The Doctor Will See You Now Life
The political economy of the emergency room. “Efficiency is crucial on a busy night, and medicine’s single most easily conserved resource is face time. Even in the sleepy offices of family practitioners the patient encounter lasts roughly the duration of a haircut. In the Emergency Room, where stranger treats stranger and chitchat is not expected, a physician brings face time as close to zero as possible. The patients who really need seeing are usually unaware they are being seen” (1,700 words)
