Patient Care Suffers as ER Wait Times Continue to Increase

By Grant Law Office on January 16, 2008

Have you ever waited and waited and waited to be seen in an emergency room? You are not alone. A new study, published in the Houston Chronicle on 1-15-08 has found that emergency room waiting times increased nationwide by 36% between 1997 and 2004.The study, conducted by researchers from the Cambridge Health Alliance and Harvard Medical School, concluded that the increased wait likely has an adverse impact on patient care and may cause some to leave the hospital before seeing a doctor. Data for the study were based on the more than 90,000 emergency room visits in urban and non-urban areas. Houston Chronicle