Severity of conditions determine who gets seen obviously and he was there for a sore throat.  What is the answer here when he died of a heart attack?  Would a retail clinic been a better spot and could they have diagnosed a potential heart attack?  As always, each case is individual. 

How common is the “boarding” practice and why does it exist?  No room in the hospital could be one answer, or perhaps lack of insurance to be admitted even though it is not supposed to be a factor?  19 hours is a long wait no matter where you are though and once again brings the attention to the long ER room waits affecting many hospitals today, some worse than others.  BD 

With notoriously crowded U.S. emergency rooms, chances are most American families have a story of someone waiting. It could have been half a day for a sore throat or perhaps hours for stitches or a sprained ankle.

But for 58-year-old Michael Herrara of Dallas help never came. He died of a heart attack last week an estimated 19 hours after he arrived at Parkland Memorial Hospital's emergency room waiting room complaining of severe stomach pains, according to reports from WFAA News in Dallas.

Schneider said out of 1,500 emergency physicians recently surveyed by ACEP, 200 personally knew of a person who had died because of the practice of "boarding."

Boarding means keeping patients in an emergency room bed when they should be in a regular hospital bed. Schneider said the practice eventually creates a backup in the emergency room.

ABC News: ER Death Points to Growing Wait-Time Problem

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