Well, this latest headline story of a poor woman with a perforated bowel vomiting blood and dying in an ER WAITING room with people calling 911 and nobody helping her (the police arrested her instead) is just such a perfect example of the great state of America's health care system. We aren't even acting like humans anymore.
I apologize if the below is offensive to anyone:
I've never known a person that has happened too but about 4 years ago my 1 year old boxer died from a perforated intestine. We didn't know what was going on when we rushed her to the emergency clinic but were soon told the diagnosis and that it was inoperable at the stage it was. The doctor asked if we'd like to say our goodbyes and when we walked into the room there was little Zoey in some type of incubator. Within seconds of our arrival, there was projectile bloody vomiting and projectile bloody diarrhea. There was no visiting...I told them to please give her the shot and let her go we would say our goodbyes when baby girl wasn't suffering. It wasn't until a few years later that I learned the Veternarian that she saw before the emergency clinic actually did the damage. Evidently, Zoey had eatin carpet that we didn't know about. When we arrived at the regular vet's office she had a string coming from her rectum and had projectile vomiting. The stupid vet that we entrusted with our beloved Zoey pulled the string, and pulled and pulled until it tore her intestine. When Zoey went into shock the vet put her on IV fluids and sent us to the emergency clinic. I work for a very busy veterinary clinic and several of the doctors have told me that the doctor was at fault and that you NEVER pull. As a matter of fact, if they don't pass whatever it is within 24 hours we perform emergency surgery. It was absolutely the most horrible, painful death I've ever witnessed. The sadest part is...her death was unnecessary.
I know this has nothing to do with that poor woman...it just brought back a very sad memory of a personal experience.
Peace & Love....Neasy
What happened to this woman is horrible and a disgrace to our health care system. I saw this on the news and heard the 911 calls from her BF and another from a patient in the ER. They begged for the EMS to come get her as she was dying and no one would help her. She was lying on the floor and vomiting blood, and a woman was mopping around her like she wasn't even there.
Just to be fair to the hospital (which in no ways excuses their behavior) a Dr. had seen this woman and released her to leave, said she was a known meth user who had been in the ER 3 times this week begging for drugs. Even though the woman was clearly very sick, she was dimissed like an old rag doll because of her known illegal drug use. This hospital ,by reputation, is known by the name "Killer ER", poorly operated, poorly funded, and in a very low income part of that city. The administrator was fired and others likely will be too,but it is too late for this poor woman. Two 911 dispatchers will also probably be fired,and rightly so.
The inhumane way this woman was treated was what makes my blood boil. Be it illegal drugs or vomiting blood this woman had as much right to be treated and helped as anyone in the country. Whatever happened to "first do no harm"? Anyone employed with that hospital, and saw the trouble this woman was in and didn't try to help her are accessories to murder in book!
OMG, Neasy....I SO would have sued that HORRIBLE Vet!! OMG, I can't imagine. Shhame shame SHAME on that person. I hope Karma comes back to get thhem!!!
That was the most disgusting story I have read in quite awhile. A person on drugs is a person who is ill. Not one of those physicians, or any other employee for that matter, has the right to judge. Everyone is entitled to healthcare in an emergency.
A lawsuit will not bring her back but may scare them enough to do the right thing in the future.
Update on this story: Just watched Nancy Grace with more detailed info about this tragic story and it is much worse than first reported. They were trying to arrest her on a minor offense as she lay dying ON THE GROUND!! She laid on the ER floor for 45 mins. while her husband begged for help. This is an outrage!! Said all Los Angeles in an uproar. Technically she was in police custody so a lot of "heads" should be on the line!! Wonder if being Hispanic had anything to do with how she was treated? I am appaled! This is an outrage! I am soooo angry!! No mention was made of any drug use so wondering if the nurses lied? They didn't even try to help her this last time!!!Apparently there was no racism involved. Just ignorant, lazy. cold hearted employees. It appears that this was just a bad hospital that had been cited before. It had an horrendous reputation.
There should be stricter standards for the 911 operators too as they are usually your first line of help. If they don't (can't/won't) assess the situation immediately and correctly then the victim can be in deep trouble.
An emergency response person, 911 operator, EMT is not just a job. They should be paid very well and have extensive and ongoing training. (including sensitivity training!)
I just wonder what is happening in this world as I see evidence every day of people losing touch with their humanity. The policeman that was alleged to have beaten that teacher in New Orleans committed suicide the other day and, I am sure, that it was the guilt and shame that he felt. His trial was to be later this month.
It's the empathy that we can feel for one another that separates us from animals. Without it we are not human.
That is a terrible story and it seems stories like that seem to happen all around the world.What a horrible story. From the standpoint of a retired EMS worker for many years, the hospital should have been well aware of the difference between a known drug seeker just seeking drugs and a known drug seeker with a serious medical condition. Especially someone that is addicted to meth. Meth can cause constipation issues which untreated can casue the perforated bowel. Makes me wonder if she was drug seeking the other times she was in the ER that past week.
Drug abuse is a disease that needs to be treated as such. When I was a paramedic we were always asking our regulars to get help. Sometimes we would beg them to get help.
I wonder if this hospital is going to lose is JCHAO now. If it even had it in the first place. As far as sensitivity training goes...it was mandatory for us as paramedics. And it was mandatory when I worked in a hospital.
This is just insane. If you don't care anymore and you are in the medical field it is time to get out of the medical field.
Edit to this post: This is also exactly why we are afraid to go to the ER when we are in so much pain that we can't take it anymore. We are afraid that we will be labled drug seekers. When I went to the ER because I flared so badly and my pain was out of control, the ER doc actually called my PCP to make sure I was not drug seeking. Thankfully my PCP knows me very well and told the ER doc that if I am there the pain is really that bad and to get me admitted asap to get the pain and flare under control. My husband and I were just shocked that this ER doc thought I was drug seeking because of my medical history. Just goes to show you that something like this can happen in a poor section of town or in a middle class blue collar small working town like we live in.
genesis...Thank you for sharing the entire story. It has tears streaming down my face and I am absolutely outraged by the events that took place. Whether someone is wealthy living in a good home or homeless in our streets, there should be no difference in the health care that we receive. I realize that people in the healthcare field have pretty much seen it all but I agree that if they don't care anymore....it's time to get out. This woman was someone's wife, perhaps even someone's mother or sister and now she is gone. She was a human being that suffered needlessly when someone could of helped her. In my opinion, everyone that stood by and did nothing should be held accountable. Things like this are happening all around us and it's a great shame. What bothers me even more is that it takes something like this for anyone to take notice and do something when what should of been done in the first place was not. My heart goes out to that woman and her family.
Peace & Love...Neasy
Please remember that there *are* two sides to every story. Just because you are hearing the "whole" story on Nancy Grace does not mean that she (or anyone else) is reporting the entire story. They may not know any more. I would like to think that there is more to this story, but there may not be.
Phats
Phats, I gave two sides to this story, the hospital's and the patient's family. I also watched different networks report this. Of course there in an on going invetigation so I'm sure there is plenty more to this story but the fact is this 43 yr old woman died on the ground at this hospital vomiting blood and no one tried to help her. 911 calls and eye witness accounts plus hospital records shows at the very least gross negligence. Police records show the same as she was being arrested while she was dying.
Genesis,
I just did a little research on this, and it sounds like there are multiple problems.
This is probably the biggest problem, unfortunately: "However, in an e-mail sent to county supervisors hours after the death, health officials said Rodriguez was treated for a recurrent problem and "had been accompanied by a boyfriend who became disruptive and police were called. The boyfriend alleges that police interfered with the care of the patient."
In that same e-mail, health officials warn that Rodriguez's family may have alerted the media about the incident."
I'm not by any means blaming the patient or the patients family, BUT when you act like fools, sometimes the most important things are overlooked. I agree, that they were at very least negligent. I still believe there is way more to this story. How do we know that she was compliant? She was just released from the hospital hours before...how do you know she didn't walk out. I'm telling you, I've been there, done that. There is more to this story. We probably won't hear it all because it is in the media now and I'm sure her family is going to sue.
As for the dispatchers....what kind of sense does it make to send an ambulance to someone who is IN the hospital to take them to another hospital? Should the dispatchers have called the hospital and followed up? Yes. But, remember, law enforcement was on the scene. There are other things to take into account.
Phats
Phats, I know you're right, we'll probably never know the real truth behind this horrible situation but I feel afraid for people being treated this way that are in real jeopardy for their lives. First thing that has to be done is stabalize a patient then deal with other issues,such as drug use or outstanding warrants. The BF/husband says he contacted police when the hospital refused treatment. She had allready been Dx'ed with gall stones earlier and given pain meds so they thought she was after more. The BF/husband probably did become disruptive if he was in a panic seeing the trouble she was in. I don't know.... it just makes me sick to think that could have been my sister or husband or child......
Yeah,
This is exactly what we have become??????????????????????
Even when i go searching for negatives, i stumble on positives. You search for and post a negative and make the grand statement, "see what they are?" Can you actually see no good in this country or world? Why spend so much time looking for negatives? If you have to continue searching for negatives can't you at least post a positive every once in a while?
LEV
What and who are you taking about LEV? Must have missed something......
I agree that there are two sides to this story and am anxious to hear what the medical staff has to say. The bottom line is a human being died on the floor of an emergency room after being there for a period of time.
My hunch is that they were tired of dealing with her and her family and probably thought she was faking it.
It is a terrible injustice to her no matter what the circumstances. I guess that hospital has had some pretty serious problems in the past too. Very sad story.
Phats