How do you know if that terrible headache that feels like an emergency and just won't go away is an unexpected, intense migraine or a life-threatening aneurysm? Severe headaches are tough ailments to self-diagnose. As a result, often at the urging of loved ones, many people go to the emergency room to make sure they treat it responsibly.
Recently, a patient in Indiana went to the emergency room after severe abdominal pain caused her to collapse in front of her children. She went only at the urging of a neighbor who is a physician assistant. It didn't matter to the health insurance company — they refused to pay because they considered the final diagnosis of a ruptured ovarian cyst to be a non-emergent condition, with no apparent consideration of the mechanism of injury or the patient's existing medical history.
