My MIL was hospitalized for something pretty minor, and was making a fuss. Big fuss. Nurse told her to shut up, people were actually in real pain/ dying. ( Go, Nurse!!)
That nurse got reamed when MIL complained. The nurse was not wrong, but perhaps should not have said this out loud.
Yes, that is what I was pointing out.
Just imagine if that doctor was wrong, a person was sent home and became worse.
Hospitals do have PR.
In my experience if you aren't in real danger in the ER, the doctors and nurses will essentially ignore you. My wife would occasionally get something that bothered her and she's prone to worry so her mind would start making it a possible death sentence. She'd start to think 'what if this is serious? I need to see a doctor now!' Of course it was always 2am when this happened. I'd cart her to the emergency room and we'd sit there for HOURS without seeing a doctor. I swear every time it happened when we finally left (with directions to come back if it happens again and they'll figure it out) the sun was up.
I have since told her that if she doesn't feel it's life threatening or she's in severe pain, wait until morning and call her real doctor. My rationale: the overnight ER doctors only focus is to keep people alive until the morning when the full staff is there. If you aren't dying you won't even see them for more than a minute. So she has to wait 'til morning to see a doctor anyway, at least she'll be comfortable at home rather than sitting on a gurney where nobody will talk to her. She actually agreed and guess what? She hasn't had these crazy night time attacks in years once she knew the ER was not an option.