ER Wait Time In Mass. Named 'Longest In America'

Let's face it, no one likes to go to the emergency room. You're probably ill if you're there unless you're accompanying someone. The wait time in ERs in Massachusetts can be ridiculous to say the least.

Let's not confuse urgent cares with the ER. Urgent care centers, which handle less severe ailments, usually get people in and out fairly quickly.

Emergency Room Wait Times in Massachusetts can be Extremely Long

Getty Images

A routine blood pressure check for my mother landed her in the ER in Berkshire County recently. A reading of 197/128 is nothing to balk at, so she sat for 10 hours just to get a room, then waited an additional 2 hours to been seen by a doctor. The prognosis after 12 hours, "follow up with your doctor".

The care she received was fantastic. The wait? Horrible. Why?

Staff. There is not enough staff and/or room to keep up with demand.

A 12 hour wait is not abnormal.

At Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, 20 percent of the 84,000 patients who were treated and sent home in 2022 were in the emergency department more than 12 hours. -bostonglobe.com

Unless you're being transported by ambulance, you're waiting. Obviously, the worse the trauma, the quicker you're treated and rightfully so.

The average wait time for emergency room visits in the U.S. is two hours and twenty five minutes. Massachusetts? 3 hours 33 minutes. -benefitnews.com

Joaquin Barbara