Would you go to the ER for this?

[Spritenurse1210]

If someone had a huge boil on thier arm with a growing red ring around it, nausea, and dizziness, as well as a fever.....would it be a good idea to go to the er? my friend had this, she's ok now, has gotten medical treatment and antibiotics. Is this what you all would consider something that needs to be seen in an ER or in an urgent care setting?

[SharonH, RN]

If urgent care were available, I would try that but if not I certainly would have went to the ER. The symptoms of dizziness, nausea and fever indicate that it was more serious than a mere boil as some have suggested here and I think it would be somewhat irresponsible to make an assumption that it could wait without it being seen.

[SharonH, RN]

In Los Angeles, Fire and Rescue are required to transport everyone. They have no discretion at all in this matter. Only if the patient declines transport are they not brought in.

Interesting. I don't know if they have discretion in the Atlanta area or not, but they ACT like they do.