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Your hired help at hospital or in ER could be lifesaver
By Carla McClain
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona Published: 04.27.2008
advertisementAs patients die waiting in emergency rooms, as they lay neglected in hospitals beds, as they struggle to find proper care for injuries and illness, a new first commandment has emerged for anyone forced to seek medical care:

Never, ever go alone.
Do not enter a hospital, an emergency room, or any other medical facility without competent, assertive help by your side at all times. To do so puts your very life at risk. Even doctors and nurses on the front lines of the system will tell you that today.

As hospital care grows increasingly complex and medical errors kill some 100,000 Americans every year, a whole new industry is forming to deal with this disaster — offering hired help to get you through your hospital stay alive.

It is a trend emerging here and across the country, though it's not without controversy — and a hefty price tag. But it may be offering a vital, even lifesaving service in a severely overburdened medical system plagued by a shortage of nurses, doctors and hospital beds."