Woman refuses to wear mask in ER

Oh we have idiots up here too! Along with conspiracy nutcases.

In our province you should be going to urgent care for a broken finger not ER. Urgent Care is a 24/7 walk in clinic - ER is for life threatening events - heart attacks, shootings, stabbings, car accidents. Not broken fingers.

ERs get abused here as idiots cannot figure out to contact their family doctor or go to a walk-in/urgent care rather than go to the ER for something like strep throat or a broken finger. Idiots.

Eta

urgent care in my province

See Urgent Care for things like:
  • illnesses or injuries that cannot wait for you to see your family doctor
  • fevers, flu symptoms, rashes or infections
  • dehydration
  • cuts that won’t stop bleeding
  • injured limb that might be broken or sprained
  • any other urgent, but not life-threatening, conditions
Urgent care centres are able to provide services not available in many doctors’ offices, such as stitches and casts, but are not equivalent to emergency departments.
Urgent care centres help conserve emergency department resources for more serious, life-threatening conditions. Patients are seen based on their medical need, not order of arrival.

In my province you go to the ER for broken bones.
 
Not to mention most doctors are not in the office since the shut down. At least mine isn’t . We call the office for prescriptions, doctor calls us back and sends script to drug store.

My daughter needs a tb test for nursing clinical next school year not sure where she will get it.
 
Manitoba

Turns out that lady had a sprained finger. Not even broken.
She should not have been at the ER for that.

There are cases where sprains and fracture present in a very similar matter. Few years back my son had what looked to be a serious injury during a basketball practice, very bad ankle roll and couldn't walk. We went to the ER and they took x-rays, diagnosed it as a high ankle sprain. Couple of weeks later an ortho looked at the x-ray and said it was actual a fracture. Few years before that he was kicked in the hand playing keeper in soccer. Swelling was incredible but we thought it was just a bad sprain. Since the field was next to a hospital, we went to get some ice. The ER said it should be looked at and after the x-ray, the doctor said it was totally dislocated at the knuckle and broke in a couple of places above that. The next morning we were back at the fracture clinic and a surgeon operated on it within hours.

You never know what the injury is and the sooner it is taken care of the better. That being said, this woman should have put on the mask so the injury could have been checked out.
 
Not to mention most doctors are not in the office since the shut down. At least mine isn’t . We call the office for prescriptions, doctor calls us back and sends script to drug store.

My daughter needs a tb test for nursing clinical next school year not sure where she will get it.
Same here. Although we're well into re-launch, most doctors are trying to keep things to phone consults unless it's urgent. Can't your GP help with a referral for the test?
 


Two situations I can recall. First, my young son had pain in his foot, with a little swelling, and I had trouble getting his shoe on. I took him to the pediatrician. They did xrays on site and determined he had a fracture. We walked down the hall to Orthopedics where an Orthopedist fit him in a cast.

Second was my mother was having pain in her knee. Took her to PCPs office where we saw an NP. Xrays revealed a fractured hip! Orthopedist consulted right then and there and next thing you know we are in an ambulance on our way to the hospital of our choice for a hip repair which occurred the next morning bright and early (on a Saturday).

I think this is one of the big differences between our medical systems and the American model - x-rays and other similar diagnostic tests aren't available outside of a hospital here.

If I wasn't sure I whether to wait for my family doctor or to go to the ER or to a walk-in clinic, we have an 811 provincial teleservice that will advise you what to do.

There are cases where sprains and fracture present in a very similar matter. Few years back my son had what looked to be a serious injury during a basketball practice, very bad ankle roll and couldn't walk. We went to the ER and they took x-rays, diagnosed it as a high ankle sprain. Couple of weeks later an ortho looked at the x-ray and said it was actual a fracture. Few years before that he was kicked in the hand playing keeper in soccer. Swelling was incredible but we thought it was just a bad sprain. Since the field was next to a hospital, we went to get some ice. The ER said it should be looked at and after the x-ray, the doctor said it was totally dislocated at the knuckle and broke in a couple of places above that. The next morning we were back at the fracture clinic and a surgeon operated on it within hours.

You never know what the injury is and the sooner it is taken care of the better. That being said, this woman should have put on the mask so the injury could have been checked out.

My daughter is also a keeper and we made several soccer-related trips to the IWK ER. Once she took a ball to her hand and chipped three knuckles (after that I invested in fingerkeeper gloves.) Another time we thought she fractured the growth plate near her wrist, but they later decided that it was a soft tissue injury. Then there was the time she got kicked in the face when diving for a save and needed stitches below an outstanding shiner.

The same kiddo had nursemaids elbow as a toddler. The first time she dislocated it, it took several attempts and an ortho to put it back in the joint. By the third time, they taught me how to do it at home.

M.
 
I think this is one of the big differences between our medical systems and the American model - x-rays and other similar diagnostic tests aren't available outside of a hospital here.

There are some but they tend to be few and far between. Here there are some chiropractors and physio clinics.
 
No, most doctors will make you come in to confirm it's broken, THEN they'll tell you to see an ortho. Or, depending on how severe the break is, they'll splint it and call it good.

I broke the upper bone in my arm in Pennsylvania last year and my PCP was in New Jersey. In any case, we didn't even think to go to urgent care because my arm was flopping around-we went straight to the ER, where they set and splinted it and told me to go to an orthopedic surgeon in New Jersey as soon as I could. I had to get a referral from my PCP, but it was a relatively easy process. I was splinted for a week before I was able to get in to see the ortho.
 


Sort of unrelated, but demonstrates why you want to wear a mask at the ER! I can't imagine why anyone would want to go into a hospital unmasked.

I got sent to the ER by my medical provider about two months ago, obviously during COVID. I wasn't thrilled, but went. There was a man there who was really struggling with mental illness. The security staff was so kind to him and working really hard not to escalate the situation. However, as a person who was already scared and there by myself, I wished they would have taken him down and moved him out of there. He was kept spitting on the floor (Probably a nervous tick?) and, since I was the only other person in the waiting room and I was probably about the age of his mom, he kept wanting to be right next to me. It was un-nerving! Since I was already isolating, I continued watchfully for two weeks from the exposure and was relieved when I was clear!
 
Yep. ER visits are very expensive...approximately $2k-$3k for a simple fracture.
:thumbsup2 This is basically a public service announcement reminding Canadians to purchase adequate travel medical insurance before visiting the US. What your provincial health plan covers will be pennies-on-the-dollar to the actual costs if you end up needing any attention.
 
The ortho docs in the hospital system I work for won’t see you without an X-ray or some kind of imaging. You can’t just call up most specialists and say “I think I broke my finger. Can I get an appointment?” It doesn’t work that way.

she could’ve waited until the next day, called or saw her pcp, gotten a script for an X-ray, got the X-ray done and then called the ortho If her pcp referred her and gives her a referral (depending on insurance).

I don’t think she did anything wrong by going to the ER. I’ve seen people go into the ER for far far far less. A broken bone is a legit reason for an ER visit.
 
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Not to continue an argument because I know it’s not the issue, but in my area we have orthopedic urgent care centers. They do it all and you just walk in. My friend did that one weekend and was diagnosed with a torn meniscus. Heck I went to a podiatrist and he did xrays in his office. Many places do their own imaging.

My only point was that I would have called my pcp and asked him what to do. If he said to go to the ER I would have. My son busted his nose when he was 18 months old and I called his doctor. She told me to put ice on it and if he wasn’t breathing freely to take him to the hospital. He ended up being fine and calling first saved us a trip to the ER .
 
We've had kids and adults in the ER for broken bones.
We've had kids and adults at Urgent Care for broken bones.
We've never contacted our normal doctors for broken bones. I see no problem with someone going to the emergency room for a broken bone, especially if no Urgent Cares are open.

Now, why people think they have the "right" to not follow a particular businesses mask requirements is beyond me. Do you have a freedom to not wear shirts and shoes in businesses? No. Then how do you have a right to not wear a mask? If there's something that prevents you from wearing masks, then get a face shield.
 
Doesn't make going to the ER for a nonemergency right, though.

A broken bone may be an emergency though. Some people won’t know until they get there and get imaging done.

I have a friend that recently fell off her bike. She didn’t want to go to the ER but her family insisted. She went and had imaging done and needed surgery on her elbow. No bones poking out or anything. She opted to see another ortho a day later and then had the surgery done the next day.
 
The ortho docs in the hospital system I work for won’t see you without an X-ray or some kind of imaging. You can’t just call up most specialists and say “I think I broke my finger. Can I get an appointment?” It doesn’t work that way.

she could’ve waited until the next day, called or saw her pcp, gotten a script for an X-ray, got the X-ray done and then called the ortho If her pcp referred her and gives her a referral (depending on insurance).

I don’t think she did anything wrong by going to the ER. I’ve seen people go into the ER for far far far less. A broken bone is a legit reason for an ER visit.
This is part of the problem with our healthcare costs. People go to the ER for non emergencies. There are numerous ortho physicians here with diagnostic equipment in their offices. Many accept walk-Ins and some are open after hours. Our urgent care facilities also have diagnostic machines. Both options are far less expensive and quicker than the ER. I wouldn't go to the ER for a suspected fracture. It would have to be protruding before I would sit there for hours, take time away from true emergencies or pay the enormous bill.
 
This is part of the problem with our healthcare costs. People go to the ER for non emergencies. There are numerous ortho physicians here with diagnostic equipment in their offices. Many accept walk-Ins and some are open after hours. Our urgent care facilities also have diagnostic machines. Both options are far less expensive and quicker than the ER. I wouldn't go to the ER for a suspected fracture. It would have to be protruding before I would sit there for hours, take time away from true emergencies or pay the enormous bill.
But you do understand what you have available does not mean it's available everywhere, right? We have urgent cares and they accept walk ins, have x-ray machines, everything. But they're not 24/7. If you're comfortable waiting until the next day (or work day) for a non-ER office to be open, no one is saying YOU have to go to the ER. If others are willing to pay the extra cost to get their injury looked at, so be it.
 
This is part of the problem with our healthcare costs. People go to the ER for non emergencies. There are numerous ortho physicians here with diagnostic equipment in their offices. Many accept walk-Ins and some are open after hours. Our urgent care facilities also have diagnostic machines. Both options are far less expensive and quicker than the ER. I wouldn't go to the ER for a suspected fracture. It would have to be protruding before I would sit there for hours, take time away from true emergencies or pay the enormous bill.
Unfortunately that's the issue with injuries. Visual clues aren't the be it all.

When I was 4 years old I broke my elbow, also dislocating it, which with the force also partially broke my wrist. There was no bone protruding, no awkward angle. I was however in apparent immense pain, I don't really remember much but the before, the car ride, and the camel stuffed animal they gave me to distract me while they popped part of my elbow back in place that only the x-rays showed the actual damage. I was in a cast for 8 weeks.

At least today some of the Urgent Cares do have the ability for you to go to them for broken bones though I don't know the scope of what they can do. I don't know if that was the case in the early 90s. In any case we had zero clue as to the actual damage that was caused and my parents, with a screaming 4 year old who appeared to be in a lot of pain, weren't going to sit there and debate ER or Urgent Care much less try and figure out which Urgent Care locations allowed for the ability (if they did back then) to review broken bones.

Maybe as an adult someone can assess their own pain tolerance, their own self-diagnosis..they may be wrong but they can better do that. But it's not always how a situation will present itself. And while I don't condone going for the sniffles to the ER breaks can be emergent they just may not seem that way to the uninformed (as in us without medical knowledge nor ability to know what damage actually occurred). It's why I don't fault the woman. I can't say I would always go to the ER for a suspected fracture but I'm not confident at all that I would never go aside from a bone protruding.
 
This is part of the problem with our healthcare costs. People go to the ER for non emergencies. There are numerous ortho physicians here with diagnostic equipment in their offices. Many accept walk-Ins and some are open after hours. Our urgent care facilities also have diagnostic machines. Both options are far less expensive and quicker than the ER. I wouldn't go to the ER for a suspected fracture. It would have to be protruding before I would sit there for hours, take time away from true emergencies or pay the enormous bill.
Our urgent cares have xrays, but I’ve never heard of an ortho accepting walk ins, heck unless it’s a true emergency you are lucky to get an appointment within a week.
 
Our urgent cares have xrays, but I’ve never heard of an ortho accepting walk ins, heck unless it’s a true emergency you are lucky to get an appointment within a week.
They do exist.
 
My guess is screwball's PCP knows she is a royal pain in the *** and sent her to the ER so they didn't have to deal with her....:rotfl2::rotfl2::rotfl2:
 

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