Do ERs give frequent flyer miles?

Tuesday night at 9:40 p.m., we headed hurriedly to the ER. Again. Not for a parishoner. For Sony. He was having intense pain on his left side that doubled him over in tears and agony. Rab called our 24-7 nurse helpline and they said to take him to the ER. Rab volunteered to stay home with a very worried Minky (who desperately wanted to go and make sure his brother was ok) and I headed to the next town with a screaming, crying, hurting kid.

The admitting person was getting someone back to room and said she'd be with us in a moment. This was understandable but made me growl internally - here was a kid in obvious distress and the people looking at magazines further back in the nurse's station couldn't assume the check in lady's task? A nurse who was walking out of a room heard Sony and caught my eye. She immediately came over and took Sony back, but I couldn't follow because he had to be checked in. I hate paperwork details - especially when the rules separate me from my child.

A few minutes later, I was able to go back to him. The nurse was absolutely fantastic. She was very patient and caring and attentive. Sony could barely speak and she worked with that reality. Far, far later - much too much later - the doctor finally saw us. I've worked in hospitals and I understand triage but I was not impressed with the pace - even if the nurse had determined we could be at the bottom of the rotation (which I guess is what happened).

Twice while we were waiting, I went to the nurses station only to find the two doctors on staff chatting. Grrr. Once I went out to let them know that Sony's pain was worsening. "Ok, thanks for letting us know," was the doctor's response. But still, nobody came into our room. Then, about 1/2 hour later, I saw our nurse in the hallway, caught her eye and asked her to come see what Sony was doing (he was flinching and involuntarily moving his head). She came in and took a look. Eventually - my guess is that it was 1.5-2 hours after we arrived - the doctor came in.

She literally yelled at him, screaming, "You have got to stop that! I can't hear your heartbeat," and "HOW AM I GOING TO HELP IF YOU WON'T COMMUNICATE!" and "This is just not going to work." When I tried to answer questions, she stuck her hand out and snapped, "I've got this under control, Mom!" Yeah, sure you do lady, that's why you're screaming at my kid. Oh, and by the way, maybe if you tried being kind, my son would not be turning away from you. Just a small hint...She was HORRIBLE! I have never been so unimpressed in my life.

When the nurse came in to see if he'd gone to xray yet, I told her, "You know, I'm normally pretty patient with doctors who don't click with me or my kids, but that woman will not come back in here as long as my son is in this room. Do you have another doctor around right now or should we begin the process of changing to Hospital in the Next Town?" We were quickly transferred to another doctor's case load and suddenly treated very well. It was a bit disgusting how important we'd become when the hospital realized they might lose our business.

Long, long, long story short, we ended up coming home around 2 a.m. after two rounds of blood tests and an xray. Today, we head to Sony's regular doctor to follow up on some of the concerns that were found in the bloodwork. It all looks managable, but I'm seriously considering calling the hospital and lodging a complaint.