Health Care in the U.S.

At about 2 a.m. on July 27, my wife and I were awakened by a telephone call from the emergency room of the Cedar-Sinai Hospital. We were the house guests of a doctor friend and his wife in Beverly Hills. The hospital informed us that our hosts had been delivered there from an automobile accident and we should come as quickly as possible.

We were at the hospital within 15 minutes. No sooner had we entered, then we were attended by the waiting room security officer who asked us to wait a moment while he notified the nurse in charge. Almost immediately she appeared in her rumpled surgical garb and asked us to follow her into the examining area. When we arrived, a large group of personnel were busy with the two patients in the neighboring curtained area. Although it seemed like chaos, it was completely controlled. There were interns, residents, the general surgeon, nurses and attendants. The group was white, black, Asian, Filipino and Hispanic, but they were working as an all-American team.

The general surgeon had beeped a couple of specialists and they were working elbow-to-elbow on the severely injured husband. It did not take more than a minute before he was taken to the operating room and his wife to the intensive care unit.

The most striking impression was of the excellent organization, professionalism, dedication and courtesy of everybody despite the stress.

Both my wife and I felt deeply gratified that such an intensely pressured metropolitan area was being so well served by a highly trained group. I am confident that the saving of time saved their lives.

SAM PARKER, M.D.

Larkspur