NPR covers research finding that 6 percent of all emergency room visits involve psychiatric symptoms.
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This comes as no surprise. The psychiatric patient is usually physically intact, whereas the ER is getting a steady flow of patients who aren’t, who need to be immediately sewn up, patched up or reassembled and require on the spot service. Thus, the psych patient winds up vegetating, while waiting for a staff member to get the free time to see him/her.
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Just give me the $2 worth of Ativan so I chill out and maybe finally sleep, then charge the insurance $800+ for it. Hospitals should be happy when people show up in a crisis.
