Anyone is welcome to submit a Guest Blog Entry to torontomike.com. I received the following entry earlier today.
i was waiting in the energancy room in owen sound hospital waiting to see a doctor because i was having gull bladder attacks and an asthma attack. I have been waiting for about 8 hourse know and i can't breath and my heart was melting because i though i was going to die. I thought i was going to loose my fiance, frineds and mother. My mother went and talked to a nurse and she told them my daughter can't breath and she is suffering in really bad pain to the point that she can't even stand on her own two feet. The nurse told her that their was a bunch of other poeple infront of me. My mother looked around and didn't see anything much wrong with them. So we waited and waited and waited and they called and elderly lady for her turn and she turned to the nurse and said look at the poor girl she can't breath and she can barley stand on her own, so i think that you should get her in right away. The nurse said but it is your turn and they lady said i don't care i can wait. My mother and my fiance thanked her a lot for her kindness and we still talk to her until this day. I was waiting in the emergancy waiting room for 11 hours before they saw me. I think that the hospitals should be more on top of things and they should get more nurses and doctors soon.
Amanda
I hate hearing stories like yours, but I'm glad you're sharing. Emergency rooms shouldn't operate in first come, first serve fashion. I'd like to think struggling for oxygen would move you to the front of the line.
Thankfully, I don't have a lot of emergency room experience, but when I brought James there a couple of years ago he was seeing a doctor in seconds and was wearing oxygen in minutes. When I showed up with a partially torn ACL and broken leg a couple of years ago, I had a helluva wait. I expected more serious issues to bump me down on the priority list.
