In a Los Angeles hospital, a woman died after two calls to 911 WHILE SHE WAS IN THE ER. Edith Isabel Rodriguez died of a perforated bowel while she was in the hospital waiting area. Her relatives have stated that she was bleeding from the mouth and in a great deal of pain for at least 45 minutes while she was in the waiting area.
Two people even called 911 to try to get help for Rodriguez but were told them only the hospital could help and there was nothing they (911) could do. The first call was from Rodriguez’s boyfriend, who said “I’m in the emergency room. My wife is dying and the nurses don’t want to help her out.” Eight minutes later, a bystander called 911 and requested an ambulance to take her to another hospital. She was quoted saying “She’s definitely sick and there’s a guy that’s ignoring her.” The dispatcher of that call even argued with the woman as to whether or not this was an emergency and refused to call paramedics to help Rodriguez.
According to an article on MSNBC, Dr. Bruce Chernoff, director of the county Department of Health Services, which oversees the facility, has called Rodriguez’s death “inexcusable” and said it was “important to understand that this was fundamentally a failure of caring.” Federal inspectors recently determined that emergency room patients were in “immediate jeopardy” of harm or death and gave King-Harbor 23 days to improve or lose federal funding.
Dr. Roger Peels, the chief medical officer, was placed on “ordered absence” while the matter is being investigated. Dr. Robert Splawn, chief medical officer for the health department is being named as interim chief medical officer of the hospital. Don’t we all deserve better medical care than this?
See video reports from NBC here.
Another article about problems at King Harbor Hospital.