Seniors Avoid ER at Start of Month

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Jerrard said he can't confirm that the patients avoided the ER because they feared their Social Security checks would be stolen. It's also not clear if the patients who stayed home suffered medical consequences, although Jerrard plans to study that issue.

Many patients wouldn't be in danger by waiting a few hours or a couple days, he said. "But we'd be concerned about patients trying to struggle through a couple days of chest pain, or if they're sitting around with abdominal pain trying to tough it out."

Dr. James S. Goodwin, director of the Sealy Center on Aging at the University of Texas Medical Branch, said the study is "clever" and appears valid.

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"Physicians and others caring for low-income elderly are well aware of the Social Security check phenomenon," he said. "Older people living in certain low-income neighborhoods have a realistic fear of crime. They want to be there when the check comes, so they can get it cashed and pay what they owe, but also because of the fear that someone else might take it. I would imagine that any other routine activity was also much less likely to occur in those first two days of the month, whether it was shopping, or getting a haircut, or something more important like going to the ER."

Direct deposit to a bank could be a solution, Goodwin said, but poor seniors may mistrust banks or not have an account.

In other developments reported at the International Conference on Emergency Medicine, University of Rochester researchers reported that seniors who spend more than six hours in the ER are much less likely to be discharged than others. Another study from Michigan researchers reported that about 19 percent of seniors who come to the ER from home are discharged to a nursing home.

More information

Learn about direct-deposit Social Security checks from the federal government.

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