I'm a cop. Last night, I was injured in the line of duty, chasing a violent felon who had just savagely attacked a young family- including a woman who was 9-months pregnant and her three small daughters.
The X-ray technician at the ER looked at the x-rays, and told me right off it's broken. The ER doctor also said it's broken. But the radiologist says he doesn't think it's broken. So they splinted it, handed me a prescription for narcotic pain pills (which I threw in the trash on the spot), and told me to follow up with an orthopedic doctor.
The felon was released from custody before I was released from the ER.
So I got up this morning, and started trying to make arrangements to see an orthopedic doctor. Over four hours of calling, getting put on hold, being transferred to different departments, getting disconnected, being transferred to different counties, and being told that "We don't do worker's comp".
I risk my life to protect other people, and when I get injured doing it, I am faced with what seems like an impenetrable bureaucracy specifically designed to prevent people like me from getting the medical care they are supposed to get.
