"For some Massachusetts residents, a trip to the emergency room means settling in for a long night in a hallway chair or on a gurney behind a thin curtain. For others, it means being whisked in and out in a matter of minutes. After Boston.com reported that Massachusetts ranks near the top in the nation for time spent in the emergency department - patients spend an average of 189 minutes in the ER before leaving, according to World Population Review."
"At UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, Kelly C. said her family twice faced marathon waits this winter. "In December, [we were] brought in by ambulance at 7:30 a.m., waited 8 hours to be seen. On February 8, 2026, we waited 11 hours and left without being seen. We had been sent by my father's doctor for concerning numbers on his routine blood work," she recalled."
Patients across Massachusetts experienced widely varying emergency-department wait times, from immediate triage to waits exceeding 20 hours. The statewide average time in the ER is 189 minutes, according to World Population Review. Some patients described seamless visits with no wait and prompt diagnosis and treatment. Other patients described marathon waits of eight, 11, 12 or more hours, sometimes leaving without being seen despite concerning symptoms or clinician referrals. Many long waits occurred in hallway chairs or on gurneys, often with significant pain. A recurring issue across accounts was the unpredictability of who would receive quick care and who would face prolonged delays.
Read at Boston.com
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