DALLAS, Texas-

I never did watch the show ER, but I know it was one of the most popular TV shows going for 15 straight years. I’d imagine its appeal came from a combination of the humor, romance, and drama interlaced with chaos, the educational value, and a dash of good acting. Okay, I know it had more than a dash, I saw a few episodes over the years and I know the acting was solid and it gave a few of today’s most well known actors and actresses their start. But how accurate was its depiction of a real ER? Honestly, I have no idea, but I’d imagine that a show that popular and long running had to have quite a bit of reality weaved into its numerous plot lines. Given that it was set in Chicago, all the more reason to believe the constant chaos was somewhat based in reality.

Speaking of a real ER, luckily I have only had the pleasure of visiting one once in the last 10 or so years. It was moderately busy when we went, but we were in and out in an hour with a nice patch of Dermabond on my son’s forehead. Where was Dermabond when I was between the ages of 5 and 12? I know my parents would have loved for that stuff to have been medically available 30 years ago. For those of you who are not familiar with Dermabond it’s basically super glue for skin, used instead of stitches (and believe me it works well). My son had run into a wall and cracked open his melon and the doctor just glued him up, and took all of two minutes to do so. Overall, that ER visit was fairly easy and uneventful, two minutes with the doctor, an hour at the ER overall, and we were on the road again with a 4-year-old and a gauze patch on his forehead. It wasn’t until a few weeks later that we received the ER bill for nearly $1,000. What the hell is insurance for anyway? But horrific insurance stories are for other posts. I’m sure I can find some great insurance stories to write about in the future.

Okay, Okay, I know, get to the point already. You want to know what this post is about, right? Yes, it is about an ER, I promise I would never lead you astray.

So what about an ER in Dallas? Could it too be as chaotic as the fictional ER in Chicago? It’s a big enough city, so I’d imagine it could be similar. So when Amber Joy Milbrodt fractured a bone in her right leg while playing volleyball she went to the Parkland Memorial Hospital ER in Dallas, Texas. Milbrodt arrived at the ER and checked in and saw a triage nurse. She was then asked to wait in the waiting room and that is exactly what she did. Then she waited some more, and some more, and waited, and waited, and waited. 19 hours in all until she eventually left without ever being seen by a doctor or anyone else.

After the 19 hour eternal wait for nothing, Milbrodt elected to go home and rest her leg in the hopes that it would begin to heal on its own, and luckily for her, that is exactly what it did. Then a couple of weeks later, the young volleyball player received a letter from the hospital. And as it turns out, it wasn’t a letter at all, but a bill for $162.

Shocked at the outrageous outcome of her brief (and unfulfilling) visit to the ER, Milbrodt contacted the Dallas Morning News and told them her frustrating story. Doing good investigative work and trying to get the whole picture, the news contacted the hospital for its side of the story. According to the hospital’s vice president in charge of billing, Ms. Milbrodt was not charged for waiting (Oh, thank God!!) she was charged for the couple of minutes it took the triage nurse to assess her and check her in. Well, now it all makes sense, Mr. Vice President in Charge of Billing. I’m thinking you’d have done a lot better and made more sense by going on record and saying, “No comment.”

The Moral of the story: Yes, our nation’s hospitals are far from perfect and some are just plain %@$#&! up.

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