area that resembles a third-world refugee camp.   The same story was being played out all over the waiting area, as folks in various degrees of pain and discomfort were strewn about the waiting area in a scene that resembled wounded Union and Confederate casualties waiting for a visit from Clara Barton on the day after the battle of Antietam.

So after finally being seen, x-rayed, and a determination being made that she indeed had broken her back, the ER wrote some prescriptions for pain meds and muscle relaxers – and sent her home (to deal with her own physicians and a neurosurgeon for follow-up scheduling and appointments).

To say that her pain level was off the charts during the next week as we tried to navigate the medical system and its appointment requirements is an understatement (and my mother – being a retired nurse from this very same hospital – KNOWS how the system works and who to contact).  The Percocet she was prescribed did not even scratch the surface of her discomfort, and she stopped eating (as well as other bodily functions), causing her overall health to spiral downward over the ensuing week.  Follow-up appointments had to be serviced by a medical transport service, as we simply could not move her to a car to get her to and from her appointments.

Finally, following an MRI that was administered a week later (yes, I said week), it was discovered that the broken lumbar vertebrae was actually shattered into pieces from the get-go, so she was again forced to sit in the emergency room while waiting for a bed to open up in the hospital (and be scheduled for surgery the following day).

During this second ER stint (on a stretcher this time), no pain meds were administered, her call button was ignored, and no one bothered to check on her for around seven hours (for food or water).  The one person who did duck their head into check on her (after Mom literally yelled for assistance to a passerby in scrubs) responded with “we’re really busy” and was never seen again.

Walking through the ER to visit (which by the way, is only accomplished after an ID check, security wanding, and package inspection), is like treading through a post-apocalyptic movie.  Persons with mental health issues and drug-related problems are stuffed into hallways alongside elderly patients left slumped over in wheelchairs or sprawled out over gurneys in various states of undress.  It will bring even the most jaded and hardened individual to internally scream “where are we at right now?”

Between COVID-19 response, hospital under-staffing, and the general public’s needs completely overwhelming the capacity of most health care facilities,  it’s no wonder that many patients wait until their condition is dire before even contemplating a trip to the emergency room.  Honestly, if you live in my area – a visit to an Urgent Care facility is the way to go (if that’s even an option).

I’m sure this same story is played out dozens of times a day in many locations around the country.  I don’t know what the solution to our healthcare crisis is, but I do know who you WILL meet on any visit to a healthcare provider.

That person will be from Billing, quizzing you on your insurance information (if you have any) and finances to make sure that the healthcare provider gets paid for any services you may (or may not) receive – before anything else happens.

This system is broken.