Question of the Day - 23 July 2024

I was at the Four Queens a couple of years ago. I awoke early in the morning with severe shortness of breath and dizziness. I called the hotel operator, and in less than two minutes, two in-house EMTs were in my room. They were joined less than five minutes later by three more municipal EMTs, carrying all sorts of medical equipment. They checked me out very thoroughly and asked if I wanted to go to the hospital. I said yes, but I'll do it under my own power, as I was feeling somewhat better (probably a dumb decision on my part). I did go to the hospital (Sunrise) about an hour later, and they diagnosed me with fluid buildup in my lungs. They gave me intravenous diuretics and kept me overnight for observation. I checked out the following morning, feeling much better.

So within five minutes after I picked up the phone, I had FIVE trained medical/emergency professionals in my room, together with an impressive array of (portable) equipment. Thank you Four Queens!

Glad you got such a quick response. This sounds like another pat on the back for Terry Caudill and his casino/hotel. I wonder about others' experiences there or elsewhere.

From what I've seen, there are usually EMT Crews/Ambulances staged in areas along the strip and downtown around the Casino Corridor. so they can respond pretty quickly without having to fight traffic etc.  years ago we were in a room at Bally's overlooking Flamingo Rd. watching the Emergency Vehicles from the station on east Flamingo try and negotiate through the Rush hour traffic around the strip was somewhat heartbreaking knowing someone was needing them. at the same time quite entertaining, those folks aren't afraid to drive against traffic, over medians, on sidewalks if accessible , etc.  
 

I once got strep throat while I was staying at MGM (this was probably about 20 years ago).  I called the front desk and asked if they had an in-house doctor.  They said no, but they did tell me to come down to the lobby and a security guard drove me in a golf cart to an urgent care (I believe it was the one on Harmon mentioned in this QOD).  My urgent care experience was about the same as any other urgent care — they’d didn’t take my out-of-state insurance but the cost was reasonable, the whole process took about an hour, and they called in an antibiotic to the Walgreens on the Strip.  The MGM security guard had told me to call the hotel when I was done, and he’d come back and pick me up, which he did.  He even offered to shuttle me over to a Walgreens to pick up my prescription (which was ready by the time I got there) before taking me back to the hotel.  The whole experience was very smooth and it was a big relief to have only a couple-hour detour from my vacation, instead of days. 

Once was sent to a work meeting at an upscale hotel in St. Louis.  I shouldn't have gone as I was starting into a bad cold which got worse by the time we arrived.  Anyway, all I wanted was to be directed to an Urgent Care or hospital ER for some basic eval/care. 

Front desk were of no help, none aware of any place to help me.  Finally someone gave me the name and address of a clinic.  Taxi drove me there for something like $30, which turned out to be ONLY for employees of that hotel and others.  I wasn't eligible for services there.  They didn't know of any place around to help me.  I was too sick to argue, paid another $30 for taxi back to hotel.  Went to bed, skipped meeting the next day.

Candy

I think that I was the person who gave 4 Queens attaboys for how they responded to my having food poisoning overnight the night before/morning of the day I had to fly home. 

I had a friend who fell off a step and broke her humerus. I took her to the UNLV emergency room. We were moved into an exam room rather quickly, where we waited forever for a doctor. Finally, after an exam, x-rays,etc., the doctor came in and said, “Well, it’s broken.” To which my friend replied, “No shit, Sherlock. Tell me something I don’t know.” 
Later, an orthopedic resident literally said, “Well, it’s dealer’s choice. [!] You could have surgery or you could just wait and let it heal on its own.” Later, back East, a specialist told her, “What is he, nuts?! You need surgery.”  
As a side note: her surgery was almost canceled due to the pandemic. She got in on the last day that the hospital performed “non-essential” surgeries. 

The casinos corporations have deep pockets. This attracts all of the scammers, think slip and fall Jimmy (better cal Sol reference). The last thing the casino wants is a suit claiming negligence. So even if your heart attack turns out to be nothing more than heart burn, you had better believe that they will have someone attending to you as quickly as they can muster, and off property as soon as its safe. In blunt terms better for you to die in the meat wagon on the way to urgent care than on property. 

About 15 years ago, at Ballys (now Horseshoe), we had a 2 story suite with a set of stairs that went up to the 2 bedrooms.  We were 6 people, all going for a golfing weekend. I went up the stairs, slipped, and broke my big toe.  It swelled up big time.  I called the front desk, and they had an EMT there in 2 minutes.  They got me a wheelchair and took me to the nearest hospital (do not remember the name). It was broken.  Within an hour I had some type of brace on my toe, and had to cut out the front of my sneakers.  The hotel made sure I was taken to and from the hospital, and made sure my golf buddies were taken care of at Cascata and Rio Secco. Killed my weekend for golf, but they took care of me pretty well. I guess they were happy I was going to be gambling instead of playing golf.  I bet those days are gone.

Unless you are Hyman Roth in which case you can just fly your doctor in. 

One year at Embargo (winter version of Barge: Big Annual Rec Gambling Excursion - a gathering of poker players from all over.), I was playing our no-limit holdem tournament when I started having chest pains. I was concerned but, hey, I was doing well in the tourney. So I kept playing. [1] 
After I won the tournament, I asked a local where the nearest urgent care was. I drove there, went in and filled out their forms. A nurse told me, “You know that your insurance won’t pay for this, right?” To which I replied, “Where’s the nearest hospital?” “A mile down the road.” 
Sooo, I spent the next 12 hours in the hospital. They ran all the tests, nothing wrong. 
Later, our insurance tried to deny my claim.  Had to keep saying, “I thought I was having a heart attack. What was I supposed to do?”  Left out the part about the tournament. They finally relented and paid the $8k+ hospital bill. 
[1] poker gallows humor: guy keels over at the poker table. Talk about drawing dead. 

Several years ago my wife caught a vicious case of the flu while we were at Mandalay Bay, I talked to the concierge and they arranged an outside doctor to come to our room. Her arrived quite quickly, natty guy with medical equipment in discreet luggage and treated her.I don't know if such services still exist.

That type of thing certainly happened 20 years ago, but sadly there’s no way in hell it would happen today. The strip casinos don’t want anything to do with helping the customer or making the experience better. They want you to give them your money and get out. Fast.