Based on the article we're discussing, I wouldn't have blamed them if they didn't. And if they didn't, someone would have almost certainly assumed it must not have been a real emergency then. Someone else commented in this thread about sitting in the ER for 7 hours with chest pains. Fortunately in that person's case it was not a heart attack, but in both cases it was "not an emergency". That's the problem. Not having a family doctor adds to that problem, but that's the problem.