I caught pneumonia when I visited NYC a few years ago and was brought by ambulance to a hospital in Brooklyn. Some of the things I heard in the emergency room were shocking compared to what I'd experienced in emergency rooms before (I'm from the UK). The most surprising thing to me was how many of the patients were verbally abusive to the nurses. Perhaps these people were mentally unstable, I don't know, but I never expected to hear any patients attacking the people that were there to help them.