I had not until about two years ago when my father managed to give himself a nasty hand wound while doing yard work. They cleaned the wound, and applied tape closures with a referral.

Had it not been 6:30 in the evening when the injury occured, I would have taken him directly to his physician, but due to the lateness of the hour, it was not an option. Worse was the fact that it was 4 hours before we walked out of the ER at a major hospital that evening.

The wound did not require any plastic work, just 8 sutures, and some antibiotics.

For about 80% of the cases, a trip to the ER these days seems to be nothing but a huge expense, waste of several hours and an exercise in frustration.