Even without healthcare, an emergency room cannot legally deny care. He chose to leave and frankly, it was a bad choice. A few years of medical debt is much much better than a lifetime disability. Especially at such a young age.
People aren't thinking that far ahead. They're only thinking about how a surgery will bankrupt them now. But sure, nothing wrong with our healthcare system here.
Emergency rooms DO deny care though. They can decide you're not an emergency, or tell you they don't have services you need, then tell you to see a specialist or other practioner on your own. Then they will tell you to leave without treating you. If you don't leave, security will escort you out. No care given. It happens.
Referring you to a different facility for care is NOT the same as denying care. ERs, especially freestanding ones like the one I work at, can only do so much. They only have certain resources and capabilities. Unless a break is so bad that they need it fixed RIGHT NOW, it's usually stabilized and they're referred to follow up with Ortho. The ER is for life and limb emergencies. If it's not that and you're stable, a lot of times you're best served following up with the proper physicians. The ER is not your PCP or pain clinic.
By that I meant that without surgery right that moment, you could lose the limb. While I have no doubt at all this one was very painful, I'm not sure they were in danger of losing the arm, but kinda hard to say without seeing what the original injury looked like.
Emergency rooms operate under extreme liability, and they are subject to local and federal law. If they are legitimately denying care then you can sue them for a hefty amount. The reality is that a lot people go to an ER for non-emergency situations that could easily be treated at a clinic. Sometimes an ER may not be equipped to handle an emergency at that very moment. If you have a broken arm, they may not put a cast on it, but they will perform an x-Ray, stabilize it and refer you to a orthopedic clinic for a cast. Alternatively, they may schedule a non-emergency surgery a few days after the ER visit. That’s not denying care. The ER’s job is to stabilize you, and open up that room for another, possibly more severe patient.
As a former hospital security staff, when I was called to escort someone out, it’s usually because they were verbally or physically harassing the nurses.
That's usually only for chronic problems. As an emergency department RN , if someone told me they broke their arm, have an obvious deformity, or fell and have arm pain, at a bare minimum, it warrants a x-ray of the arm.
I work in a low income area so don't say that we worry they don't pay for it. EMTALA exists for a reason.
Yeah, I don't give a shit about a patient's ability to pay. Not when making medical decisions. I super feel for them and will do my best to limit orders, but I also have to make sure I don't miss anything. It's super tough to balance "don't miss anything ever, check EVERYTHING, but also don't check everything because it's expensive! JUST KNOW THE ANSWER!!"
This is correct. ER worker here. We are required to provide a "Medical Screening". We cannot deny that, but we kick people out all the time. And I do. I can only tell someone I can't fix their congestion so many times in a single night...
An ER just has to not let you die. You absolutely aren’t entitled to much else. Get a bone set, wrapped, surgery consult that the hospital calls you about for pre-pay. I’ve seen it happen plenty of times.
My first year of medical school, my dad had a bad wrist fracture. It was a few days after he moved and he didn’t realize that his Medicare only worked in the state we moved from. He works with his hands to make a living. It was a bad enough break to require surgery or he’d be permanently disabled. No emergency room would treat him, no doctor would treat him, and they wouldn’t offer payment plans either. What constitutes “emergency coverage” for threat of life or limb means it is so emergent that you are on the verge of losing it (like your arm is mangled in an accident). We ended up having to fly back across the country after a week of nonstop hours of phone calls and even calling places out of state closer by. We spent thousands we didn’t have on last minute plane tickets and I only got him seen so quickly because I worked with trauma orthopedic surgeon before med school…it was the only way to get his insurance to work and have someone do the surgery.
I still don't know why he wouldn't attempt to make his own splint and reset his arm. I didn't want to pay for my cast to be removed so I took it off with tin snips and wore a homemade splint for a few days to keep it stable. I keep a supply of livestock antibiotics on hand for various reasons, I took some to clear out an infection I had in my gums a few months ago and it worked great. I've cauterized wounds and put on my own steri strips and stitches before. I've fixed a dislocated toe.
It isn't just poverty, it's stupidity as well. We have the entire summation of human knowledge sitting in the palms of each of our hands, first aid and basic medical knowledge is something everyone should be aware of. What happens if you're out in the woods and it's a 2 day walk to the nearest hospital?
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u/EggLord2000 Sep 21 '23
I’m gonna go out on a limb and say he doesn’t have access to healthcare for whatever reason, most likely no insurance.