The metaphor of the ED as a safety net works on many levels. It’s visual. It has heroic dimensions. Many physicians and nurses were drawn, and find great purpose, in this ideal. But does it stoke expectations that can’t be met?
James Mills Jr., MD, a founder of emergency medicine, believed he could have greater impact on medical care for the poor in his city by giving up his practice and working in the emergency room full time.
Frank W. J. Anderson, MD, MPH and Tanyaporn Wansom, MD, MPP
The new model of global health in medicine is a co-creative one in which health priority setting and problem solving are accomplished collaboratively among the visiting physician team, the communities of patients they serve, and local professional caregivers.
The federal requirement for providing emergency medical care to those who cannot pay has been unsuccessful in eliminating refusal of care and the practice of “patient dumping.”