What about the woman in L.A. that died in the E.R. of a hospital while her boyfriend called 911 because....?

Question

.......all the hospital staff was ignoring her while she laid on the floor writhing in pain and vomiting blood? They have video footage of a janitor cleaning the floor around her like she was a piece of furniture. Her boyfriend was calling 911 because nobody would pay any attention to him. There were also other ER patients calling 911 and reporting it, but the 911 operators told them there was nothing they could do because she was already at a hospital.........the 911 operators also told the people to stop calling them because the line was for EMERGENCIES ONLY.......

Heads are going to roll over this one, I guarantee it........

Answer 1

I posted to a similar question earlier... here is my take...

You raise an excellent question. Aside from many people feeling leary about going to just about any emergency room due to such horrific accounts of malpractice. I find it safe to say that our health system, just like many of our other systems (justice, educational, economic, etc.) have certain prejudices that keep each and every American from being treated equally. In the woman's case that you speak of, her perforation, - a weakened pocket of bowel wall may rupture. The contents of the bowel can then seep into the abdominal cavity. Symptoms include pain, high fever and chills. A perforated bowel is a medical emergency, should have been treated in a timely and respectable fashion.

The 911 calls and the poor treatment (if any) that she received, may leave many to believe that there are grounds for discrimination and wrongful death. It would not surprise me if nurses and ER professionals looked at individuals based on their skin color or economic status, that they may not be adequately insured, thus putting their needs at the bottom of the treatment pile. If I am correct, people are to be serviced based on their level of emergency symptoms and needs and not based on any other criteria.

It saddens me that this happened and continues to happen around the country, especially in inner-cities and rural areas.

I don't know what hurt me more, the total disregard of the 911 operators ("It isn't an emergency... your already in a medical facility...") or the blatant disregard of the staff on duty. I don't care if the woman came 5 or 6 times for treatment, it is obvious that it was something she could not handle and was out of her control, therefore she should have never left the facility the first time. (reportedly she came to the ER 3 times that day for help)

I know for myself that if you do not press treatment for an individual that is uninsured, they will more than likely receive inadequate care and their time in the ER may last for hours on end. Now the latter is the scariest, because if the person can be treated in a timely fashion, why take 5 hours to treat while others are sick or dying 20 feet away?

Our health system needs better monitoring and highly skilled professionals. We are turning out nurses like never before and many are operating on the level of MDs.. treating and perscribing medications (Nurse Practitioners and the like) and I don't believe that many of them can handle the levels of treatment that many seasoned doctors can. Due to high levels of malpractice, many MDs are backing off and cutting back their services due to fear and high insurance premiums. The government is going to have to step in here, or we are going to see more and more of this, especially with more and more people falling prey to poverty and the possibility that illegal immigrants will be legalized, thus adding to higher incidences of discrimination and poor medical treatment due to low incomes or lack of insurance.

A previous poster stated in a similar question that we are responsible for our own care and we do need to be proactive, but who will speak for those conditioned to believe that the doctors and nurses should dictate treatment, who will speak for the ignorant, the elderly, the children, and those from foreign countries? More education needs to be done here and more and more people need to feel that it is ok to question and challange a doctor and that it is equally acceptable to deny certain treatments and request others.

We need to take on a voice that demands better treatment, no matter how crowded the ER may be, how long it may take for overall treatment, or what ever the cost!

Answer 2

I am watching this on CNN right now. I dont think that the ER nurses should be charged with murder or manslaughter but they should not be able to work at a hospital again unless they do some type of classes or something. Make them work at the hospitals for prisons or something like that. I understand that she has been there the last couple days but if all they are doing is giving her medicine they should know that something is seriously wrong. I also think that she should have left on her own and went to a different hospital. The 911 operators should be fired also. They do not know that she has been there so many times but to tell her that this line is only for emergencys, obviously it is an emergency if so many people call 911 and if she is bleeding on the floor. I dont understand how the nurses can be twiddling there thumbs but not admitting anyone. The hospital looks huge so there must be room to admit ppl.

Answer 3

something similar happened at my hospital. The woman wasn't writhing or vomiting blood, though, and she didn't die. she fell down on the sidewalk outside our main entrance and they called the code for it, and we watched from our window as all these personnel gathered around her and talked to her, and nobody would touch her. They had to call 911 and wait for the paramedics came and I remember seeing an oxygen tank, but I don't remember what else happened to her, except she was fine. It just didn't make sense to me that they couldn't carry her through the front door, into the elevator, and down to the Emergency Department. It was against the rules to do that. It seems that the hospital is just covering its own heinie rather than risk touching someone and doing something wrong. They'd rather a patient just died there and deal with that aftermath, I guess. Rules and politics suck.

Answer 4

That's terrible. There was a story on 20/20 not long ago about a little boy that got run over in the hospital parking lot and the inside hospital staff wouldn't come outside and get him because they weren't allowed to leave the building and the EMTs wouldn't come get him because he was technically already at the hospital. I really hate the way hospitals work..

Answer 5

i absolutely dread going to the hospital, or "convenient" care in our town. the staff is so mean and nasty...including the doctors. it's the only game in town though, and is on the verge of closing down. we will have to travel over 30 miles to the next closest hospital. there have been several times i've needed to go for diabetic care, but i won't do it after all the other awful experiences i've had there. i'd rather die at home with my dignity in-tact. oh, and i'm a cash paying "customer."

Answer 6

Wow!! And I thought the hospital in my local town was bad! That is really shocking.

Answer 7

Have you applied at Good Morning America?

Answer 8

Yikes! I didn't hear about that! That would never happen in our ER! That is one case where they should get their pants sued off!

Answer 9

thats terrible. i hope our 000 not like 911

Answer 10

That is so horrible, sad and pitiful. Why do people act so retarded, routinely?! Ooooh! I'm mad and sad now.