Outside an emergency room on North State Street, sick and frustrated people stand in a security line in a chaotic room knowing that they might wait for hours to see a doctor. Just a couple of minutes away in a hospital on San Pablo Street, a few tired, yet calm people wait in a hospital lounge for word on the status of their loved ones.

The Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center and the USC University Hospital offer a very powerful glimpse into the differences between public and private health care.

The Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center is the nation's largest medical training center and one of the nation's largest public hospitals. Just down the street, the USC University Hospital is a private hospital with some of the most technologically advanced and specialized care.

Both hospitals perform complex surgeries and save lives on a daily basis. However, there is a notable difference between the types of patients these hospitals treat, as well as the level of individual care and attention they provide.

The Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center is one of the busiest public hospitals in the Western United States, said first year resident Robert Stuttenburge.

"When compared based on resources, staff, research, as well as the number of patients seen and procedures performed, Los Angeles is leading the way in public hospitals and community care," Stuttenburge said.

In one year, the hospital will treat close to 800,000 patients, deliver 10,000 babies, treat 250,000 people in its emergency room, treat about half of all AIDS and Sickle Cell patients in Southern California, and handle 5,000 outpatient visitors per day, he said.

Hospital human resources manager Jacob Odom confirmed these numbers.

"We are a very busy hospital, and we are proud of all the care we provide to our community," he said.

George Martinez, a security officer regulating the entrance to the ER said, most of the patients who walk through the emergency room doors of the hospital have "nowhere else to turn for serious medical care."

"Many of these people have been shot or severely injured, and almost half of them are poor and uninsured," he said.

The hospital, which sees more than 150,000 emergency room patients per year, is know as one of the world's busiest emergency departments, Martinez said.

But, Stuttenburge said, "Sometimes patients wait over 24 hours for vital treatment."

While walking home from a long shift, nurse Melody Florensio said, "Without this hospital, the people of Los Angeles, especially the immediate area of East L.A., would suffer more than I can imagine. This emergency room gets crowded to the point where there just are not enough doctors and nurses on staff to possibly take care of everyone. It's the worst feeling as a nurse to look at a young man with a gunshot wound and tell him to 'Please have a seat and wait."

The Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center is licensed for 1,395 beds but budgeted to staff 745 beds, according to the Los Angeles Almanac. This problem is becoming more apparent as more people lose their jobs, health insurance and the ability to pay for private care.

Anthony Bernardo, a man pacing outside the ER of the county hospital, knows what it's like to need urgent care but have no choice but to wait.

"My wife has kidney failure, and every time we come in all they can do is put her in a bed with meds for a night and tell us to keep waiting on a donor list," Bernardo said. "Well, that list might as well be a hundred years long."

"You don't really think about how important fast access to health care is until you need it," he said. Well, my wife and I need it now, and I wish I could afford the kind of insurance that would buy her the best doctor at a moments notice. I wish I could, but I can't."

There's a great contrast between the long line to pass security before even entering the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center and the calm waiting room at the USC University Hospital.

This private hospital prides itself on sophisticated research, first-rate doctors and the finest care possible.

"The knowledge and experience of our doctors and their teams is unmatchable in some areas," said Mari Foutelera, a nurse who has worked in the hospital since 1996. "Our cardiac unit is leading the way in minimally invasive surgery. Brain and spine surgeries like the ones performed by Dr. Demisters are only done here, and some people are on the wait list for months to see him."

However, Foutelera said, the USC University Hospital has no emergency room, and on average only half of its 411 beds are full.

Foutelera said nearly 90 percent of the patients at the USC University Hospital have private insurance paying for their stay, and those who receive treatment but do not have insurance have family working in the hospital.

"We work very closely with the insurance companies of all our patients to provide the best coverage for the best care," Human Resources Administrator Melissa Goldberg said.

But the benefits of intense individual care and access to multiple online and in-person resources during treatment are not accessible to all.

The around-the-clock, one-on-one attention from nurses after surgery, online resources and in-room luxury, as well as teams of doctors prepared to handle any mishap or complication are things patients in the waiting rooms of public hospitals can only dream of.

Kevin Brown, a new nurse at the USC University Hospital said, "This is a great hospital with the best care possible, and I believe that everyone deserves this kind of care. There are plenty of people without insurance who need these same surgeries to stay alive, and unfortunately some of them easily fall through the cracks of the current health care system."