I had a bicycle accident once. My arm got swollen. I called nearby offices and couldn't find a single doctor who could see me immediately. I went to ER hoping they'd give me some ointment or whatever to sooth the pain.

I refused to undergo x-ray scanning (somehow I was sure there's nothing broken). And it's a good thing that I didn't go to the radiology block.

After about 50 minutes of waiting, doctor came and offered me bacitracin. I asked if there's anything stronger than that, alas there was nothing else he could offer me. I shrugged and said "alright then". Doctor applied it all over my arm and said it should be like that: "don't cover it!". With that I went home. Bacitracin didn't help a bit. The pain was so strong, so I couldn't sleep for a few days.

Week later I got a bill. They charged $2800. Insurance covered only $1200 of that. I tried to dispute it to no avail.

I learned my lesson - in the US, you never, ever should go to ER. Unless there's a knife sticking out of your skull. But even then you should maybe re-consider.