ER: Pronouced "Errrrrrrr this is scary."

Around 8:00 pm on a Sunday night a couple weeks ago, my roommate Amy took me to the ER for a bleeding issue. Nothing serious, but I needed an antibiotic and didn't have a PCP here yet.

It was my first time to the Scripps Hospital, but I had heard only good things.  We were led down a hallway past all the normal curtained beds and into a walled off, door-locking room with only two beds.  I tried not to think anything of it even though I felt quarantined. As we entered the room though Amy said, "It smells like a bird cage in here!", and I reply, "It reminds me of the zoo and the sick nastiness that lingers there."
There are only two beds in this room, and the one closest to the door was occupied, so they put me in the other behind a cloth curtain.  We settle in, and we hear a doctor come in to talk to the other patient we passed when we walked into the room.  There was a lot said, but the important lines from the other patient were, "Yeah, I am homeless. I have thoughts of suicide.  I feel like I am going to hurt someone.  I think the tobacco companies are after me.  They are following me.  All I need right now is a cigarette.  I want a cigarette."

Awesome.  Now, both Amy and I have realized we are locked up in a room with Crazypants and should he lose it while were were in there we would have to go through him to get to the door.  As well, he definitely heard our "odor" comments, which we now had realized the smell was coming from him.  Was I worried that I had offended Jack Crackpipe and that he would try to do a  double murder suicide after our remarks? Damn straight! As the doctor left the room, I texted Amy that if we stood still and didn't make a noise hopefully he would forget we were on the other side of the curtain.

After fifteen minutes of pulling an Anne Frank by sitting in silence and fear, we were taken to another room to do some testing.  We thought we were out of the woods, but we thought wrong.  Outside my new room laying in a bed in the hall was a woman who started to take out all her IVs and scream at people and go on a rampage.  Amy quickly looked at me saying, "I looked around the whole room, we have nothing in here to defend ourselves!" At that moment, it became clear no matter what room we was in, we were not safe while in that hospital ER. Luckily the Madhatter didn't come in our room, but she did ran away... where to no one was really sure.

We made it out alive about 20 minutes later.  The lesson learned: sometimes you are safer NOT going to the ER than if you do go...