Spent many hours today …
… with my ex in the local emergency room. He’s basically okay. They found something relatively minor.
Growing old is no joke. Nor was the ER, which has degenerated in recent years: short-staffed, very long waits, extremely depressing group of sick people sitting there for hours and hours and hours.
I finally left him there when he was somewhat better, but now I’m about to leave to pick him up. I’ll probably post more in late afternoon or perhaps not till the evening.
Due to my dad’s low BP and thus collapsing, we’ve discovered that arriving at the ER via an ambulance gets you in a room right away. (Plus being 93 y.o.)
Dad is ok, but being north of 90 doesn’t help any.
What a nice lady you are. My ex would have showed up with a shovel. Cheers –
The ER mess seems to be widespread. I have a friend whose major health problems cause him to end up in an ER from time to time and he rages about it.
Yep on arriving in an ambulance ,, you get moved right to the head of the line.
It also helps if your tite with the ER Doc .
And I took my ex wife’s husband to the er when he had a heart attack. Why not , he did me a favor by stealing her away.
agimarc; Keith:
Well, he is the father of my child and the grandfather of my grandchildren. Gotta do my best.
But yes, in this respect I am a very nice person. Usually the ER staff don’t bat an eye when they hear I’m his ex-wife. But once, a nurse started ranting about how awful HER ex is.
By federal law, all who enter an ER must be seen regardless of whether or not their problem is emergent. So ERs have turned into walk-in clinics, usually full of low- life Medicaid patients because Medicaid reimbursements are too low to cover the cost of service in MD offices. Lots and lots of chronic, not acute/emergency cases fill the ERs. Thank the Democrats in DC for this.
Not to mention the 3rd world aspect. I remember walking into an ER in a nice, upper middle class suburb in Orange County, CA 25 years ago and actually being shocked that I was the only English speaking Anglo person in the waiting room.
Good to know it’s something relatively minor.
Our cousin took her mother to an ER in, I think, Orange County, CA, and they did well for her. Of course she WAS in heart failure and the daughter is an MD.
Good luck!
Good health!
+ Bonus (laughter being the best medicine…well, sometimes…):
“…Tucker Carlson does not believe human beings built the atomic bomb.”—
https://instapundit.com/fifty-cameras-in-the-dark/
So sorry Neo. Things have certainly devolved for the middle and upper middle class. Victor Davis Hanson in the lead up to his diagnosis had a lot to say about the new queuing system for medical diagnosis.
Reporting head pain after a fall and throwing up is also a good way to jump to the head of the line.
When I was a child and my father a sergeant in the US Army, the Fort Belvoir hospital emergency room was a common stop for my siblings. Maladies ranged from strep throat to lacerations to broken bones. The quality of care varied but the waiting didn’t, triage.
Decades before Medicaide.
It is NOT a joke. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.
Because of EMTALA, ERs have become the first stop for people who are on Medicaid, are uninsured, or are otherwise unable to pay. Hospitals have to serve them, and then write off the bills, or take the pittance that Medicaid pays.
I’ve usually gone to Urgent Care first, bad as it is, because at least you get service. The last time I went (early 2020), they said I should go to the ER, which I did, though it wasn’t necessary. Fortunately I had a pretty good experience with the ER, but that seems to be the exception.
[Oops, didn’t see Cicero’s comment before I posted this. But EMTALA actually passed during the Reagan administration (1986).]
Well done Neo…be a blessing and get some rest when you can.
My condolences, and prayers, both for your ex and America’s emergency rooms.
I had reason to visit my local one on a recent Friday evening – stepped on a nail that penetrated the shoe – and foot (a reminder to wear real shoes or boots for home construction projects, not rubber soled running shoes), my tetanus booster was 9 years old and it seemed some antibiotics might be in order.
Friday night, locally, seems to be “Family Night” at the local ER – standing room only in the “Berlitz Language and Child Care Center”, aka “the ER waiting room.” They triaged me into the multi-seat “Surge Room,” whatever that is, for a quick nurse review, even quicker doctor look-see, a TADP booster, 500mg of antibiotic and an e-scrip for more to my local pharmacy. 55 minutes total, so I can’t complain about that.
They were even kind enough to provide a Parting Gift for me to take home with me – a case of the flu, which arrived in full Tuesday morning.
There are a couple of Urgent Care places near me, run by the two competing local hospital systems; I doubt the nighttime patient density, or variety, at either would be significantly less than at the ER, but should minor calamity befall me again I shall investigate.
“My ex would have showed up with a shovel.”
Don’t give them any ideas. I have a divorced friend, and he told me the best thing that could happen to him would be for his ex to die.
I have a divorced friend, and he told me the best thing that could happen to him would be for his ex to die.
==
I assume he had children under 21, or her lawyer somehow persuaded the judge to make an unusual alimony award.
My mom used say that getting old was not for the faint of heart. I remember thinking “What is she talking about?” Now I know. But at least she warned me. As a man I am constantly thinking I am still 16 until I try to move quickly. I wish the best for his health and,of course, yours.
The health care crises is real. I don’t have a freaking clue how you solve this and not destroy the current system
Ah the wages of life, apparently you’ve spent them well!
Richard Cook on August 20, 2026 at 12:05 pm said:
“The health care crises is real. I don’t have a freaking clue how you solve this and not destroy the current system”
My initial thought is to get back to a largely first party paying system [not a single party (govt) paying system]. Let the patient know what it will cost as often as possible up front and they will make the cost/value tradeoff to bring the overall system back into reasonable alignment. This includes the purchase of health insurance as a risk mitigating option for higher cost items (not also covering normal medical expenses in disguise). Right now only the hospitals and the insurance companies seem to have any handle on what things “might”, “maybe”, “should cost”. $400 for a colonoscopy or $4000? Etc. Same for most of the normal drugs being prescribed. Someone on a doctor’s staff should be pretty up to speed on what most of the drugs being RX’d might cost the patient.
Perhaps also means test Medicare for most seniors, many of whom are relatively well off (mortgage paid for, modest vehicle use, etc.). IRMMA already does some of that in disguise. No real reason to force seniors by law to take Medicare if they have the ability to pay their own way. Does that turn Medicare into Medicaid?
For most people the goal should be paying the first $6000 to $10000 of healthcare per year for a family, with insurance making up the next $3000 to $3M. [Someone here probably has better numbers than my guess.] Add HSA’s to help mitigate Medicare short falls long term.
If we were to prosecute the laws already on the books,, we could cut medical cost by 75 %. It’s all a scam, hospitals ,doctors , medical insurance , scam all the way down.
:If we were to prosecute the laws already on the books”
We would be bankrupt. Do you realize how many laws are on the books? Thousands. See https://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp/1594035229
Ray ,talking about the laws specifically related to the medical monopoly , pharma insurance scam.
I don’t have a freaking clue how you solve this and not destroy the current system
==
Milton Friedman did have a clue. We haven’t done what he suggested back in 1999, and it’s regrettable.
Cavendish: There are a couple of Urgent Care places near me …
Do look around. The comfort level can vary considerably. And if you’re comfortable, you won’t hesitate to go. Going a day or few before you really have to can make a big difference.
Rather heartening to see that some exes are capable of stepping up to care for the aging formerly married.