Well, 308, normally if a person shows up complaining of chest pain and shortness of breath, they get a "get-into-the-ER-right-frigging-now" card. Insurance or legal status has nothing to do with it. EMTALA (Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act) requires ERs to assess and render emergent care to all comers regardless of condition or insurance status.
Feigning syncope (faked passing out) is likely to make a lot of very busy ER staff extremely unhappy with you, especially if there are a lot of genuinely sick people waiting to be seen. We get the "swooners" every now and then, and it's amazing how quickly their eyes snap open and they recover when they hear the words "Foley catheter" and "nasogastric tube" in connection with their name. It's a miracle, I tell you.
Not that I'd expect you to do such a thing, mind you- just that we have seen it all at least a thousand times before.
I still have a hard time understanding how this woman could present with those symptoms and be ignored. It just grates on my professional conscience.
I never heard of this, you are saying people pretend to pass out so they can go to the ER? Why? To get attention, get out of an exam, or some such stupid thing? I cannot imagine wanting to go to the E.R. unless really necessary!
Dude, I like your profile page. There is some good common sense there. I like the name too.
I must admit I have transported myself to the ER a few times and "fell out" right in front of the admission desk for legitimate reasons (rapid blood loss, relief of having actually made it there, pain from broken bones, etc). Honestly, about all I ever lie about is what I'm running under the hood of my street racer or real racing car.
I do remember one time in Daytona when I had a SEVERE allergy attack, so swollen my mom didn't recognize me when she arrived, that four groups of "minorities" got in ahead of me with conditions of far less lethal potential than I was experiencing.