I waited for two hours for nothing!

Not too long ago I was having a catch with my 10-year-old son. Making a diving catch, he popped up limping and holding his leg. Fearing he may have broken something, we took him to the doctor. As a precautionary measure, she sent us to a local radiology center for x-rays. This radiology center is fully computerized and has state of the art all digital imaging technology. The initial wait was only about 20 minutes and once the x-ray tech was done "snapping" pics, he told us to wait while a radiologist "read" the x-rays.

Looking around I realized that there were no actual "doctors" in this center. I found out later on that they apparently email the x-rays to radiologists around the country who download and interpret the digital x-rays and send reports back to the center. Minutes turned into an hour and when I asked what the hold up was, the tech reluctantly admitted that the images were "unreadable" by the radiologist who was - get this - in Washington. There was some type of communication problem with this particular doctor and we continued to watch as countless people came and went. The receptionist told me we were not "allowed" to leave without knowing if the leg had a fracture or not. They apologized up and down and said they would send the x-ray digital data to another doctor to read. We waited another 45 minutes before I demanded to know what the hold up was now. They told me that this doctor was on dinner break and that he would return shortly. Fed up I grabbed my son and left against their admonishments. They called me at home about an hour later (again apologetic) and informed me that it was just a sprain and not a break. Rest and ice was all that was needed. So when I read this article "Harvard study: Computers don't save hospitals money" I had to laugh. Not having doctors physically present no doubt saved this radiology center money but the margin for error was greater, causing me much grief and angst.