Letters: Most ER visits are legitimate

Re “Taking a pledge to stay safe,” Column, Jan. 1

The vast majority of patients in emergency rooms seek care appropriately. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 92% of all emergency patients need treatment in two to 24 hours, and many often can’t get an appointment with a primary doctor in that amount of time.

Also, according to a Rand Corp. report in 2013, four in five people who contacted a primary care physician or other medical provider before seeking emergency care were told to bypass their doctor’s office and go to the emergency room.

The nation’s emergency physicians want all Americans to stay safe, healthy and out of the ER in 2014, but if you think you are having a medical emergency, you should seek emergency care.

Alex Rosenau

Allentown, Penn.

The writer, an emergency room physician, is president of the American College of Emergency Physicians.

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