The waiting room waits

I have worked in emergency veterinary medicine for a number of years and I am still amazed at what exactly constitutes an emergency in the yes of pet owners (and what does not).  Every weekend there is a least one dog that presents to the ER with an ear infection.  Now, it's not that we are above provding treatment for an ear infection by any means.  I'm just surprised that pet owners will pay an emeregncy exam fee to have their pets seen for this condition.  Often it is something that can wait until their vet opens on Monday.  Still, even during the week we see these types of cases. 
I have not worked in general practice for a long time but I can't imagine that their exam fee is nearly as high as ours.  Still I think of it as a reflection of the pet owner's love for their animal that they will gladly spend the money to treat an ear infection on a Saturday night.  Of course there is the possibility that the dog's frantic ear scratching has driven them nuts enought to pay whatever it takes to stop it from happening.

Another spin on this is the pet owner that presents to the ER for something like an ear infection - totally stable patient - and then creates a scene in the waiting room because an unstable hit by car dog that arrived after them is being seen before them.  What do people not understand about being in the ER?  If it bleeds, it leads - that's all there is to it. 

Two weeks ago on a Sunday afternoon we had a waiting room full of patients waiting to be seen.  All hands in the hospital were scrambling just to keep up with our inpatients while handling the outpatient load.  The waiting room crowd was getting cranky - making frequent inquiries about how long the wait time was going to be.  Just then a car pulled up with yet another emergency and I was called to the parking lot for a triage.  In the back was a yellow lab that had just been hit by a car minutes before.  He had degloving injuries to both his front paws (in other words, the skin had been torn from his body and his muscle and bones were exposed).  There was a lot of blood, the dog was not at all stable - I carried him the building through the waiting room.  We rushed him to the treatment area so that we could begin to stabilize him.  After about 45 minues, the owners opted to euthanize this dog.  It was unfortunate because we certianly could have fixed him up though it would have cost a significant amount of money.  In the end the owners just couldn't afford treatment.

However, after seeing a dog, bloodied and in need of care being rushed through the waiting room, the rest of the clients calmed right down - realizing that all of our efforts had to be focused on this one dog.
Perhaps they realized how lucky they were to have very stable, practically healthy animals. 
Perhaps it was the tears in the eyes of the teenagers that arrived with the dog and their mother. 
Who knows?