The ER nightmare

Let me just start by saying the ER is an absolute joke. So Let me back up a few days, Jay has asthma that at times can be pretty bad. He has been struggling to breath for about 2 weeks now. I took him to the pediatricans office and they proceeded to give me a new inhaler and some antibiotics, (which jay promtly spits out all the time.) He just has continued to cough and struggle everyday, we had a follow up and then they gave me a steroid ( in pill form which was much easier.) He is still struggling. We put him to bed last night and he just kept getting up because when he would lay flat he couldn't breath, at about 12 it got so bad he couldn't even talk and was struggling so much that we made the decision to head off to the ER. We pull up to the ER and there are so many people there that I actually thought twice. ( I should of stuck with that instinct) We walk in and the nice lady at the desk ask what is wrong, like she can't tell from the constant coughing and him saying his chest hurts so bad. I proceed to tell her and she says have a seat we will call you shortly. Within minutes they call us back, I got a little excited I thought this wont be so bad. They listen to his chest and apparently think that he is passing air ok and send us back out. I thought ok, they will call us again soon. Well they did, only to have me sign papers and make sure they will get their money, as we walk back out to the waiting room I ask what are we supposed to do now. She says you now have to wait until the nurse calls you. So we wait some more. About 30 minutes later we hear our name over the loud speaker and get excited again to hopefully get this child a breathing treatment. We walk back there and the nurse says I just want to check his breathing again, Ok how many times must you check it before you just give the darn breathing treatment. Meanwhile jay had fallen asleep a little and when the lady put the very cold stethascope on his back he promptly told her to get that cold thing off his back. So back to the waiting room we go. ( can I just say the people in the waiting room are a trip, I think that some of them like to go there just to hang out.) It is now 2 plus hours into the ER experience and I decide to go ask when he might be seen, the stupid man behind the counter says well you have only been waiting for 2 plus hours, we have children that have been waiting for 7 plus hours, i think to myself I can take him to see his doctor in 7 hours. We waited about another hour and a half, by this time Jay had pretty much passed out from coughing so much and working so hard to breath, that we just decide to leave. I figured in 3 hours I will be able to call the doctor and he will be able to get in no problem. We tell them we are out of there and they make you sign your life away saying that they don't advise you to leave, but really give you no other choice, he tells me all the things to look out for with his breathing and that if he starts up again bring him back, ( yeah right like I would bring him back to only be put on the back on the bottom of the list) he told me that if he is struggling to breath that much again call 911 and they can bring him in and they will take it from there, Is that what it takes to be seen at the ER in a reasonable amount of time, give me a break. Ok so some of you may think that I may be impatient that you always have to wait at the ER. I know that you must wait a couple of hours but 7 plus I think that is so outrageous, and don't keep calling us back just to say hi and then promptly telling us to have a seat in the nasty waiting room . Isn't there a way to have an efficent system. Now I am just going to wait for the bill that I know they will be sending for us for sitting their for 4 hours. Needless to say I hate the ER. Next time I have to go you better believe the ambulance will take me there and hopefully I can be seen before the sun rises.