Ambulance Diversion

What happens when your local emergency room is full? For a troubling number of Americans, the ambulance is put on diversion and forced to seek the nearest hospital with open beds. These diversions were the focus of a recent article in Seattle Times and, more importantly, are a warning of the troubling times ahead for our over-burdened health care system.

The Seattle paper told the story of  Sara Nakagawa, who had complications 10 days after gall bladder surgery. She waited in an ER for six or seven hours,without being seen, went home and dialed 911. The ambulance then spent 20 minutes parked near her home trying to find a place that would take her. Later, the same thing happened to her 12-year-old stepson in the midst of an acute diabetic crisis. 

Ambulance diversion was rare before 1999, but it has since become increasingly prevalent and dangerous. Every minute, one ambulance is diverted from a U.S. hospital, according to a 2006 study in the Annals of Emergency Medicine. A study of New York City hospitals found that periods of ambulance diversion were associated with a 47 percent increase in the mortality rates for heart attacks.