Opinion | ER doctors are not your enemies

on widely this past week, you’d walk away with a different conclusion. The headline-grabbing takeaway for most would be that hundreds of thousands of patients in the U.S. suffer serious harm from ER misdiagnosis, and 250,000 die because of us yearly.

When we discharge a patient who has been ruled out for a condition, say a stroke, if that patient has a stroke in a few weeks, is that a miss? No, at the time, the patient did not have a stroke, but they may be high risk and have one in the future.

In medicine, every decision we make is based on the principle of “do no harm,” which means that every decision requires balancing risk vs. harm. Over-diagnosis or over-admitting more patients to the hospital for further tests when not necessary comes with harm. Every procedure has risks. Simply being in the hospitaland many other conditions.

Many will be surprised to learn that many of the studies included in the report are extrapolations from non-U.S. data. The number of 250,000 deaths due to ER misdiagnosis that is widely reported is based on small Canadian, Swiss and Spanish studies. We have a very different health care system and training of physicians than those countries.

THINK They don't treat anything, the mask you with antibiotics or pain meds and push you right out the door to your primary care physician. Meanwhile you have 3,000 dollar bills for absolute shit and a misdiagnosis.

THINK Our local ER used to be called The Candy Shop. The local opioid epidemic it created still plagues us.

THINK Doctors are simply ill-informed and uncaring.

THINK Private Equity & Corporate ownership of ER, Dr. offices and facilities are the death of medicine. Too many patients squeezed in and too many people using ER like a Dr.'s visit. It's not easy to avoid requiring medical care ..even if you are healthy.

THINK US ER Care: Take two aspirin and call me next year if you’re not feeling better. Here’s your bill for $8,000. Pay before you leave, or we’ll take your house.

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