Two nights ago my brother in law took his older son to the emergency room. A few nights before he had gotten bitten by something. We don't know if it was a spider, an ant, or some other crazy insect. He never actually saw what bit him.
He and the other kids were playing cards at the kithchen table. He felt something pinch his leg and it began to itch. By the next day it was a blister, which broke later that night. Now he's got this open wound on his leg. It's begining to swell up and it hurts when he puts to much pressure on it.
So as I've said before. His dad took him to the emergency room. Well the doctor took one look at it and said this is not an emergency. The medicade he has is still from NJ becuase he just recently came to stay with us so his medicade hasn't been transfered yet. Well since the doctor wrote down that he wasn't an emergency, his NJ medicade wouldn't cover the vist. The nurse, or who ever it was at the hosptal, says to my brother in law that if he wants his son to be treated he's going to have to pay $120. My family is living pretty much pay check to pay check and didn't have $120 at that exact moment. The doctor told him to take some benedryl and go home. They were pretty much turned away. Now I was under the impression that hospitals were not allowed to do this.
Last night the bite didn't look any better and another blister seems to be forming. So this time my brother in law takes his son the other hospital across town. As soon as the nurse sees the bite she immediately brings the boy to the back so that he can receive antibiotics. He had to sit for an hour with and IV in his arm. They took blood so they can try to determine what it was that bit him and he has to go back today for more antibiotics.
My brother in law told them at this other hospital what happened the night before. They said they never should have been turned away the way they were. So obviously this is or could be quite serious.
It is serious. But unfortuntaely it happens all the time. this is what lawsuits were made for. If the hospital was afraid to lose 120 maybe it will be weight for them for the next patient when they lose 120 thousand.
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Unfortunately, i've had a few bad experiences with the ER as well. A few years back I had these weird breathing attacks and fainting spells where I wouldnt remember a thing that would happen even an as much as an hour before hand but whenever we went to the ER they said i was just hyperventalating and that next time i should just breathe into a paper bag whenever i felt that way. It ended up being seizures that I had been having, but thankfully I've been completely healed. Its completely rediculous though how they can be so quick to turn people away.
You have to be insistent upon seeing a doctor- the people running the front desks and nurses don't have the appropriate education to turn patients away. Nurses may have a better idea than the front desk people, but they still are not trained to diagnose.
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According to the blog, the doctor was the one who turned him away, not a nurse...
and, as a sidenote, I've been to nursing school. I can assure you that I was trained to identify a disease based on symptoms. The only thing keeping me from making a diagnosis is a legal scope of practice.
I can make as many nursing diagnoses as I want (including "rule out spider bite" which basically translates to "I diagnose this as a spider bite, but need someone with a higher degree to confirm it"), but only MDs and Nurse Practitioners are legally allowed to make an actual medical diagnosis and write prescriptions.
So... nurses are trained to diagnose. They just aren't legally allowed to.
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