Long Waits at the E.R., but Why?
On Friday, the Los Angeles Times ran a fascinating story about the emergency room at L.A. County/USC Medical Center, a setting and cast of characters that can rival any television show for drama, suspense, and frenetic action. Times reporter Anna Gorman spent a busy Friday night at the E.R. and described what she saw in a story that ran under the headline, “A night in the ER: adrenaline, chaos and very long waits.”
Patients wait an average of four hours before seeing a doctor, Gorman wrote, and they wait an average of nine hours before being discharged or admitted. Surely, I thought as I read the story, there would come an explanation as to why the waits are so long. And indeed some reasons were offered – the hospital’s downsized capacity, more uninsured people in a weak economy – but the one factor that more than any other affects the hospital’s workload went unaddressed: illegal immigration.
The hospital makes no inquiries into the immigration status of its patients (nor should it), but any examination of conditions there is incomplete without a discussion of the burdens placed on the hospital by unfettered immigration from Mexico and Central America.
Gorman’s story ran to more than 1,900 words, a lengthy piece by newspaper standards, yet there wasn’t a single mention of the illegal immigrants who make up a large percentage of the E.R.’s patients.
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Oct '10
Re: Long Waits at the E.R., but Why?
I wish I had a dime for every article like this that has been published. Yes, illegal immigration is a problem but its impact on this scenario is not really substantial. I have been in the medical field for over 30 years and in the ER for the last 17. Nothing much has changed in this story over that period of time. It is a systemic problem in the larger cities and probably always will be. Legal or illegal, poor people must compete for scarce resources in the asphalt jungle.
Edited on Oct 1, 2011 at 1:39pmJun '10
Re: Long Waits at the E.R., but Why?
Had to have been purely an oversight. Wait until tomorrow. Surely they will realize the obvious omission and make the necessary correction. It was, after all, only 1900 words.
May '10
Re: Long Waits at the E.R., but Why?
In my experience, stories like thiis are written and published for a very specific reason. Somewhere, a funding decision is about to be made, and the people interested in more funding have caused this story to appear. I can always tell when school spending is vefore the legislature or the school board by the stories warning of the impending cancellation of some popular program.
Mentioning illegal immgration would spoil the recipe.
Edited on Oct 1, 2011 at 12:35pmRe: Long Waits at the E.R., but Why?
Good Berean:. Legal or illegal, poor people must compete for scarce resources in the asphalt jungle. · Oct 1 at 11:36am
Edited on Oct 01 at 11:37 am
But why should America's poor people be forced to compete for those scarce resources with poor people imported from elsewhere. I gather your medical experience has not been here in Los Angeles.
Oct '10
Re: Long Waits at the E.R., but Why?
Jack Dunphy
Good Berean:. Legal or illegal, poor people must compete for scarce resources in the asphalt jungle. · Oct 1 at 11:36am
Edited on Oct 01 at 11:37 am
But why should America's poor people be forced to compete for those scarce resources with poor people imported from elsewhere. I gather your medical experience has not been here in Los Angeles. · Oct 1 at 12:54pm
No, but I was at Jackson Memorial in Miami in the 80's and the story was the same then, absent the illegals. I don't dispute that there are illegals in the mix, but this only exacerbates a pre-existant problem.
Nov '10
Re: Long Waits at the E.R., but Why?
I heard from a hospital doctor that if you leave a little bit of yourself on the ER waiting room floor or chairs, you will get seen right quick.
Nov '10
Re: Long Waits at the E.R., but Why?
Jul '10
Re: Long Waits at the E.R., but Why?
I don't care to read the article, but does it mention anything about language barriers between staff and patients?
Jul '10
Re: Long Waits at the E.R., but Why?
No question the illegal immigrants in many cities have burdened hospitals to the breaking point, resulting in what you posted. But then there’s this:
Back in the‘80s in a Pittsburgh suburb, Westinghouse sold some land to the township on which was built a needed hospital as the only one for that area was some distance away. This was pre-illegal immigrant time, at least for Pgh – not that Pgh today is burdened as many cities are. Anyway, as I drove past the hospital on the first day it opened on my way to work I noticed something amazing: the large parking lot was completely filled.
Now the other hospital, on any given day, could not have accommodated this many people in addition to those in its surrounding community (and the crime ratio between the two areas was at least 80:1 in favor of the old hospital). Fascinated, I checked with a friend about the other hospital and found that their patient load within days was at the same level as before the new one opened.
If you build it they will come – rich, poor, illegal. And they will use it for much other than emergency reasons.
Re: Long Waits at the E.R., but Why?
In my experience, nearly everyone working at the hospital speaks at least some Spanish. It's hard to work there if you don't.
Oct '10
Re: Long Waits at the E.R., but Why?
Jack Dunphy
Good Berean:. Legal or illegal, poor people must compete for scarce resources in the asphalt jungle. · Oct 1 at 11:36am
Edited on Oct 01 at 11:37 am
But why should America's poor people be forced to compete for those scarce resources with poor people imported from elsewhere.
only rich countries like the U.S. debate whether there is a need to subsidize illegals or non-citizens.
May '10
Re: Long Waits at the E.R., but Why?
Nope at best we will give you a barf bucket. You can try the 'I'm having chest pain game", we love that one when the card is played to get seen quicker. Ditto the "come by ambulance card" (lots of those get sent right to the end of the line now too.) My favorite was " I've been passing out", got the patient seen quickly but when I handed her the DMV "you just lost your license form", she protested she just said it to get seen quicker. Too bad, work it out with the DMV lady. Simple fact is ER's are overwhelmed for a myriad of reasons some economic, some cultural. Speaking from the perspective of having worked ER since the 1970's the last 25 years as an ER doc.