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Emergency room wait times are a product or their accessibility. Everyone here who has the sniffles goes to see a doctor. Part of the issue is that not enough people have a family doctor and not enough people are willing to go to a clinic. I have two young daughters, so I must admit that I am likely one of the guys who has taken them to emerg when I likely should not have and because of it have suffered the consequences. I have taken my oldest (she was 3 at the time) to a completely packed emergency room with a temperature of almost 105, the time between walking in and seeing a doctor was 5 minutes. I have taken her when she had a cold (because she sounded bad and there really isn't anything you can give them at a young age) and sat there all night long when it seemed like there were no other patients there.
It's not first come first serve, you go to triage and they decide where you fit on the list based on two things; 1) how bad are the symptoms and what ailment do they resemble, 2) how much pain does the person appear to be in.
they ask you how much pain you are in, but I think they put more weight on how much pain they think you are in, because people lie, they cut their finger and say on a scale of 1 to 10, their pain is a 12.5!
like has been said, it is not perfect, but neither is allowing the rich to get anything they want immediately while everyone else has no chance.
If this guy was truly having a heart attack, he should have done the smart thing and called an ambulance, they take you right in to a doctor when you do that.
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