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The exploding ER / EMS system would like to have a word with you! Every niggle or discomfort, it seems, can generate a 911 call and a visit to the ER. Legally, EMS can not diagnose in the field so we send the bulk of people that call 911 into the ER for further evaluation... whether they really need it or not. I can tell you that most don't.

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There is a reason discomfort can generate a 911 call. I have known people who ignored a discomfort and died a few hours latter. If they had called 911 they would have lived.

counterpoint. The healthcare system pushes people into emergency medicine for non-emergencies. About 10 years ago when I was in high school I got a cut on my chin that required stitches, my mom got an urgent appointment with my PCP later that day–who then told me to go the ER, saying, "we don't even have a suture in this clinic" We were trying to save time, money and not burden the system, and instead shot ourselves in the foot.

The healthcare system, or at least the insurance side of it, actively tries to push patients to urgent care clinics instead of ERs for that type of problem. Most health plans have a phone number where you can call a nurse to ask whether you should go to the ER or not.

And the vast majority of primary care clinics do have sutures in stock.

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