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Article: Crisis in the ER: what smart patients need to know: endless waits, beds crowded into hallways, no specialists on call--in today's emergency rooms, you can't trust you will get the right care. But you can improve your chances. Here, insiders share what just might save you or your family.(emergency room)
- Article from:
- Good Housekeeping
- Article date:
- April 1, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 Hearst Communications, reprinted with permission of Hearst. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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On June 1, 2004, Norma Jean Chiulli was doing errands in her hometown of Rockland, MA, when she became so ill--with nausea, abdominal pain, and an overall "horrible feeling"--that she had her mother drive her to a nearby clinic. Doctors thought it was acute appendicitis and called for an ambulance to take Chiulli, then 42, to the hospital. It was 6 P.M. when she arrived. A nurse asked a few questions, then--despite Chiulli's likely diagnosis-wheeled her into the ER waiting room.
Hours dragged by. Other patients came and left. And though her pain steadily worsened, and she was vomiting repeatedly, Chiulli was told to keep waiting. "I was curled up in a fetal ...