So my 11month old has a temp of 103.2, Im in the emergency room

[Flame]

A fever in a child?  GASP! The horror! 

A fever warrants a call to the Dr's office, unless it reaches 104-105, doesn't reduce with tylenol or motrin, or has other troubling symptoms with it.   I bet this idiot never even administered Tylenol at home to try to take care of it.   And the whole "limp" thing...well, duh, kid's got a fever and it's friggin midnight!

[djones520]

A fever in a child?  GASP! The horror! 

A fever warrants a call to the Dr's office, unless it reaches 104-105, doesn't reduce with tylenol or motrin, or has other troubling symptoms with it.   I bet this idiot never even administered Tylenol at home to try to take care of it.   And the whole "limp" thing...well, duh, kid's got a fever and it's friggin midnight!

When my son was 3 months old, he had a fever of 104.  We we're visiting his Great Grand Parents in Detroit at the time, so I couldn't take him to the Doctor (militaries insurance will only cover "loss of life or limb" emergencies when we're not visiting our primary care dude).  2 am I went down to a Walgreens, got some infant tylenol and motrin, gave him half a dose of each (since he was about 3 months to young for that stuff) and come morning he was just fine.

$10 and a little bit of lost sleep was all it cost me.  This DUmmie probably wracked up a $600 easy for their insurance company to cover.

[Ree]

When my son was 3 months old, he had a fever of 104.  We we're visiting his Great Grand Parents in Detroit at the time, so I couldn't take him to the Doctor (militaries insurance will only cover "loss of life or limb" emergencies when we're not visiting our primary care dude).  2 am I went down to a Walgreens, got some infant tylenol and motrin, gave him half a dose of each (since he was about 3 months to young for that stuff) and come morning he was just fine.

$10 and a little bit of lost sleep was all it cost me.  This DUmmie probably wracked up a $600 easy for their insurance company to cover.

If they even have insurance...sounds more like medicad peeps...

[Doc Savage]

The question is what is the dummie bitching about?  Takes kid to EMERGENCY ROOM, has to wait to be seen with all the other miscreants that use the ER as a primary care clinic (think it is bad now, all you military folks remember what the ER at the base hospital or Clinic was like), get seen (evidently within a timely manner) and then goes home.  Hope that they did not feel slighted if they had to wait a little while if a MVA or a trauma came in.  

The thing that we should be all bitching about is that this dummie could not afford "What to Expect during the First Year" book.  Used to love it when people showed up at the ER complaining of a sore throat for 6 hours.  Can't turn them away, have to see them.  Takes time and money to staff an ER and then the people with no way to pay for that service (or willing even to try to pay) use it all the time for non-emergency care.

Wonder how all those Afgan elders live as long as they do seeing that they rarley if ever see a doctor and no way in hell do they have an ER to run to if they have the sniffles.  

[Karin]

Flame, I was thinking the same.  Limp?  It's after midnight!  I'm limp myself then. 

[GOBUCKS]

Wonder how all those Afgan elders live as long as they do seeing that they rarely if ever see a doctor and no way in hell do they have an ER to run to if they have the sniffles. 

A lot of those toothless half-blind ancients are in their fifties.
With a half-dozen teenaged wives at home.
Cause and effect.

[AllosaursRus]

Flame, I was thinking the same.  Limp?  It's after midnight!  I'm limp myself then. 

Me too. Unless "Toots" is feelin' frisky!

[MrsSmith]

The question is what is the dummie bitching about?  Takes kid to EMERGENCY ROOM, has to wait to be seen with all the other miscreants that use the ER as a primary care clinic (think it is bad now, all you military folks remember what the ER at the base hospital or Clinic was like), get seen (evidently within a timely manner) and then goes home.  Hope that they did not feel slighted if they had to wait a little while if a MVA or a trauma came in.  

The thing that we should be all bitching about is that this dummie could not afford "What to Expect during the First Year" book.  Used to love it when people showed up at the ER complaining of a sore throat for 6 hours.  Can't turn them away, have to see them.  Takes time and money to staff an ER and then the people with no way to pay for that service (or willing even to try to pay) use it all the time for non-emergency care.

Wonder how all those Afgan elders live as long as they do seeing that they rarley if ever see a doctor and no way in hell do they have an ER to run to if they have the sniffles.  

And this is exactly why our ER now has a "Minor Care" unit...for those that won't pay a doctor.  One of our hospitalists runs it exactly like an after-hours clinic (which we also have, downtown), and people with minor ailments are shuffled through there quickly to keep them out of the ER. Not only can they be seen and sent home quickly, it reduces exposure to illness for all involved. 

[miskie]

A fever in a child?  GASP! The horror! 

A fever warrants a call to the Dr's office, unless it reaches 104-105, doesn't reduce with tylenol or motrin, or has other troubling symptoms with it.   I bet this idiot never even administered Tylenol at home to try to take care of it.   And the whole "limp" thing...well, duh, kid's got a fever and it's friggin midnight!

Exactly - When the Missus and I were new parents, we called the pediatrician's office more times than we care to remember - most of the time for simple things that Tylenol, Motrin, a cool bath, etc. would fix. If we felt we needed advice immediately, we called friends and family who had recent child experience we could draw from. Never did we panic and run to the E.R. -- and we could have too, as the hospital is about three blocks from my house.

[AprilRazz]

Oh I could tell lots of stories about sitting in a military ER babysitting a suicidal patient. It was usually a 3-4 hour wait for someone from psyche to trapse down to take them.

[Chris_]

Oh I could tell lots of stories about sitting in a military ER babysitting a suicidal patient. It was usually a 3-4 hour wait for someone from psyche to trapse down to take them.

And how many of those stories included the sentiment "I wish he'd do it already, and get it over with", about 2½ - 3 hours into the babysitting?

[AprilRazz]

And how many of those stories included the sentiment "I wish he'd do it already, and get it over with", about 2½ - 3 hours into the babysitting?

All but one.
But he was a friend that was going through the loss of his 3 year old child and wife.

[Doc Savage]

And this is exactly why our ER now has a "Minor Care" unit...for those that won't pay a doctor.  One of our hospitalists runs it exactly like an after-hours clinic (which we also have, downtown), and people with minor ailments are shuffled through there quickly to keep them out of the ER. Not only can they be seen and sent home quickly, it reduces exposure to illness for all involved. 

That is the way to do it.  Walgreens has a couple of stores that have NP in them.  They handle acute stuff, do sports physicals and the like.  I would gladly go to an office with cash pricing posted.  It could decrease insurance costs significantly if Insurance was use like car insurance is, for significant events.  If people have to pay 20-25 bucks for an office call for a fever < 24 hours, maybe it would stop or slow unneeded office visits

[miskie]

All but one.
But he was a friend that was going through the loss of his 3 year old child and wife.

Yikes..

A story. A mutual friend of the missus and I had located a brother in the Boston area years after losing touch with him. Once she convinced him to move to the area we met him. He appeared like a hobo. Filthy, Stinking, unshaven. Rotten teeth. I figured perhaps he was homeless, and had been found, and now his life would improve. Months.. years later, no change. He was always happy, never seemed suicidal, but had the poorest hygiene of any person alive who isn't homeless. Years later, I had seen a picture of this person - in uniform-- chean-shaven..healthy, and eventually found out the reason for the decline.

His entire family was annihilated in a car accident. He was spared because he was at work, which is where he was when he had been informed.

And then I understood.

Years later, he had recovered, cleaned up, became gainfully employed and moved on.

[AprilRazz]

Yikes..

A story. A mutual friend of the missus and I had located a brother in the Boston area years after losing touch with him. Once she convinced him to move to the area we met him. He appeared like a hobo. Filthy, Stinking, unshaven. Rotten teeth. I figured perhaps he was homeless, and had been found, and now his life would improve. Months.. years later, no change. He was always happy, never seemed suicidal, but had the poorest hygiene of any person alive who isn't homeless. Years later, I had seen a picture of this person - in uniform-- chean-shaven..healthy, and eventually found out the reason for the decline.

His entire family was annihilated in a car accident. He was spared because he was at work, which is where he was when he had been informed.

And then I understood.

Years later, he had recovered, cleaned up
, became gainfully employed and moved on.

A car accident took my friends family as well. A drunk driver hit them head on. We were floating off the coast at the time and were able to fly him off.
They were going to fly him off the next day but he made the attempt that night. So He the Chaplain and myself flew off at about 2am and took him straight to the hospital.
2 years later he is doing better but the person that I knew before all of this is gone.

But on the bright side he is still in the military and is doing well there and has started dating again recently.

[crockspot]

I've sat in an emergency room several times in the healthcare utopia of Canada. Kid with broken arm... 10 hours. Girlfriend puking in wastebasket and passing out from the pain caused by what turned out to be a pleurosy.. 8 hours, the first six of which there was not even a doctor on duty in the ER, only triage nurses. One time, I actually saw a father there with his little girl, who had a SKINNED KNEE. And not even a badly skinned one. I saw him walking out with her several hours later with a regular bandaid on her knee.