#anyone who says that “”free market“” healthcare gives you a better faster ER wait time is fucking lying to you

[sonicenvy]

you know what else has me seething about my recent ER visit?

so like i get taken to the stupid out of network ER in the stupid out of network ambulance. i have no idea what happened of what's going on. i am in excruciating pain. i am alone with the emt. she puts a sling on me. good. she puts some kind of neck brace thing on me. the neck brace is pressing painfully into my broken bone. bad. we get to the hospital. they take me out of the ambulance and strap me into the world's most uncomfortable wheelchair, weird neck brace still on. they leave me in the waiting room. i am in pain. i am sticky with sweat and dried blood. the neck brace is pressing down into my broken bone. i can't move myself. i am in pain.

no one tells me what is going on. i get taken out of the waiting room by some random person for 10 minutes where they ask me a bunch of weird questions about my health history and enter it in some computer. i beg them to give me painkillers. i feel like throwing up and i tell the nurse this. the random nurse gives me ONE tylenol and some anti-nausea drug. they wheel me back out into the stupid waiting room. my brother shows up and he finds out that i will be waiting for at least 2 hours in this waiting room. the tylenol doesn't do shit. i am in pain.

i wait for 2 and half hours in the waiting room until someone comes and gets me. they take me out of the horrible wheelchair and set me into a hospital bed. the bed is in a random hallway in the er. i sit there immobilized in the hallway in the bed for an hour. my parents show up. my father chooses to argue with me about "biking safely". the neck brace is still on and still digging into my broken bone. i am still sticky and freezing cold. there is still dried blood all over my left temple and into my hair. some passing nurse takes pity on me and covers me in a warm blanket.

i finally speak to a doctor and FINALLY get good pain medication. i have been in the er for over THREE FUCKING HOURS. they take me over for cat scans and xrays and shit and FINALLY take the neck brace off. i never get to see the xrays or have them explained. they tell me i don't have a head injury.

i end up in the bed in the hallway again. a different woman comes over to me about 30 mins later. she tells me while i am still in agony, freezing cold, sticky and confused that i have a $500 copay for the visit and asks if i would like to pay it now with a credit card. i am still in the random er hallway. i refuse to pay and she makes me sit up and sign something, which i can't do very well and which hurts a lot. she leaves.

i finally get discharged from the hospital it is 10:45PM. A doctor gives my mom a script for some pain killer like oxy or something. the pharmacy is closed so i can't get it until the next day. I entered the hospital at 5:00PM. I finally get home at 11:30PM.

the er calls me the next day while i am phasing in and out of sleep "thanking me for choosing their hospital" and asks me to give them a review. i hang up because i just want to go back to sleep.

i hate it here.