Medical Professionals Say This Is The Absolute Worst Thing You Can Do In The ER

Filed 1h ago · Via HuffPost · The Buffoon Desk

THIS STORY IS SCORED

Maple Leaf Rag

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: Eric Koch for Anefo · CC0 · via Wikimedia Commons

HuffPost spoke with emergency room physicians who describe rising violence and disruption from patients and visitors, including thrown food, broken equipment, smeared bodily waste, and one patient who called 911 from inside the ER to complain about wait times. Dr. J. David Gatz of the University of Maryland Medical Center says such incidents are increasingly common even as staff try to stay understanding toward people having their worst day.

A cited study found 66% of emergency physicians reported being assaulted in the past year, with over a third assaulted multiple times; another found 71% of physicians witnessed an assault, with 97% of perpetrators identified as patients. Dr. Jared L. Ross notes ERs prioritize by medical severity, not arrival time, which the piece suggests is a concept some visitors have not yet encountered.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

There's something almost admirable about a person calm enough, mid-crisis, to dial 911 from inside the building where 911 already sent them. It takes a special kind of impatience to escalate a complaint about slow help by requesting more help from the same system. The doctors interviewed here aren't asking for much, just that you not throw things at the people trying to keep you alive, and it says something about the state of things that this needs to be printed as news.

Source: Read the original at HuffPost → Scored: Maple Leaf Rag · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

Read it scored.

Every story, every clown, every kazoo — in your pocket. Music plays automatically. Regret is optional.

GET IT ON iOS GET IT ON ANDROID

OR FOLLOW THE DESK ON BLUESKY →