I think the problem is that inner city hospitals that serve uninsured and underinsured patients are just overwhelmed. I don't know if this is scientifically accurate, but anecdotally, it seems to me that people without insurance wait until they are desperately ill before they seek health care, because of the financial issues. Cook County Hospital here in Chicago (a brand spanking new, state of the art facility) just had an unannounced Joint Commission inspection and received 22 errors. Plus, I don't know if King/Drew is a level 1 trauma center but I know Cook County is - so on top of a huge crowd of uninsured patients waiting for care, they are getting major emergency situations as well. Just an aside - even though the patient's family called 911, I'm not sure that an ambulance and especially not a taxpayer-funded one could have transported her to another care without her first being evaluated by King/Drew - that could be construed as patient dumping under emergency medical treatment laws (EMTALA). In my mind, this is yet another example of the problems with health care in America.