• obrien_must_suffer@lemmy.world
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    16 hours ago

    I went to the ER in a wealthy part of the Denver metro with abdominal pain and a significant fever. I was in the waiting room for at least 8 hours for them to decide I might have a perforated bowel and I was admitted. It ended up being diverticulitis.

    It makes my head explode when people say wait times are longer in countries with public systems because all the hypochondriacs will be abusing it. Motherfucker, wait times are ridiculous now.

    • boonhet@sopuli.xyz
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      41 minutes ago

      It makes my head explode when people say wait times are longer in countries with public systems because all the hypochondriacs will be abusing it.

      It helps that in at least some countries (mine) you need to go to your PCP to even get a referral to a specialist unless you want to go to a private clinic and pay for the specialist. Then also all visits except PCP, are subject to a small fee. I suspect PCPs will stop sending you to specialists if you start raving about a new disease 5 times a month.

      My hypochondriac ex certainly went to the ER about 50-60 times in the 2 years we were together though. Mostly maternity ER (she claimed she started getting braxton-hicks at about 10-12 weeks and the hospital she wanted to give birth at was 100 km from home so it meant 2x100 km drives about 2-3 times a week during starting week 20 or so). I reckon in the US, insurance would’ve told her to fuck off quite soon and I would’ve been millions in debt for her bullshit.