Overcrowded emergency rooms send arriving patients to other hospitals; elderly most affected
The Associated Press
By MIKE STOBBE
ATLANTA — An ambulance is diverted to a different hospital every minute, on average, because emergency rooms in the United States are so overcrowded, suggests one of the first national studies of the issue.
The study did not measure how the delays in getting to hospitals affected patients’ survival, but the study’s lead author said it could not have been for the better.
“Most of the people that arrive by ambulance are older, and they have more serious medical conditions,” said Catharine Burt of the National Center for Health Statistics.
Full Story: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/06/AR2006020601554.html