https://www.overlawyered.com/2008/12/waiting-in-emergency-rooms/ Chronicling the high cost of our legal system Tue, 02 Dec 2008 21:16:45 +0000 hourly 1 https://www.overlawyered.com/2008/12/waiting-in-emergency-rooms/comment-page-1/#comment-35946 Tue, 02 Dec 2008 21:16:45 +0000 http://overlawyered.com/?p=7939#comment-35946 When I was a young lawyer, I went to an emergency room after my doctor told me that the extreme pain I was experiencing was probably appendicitis. It was a small suburban hospital which did not receive much E.R. traffic. To boot, it was about 8:30 in the morning. Nobody else was in the waiting room. I was in so much pain, I couldn’t stand up straight. When I went to the registration desk, I made the joke to the admission nurse that they better take good care of me because I was a lawyer. She proceeded to lecture me about how everyone gets the same treatment and that just because I was a lawyer didn’t make me special. To which I responded “I sure hope my appendix doesn’t rupture while you’re venting your indignation. If you’re done, can you tell a doctor I have appendicitis and am in tremendous pain?” She didn’t talk to me any more. But the doctor was chuckling as I was wheeled into the room.

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