Once at the Houston public county hospital, I saw a guy in the ER. Since I was just a student, I couldn't dispo him. I ended my shift and went home. 12 hours later, returned in the morning, went to the same waiting room, and there he was. Still no one had seen him since I last talked to him.
Once in the psych ER here in dallas, we had a guy come in said he was suicidal. he had come on a bus from some other city, and promptly dialed 911 to get services (i.e. "suicidal").
He complained of abdominal pain, so I checked him out and determined that he needed to be checked out by the med/surg ER. So I transferred him.
24 hours later he was released and cleared from the med/surg ER. He looked like a beat dog. I ran into him, said he wasn't suicidal anymore, just wanted to get the heck out of dodge.
If you're poor, medical care sucks big time.
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