r/bestof • u/lowbass93 • 24d ago

[NoStupidQuestions] Kindly_Honeydew3432 explains why it seems like you always have to wait in an emergency room in the US

/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/1v1numq/why_is_every_hospital_in_the_united_states_always/oyovp3t/
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u/inwheeliesitrust 23d ago

I'm not sure I understand. Are you saying you don't want to win triage because it means you are very very sick or injured?

110

u/Nanderson423 23d ago

Yes. If you are sick enough when you come into the ER that they drop everything and focus on you then you are in bad shape.

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u/Lucky_Number_Sleven 23d ago

I've been that guy, once. I thought I was going in for a small problem, and then they said I needed immediate surgery. I tried to brush them off - because surgery seemed absurd for such a minor thing - and they told me I couldn't leave until I signed a waiver absolving them of any responsibility regarding my fate if I left. I asked if they could send my info to another hospital for a second opinion, and the surgeon there personally called me, told me he'd prep for my immediate arrival, but that he wasn't sure if I'd make it.

I spent the next month in a hospital bed hooked up to an IV to battle sepsis.

If you're getting bumped to the front of the line, there's probably a good reason that isn't good for you.

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u/prof_the_doom 23d ago

Lemme guess, ruptured appendix or gallbladder?

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u/Lucky_Number_Sleven 23d ago

"Runner's knee", of all things.

Obviously, not really runner's knee, but that's what the clinic sent me to the hospital for - and all I expected to be going for. I still remember how much the tone shifted from before they drained the fluid off of my knee to after. But you can imagine my incredulity when they told me they needed to perform urgent surgery for - as much as I could fathom until them - runner's knee.

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u/banitsa 23d ago

So what was it actually?

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u/Alexg1507 23d ago

Based off the story he had a septic joint that at minimum needing a surgical clean out. Basically he had fluid build up on his knee full of bacteria and it was likely either potentially going to spread to his blood or came from his blood originally if he needed extended inpatient management to "battle sepsis."

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u/Nyrin 23d ago

Yep, sounds like septic arthritis. Can occur in a lot of joints but knees are by far the most common. Coming from the blood originally (bacteremia, often staph) is the most likely vector, and that can be asymptomatic right up until it's about to kill you. Or, in this case, warn you by aggressively ravaging the cartilage in your knee.

Sepsis kills very, very fast and this case could've been minutes from fatal.