Trouble at the Hospital

In my experience, hospital stays are often fraught with unhappy incidents. Hospitals are places where people usually go because they are sick, or someone they care about is sick, but sometimes- experiences are made harder than they have to be. Several times over the course of my time as a hospital frequenter, I have had cause to be displeased with the service at my local hospital, and cause to be very grateful for their services. However one incident really made me question my security for a long time! My worst hospital incident occurred when I was 9 years old, and I had an unidentifiable ailment. I was exhibiting the symptoms of a stomach bug, but unlike the quickly passed bugs that are common for grade schoolers, my condition didn't improve for over a week. During that time, I became less and less likely to be able to consume either food or drink. I continued like this, throwing up anything that I imbibed for 2 full days, before on the evening of my ninth day of being stricken, my mother took me to the emergency room.

I remember the time vividly, being sick somehow made me lost track of how my body was feeling, but tune deeply in to my surrounding. We entered the hospital, and proceeded through to the ER, my mother carrying me over her shoulder. As we got to the desk, I remember being innately surprised by the level of activity in just the waiting room. People in colorful uniforms darted in and out of the various hallways, toting charts and syringes. My mother carried me forward to the front desk. She addressed the lady managing the people coming in and out of the patient/doctor zone.
The lady was in the midst of frantically writing something on a clipboard, she didn't look up when my mother hailed her. My mom, (being saintly as always) waited patiently, but got no response. She asked again and the lady looked up at us,

"If he isn't dying", she said, indicating she meant me with her index finger "Than we can't help him".

My mother proceeded to explain the situation, and how she feared that I was becoming severely dehydrated, not knowing if was absorbing any water at all before I threw up, but the lady continued to distractedly go about her business. there was no point to continuing, my mother brought me back to the car, and called both the hospital in the adjacent town, and the hospital we had just left to find the soonest possible appointment. It turned out that there was plenty of time available at my local hospital the next morning. I was there bright and early, and the Doctor gave me an IV and a prescription. It turns out, that I was dehydrated, I absorbed the entire IV, and the doctor said It was good that we had sought care.

Even though it turned out fine, I was really scared by the blunt refusal of care. my situation could have been a lot more serious, and it is still possible that I would not have been allowed service. As it stands, that night there were likely much more serious problems occurring. Most of the staff were probably busy with something more pressing. But I felt that an incident like that might have serious repercussions for someone who was refused even the opportunity to make an appointment!