InQuickER: See the ER doc in 15 minutes or less, or your ER visit is free

While I'm a fan of the German healthcare system, under 10 minutes is an overstatement. Honestly, the only time I've gotten treatment that fast was when I was covered in blood. I'd say my usual (non-critical) ER waits are closer to an hour, but still shorter in general than I had when in the US. (I've lived in Germany for 7 years now.)

So, I've been an ER nurse for the last 15 years. I run the Hackers and Founders Silicon Valley meetup, and I love to support startup ideas. It's extremely rare that I don't support a startup idea or give it a fair shake.

This is a spectacularly bad idea. I can unequivocally say without a doubt that if you pursue this service, someone will die.

Why? Because I've seen it happen.

Part of my job as an ER nurse is to triage patients that come in. Triage involves sorting through the dozens of patients that come in every night, and decide who can wait and who cannot because they have a life threatening emergency. People having symptoms of a heart attack move to the front of the line. People who ate a bad taco and have the shits get seen on a space available basis. That's the gig. I sort patients: sort_by_acuity([bad taco, bad taco, bad taco, heart attack, runny nose, cough, gun shot wound, ear infection, headache, headache, headache, stroke, headache]).

I've been doing this job for 15 years, and I have seen plenty of triage mistakes that can change people's lives for ever. I've made a few myself. You care for thousands of patients a year, you're going to drop a ball every now and then. But, I have a lot of experience doing this, and I have a lot of knowledge and very good instincts on when someone is very ill. Patients do not have that knowledge and I would never trust your customers to make that decision when life and death is on the line.

This is why ER's are almost universally abysmal at judging how long it's going to take to be seen by the doctor. The same team that is taking care of your earache at 3am or helping you get stitches after you cut your finger on your computer case, is the same team that can crack your chest open and do open heart massage on you after a thug sticks a knife in your heart. We take care of bladder infections and dying babies, sometimes right next door to each other at the same time. ER's are built for safety, not speed or even convenience. The fact that in the US, they are primarily the only type of physician that can be seen 24/7 without an appointment is an unfortunate effect of our health care system. But, we have to care for the sickest patients first, and you can never predict when the next ambulance is going to roll through the door. So, ER's suck at estimating wait times. But, you will, eventually see a doctor.

Now, I understand that you have a disclaimer that says that people should call 911 for Emergencies, and that they will not use your service for life threatening emergencies. I don't think that's not going to keep you from getting sued when Uncle Bob dies of his massive heart attack that he though was a bad burrito and put his name on your waiting list. That's also not going to help you sleep at night thinking about how you might have prevented Uncle Bob's death.

I'm not trying to flame you. I'm really not trying to be nasty. I'm just trying to communicate what a big, big, huge mistake I believe this application is. Please, shut it down.

The need for such a website also points to a larger problem: a lot of people in the US, including most insured people, do not have access to timely primary care for non-life threatening problems.

Say your daughter has an ear infection, the appointment your HMO primary care physician gives you one week from now, is no good. So you go to the ER. There is no effective in-between option. I don't know if this website fixes that problem or exacerbates it. But that is the real problem.

This whole un- under- insured category people talk about in the US exists because people are actively being put in insurance plans where we know they will not have access to some health care services they will need. Let's not kid ourselves.

Also, it looks like it booked the SOONEST appointment rather than the one I requested. In the "When" row I selected 10:30PM and it said on the next page 11:15AM was what I had selected.