Seriously?!?!

"I was here 2 hours ago and they wouldnt give me pain meds so I stabbed myself. I'm in pain now." Obvious bleeding from abdomen.

Do......what?

Well-to-do lady in her early 40s, high functioning alcoholic. Wanted to come in for detox but was very obviously intoxicated and was told by the doc she needed to sober up before being admitted. So the woman went home and stabbed herself six times in the lower abdomen and arrived, still very drunk, and now requiring surgery.

When people come in with gnarly, nasty feet, it's called Walmart feet. I didn't make it up, I actually heard it first from a doctor. Maybe your Walmarts are nicer than ours, but it's common to see gnarly, nasty feet in Walmart (along with a host of other things that make me a Target shopper).

cute rn: go to U-tube video and put in people of wal-mart. it will sink in then, very funny!!!

cute rn: go to U-tube video and put in people of wal-mart. it will sink in then, very funny!!!

Am speechless.

We've had people check in for "cramping" after drinking mag citrate. *facepalm*

No copay for most if not all Medicare and Medicaid programs, that's why it's no sweat off their back to come on visit the ED for every piddling thing they can dream up.

I have medicaid and I pay a co-pay. I'm a little confused as to how a nurse would know what a patients co-pay is to begin with since it is against the law to ask someone in the ER if they have insurance and how they intend to pay. So how do you know what the co-pay is for medicaid or medicare? I'm assuming it's that old mindset by a lot of people who work in the medical field that people who have medicare or medicaid don't pay a cent.

I also have co-pays for prescriptions. The notion that it's "free healthcare" is just a myth.

My Ex used to work in the ER downtown...oh the stories!!! I could never figure out why this particular hospital's policy was to give homeless guys with headaches 3 times a week a bed overnight, 2 meals, and a "to go basket" with toiletries and SCOPE! Which of course led to some fights outside the ER and homeless patients being mugged for their tiny bottles of scope. Oh, and the kicker? They WASHED their clothes for them!!!! LOL...that was his job-take their dirty clothes and wash, dry and fold them. The irony is that that ER actually was pretty diligent about checking the narcotics sites and not refilling meds that the patient had filled 8 times in the last month at 9 different pharmacies.

I have medicaid and I pay a co-pay. I'm a little confused as to how a nurse would know what a patients co-pay is to begin with since it is against the law to ask someone in the ER if they have insurance and how they intend to pay. So how do you know what the co-pay is for medicaid or medicare? I'm assuming it's that old mindset by a lot of people who work in the medical field that people who have medicare or medicaid don't pay a cent.

I also have co-pays for prescriptions. The notion that it's "free healthcare" is just a myth.

When you ask a pt what their name is, and they hand you their Medicaid card. It's part of my scripted reply. Registration needs that info, nurses don't know who has insurance or no insurance.

Don't have to ask people anything. Many make sure they let the staff know they don't have a job, have no income and can't afford their medications.

It's not 'a mindset'. I'm sure many people know people outside of their work setting who make welfare their job and know there are no copayments due upfront for any medical treatment in an ER. That's tax payer funded and public record. It's not against the law to know how a public funded program operates

I'd have liked to hear the answer to the question I'd have asked, "What treatment did you have in mind when you came to the ED, ma'am?"

Kid got sent home with mag citrate...hee hee hee, made sure they left before taking it. Kid kept wanting to watch tv, it's 2am, I pulled a line my mom used to use on me "if you're sick enough for the ED you're too sick for tv". ahahahahaha

All of this---awesome. Just awesome. It absolutely baffles me sometimes that humans are the "intelligent" species. Working EMS, I've seen some stupid crap. A pre pubescent boy who decided to go for a walk and did not come home that night which so happened to be his strategy for "earning" an ambulance ride with lights and sirens. Found him at 0230 that morning. Shows up to the ED dehydrated and slightly hypothermic. *sigh* where were the parents? Not looking for him at all!! Actually very, very sad.

Lol brick wall sometimes. Large volume of non-ER posters. What draws people in to this specific forum?

Cause you all have some awesome stories that we never will! :)

Posting from my phone, ease forgive my fat thumbs! :)

Cause you all have some awesome stories that we never will! :)

Posting from my phone, ease forgive my fat thumbs! :)

We do filter out a good chunk of the crap that never comes up to the floor. Only roughly 20% of our pts get admitted so thats a large chunk you people will never meet.

Also there is a FB page dedicated to this kind of stuff

I'm a little confused as to how a nurse would know what a patients co-pay is to begin with since it is against the law to ask someone in the ER if they have insurance and how they intend to pay. So how do you know what the co-pay is for medicaid or medicare?

Oh, also you can thank the computerized EHR for that. On my initial patient screen all your info pops up-regligion, allergies, insurance-and sometimes a nice scanned photo of your insurance card. Its not that everyone on medicaid gets a free ride, its that a lot of people use the ER as their PCP because they know they pay nothing upfront.

Kudos to your for paying your copays though! Its nice to hear there are responsible people out there