The 'Great American Healthcare System' and But One of Its Failures

So, Kate and I frequented the emergency room at Lake Shore Hospital last night, as she was experiencing a great deal of pain in her abdomen, dizziness, and shakiness.  She felt weak and on the verge of collapse.  I drove her up to the hospital since an ambulance ride around here, from Rural Metro Ambulatory Service, carries a standard charge of $500, and she didn't want to take that ride (she didn't feel ready to die or anything, but still, one worries, you know?). 

It's a good thing she wasn't bleeding from the eyeballs or something, because we sat out in the waiting room for three hours before they registered her and took her in to get a bed and be seen by a nurse.  They took her blood pressure, and walked away, since their ER was, unfortunately, full.  There weren't any major patients for the most part, although one little boy did come in with one hell of a gash on his leg from falling on a glass bottle at the beach.  Poor little man was bleeding quite profusely.

I can understand that they needed to tend to him right away, and for the good.  Kid turned out okay.

What worries me, however, is that in the course of the nine hours it took to get everything checked out and squared away with Kate (yes, nine fucking hours), if something had become serious, I doubt she would have been properly tended to.  The nurses only came in to check on her a total of about six or seven times, the doctor (some form of African native, from his accent and demeanor) only saw her about three times total, and the pain medications they tried on her only worked for a short while each before the pain returned.

People talk about American Healthcare as if it's this bastion of hope and power.  Yet the incompetence and disorganization displayed by the staff at Lake Shore's ER made me question that, severely.  I realize that it's only one hospital, and not every medical practitioner is nearly as bumbling as these folks were, but the fact remains that it's the nearest hospital to us, and we may have to at some point go there again for medical attention.

I think I might prefer to go an extra thirty minutes to get to ECMC the next time something's wrong.  How fucked up is that?