The Myth of the 10 Minute ER Wait

My wife has lupus. She copes with it the best she can, and I try to give her a life with as little stress as possible but once in a while the lupus gets debilitating and the best remedy is a steroid shot. Usually, this is done at rheumatologist's office but her doctor retired and she has not updated her doctor yet, but only because for the last 14 months she has been fine. Today she was not fine, and without a rheumatologist, we had to go to ER. Our closest ER is West Hills Hospital. I have seen their billboards, waiting time of only 10-13 minutes they claim and so I figured it would be as easy as a doctor's visit. Right!

So it takes 10 minutes to get seen by a triage nurse who determines the seriousness of your condition, and then like the refugees in the movie Casablanca, you wait and wait and wait. So what's the big deal about the 10 minute advert? I can get an intake at even the most crowded hospitals and, as the pioneer of medical tourism, I have. All we needed was a steroid shot. It took two hours before being seen by a doctor. He orders a blood draw which is normal, but then also a chest xray, then an ekg, then they want her to see a therapist. At this point I am outraged. Enough already! We just want our shot and get out of here. I know keeping us here for 4 hours means they can bill for a full day, I have been around enough billing/coding to understand. I told then that if we did not get our shots immediately, we will walk out and let our insurer know that we walked out before the 4 hours which would only cause issues related to over-billing. We received our shots precisely at 3:37 hours of being there and then they wanted us to wait for the results of the blood test to determine the additional course of action. We walked away. We did not sign the discharge.

My wife felt as though she was used, she did not feel like she was a person when she attended the hospital. Most of all, she pointed out what a misleading statement the 10 Minute ER wait was all about. "I think they do that so that more people would go to the ER instead of a primary physician and then they get you!" Now that I think about it, she was absolutely right! How totally observant. That woman you see in the photo inline? She complained about a toothache. Any rationale/ethical doctor would say "go to a dentist." No, ER at Westhills took her vitals and then bought her a urine collection cup. That's when she lost it and started yelling "My tooth hurts! Why do I need to pee in a cup for?" I should go to a dentist but I can't afford it!" and then stormed away. The ER staff is used to this, ding, next patient, please.

I think the reason California has such a fitness craze is we have heard these stories of the uncaring monolithic stone-age hospitals and determined it is better to stay as healthy as long as possible than to become a victim of our healthcare system. I think ER wait times are as accurate as doctors starring in cigarette ads, now I understand why these billboards exist, best to ignore them or ad an extra "0" to it.