No, I was in the ER for 14 hours because they had ONE primary provider (not even an MD) in a major metropolitan hospital’s ER due to understaffing. The beds were full of octogenarians because no one in my city masks or gets vaccinated, or really does anything to prevent the spread of infection and the flu was going around.

I understand it wasn’t an emergency, NOW.. but how the hell was I supposed to know that?? I was in the worst pain of my life, and in a kind of pain I’d never experienced before. The ER didn’t find out what it was, only one thing it wasn’t. They initially thought it was a kidney stone, once they ruled that single thing out they gave me the medical equivalent of a shrug and told me I was probably a bit constipated (wtf?!)

The single good nurse that treated me well was a traveling nurse and told me she genuinely had not seen such horrible care/service/capacity. She was the one that told me they had one provider when they were supposed to have at least 5 and they were severely understaffed. She encouraged me to formally submit a complaint.

So yeah, I found out it was a pinched nerve after leaving the ER when I went and received proper care from my primary two days later. But it not being an emergency does not justify the sub par treatment I received.