Galveston County Daily News, Oct. 14, 2008 Dr. Michael Warren's weekly column returns to the Galveston paper and he explains why a patient may have a long wait at an emergency room. "It's not that your 99.6 degree temperature, your queasy stomach or your swollen ankles are not important. Of course they are. Professionals in the emergency room care about all the patients, and this is why they turn their attention first to those with the more serious injuries or ailments. Your local E.R. does not work on the same principle as your friendly accountant: first in, first out. If this were the case, someone needing a refill for a prescription would be seen ahead of the patient with symptoms of a heart attack."