And the AmeriKan MSM and government have the gall to criticze "Sicko" and other national health plans?
"Average ER waiting time nears one hour" by Mike Stobbe, Associated Press | August 7, 2008
ATLANTA - The average time that hospital emergency rooms patients wait to see a doctor has grown from about 38 minutes to almost an hour over the past decade, according to new federal statistics released yesterday.
The increase is due to supply and demand, said Dr. Stephen Pitts, the lead author of the report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"There are more people arriving at the ERs. And there are fewer ERs," said Pitts, an associate professor of emergency medicine at Atlanta's Emory University.
Overall, about 119 million visits were made to US emergency rooms in 2006, up from 90 million in 1996 - a 32 percent increase.
Meanwhile, the number of hospital emergency departments dropped to fewer than 4,600, from nearly 4,900, according to American Hospital Association statistics.
Another reason for crowding is that patients who are admitted to the hospital end up waiting in the ER because of the limited number of hospital beds, Pitts added.
A shortage of surgical specialists also contributes. So, too, does the difficulty many patients have in getting appointments to doctor's offices - which causes some to turn to emergency departments, experts said.
"It takes me a month to get an appointment for my own doctor, and I'm a physician, for God's sake," said Dr. Ricardo Martinez, an Atlanta trauma physician.
Some doctors said the report supports a call for increased governmental funding for hospital emergency services.
Nah, we got WARS to pay for and WAR PROFITEER POCKETS to LINE!!!!
