Son of a @#*!

[StanAE86]

Un-F'ing-Acceptable:

http://news.aol.com/topnews/articles/_a/911-dispatchers-denied-dying-woman-help/20070613143509990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001

[acmarttin]

I saw that on the news this morning. I don't know who to be more mad at - the dispatcher or the hospital?

[ZfrkS62]

i read about this last night.

The hospital needs to take 100% of the blame here. It's not up to 911 dispatchers to play air traffic controllers when it comes to what is going on in an ER.

There were staff that obviously saw that she was in trouble and didn't do anything about it. They easily could have gotten the attention of an attending or resident.

Once she was in the hospital it was up to the doctors to determine if she should go elsewhere and how fast. That obviously failed.

[RC45]

But you should still ebe able to call 911 and have a rescue team come to your aid, even if you are in the hospital.

afterall, this case proves it is needed.

[ZfrkS62]

^ Just out of curiosity, when was the last time you were in the ER?

Everyone in there seems to think they should be the next one in regardless of the guy coming through the door with a pipe lodged in his stomach. So if you're saying that you should be able to call 911 to dispatch an ambulance to take you from one hospital to another because you don't think you're getting treated fast enough, that's just going to open the door for abuses that keeps ambulances off the streets for the people that actually need them. It reduces the 911 call centers to nothing more than glorified taxi dispatchers.

Once you're in the hospital, you need to have the hospital staff arrange your transfer. Not 911.

[RC45]

^ Just out of curiosity, when was the last time you were in the ER?

Often enough.

Once you're in the hospital, you need to have the hospital staff arrange your transfer. Not 911.
Except this (and a few other recent cases) prove other wise.

[graywolf624]

While I will openly say you wait too long often in emergency rooms.. One has to wonder if theres more to this story then whats available. I can't see any hospital, with todays lawsuit mentality, ignoring that for long. I will not speculate on what.

edit: Found the rest of the story.. It doesnt excuse the hospitals actions but it does explain some of the reason:
Rodriguez had been to the emergency room on three separate occasions.
Each time she was released after being given prescriptions for pain.
Sounds like no one could find the problem, and after 3 recent visits they may have assumed she was being melodramatic. As I said, doesnt excuse it, but it is a common human response.

"according to the report, the nurse told the patient: "You have already been seen and there is nothing we can do.""