[Sidney Lanier]

This is not to say (or even intimate) that Talk Host's friend didn't have to wait 14 hours to be seen, but as brought up by another poster, the important question is 'Why?' There are those whose nature is to focus on the negative horror stories that do indeed happen but (1) may be quite rare and (2) may have reason based on the 'Why?' question. Then there are the rest of us who simply tend to focus on the positive, which doesn't mean we're in denial but rather just have a different personality or view of life. I guess I'm commenting more on personal point of view and individual human nature than I am on the quality of medical care available here in and around TV....

[Russ_Boston]

Well said - Nice to hear that.

[Jim007]

The following comes from the US News Hospital Rankings for 2007
I don't think anybody has anything to worry about.

2007 US News Hospital Rankings in the U.S.
Rating Specialty Name of Hospital

Cancer
16 H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Tampa, Fl
45 Sarasota Memorial Health Care System, Fl
Heart
35 Shands at the University of Florida, Gainesville, Fl
Respiratory
Disorders
20 Shands at the University of Florida, Gainesville, Fl
35 Flagler Hospital, Saint Augustine, Fl
Neurology &
Neurosurgery
36 Flagler Hospital, Saint Augustine, Fl
Urology
32 Shands at the University of Florida, Gainesville, Fl
Gynecology
25 Tampa General Hospital, Tampa, Fl
46 Shands at the University of Florida, Gainesville, Fl
Rheumatology
21 Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Fl
Kidney Disease
32 University of Miami, Jackson Memorial Hospital Miami, Fl
39 Shands at the University of Florida, Gainesville, Fl
Digestive Disorders
32 University of Miami, Jackson Memorial Hospital Miami, Fl
43 Baptist Medical Center, Jacksonville, Fl
44 Flagler Hospital, Saint Augustine, Fl
Geriatrics
26 Shands at the University of Florida, Gainesville, Fl
33 Mount Sinai Medical Center, Miami Beach, Fl
47 Sarasota Memorial Health Care System, Fl
Endocrinology
39 Florida Hospital, Orlando, Fl
Ophthalmology
1 University of Miami, Jackson Memorial Hospital Miami, Fl
Ear, nose, and throat
17 University of Miami, Jackson Memorial Hospital Miami, Fl
22 Shands at the University of Florida, Gainesville, Fl
42 H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Tampa, Fl
45 Tampa General Hospital, Tampa, Fl
Orthopedics
24 Tampa General Hospital, Tampa, Fl

[Sidney Lanier]

Thanks, Fullrob; I don't think we have anything to worry about in terms of quality medical care for very specific issues here in Florida in general. In terms of local care, I suspect that for emergencies and the like, the hospitals in the immediate area around TV are no better or worse that the small hospitals that are available to us in NYS's Mid-Hudson Valley (one of which mis-typed my wife's blood type, causing a potential disaster in the Third World country where she needed a transfusion many years ago and THERE THEY picked up on the error...)!