text: It's important to remember that emergency departments are in the business of assigning priority to medical emergencies -  some emergencies are more emergent than others, thus people wait. Granted, there are clearly problems, as discussed in the article, but one has to remember that there will always be a continually updated priority list where patients are moved up and down depending on what is coming through the door. 
  
  For what it's worth, my recent emergency experience was excellent. My wife broke her arm and required surgery. They brought her in and as I was registering her, she was already being seen by the ER physician. She was then sent to x-ray and when she came back, the staff orthopedist was at her bedside. She was transferred to a holding area and waited no more than 1.5 hours before she was admitted and wheeled up to a bed. She was in surgery by the evening.