Extra Credit_ The Waiting Room.pdf - Sophia Caton Dr Pieper...

Sophia Caton
Dr. Pieper
SOC 1305
13 April 2019
The Healthcare Business: Behind the Scenes in Public Hospitals
The Documentary The Waiting Room recorded what goes on in the emergency room of a
public hospital in California. Those who cannot afford healthcare and/or don't have health
insurance are not able to receive proper treatment in order to get better (medications, procedures,
etc). The way they are treated is inhumane: the canceling of surgeries, doctors telling patients
they can't give them medication so they have to find it on their own. Having insurance
determines whether or not someone receives treatment, and is how doctors get paid. Many
patients just end up getting passed around to other hospitals but no one is actually treating them.
These patients have very treatable conditions yet they constantly get denied the help they need
that not only improves quality of life but possibly determines life or death. The system that they