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Man dies at hospital after waiting 19 hours for treatment
On Sept. 19, a former Dallas restaurateur checked himself into the ER at 5:17 p.m. using a touch-screen computer kiosk. There were 164 people there ahead of him. He was still waiting the next day, and suffered cardiac arrest shortly before noon. (Dallas Morning News)
October 6, 2008 | Permalink
Comments
One of the highest leading causes of death in the US is "medical treatment"...
People die from being given the wrong medicine, getting infections during hospital stays, unnecessary or incorrect surgeries, etc. This isn't surprising. And our healthcare is supposed to be good? I go back to what I was saying a couple of weeks ago.
More info:
http://www.communicationagents.com/sepp/2003/10/29/medical_system_is_leading_cause_of_death_and_injury_in_us.htm
Posted by: cherie | Oct 6, 2008 9:35:35 AM
I saw this movie. It was from Romania a couple of years ago, wasn't it?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_of_Mr._Lazarescu
Posted by: Torgo | Oct 6, 2008 9:43:32 AM
And they say there's nothing wrong with medical care in the U.S.? I think they mean there's nothing wrong with medical care for the insured. Something needs to be done. People with colds, sinus infections, etc. shouldn't have to be tying up the emergency rooms because it's the only place they can go.
Posted by: Caffeinated Katie | Oct 6, 2008 9:44:14 AM
Now serving number 3
"looking at his tickett he sees "Number 264" Shit!
Posted by: Dick C. Normas | Oct 6, 2008 9:44:50 AM
The real problem is people going to the emergency room without emergencies. You won't believe how many drug addicts show up just wanting pain medication.
The triage nurse does his/her best to asses every patient and to put them in an order of who needs medical attention the most. Sometimes they get it wrong. It happens. It happened to my grandmother long ago. She cried for days after it happened.....blaming herself for assessing it all wrong. But you know, it's just something that happens.
Yeah the wait was too long for this guy. He should have looked into another hospital after the first 4 hrs. Or called an Ambulance (for some reason they give priority to people who arrive in Ambulance).
Posted by: twerp | Oct 6, 2008 10:00:30 AM
Sad. Just, sad.
And some might wonder why young people still sign up for the military, when there's a war on and soldiers are getting killed. Some come in just for the medical and dental benefits.
Posted by: Soo | Oct 6, 2008 10:02:21 AM
Medicine is not fast food. There are plenty of great ER's in this country that have nurses,PA'S/NP'S physically look at the patient and perform acuity checks when they "hit the door". Leaving medical care to a "check in service" or a "clerk" taking names is bad medicine. Runny noses and colds should go to a clinic, there are many around that our tax dollers pay for one way or another. Yes the system is messed up but it is also severly overburdened.
Posted by: TCav | Oct 6, 2008 10:06:17 AM
It's not even really a care of insured vs uninsured (though obviously, for the uninsured, it's a whole different ball game). Counterintuitively, if there is something actually wrong with you, the ER seems like a horrible bet. And care, even for the insured, is slapdash at best.
At the beginning of the year I went to the hospital because of a kink in my intestines, created by scar tissue from surgeries I had as a child. All they had to do was pump my stomach. I got into the ER waiting room at 11 pm. I didn't get into the actual ER until 4 am. Then a few hours later (lost track, the pain was pretty bad) they inserted the stomach pump tube. The pumping should have taken about four hours. About three days later they realized they inserted the tube wrong; too deep and in the wrong part of my abdomen. They thought they were pumping out bile - they were pumping out digestive enzymes. I had been complaining the whole time that something wasn't right and to just take the goddamn tube out of my face, but they just threatened to cut me open for exploratory surgery. Finally, one of the 9 different doctors I had took some initiative and realized what was going on.
By that point I was severely dehydrated - when they pump your stomach, you cannot eat or drink. I was hooked up to an IV, but the fluids from the IV could not compensate for the liquids they had been sucking out of me for three days. THEN while swapping IVs they inserted it wrong and my arm blew up like a balloon. It took fifteen minutes to get a nurse in to fix it. After that, I declined any form of care from them for the remainder of my stay, including no more IVs - which meant, since I was dehydrated, I had to slam pitcher after pitcher of water all night.
As a final slap in the face, once they established I was ok to go, it took six hours to get my discharge papers. I got out of there and I am ok now, although I now have a running battle with their billing department and am currently disputing the standard of care.
Oh, and if you ever find yourself in need and in DC, stay far far far away from the Washington Hospital Center.
Posted by: elchampino | Oct 6, 2008 10:09:06 AM
this just makes a stronger case for national health care.
if we had national health he would have waited at least 22 hours in line before dying instead 19
Posted by: angrysockmonkey | Oct 6, 2008 10:19:15 AM
What a lot of people don't know is that if they call ahead to a doctor, even a "doc-in-the-box," sometimes they'll negotiate a smaller fee for cash or charge card up-front. This is especially useful if your issue isn't as severe as this poor schlub's or elchampino's, but still needs to be seen.
I've had to wait for hours to get a small child's possible head trauma examined, while others were seen around me. But I've also come in with a bleeder, and been rushed right inside.
I guess that's really the trick then, make sure you're bleeding, especially from the face (it's just gross to look at) before you head to the ER.
Posted by: Soo | Oct 6, 2008 10:25:55 AM
Wow, Elchampino, looks like you needed some deregulation.
Posted by: Torgo | Oct 6, 2008 10:26:13 AM
Torgo,
Excellent film! The Romanian govt was not too pleased by this film as it displayed the problems with the ER system in Romania.
On another note:
My husband was in the hospital in Feb this year. I have insurance. We waited in the ER from 10am and he was finally admitted to the hospital at 11:30pm with pancreatitis, a bleeding liver and pneumonia. There were people there with sniffles and coughs. I understand that hospitals are busy, but there must be a better method of dealing with real issues. As far as the goverment taking over health care....um, please remember everybody that the government currently is in charge of the Postal Service and we all know what a well-oiled machine that is!
Ter
Posted by: terry5064 | Oct 6, 2008 10:33:35 AM
The problem with the free clinics is that there aren't enough of them. When I was first out of school I didn't have insurance because I hadn't been at my job long enough to qualify. I had to go to the free clinic here in Atlanta because I was working part-time and couldn't afford to pay anything to a doc-in-the-box. You had to call ahead to the free clinic by at least three weeks to get an appointment and if you didn't get there right when the doors opened, they wouldn't take you as a walk-in case, either. I have a history of bladder and kidney infections and had been warned that if I get another bladder infection I would need immediate care to prevent another kidney infection. When I called the clinic they were swamped, couldn't see me that day, and wouldn't call in an anti-biotic to my pharmacy. They told me to go to the ER where I waited eighteen hours just to get an anti-biotic. Oh yeah, the free clinics are just the perfect answer to America's problems.
Posted by: Caffeinated Katie | Oct 6, 2008 10:41:25 AM
This hospital is notorius for being the hospital of choice for "undocumented immigrants". That's the part that infuriates me; the biggest issue for most of us regarding illegal immigration is NOT terrorism (a red herring), but the staggering cost of providing free health care to illegals, and free education to their children.
On the bright side, perhaps our struggling economy will start keeping them away...
Posted by: Larry | Oct 6, 2008 10:41:32 AM
Does anyone wonder if 'they' make the health care system difficult ON PURPOSE by cutting funding ON PURPOSE so that it can become a political hot item?
Posted by: | Oct 6, 2008 10:49:15 AM
El Champ....P L E A S E tell me they didn't charge you for all their blunders!!!!!!!
Posted by: cherie | Oct 6, 2008 10:59:33 AM
I went to the ER maybe 5 years ago after 12 hours of vomiting due to food poisoning. Place was so crowded they lay me on a gurney in the hallway with an IV in my arm. No complaints there - I was horizontal, relatively comfortable, and whatever was in the IV stopped the vomiting immediately, plus I got the parade of entertainment that was the wounded passing by me. Six hours later I was rehydrated and stable - the nurse came by and pulled the IV and said I was good go go, I just needed to wait for the discharge forms to come through so I could sign them. Three hours after that I'm still waiting. Ten minutes later I walk out without signing the forms. The hospital probably still thinks I'm there.
Posted by: Drake Timbershaft | Oct 6, 2008 11:38:36 AM
IT IS A FREE HOSPITAL. TAKE WHAT YOU CAN GET AND SHUT UP.
Posted by: buddy | Oct 6, 2008 11:41:38 AM
I recommend Micheal Moore's 'Sicko' to everyone. Interesting whether you agree with him or not.
Posted by: stopeatingmysesamecake | Oct 6, 2008 11:42:50 AM
One of the highest leading causes of death in the US is "medical treatment"
As a practitioner, I can tell you one of the absolute WORST feelings in the world is thinking you may have been directly responsible for harming or killing a patient. I was just in that position two weeks ago. Fortunately, it turned out that it wasn't my fault at all, but that was a very tough 24 hours to deal with.
Posted by: Wolf | Oct 6, 2008 11:43:03 AM
Cherie - they are indeed trying to charge me. Initially, I never received a bill. After a few months I talked to a representative from my insurance company and he said that they probably decided to not pursue the matter, in light of the fact that they almost killed me.
Then more than six months after the fact, I get notices from them to settle the deductible. I have been in touch with a patient advocate and filed a complaint contesting the level of care. If I'd known it would come to this, I would have given much more thought to what I initially decided not to do because I don't have the time, money or resources - hire a lawyer and sue them into a oblivion. I am not looking for money here, but I also don't think I should get charged for "treatment" that turned a routine procedure into a life threatening situation, manufactured by their own incompetence.
Posted by: elchampino | Oct 6, 2008 12:01:09 PM
I'm from Dallas and I can say that I've seen this with my own eyes. People in dyer need of med attention yet all of the gang members shot on that particular night get first dibs. That makes no sense to me. Especially when you have a positive contributing member of society dying a slow death in an uncomfortable waiting room chair. I have actually had the same experience as "Drake" above in the very hospital covered in this story. I walked out after they pulled the IV and never paid them. In turn, they never came after me for their money. This hospital(and I'm sure many others), don't know assholes from elbows and don't give a f!@#$ for that matter. If you live in Dallas, def watch the movie "Sicko" and pray you don't get screwed like so many others who have gone to this hospital.
Posted by: Jaysun | Oct 6, 2008 12:34:20 PM
El Champ....unbelieveable!!!
I also recommend Sicko. I'm not a huge fan of Moores, but this film is outstanding!
Posted by: cherie | Oct 6, 2008 12:41:47 PM
"I think they mean there's nothing wrong with medical care for the insured. Something needs to be done. "
Yeah, get your own damned insurance and stop expecting a free ride.
No one says there is "NOTHING WRONG" with American health care. No one. They do say however that the government is NOT the answer and will make it much worse that imaginable. But... that seems to go into one ear and out the other.
Don't have insurance? Get another job to pay for it or one that offers it. It is that simple.
Can't get anything better than a burger flipping job? Your bad choices do not constitute everyone elses responsibility to pay for it.
Want a socialist country? Cuba will gladly pay for your health care... Bwahahahaha, just ask the Cubans.
Posted by: Ankharan | Oct 6, 2008 12:54:55 PM
Bitter much, Ankharan?
Posted by: troschne | Oct 6, 2008 1:25:00 PM
