Emergency rooms

I thought this story about real life emergency rooms was interesting.  I know I recently saw a book on the medicine on the show House, MD which I'd read.  The comments also are enlightening.  The nurse made some good points for patients to consider.  You read the horror stories from patients also, and you have to wonder how the heck our healthcare system can ever be fixed? 

My favorite from the article:

When a 48-year-old woman presented to Conn with symptoms including abdominal pain, he called for a CAT scan. But first he asked the patient if she was pregnant. “She told me, ‘Absolutely not.’ I pressed again, since the X-rays used in CAT imaging can have an effect on a developing fetus, and she said, ‘I can’t be pregnant. I’m not even sexually active.’ We took her to the CAT—and there was a seven-month baby.

“I said, ‘Um, ma’am? One of the causes of your abdominal pain is this baby.’ I showed her the images we’d just taken. She looked me right in the eye and said, ‘That can’t be mine.’”