you don't need the ER or a whaaambulance, but should get it seen by your doc or a urgent care facility. Tetanus shot in order if under 7 years. Stitches may be needed depending on location due to stresses on skin.

Seeking medical advice on an Internet forum,
Priceless!

Do Americans always spend this much time and effort deciding whether or not to get medical attention?

no

"My advice is to start drinking heavily"

You post on forum for medical advice for a slight wound, what are you going to be like when your due for a prostate test? LOL

If you had any idea what health care costs in the country you would try anything to avoid medical attention too. The pain gets worse when you spend all of the money going to the doctor only to find out there isn't much they can do other than clean it and slap a bandage on it. Maybe it really is bad so it's risky but when most people count every dollar it becomes a calculated risk. We don't have the luxury of social heath care here, we have a profit system owned by the ultra-rich and get what they sell us. Think P-tax on health care.

not all of them... had a call to a residence a few weeks ago with a complaint of "hasn't pooped for a week". Good use of an ALS ambulance...

Uhh, I'd go to the ED if your arm hurts and you can't make fist. Old dirty bolts grow a lot of nasty stuff and the hand is a VERY bad place to get an infection. Maybe no big deal and you'll just get it washed out, but the alternative may be dead tissue up your arm and a long ICU stay. A little cut, no big deal, whole arm hurts = get it checked. Now.

We, in the US, believe in the religion of Capitalism. Medical care is a big part of it. Therefore we have to weigh benefits of treatment against the high finacial price.

We pay taxes for our medical care in Canada and the taxes are high. However, I can tell you that I have had many more $ worth of care than I have paid in taxes. Some things just work.

As for the injury in question: A Porsche guy I know (997 + Cayenne) was cutting his toenails. He cut a little too close, and it nearly killed him. Keep a close watch on this type of thing.

I could rant all day about what is wrong with healthcare in this country. One problem everybody points to is lack of coverage. If you don't have insurance a bandaid costs $500. There's a consultation fee for ascertaining what kind of bandaid you need. And you're paying for some clerk to transcribe the doctor's notes and find the right billing code for insurance.

Two quick amusing but sad stories to illustrate the point.

10 years ago my son was born 2.5 months premature. He spent 8 weeks in neonatal intensive care. Our insurance company denied coverage for a while because the hospital's policy was to identity infants as "Baby Boy" or "Baby Girl" Last-Name until they were discharged. Our insurance company denied coverage for a while on the basis that "Baby Boy Irwin" was not a covered dependent. When your primary concern is whether or not your child will live or have serious lifelong complications, you can see how a person isn't in the frame of mind to deal with utter stupidity.

A couple of years ago I was swimming with the kids at the beach on the Florida panhandle. I got stung by a ray. (The Irwins and rays apparently have a history of being enemies). Had to go to the ER. A few weeks later I started getting harassed by the insurance company to fill out a bunch of paperwork regarding my "accident". Somehow the way the incident had been entered into their system had flagged it in such a way as they were looking for some other party to go after for causing the accident. It finally ended when I got a call from a pencil pusher who wanted to ask some follow up questions. It took me 10 minutes to get it across to her that the "person" she was looking for was swimming around in the Gulf of Mexico.

THAT's why insurance is so messed up in this country.

PS, if you do ever get stung by a ray, hot water (as hot as you can stand it without causing burns) eases the pain of the venom which, as it turns out, can get pretty intense.

Health insurance and healthcare in our country is screwed up for a lot of reasons. But I believe if Congressmen and Congresswomen had to pay for their own and their family's healthcare and/or coverage and couldn't take contributions and other "gifts" from the healthcare industry (includes insurance companies), the problems would get straightened out pretty quickly.

Instead, those of us who are not Congresspeople get to pay more in taxes, pay exorbitant health insurance premiums and therefore have less to spend on our Porsches.

Here-here!!!

+1

We could fix a lot of what's wrong with the country if we outlawed special interest groups (which is just a fancy way of saying legalized bribery) and instituted term limits on Congress to eliminate career politicians.

" But I believe if Congressmen and Congresswomen had to pay for their own and their family's healthcare " no doubt! You might hear that up in CDA our healthcare system is in a mess, too expensive, we subsidized the crap out of it, etc etc but I have not heard from one "common" middle class good ole USA citizen that does not either (a) work for a big corp that pays or subsidizes their health care (b) have no health care... that they wished they had access to that bypass surgery like we do. Sure, some opponents will say the wait is too long, but those self serving guys will point out a hang nail takes 10 hrs to look at... that ain't all too bad considering a hang nail in the US will be like a $300 visit. A common ear lookie poo in the US cost me $375 and that was for the DR to peek in the ear and write a script for an antibiotic. I'm all for capitalism, but healthcare capitalism? enuf of the rant... do what my father use to do wrap it in TP to prevent contaminating the food and git back to work.... and that cut was from a cleaver! in his days there was no workers comp! too bad we can't find a way to get some of this back in our coddled kids these days. I feel better now, thanks for the therapy!