This is absolutely 100% correct. I spent several years working in the ER, and shirl is right. gjohnson, I wish we were wrong and we were stereotyping, but we're not. Drug seekers are another category that shirl touched on. People with nothing wrong with them who have become experts at faking symptoms. You can x-ray, scan, palpate, and not find anything but you can't take the chance of sending away a patient "in extreme pain" without at least trying to manage their pain (pain meds). Meanwhile, they've spent 3 or 4 hours (or more) in the ER and used other resources (x-rays, scans, etc.) all at a cost...to someone.