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My wife is a pediatric ER doctor. The majority of the patients she sees shouldn’t be there from a strictly medical perspective. But parents can’t get off of wo

My wife is a pediatric ER doctor. The majority of the patients she sees shouldn’t be there from a strictly medical perspective. But parents can’t get off of work while anything else is open, first time mom doesn’t realize that a slight temperature and a cough isn’t an emergency, dad is finally fed up that his teenage daughter has been complaining of a tummy ache off and on for 6 months and Sunday at 2am is when he finally decided he had to have answers.

_heimdall 3y ago
While I personally am okay with giving a pass for new parents that are scared for their child, I don't get burdening our emergency system just because. I'd chalk new parents up to a learning experience in a new and uncertain time. For anyone going to the ER because it fits better with your work schedule, don't clog up the system for anyone that's truly in need and increase prices for everyone else.
- wolverine876 3y ago
  > our emergency system It's not 'our' emergency system, it's the healthcare provider who now is often a for-profit. If they have a mismatch between supply and demand, the fix is obvious. It's not your problem, it's theirs.
- watwut 3y ago
  Fairly often, a doctor told you itnis fine and then things escalated quickly. Or, you have appointment but it is weeks away. nope, people do not prefer to wait 8 hours in ER if there is an actual choice. Problems is, actual choice is often unreachable and just used to blame patients for bad system. Like with OP, 2am tummy ache means the pain massively escalated from something undistinguishable for run of the mill cramps doctors normally don't do nothing about. (As in, cramps you walk in with, they charge money and they won't do anything at all with and fonsider minor)
  - mschuster91 3y ago
    > Like with OP, 2am tummy ache means the pain massively escalated from something undistinguishable for run of the mill cramps doctors normally don't do nothing about. ... and then, on average 7 years [1], later, the desperate daughter finally learns she had endometriosis all the time, and she could have been spared of years of suffering had one of the completely overworked doctors she had seen before actually had the time to delve deep into the issue rather than just hand out painkillers. [1] https://www.york.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/2024/research/diagnosis-endometriosis-delay/ https://www.york.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/2024/research/di...

_heimdall 3y ago

While I personally am okay with giving a pass for new parents that are scared for their child, I don't get burdening our emergency system just because. I'd chalk new parents up to a learning experience in a new and uncertain time. For anyone going to the ER because it fits better with your work schedule, don't clog up the system for anyone that's truly in need and increase prices for everyone else.

wolverine876 3y ago
> our emergency system It's not 'our' emergency system, it's the healthcare provider who now is often a for-profit. If they have a mismatch between supply and demand, the fix is obvious. It's not your problem, it's theirs.
watwut 3y ago
Fairly often, a doctor told you itnis fine and then things escalated quickly. Or, you have appointment but it is weeks away. nope, people do not prefer to wait 8 hours in ER if there is an actual choice. Problems is, actual choice is often unreachable and just used to blame patients for bad system. Like with OP, 2am tummy ache means the pain massively escalated from something undistinguishable for run of the mill cramps doctors normally don't do nothing about. (As in, cramps you walk in with, they charge money and they won't do anything at all with and fonsider minor)
- mschuster91 3y ago
  > Like with OP, 2am tummy ache means the pain massively escalated from something undistinguishable for run of the mill cramps doctors normally don't do nothing about. ... and then, on average 7 years [1], later, the desperate daughter finally learns she had endometriosis all the time, and she could have been spared of years of suffering had one of the completely overworked doctors she had seen before actually had the time to delve deep into the issue rather than just hand out painkillers. [1] https://www.york.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/2024/research/diagnosis-endometriosis-delay/ https://www.york.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/2024/research/di...