Reply #6: My observations from a waiting room.

[AngryOldDem]

One of my coworkers was attacked on our shift last night and he wound up going to the hospital. A friend and I got to the emergency department around 11:30, and was met by an empty reception desk, and an empty triage station. Two staffers came around a corner, made eye contact with us, and went on their merry way. It was about five minutes later before someone came to the desk to ask how they could help. For all they knew, we could have been there ourselves for emergency treatment.

About 15 minutes after being taken back to our friend's room, we left to make phone calls and such. We came back in and it was another wait until someone else came to the desk to let us back in. Again -- the place was practically deserted. There were two other people waiting with us then, including one woman who was agitated and started knocking on the door to get someone's attention. At that point a security guard came out of nowhere and told her to knock it off -- she would have to wait until someone pressed the button to open the door. His manner was rude (surprise, surprise) and I'm glad she didn't press the point.

All I could think of was that I was sure as hell glad I wasn't in labor (labor patients go there to be admitted, apparently) or bleeding from anywhere.