# When to go to the Emergency Room **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 8, 2012, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-to-go-to-the-emergency-room/618133 "2012-04-08T00:24:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-to-go-to-the-emergency-room/618133/81 "2012-04-10T03:22:58Z")
> [@Wile\_E](#): > > I would wonder whether you kept your coffee pot at almost floor level or had a very tall baby. > A lot of the stories at the previously linked site were mind-boggling but this exchange has me laughing for several minutes. > > “Doc: What meds are you on? > Pt: Peanut butter balls. > Doc: What? > Pt: Peanut butter balls! Peanut butter balls, for my seizures! > Doc: Do you mean phenobarbital?” My husband left the pot on the floor for a few minutes. The baby is very fast. ---
**Author:** ![C3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/c3/32/3108_2.png) [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-to-go-to-the-emergency-room/618133/82 "2012-04-10T03:32:38Z")
> [@LavenderBlue](#): > > My husband left the pot on the floor for a few minutes. The baby is very fast. You may want to always write that as “coffee pot”. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-to-go-to-the-emergency-room/618133/83 "2012-04-10T03:42:41Z")
> [@C3](#): > > You may want to always write that as “coffee pot”. 🙂 😃 She took her first step on her own today. I think we’re in for it. The cats have been scoping out high shelves for the last few hours. ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-to-go-to-the-emergency-room/618133/84 "2012-04-10T03:54:34Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > The stories about how stuff got up people’s asses are the best. 😃 Million to one shot, doc. Million to one. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-to-go-to-the-emergency-room/618133/85 "2012-04-10T05:27:27Z")
> [@LavenderBlue](#): > > What if your eleven month old baby sneaks into the kitchen while you’re talking to your husband, pulls open the top from the coffee pot and stuffs some of yesterday’s coffee grounds in her mouth? What if you laugh so hard at the result that you can barely breathe for twenty minutes? What if you’re still laughing at this image ten hours later? What then? I don’t quite understand your point here - you really couldn’t stop laughing for ten hours? ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-to-go-to-the-emergency-room/618133/86 "2012-04-10T06:16:17Z")
> [@shiftless](#): > > So where do we go if not to the ER? When my son got an ear infection on vacation, Blue Cross said to go to the ER. They (the ER) spent 10 minutes looking in his ear and gave him a prescription for a decongestant. Total bill: $1400. There is no way WE were abusing the system, more like the system abused us and our insurance. The same service at an urgent care place two days later, where they discovered his ear infection, billed $300. A paying customer is hardly abusing the ER, even if they go in for something trivial. What, you think the ER got that money? It is to laugh. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-to-go-to-the-emergency-room/618133/87 "2012-04-10T06:33:37Z")
> [@lisacurl](#): > > Million to one shot, doc. Million to one. A million to one chance happens seven times out of eight. I forwarded the link to my sister (who has two sons, one a doctor and the other one a physician’s assistant) and she says that yes, her boys have told her all about how inanimate objects apparently spontaneously animate and work their way into unsuspecting buttholes. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-to-go-to-the-emergency-room/618133/88 "2012-04-10T11:26:57Z")
> [@shiftless](#): > > So where do we go if not to the ER? When my son got an ear infection on vacation, Blue Cross said to go to the ER. They (the ER) spent 10 minutes looking in his ear and gave him a prescription for a decongestant. Total bill: $1400. There is no way WE were abusing the system, more like the system abused us and our insurance. The same service at an urgent care place two days later, where they discovered his ear infection, billed $300. A paying customer is hardly abusing the ER, even if they go in for something trivial. The hospital may get 25% of that money from Blue Cross and the hospital knows it. Basically, when Blue Cross told you to go to the ER, they were protecting you from that $1400 bill. Some insurance companies tend to balk at paying for the ER for problems that are more effectively treated by a primary care doctor. However, they also understand that sometimes people go on vacation and get sick. They also understand that it’s difficult to find a primary care doctor under those conditions, so they will authorize an ER visit, even though it’s more expensive for them to do so. I once heard the ER described as “McDonald’s food and service at Tiffany prices.” Basically, this means that it serves a basic need, which is to find the problem you have right now, and to figure out how to treat the problem you have right now. If, for example, you go because you sprained your ankle, you’ll get some x-rays, a splint and a pair of crutches, some pain medication, and a referral to an orthopedist or instructions to follow up with your own doctor. That’s it. The ER staff won’t give you a refill on your heart or diabetes medication while you’re there because it’s not their job to do that. ---
**Author:** ![pendgwen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3da27b/32.png) [@pendgwen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pendgwen)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-to-go-to-the-emergency-room/618133/89 "2012-04-10T11:38:18Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > The stories about how stuff got up people’s asses are the best. 😃 You know, this is actually the one stereotypical ER story that I haven’t seen. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-to-go-to-the-emergency-room/618133/90 "2012-04-10T12:03:05Z")
> [@Antigen](#): > > Quebec has a phone number - 811 - that you can call, 24 hours a day, to speak to a health professional. The NHS has a similar phone number - NHS Direct - which I have used on several occasions for child-related problems including this past weekend when she woke up with abdominal pain at midnight and then again at 4am. The problem was clearly not ER material but only required a quick GP visit and so they sorted one out - on Easter Sunday! - at a local clinic. Less than ten minutes and a prescription later, the problem was dealt with. (Direct cost to me - nothing! Loving the NHS, aw yeah…) The UK gummint has also recently started advertising a non-emergency line to the other emergency services, for when you need to speak to the police about something that doesn’t require them to come over rightnowthisminute (i.e. you’ve been burgled but the burglars are long gone). Hopefully this will leave 999 (the UK emergency number) for actual emergencies. So in short - having a non-emergency number may sort out some of these problems. But as Jesus might have once said, the dipshits you shall always have with you. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-to-go-to-the-emergency-room/618133/91 "2012-04-10T17:01:27Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > True. I went from “perfectly healthy” to “needs emergency surgery for abscess” in something like 12 hours once. Certainly less than 24. I went from “perfectly healthy” to BP 40/can’t find it in 24 hours. And I could have written **Choie** ’s post, except I’ve gone to the ER only a couple of times for my probably-not-heart-attack symptoms. I’m the same way: People keep telling you what the symptoms are, and you go, and you’re fine. And that just feeds on the anxiety and panic attacks. What if I’m not fine? Should I go? How many times do I go before they look at me like I’m the world’s biggest most pathetic hypochondriac? Is this the same thing I had before when I was fine? Or is it different? My husband is very helpful to get me doing breathing exercises, calming me down, keeping an eye on me. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-to-go-to-the-emergency-room/618133/92 "2012-04-10T17:11:40Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > I forwarded the link to my sister (who has two sons, one a doctor and the other one a physician’s assistant) and she says that yes, her boys have told her all about how inanimate objects apparently spontaneously animate and work their way into unsuspecting buttholes. Surprise buttsecks! 😃 (Your post made me giggle. Maybe if they ever make a pornographic Pixar knockoff, that might be a good subject. _Sex Toy Story?_) ---
**Author:** ![The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-to-go-to-the-emergency-room/618133/93 "2012-04-10T20:37:44Z")
> [@xash](#): > > When should one call an ambulance/911 vs. getting to the ER through other means (drive, family/friend, taxi)? When in doubt, should one call 911 or try to get to ER themselves? EMT here. There are two methods of delivering a patient to the hospital: one with lights and sirens, and one driving normally in traffic. The lights and sirens are used whenever the patient’s ABCs are compromised. ABC stands for airway, breathing, circulation. So for instance, if a patient cannot breathe, or is experiencing significant difficulty breathing, he is transported rapidly because if he is not given immediate attention he may die. If a patient has injured himself in such a way that part of his circulation has been cut off, he needs rapid transport because a delay in treatment could mean permanent loss of function in that limb. There are a few other cases where they are transported rapidly if there is a significant mechanism of injury (i.e., a certain percentage of their body is covered in burns, the patient fell from above a certain height), but in general, I would say to call an ambulance for transport only if your condition is one that would necessitate rapid transport. ---
**Author:** ![Chanteuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de053/32.png) [@Chanteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chanteuse)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2012, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-to-go-to-the-emergency-room/618133/94 "2012-04-11T03:45:51Z")
> [@picunurse](#): > > Here’s something a bit lighter on the subject: [Rules of the ER](http://allnurses.com/emergency-nursing/rules-er-long-170440.html). 😃 Unless the fever is _dangerously_ high, I disagree with number five. My son once got a hanger stuck in his mouth and ended up with an infection. Naturally, this occurred over the weekend. I called a nurses’ hotline, they said give him something for the fever and take him to the ER. I did this, and then COULD NOT convince the triage nurse that he’d _had_ a fever, but the ibuprofen had reduced it. I also had to repeatedly tell the doctor and her nurse this since they kept saying, “Well, there’s no fever, so it probably isn’t an infection.” (Well, let’s not worry about that hard red swelling on his jaw then, huh?) I guess I can be glad that she went ahead and put him on antibiotics since she didn’t seem completely convinced that he needed them. Because of that experience, I no longer treat any symptoms immediately prior to seeing a doctor. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2012, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-to-go-to-the-emergency-room/618133/95 "2012-04-11T12:42:30Z")
My 85 year old mother’s ER story: She returns from an overseas vacation, a few days later she feels sick, like a bad cold. But it keeps getting worse and worse, so after dinner one evening her and my brother head to the ER. Upon getting to the ER, my mother is treated like a an insane malingerer and is repeatedly told that there is absolutely nothing wrong with her and that she should go home and sleep. This upsets my brother, finally they stick my Mom on a cot somewhere for observation. Within a few hours it becomes apparent to even the ER doctors that my mother is very sick, once they start doing their jobs and actually run tests and stuff… instead of telling the crazy lady to suck it up and go home… she is diagnosed with a nasty viral pneumonia. She is in the hospital for 3 weeks, the CDC and all sorts of agencies become involved as it was a drug resistant strain from Russia ( where she had recently vacationed ). I don’t think she ever got an apology for her initial treatment, though… ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2012, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-to-go-to-the-emergency-room/618133/96 "2012-04-11T14:02:57Z")
> [@Chanteuse](#): > > Unless the fever is _dangerously_ high, I disagree with number five. My son once got a hanger stuck in his mouth and ended up with an infection. Naturally, this occurred over the weekend. I called a nurses’ hotline, they said give him something for the fever and take him to the ER. I did this, and then COULD NOT convince the triage nurse that he’d _had_ a fever, but the ibuprofen had reduced it. I also had to repeatedly tell the doctor and her nurse this since they kept saying, “Well, there’s no fever, so it probably isn’t an infection.” (Well, let’s not worry about that hard red swelling on his jaw then, huh?) I guess I can be glad that she went ahead and put him on antibiotics since she didn’t seem completely convinced that he needed them. > > Because of that experience, I no longer treat any symptoms immediately prior to seeing a doctor. Yeah, I’ve learned not to take anything for pain after an injury for the same reason. It’ll mask the symptoms enough that the real injury will be harder to diagnose and treat, which, in turn, makes permanent damage more likely. (She says as she braces her flared-up ankle. :mad:) ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-to-go-to-the-emergency-room/618133/97 "2012-04-12T19:42:32Z")
> [@Chanteuse](#): > > Because of that experience, I no longer treat any symptoms immediately prior to seeing a doctor. Huh, we always wish people _would_ treat their kid’s fever before coming in, it doesn’t change their work up one way or the other, and it makes them easier to evaluate. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-to-go-to-the-emergency-room/618133.md?page=4)