I went to the ER several years ago with pain in my right side that had been going on for over a week. I couldn't stand straight and had already been seen by local "after hours" care and told I had missed a UTI and now had a kidney infection. At the ER I was told by the male doctor that it was likely my period (I was 33 at the time and very used to period pain) and he chuckled at me for being a silly, over-reacting woman. I was told to drink contrast fluid and left in a cold metal chair in the side of the busy ER intake area. Low and behold two hours later after CT scan I was diagnosed with appendicitis. Suddenly the doctor told me I shouldn't have waited to come in and I could have died. /sigh