Tale of last 90 minutes of woman's life

[kskiska]

Source: LA TIMES

County officials express dismay at the events surrounding the recent controversial death at King-Harbor hospital. One nurse has resigned.

In the emergency room at Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital, Edith Isabel Rodriguez was seen as a complainer.

"Thanks a lot, officers," an emergency room nurse told Los Angeles County police who brought in Rodriguez early May 9 after finding her in front of the Willowbrook hospital yelling for help. "This is her third time here."

The 43-year-old mother of three had been released from the emergency room hours earlier, her third visit in three days for abdominal pain. She'd been given prescription medication and a doctor's appointment.

Turning to Rodriguez, the nurse said, "You have already been seen, and there is nothing we can do," according to a report by the county office of public safety, which provides security at the hospital.

Parked in the emergency room lobby in a wheelchair after police left, she fell to the floor. She lay on the linoleum, writhing in pain, for 45 minutes, as staffers worked at their desks and numerous patients looked on.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-king20may20,0,6057993.story?coll=la-home-center

---

US has the best health care system in the world.:sarcasm:

[Deja Q]

1. And the system is made up of workers...

I wonder if they were told not to help.

[Warpy]

19. I can't think of any reasonable, prudent graduate of any

accredited nursing school in this country being so callous unless s/he had been instructed to be. Even then, I can see it happening only rarely.

This needs an in depth investigation of all levels of that hospital and its management. I sincerely hope Ms. Rodriguez's boyfriend can find a decent lawyer who smells a very large contingency and will not accept hospital stonewalling in this case.

My guess is that management needs to go, that this hospital's problems are top-down problems, since lapses in patient care seem to be an ongoing problem.

[Morgana LaFey]

33. Oh, I can. I've met up with some pretty nasty, arrogant,

self-righteous, know-it-all nurses in my time. They can be just as bad as M.Deities, tho fewer of them are that bad.

I've also met up with some saints. But the bad ones sure put a bad taste in your mouth when it comes to defending the whole profession when the subject comes up.

[TwilightGardener]

43. I'm a nurse, and yes, while this violates everything the profession is about,

it's not that rare, unfortunately--I've seen some pretty callous, and sometimes downright hostile behavior--you'd think that only the kindest, most patient, most mentally stable people would be drawn to this profession but it attracts all types, mostly because of the flexible hours, abundant jobs and decent pay.

[debbierlus]

49. I was a nurse, but I left the profession -

Kudos to you for staying in it, the way it is today.

[TwilightGardener]

52. LOL! Thanks, but I didn't stay in it either--I don't work as one now, but I may go back

if I find a good opportunity. I don't have any plans to go back to floor nursing--ugh. But I guess I still consider myself an RN, as long as I have a license.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

82. Well, nursing is more a vocation than job. Floor nursing is hard and rewarding work.

MKJ

[Warpy]

64. No kidding

funny how the self righteous ones are always bucking for management, isn't it?

[ooglymoogly]

70. I just spent a stint in the hospital

and there is always one nurse and if unlucky more that want to let you know they are the boss and they are, as the previous poster noted very assertive and very aggressive, in my case withholding Dr. prescribed pain meds after just returning from recovery. But again most of them are saints but it just takes that bad apple to spoil your stay and a hospitals reputation....and the same a year before again one Nazi nurse who had to show me she was the boss even at my utter discomfort. So on that note I commiserate with this woman and hope the nurse is taken to criminal court on charges of murder, which I'm predicting she will.

[daveskilt]

65. yes and no

the management created an atmosphere where this can happen BUT....

I fix nursing homes for a living. When I go into a bad nursing home, I often see nurses walk past people in distress. Anything can become routine and then invisible. people are quite capable of being callous without being told to be.

I would place a lot of blame with HMO's

When an HMO bounces a patient after a few days, staff and management get frustrated and eventually give up. seeing the same person every few weeks because the insurance wouldn't keep them where they needed to be until they were completely recovered gets frustrating and eventually you become callous to it. When the frequent flyer comes back in it is not easy to see it as an emergency - especially knowing that you will not be able to help this person as much as you want to.

having said that the management need prosecuted and the nurses should lose their licences.

[mainer]

74. This was more than malpractice; it was criminal negligence

The nurse needs to go to jail.

[Warpy]

86. I'd like a full investigation into how much pressure she was under

to brush off a problem patient, a frequent flyer who could be both hostile and a drama queen.

"Hang the nurse" is too simple. There is a serious and long lasting problem at that hospital. It's not just one nurse.

But yes, she is liable along with the other players. The hospital will try to pin it all on her. No one should let them do it.

[SemperEadem]

98. I can

' I can't think of any reasonable, prudent graduate of any
accredited nursing school in this country being so callous unless s/he had been instructed to be. "

I've experienced it first hand in the emergency room at Children's Hospital in St. Louis, MO when my daughter was having a bad reaction to some asthma medication and I was distraught over what was happening. The nurses in their emergency room couldn't care less--they were all freakin' mean and insensitive. While it may be old hat to them, it was something I had never experienced in my life and that's what they lose site of. Perhaps if I had been an emergency room nurse by profession, I wouldn't have been upset--but I'm not and my reaction was reasonable given the circumstances.

If I had to take a child anywhere in St. Louis for emergency care, I'd say take them to Cardinal Glennon Hospital.

[The Stranger]

84. . . . who apparently were refusing to do their job.

[graywarrior]

2. Yep. I believe it based on my own experience trying to get a mammogram.

The health system absolutely sucks. It's all about money.

[KansDem]

94. "It's all about money."

I'll wax nostalgic here...

When I was growing up, we have a family doctor that my mom would take me too. When ever we walked into the office, we were greeted as family friends. Very comforting for a child. And if I woke up sick, we could always make an appointment for that day.

Not so anymore. Once when my daughter, then about 3 or 4 years old, woke up sick (this happened about 10 years ago), I tried to get an appointment that day for her. She had a fever and looked to have the flu. The receptionist at the office told me the earliest I could get her in was three weeks!!! Can you imagine how I felt being the parent of a sick child who was told I couldn't bring here in for three weeks?

Anyway, the quality of health care in this country is eroding and has been for some time.

Nowdays, when I enter a doctor's office the first thing that said to me is:

"Need you insurance card, a picture I.D., and your co-pay!"

Another KansDem story:
Four years ago I suffered a heart attack and was diagnosed with diabetes. I spent a week in the hospital and 4 weeks off work (no pay), then worked a couple months at half-time. Well, I went in for a six-month checkup. The appointment was for 8:45 am. I had a $100 bill with me (I had taken out a few $100 bills the day before as I like to go around to pay stations to pay utility bills, insurance bills, etc.). The receptionist asked for my co-pay ($15) and I gave her the bill. She said they couldn't break it and I would have to either go to my bank or the grocery store across the street to make change. I said I didn't want to have to do that as I would miss my appointment. She said I needed to give her a co-pay. I asked if the office could just bill me. She said no, she needed the co-pay at that time. I said I have the co-pay in my hand, but she won't break the bill. She said they didn't have enough cash in the till. I said I found that hilarious coming from the industry that brought us the $5 aspirin tablet. We went back and forth but she still wouldn't let me see my doctor! I told her that they should have a sign displayed like Baskin-Robbins ice cream parlors that read, "We cannot accept bills larger than $20". I went home fuming and called the office to speak with the office manager. He called back a few minutes later and explained that I couldn't see my doctor because I didn't have my co-pay with me. I said I did have my co-pay and they wouldn't accept it. He said they didn't have enough cash in the till to do so. I said that wasn't my problem, and that they should have billed me. He said they tried that in the past when people didn't have their co-pay and they wound up not paying anyway. I reminded him that I did have my co-pay--in cash, it's just that they wouldn't accept it. We went back and forth with no resolution. I again explained the Baskin-Robbins policy to him with no results. After we hung up, my doctor called to explain the situation. He seemed to sympathize with me and explained he was just kind of "independent contractor," and that the policies of the front desk are set by the corporation that owns the office. I told him next time I'll bring exact change.

Anyway, I didn't get to see my doctor and had to make another appointment. I brought exact change, mostly nickels, dimes, and quarters.

F**k 'em...I've had it with these people.

[TwilightGardener]

3. Has nothing to do with the system. The staff was negligent. A good RN

knows that even if someone is a "frequent-flier" PIA, someone lying on the floor complaining of pain would warrant a quick assessment--at least should have checked vital signs, medical history, etc.

[depakid]

6. Actually it does have to do with the system

Instances of poor, negligent or callous care happen with some frequency in the LA County hospitals. There are a number of reasons for that- some of which have to do with the "culture" of the institutions.

I've seen this for many years, and I don't expect it to change (any more than I expect to see the LAPD change).

[daveskilt]

69. hospitals like MLK/Drew can't attract or keep good RN's

[benddem]

4. this is immoral

I know from first hand experience how frustrating it is to have people returning to the ER over and over. But just cause some do it and have nothing wrong you shouldn't treat anyone this way. She had a ruptured bowel. Certainly she would have had a fever and a tender abdomen. Dreadful.
on edit, fixed spelling error.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

5. A patient writhing on the floor is ignored. And, then, arrested while unresponsive.

Beyond disgusting. This ER should be shut down today. :puke: MKJ

[bluerum]

8. Close the hospital and put the resources where they will do some good. eom

[debbierlus]

50. Yeah, & the police did 'nothing wrong' according to the article

Gross.

[Igel]

7. I thought the name of the hospital sounded vaguely familiar.

In the '90s there was discussion of the abysmal standard of care at MLK/Drew. There was a separate Harbor/UCLA medical center that was, by most standards, not bad at all. Even in the last couple of years MLK/Drew kept failing inspections; it's easy to claim the problem was staff cuts in the '90s, but it was ludicrously incompetent even before the cuts.

MLK/Drew and Harbor/UCLA merged last year, forming MLK-Harbor (with UCLA mixed in). There was concern that Harbor couldn't manage to absorb all the nasty that MLK/Drew had festering, even with formally firing all the MLK/Drew staff and choosing who would be rehired.

Looks like we know how UCLA managed to handle the influx of incompetence.

http://www.dailybruin.ucla.edu/news/2006/oct/04/hospital-control-transferred/
http://www.kcrw.com/news/programs/ww/ww061003harbor-ucla_to_take_
http://ladhs.org/mlk/docs/7-6%20KDMC%20RELEASE.pdf

[TroubleMan]

24. There were even rap artists who commented on how bad that hospital was.

Read "Alive On Arrival" by Ice Cube

http://www.seeklyrics.com/lyrics/Ice-Cube/Alive-On-Arrival.html

[daveskilt]

68. I have received patients that came from MLK/drew

the H&P would have no wounds or bedsores listed - but the patient had stage 4 necrotic u

it is more about covering their own butts than healing anyone elses.

[file83]

9. This part is absolute insanity:

Her boyfriend, seeing that no one was helping her on the floor at the hospital, proceeded to call 911. The response from the 911 operator:

"Look, sir, it indicates you're already in a hospital setting. We cannot send emergency equipment out there to take you to a hospital you're already at."

That sounds like a bad dream. I can't believe how biggoted these hospital staffers were against this overweight hispanic woman.

Doesn't get more negligent than that.

[silverojo]

18. It's not bigotry

Many hospitals' staff act this way toward ALL patients who "bother" them more than once (because they didn't find the problem in the first place). I had family members who worked at hospitals, so I grew up in that setting...and you wouldn't believe how callous those people can be. My relatives were consistently appalled at the stuff they'd write in people's medical records.

There's a special place in hell for those who neglect patients....

[ThomCat]

32. I hope there's a special place in jail for people

who neglect patients like this. x(

That nurse who resigned should face something more than just giving up her job. She killed that woman.

[Guaranteed]

63. It certainly could be characterized as criminal negligence.

Or even depraved heart murder.

[Kindigger]

62. I'll never forget those records....

Saw the head of the rheumatology department at a supposedly "Top Ten in the Country" hospital. Long history of headaches, arm numbness, vision problems etc.

What was his diagnosis? He wrote "patient has a hole in her soul, and will not get better until she accepts Jesus Christ as her personal savior".

One week later at my local ER it was a "muscle strain". I was told to use hot/cold packs for four weeks. By week four my arm was completely paralyzed, and every movement sent my body into spasms of pain.

I practically crawled up the block to the chiropractor, and asked for help. He was an EMT for the hospital, and drove up at lunch to get my ex-rays.

He came to my house to tell me my neck had collapsed, and wondered how I had gone so long without paralyzing myself for life.

[Delphinus]

67. OMG!

Did you turn the idiot in? He doesn't deserve to be a doctor!

If this is what he believes "patient has a hole in her soul, and will not get better until she accepts Jesus Christ as her personal savior"., he belongs with the Christian Scientists, not the AMA.

[melnjones]

87. unbelievable. Wow. nt

[ThomCat]

89. That is a damned good reason for a malpractice suit.

x(

[Kindigger]

93. No lawsuit

Attorneys all told me the rheumy was the only Dr. at that hospital who was in the two year SOL for a suit alleging long term neglect. I'd been labeled a hypochondriac for ten years, never even given an ex-ray by Ortho despite numerous visits.

PS The Rheumy started that office visit with "do you believe in God?" (as in Fundie god), and further "do you believe JC existed?" His diagnosis was the culmination of my answer to that question. He asked me these questions the minute he came in, and I was thrown off totally. I'd been waiting for the appt. for so long I was willing to suffer anything to get help, so I went with it. (Guess I gave the wrong answer huh?

Thinking about it later, I should have been inquiring about the ER Dr diagnosing a muscle spasm. This was the same local hospital my brother owned 40% of for a period of time (winning that % from the hospital in a $2.1 mil suit for a botched operation). By the time I realized this angle, that incident was also out of the SOL.

This all occurred after * Co's malpractice reforms. The attorneys all told me it would be difficult, and not worth their time money wise to pursue it.

[loudsue]

10. So much of this is due to a culture of "corporatization"...you know,

running things "like a business", which is SO popular among republicans. It goes from the top down: administrators don't care about their employees, and employees don't care about those they are supposed to help, and the jobs they're supposed to be responsible for. After all, nobody at "the top" is willing to take responsibility for things going horribly wrong....they just blame the poor bloke trying to do their job...unless they're your "buddy".

The republican culture in "business", as well as government, has become so toxic that nobody can live like this anymore. And, indeed, it is a culture that can be FATAL to lots of people.

:kick::kick::kick:

[THUNDER HANDS]

11. they probably thought she was a junkie

and when they didn't respond, she would just get up and leave.

Turns out they were wrong.

Sad story.

[panzerfaust]

23. Junkie or NOT

... makes no difference.

Someone in pain (someone who, as it turns out was dying) should be helped by the "health care system"

I expect that this is the only country in the Western World where such an abomination could occur.

[colorado_ufo]

12. Abominable,

and reflective of the attitude of much of society today. Inexcusable.

[GCP]

13. Jesus H. Christ on a pogo stick

WTF were they thinking? How any medical professional could act like this is beyond me. After she's been on the floor more than 5 minutes, couldn't they have at least checked her over. Once they got their fingers out of their assholes they might have found her vital signs were going down the toilet.

Un-fuckin-believable.

They all need to be fired.

[lynnertic]

14. what did she die of?

I know I'm new here, and I'm not griping about DU or what people in DU post, but about how newspaper articles are written in narrative style now.

They used to be in an inverted triangle format (most important facts first).

Here, the reason the woman dies isn't even in story by the 4th paragraph, nor are the names of any of the other important figures in the story. Only the victim's name appears.

Unfortunately, unless we go back and pull facts from the middle of the article once it's archived at LATimes it will cost to find the facts at a later date.

:banghead:

[MUAD_DIB]

16. On page two...

---snip---
"According to preliminary coroner's findings, the cause was a perforated large bowel, which caused an infection. Experts say the condition can bring about death fairly suddenly."
---snip---


as to the people sitting by...

---snip---
"Where was their heart? Where was their humanity? … When Jose came in, everybody was just sitting, looking. Where were they?"
---snip---

Put that one down to the sheeple department.


My mother is a retired nurse. This would never happen where she worked.
This sounds like a bad Hopital ER.

[Lost-in-FL]

40. perforated bowel??

The only way to miss that is if she didn't get the right examination in the first place. Patients with perforated bowels are simply NOT SENT HOME with antibiotics but ADMITTED right away.

Sometimes the mention of the words "calling my lawyer" or "a phone call to the Local news" can be the difference between life or death. I have seen patients who had to used measures like that to be seen by doctors. Hospitals administrators hate that.

[LisaL]

45. Those patients need surgery ASAP.

That poor woman.

[mainer]

73. It's a horrible, painful way to die

I've watched it in the hospital. All it would've taken was a simple blood test -- just a CBC and/or a serum amylase -- to give you a clue that something was seriously wrong.

[ProudDad]

90. In the U.S. of A.

folks who have great health insurance or are affluent with perforated bowels are admitted right away. This woman was poor so she got the kind of health care that those of us who have no insurance and little money get.

I went through a similar experience with my girlfriend. She spent over 11 hours in the ER at the county hospital, was NEVER SEEN by a doctor and we finally said FUCK IT and left -- we went to a different hospital the next day -- then the FUCKERS CHARGED HER FOR USING THEIR CORRIDOR WHILE SHE WAS WAITING!!!

And she's an RN who has over 21 years' experience including some years as a head nurse... But she, like me, cannot afford health insurance.

"Alerted to the "disturbance" in the lobby, police stepped in — by running Rodriguez's record. They found an outstanding warrant and prepared to take her to jail. She died before she could be put into a squad car."

I don't have the words to convey my disgust at the hospital administration and staff and the fucking cops who kept sending the boyfriend back to the "hospital staff" instead of helping.

This IS SYSTEMIC. This kind of SHIT is built into the for-profit "health care" system we are subjected to in this stingy, greedy country.

Call your congresscritters and DEMAND that they co-sponser HR676 - SINGLE PAYER UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE!!!

THIS IS ALL ABOUT THE MONEY!!!!!

[mile18blister]

15. King/Drew was nicknamed "Killer King".

The only reason it remains open is because there would be absolutely no emergency services in the area. I remember of one the scandals involved a patient dying because nurses ignored monitors.

Another infamous incident involved a nurse selling CPR certificates:

http://auditor.co.la.ca.us/cms1_047661.pdf

L.A. County first responders carry instructions not to be taken to this ER.

[Cronopio]

37. With a record like that, why were they allowed to stay in business?

Sorry if that's too obvious a question, it's just this thinking habit of mine.

What can one say but ... "L.A."?

[edwardsfeingold08]

57. It reminds me of this song

How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live
"Well, the doctor comes 'round here with his face all bright
And he says "in a little while you'll be alright"
All he gives is a humbug pill, a dose of dope and a great big bill
Tell me, how can a poor man stand such times and live?"
Blind Alred Reed

I think this type of problem has been around for a long time and is much larger than just an L.A. problem. It's the same indifference we saw after Hurricane Katrina.

[mile18blister]

58. Cause it's the only game in town.

Or more precisely, it's a county hospital, and if it shuts down the overflow will put even more pressure on other L.A. County facilities. Local residents will have no where to go if it closes. I guess even, shoddy, hit-or-miss service is better than absolutely nothing. The Board of Supervisors and local residents are desperately trying to fix it up, but the horror stories just keep on coming.

[GETPLANING]

17. "the county police did absolutely, absolutely nothing wrong as far as we're concerned."

Doing absolutely nothing is wrong, as far as I am concerned. This is just so fucking sad. Only in America can you die while being arrested for trying to obtain hospital services.

[kirby]

20. The nerve of him...

They claim the police were summoned only because the husband was being 'rowdy'. Your wife is in a fetal position, you are scared about her, and the hospital is refusing to help her. Rowdy seems low on the scale of how I would behave in a similar situation wrt to my own family.

[ProudDad]

91. If my girlfriend had been writhing around in pain on the ER floor

I'd have been SCREAMING AT THE TOP OF MY FUCKING LUNGS until those fucks did something substantive for her!

Sounds like her boyfriend was a model of decorum and patience...of course, as a person of probable brown persuasion he daren't do otherwise in racist U.S. of A.

[Warpy]

21. Yes, they needed to talke a LOOK

and see what the problem was, not cruise NCIS to see if she had a record.

Somebody dying from a perforated bowel is easy to spot, even for people who have no medical training. There's an alarm bell that goes, "OH MAH GAWD THIS GAL'S DYING!"

Like I said above, I hope her survivors can get a good lawyer.

[Canuckistanian]

25. Geez, what causes a perforated bowel?

Are there warning signs?

A previous poster said the article mentioned that someone who has an infection from a peforated bowel can die fairly suddenly.

Did they miss something obvious in the first diagnosis?

[Warpy]

29. It can be many things, although in this case

it was most probably a burst diverticulum.

She had known gall bladder disease. Not examining any farther was the doc's fault. There is a lot of stuff living below the diaphragm and the symptoms sometimes overlap. He ASSumed, and we know what that means.

She must have been in pain for a long time, only came in when it grew unbearable.

May she rest in peace and may her survivors find a pit bull lawyer.

[Canuckistanian]

41. Thanks

And somehow, I think, a lawsuit is inevitable.

[LisaL]

47. Are there warning signs? Yea, this lady was in pain on the floor.

One might think that should have been a warning sign.

[Cobalt Violet]

51. But she was a "complainer"

:sarcasm:

[Ecumenist]

56. I hope that they find a good lawyer too. My mother died under VERY similar circumstances

and we're just about to get the depositions over with an eye toward going to court within a couple of months. My mother was allowed to die over a period of about 20 hours and the people that let her die lied to the police and to us about her whereabouts. The very worse thing is that although they were begged and pled with, they NEVER called 911 even though they were literally ACROSS THE STREET!! Hell, they never rendered ANY KIND OF HELP, WHATSOEVER!! Dogs in the street get better treatment. The only call that was logged at 911 phoning for help for my mother came from me, IN SACRAMENTO and this happened in OAKLAND!! So, I know about the pain that this family is going through and the what ifs they'll always think back on.

[LisaL]

53. That one is hard to understand too.

What is their policy for arresting people who are in the hospital trying to get medical attention?

[panzerfaust]

22. Sicko

She just did not appreciate how wonderful our health-care is.

To go and die like that, causing bureaucrats all that embarassment...

Yep, just another Real Sicko.

[GreenPartyVoter]

26. Yep, I think Moore's film will help more of these stories take the limelight

[panzerfaust]

30. Sadly, there are thousands.

[GreenPartyVoter]

31. Yeah :^(

[shanti]

38. IF the gov't

doesn't ban it. they ARE trying to do so....

[GreenPartyVoter]

83. It'll get out, on the 'net at the very least.

[Vinca]

27. What a horrible, horrible incident. That poor woman.

It's hard to understand this kind of inhumanity.

[anitar1]

28. I left L A over 20 yrs ago. Harbor had a terrible rep even then.

But let's go back to Ms. Rodrigez FIRST visit to the hospital. She saw a Dr. she was given an appt. Why did he not look into her complaint? just give her pain pills and make an appt. I am not defending the nurses, but most people blame nurses for everything that happens. Dr.'s are the only ones with authority over a patient, not nurses. Nurse's job is to follow orders. Who gave the orders to not allow this woman be seen by another Dr.? I read things about Harbor when I lived in L.A.that were just as horrible.This hospital was and is in a black/Hispanic neighborhood. Does that tell you anything ? This will be a passing story and nothing will be done. These are poor people for the most part and we know how that goes. Also , since obese people are constantly demonized, this woman had strikes against her from the beginning.See her picture in the article.What will happen to her children?

[PegDAC]

39. The poor are expendable.

This is just further proof.

[ProudDad]

92. Why didn't he look into her complaint?

she didn't have health insurance perhaps?

[Morgana LaFey]

34. How does a person get a perforated bowel?

Anyhow?

[Canuckistanian]

42. I asked the same question above

Warpy gives the answers.

[Cronopio]

35. Maybe she wasn't on the "approved patients" list.

Just another day in this sociopathic cult game called hypercapitalism.

:grr: :nuke: :grr:

[spotbird]

36. Culture of life, my ass.

She was fat, latina, poor and breathed air, therefore undeserving of life. But damn, if she had been all those things and pregnant, well her fetus would have a "right to life".

[Name removed]

54. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. 
[link:www.democraticunderground.com/forums/rules.html|Click
here] to review the message board rules.

[Minimus]

60. go away

[ismnotwasm]

61. Yes, just go away.

Ew.

[Connonym]

66. you forgot the sarcasm tags

god I hope that's sarcasm. If not you're a pretty vile excuse for a human being.

[panzerfaust]

71. Umm.

One would hope that "sarcasm tags" should not be needed.

Really - the poster is explicating a "True Conservative's (TM)" view on the whole matter.

What is the old joke ... a Conservative is a person who believes that a fetus is entitled to all rights and protections of the law: Until the moment of birth.

Clearly the poster was being sarcastic.

Clearly the sarcasm passed by at least several DUer's ...

[Connonym]

72. The post in question has been deleted

The one above the deleted post was very clearly sarcasm. The deleted post? I just hoped it was sarcasm but evidently not.

[dddem]

59. true,

but only until birth.

[Lost-in-FL]

44. Discharge orders and diagnosis: HHA

Hispanic Hysteria Attack, a term commonly used in the emergency room where I work. Maybe that was her diagnosis and she was sent home. The thing is that I can't find that term in a medical dictionary. :sarcasm:

[annabanana]

55. This I believe.... There are bunches of abbreviations for

"unpleasant" patients and symptoms...

[janx]

46. Did she even see a doctor?

"She'd been given prescription medication and a doctor's appointment."

[debbierlus]

48. Unbelievable. People are so cold

So sad.

[KT2000]

75. The last few days of a life

A friend with brain cancer was nearing the end of her life in her son's home. When her condition deteriorated, her son called 911 and she was taken to the hospital. The hospital said they could not do anything for her. It was the weekend and the doctor said they were required to release her since Medicaid would not cover the cost there since there was nothing the doctors could do for her.

She was transferred to a nursing home that would accept her during the weekend. They too said they could not keep her so she was transferred to yet another nursing home on Monday. She died soon after arriving at that home. She spent her last days riding around in the back of an ambulance.

The United States of America is over. It is only about the

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[Nikki Stone1]

76. The woman had a perforated bowel and the cops were ARRESTING her??

"Alerted to the "disturbance" in the lobby, police stepped in — by running Rodriguez's record. They found an outstanding warrant and prepared to take her to jail. She died before she could be put into a squad car."

[mile18blister]

79. That might have been the best thing that could happen to her.

If the cops had gotten to her sooner, she probably would have wound up at County/USC, which is a helluva lot better than "Killer King".

[Nikki Stone1]

80. Good Lord. I remember County/USC; I went there years ago before I had insurance

for a free screening. King Drew (as it was known then) was always having problems but I didn't realize how bad.

I just feel so awful about this woman. And I DO think that bigotry--against Latinas and overweight people--played a part in how badly she was treated. What is sad is that she seemed to be a really nice woman and she didn't deserve a death like this. I hope the family sues the hospital for everything it can.

[rateyes]

77. Can anyone say "manslaughter"?

NO DAMNED EXCUSE FOR THIS. NONE.

[hedgehog]

78. I agree with the poster that said that the real cause of death was that she was

fat and Latina. Maybe if she'd been smart enough to be born a skinny blonde, she would be aline today! (No offense to skinny blondes!)

I went to high school with someone who is now an important surgeon in her community. Having heard the racist remarks coming out of her mouth, I now understand why so many blacks don't trust doctors or hospitals. Maybe she thinks she treats all her patients the same regardless of race or class, but I really doubt it.

[Nikki Stone1]

81. I agree with you, Hedgehog

...

[boobooday]

85. There but for the grace of God and a big fat wallet

goes any American.

This is absolutely heinous, and inhumane. The poor woman.

Our system is disgusting and vile and well . . . obviously evil.

[JI7]

88. there are many horror stories concerning this hospital

just look it up on the Web. LA Times had some good pieces on it.

and it use to be called King Drew .

not surprised by this at all after what i already read about it.

and no surprise that most if not all the victims were poor.

[shrike]

95. This story really hit home with me

We are a middle, upper-middle class couple, white, with good insurance, a hospital with a fine reputation nearby.

DH went in for routine hernia surgery. A day later, the flesh around the incision began to swell. The doctor assured us the swelling would go down and told me to put ice on it. He then left town for a conference. I was on the phone with his partner constantly, who kept assuring me nothing was wrong and to "put ice on it." Finally, after it swelled to the size of a melon, I was ready to take him to the ER. He wanted to wait until morning, when his doctor would be back in town. The minute the sun came up I had Doc on the phone, and he readmitted him. (I found out later it would have been a nightmare if we'd gone through the ER; too much paperwork involved.) As soon as they finally got a look at this thing they had him back in surgery within 45 minutes. Doc wouldn't look me in the eye when he came out to talk to me. Turns out a small artery had been cut during the original procedure and had been bleeding out. I found out later that the equivalent of a couple pints of blood had been filling up his body cavity.

I don't even want to think of what would have happened if we'd been poor minorities, dealing with a public hospital. The one bright spot was the nurses: they couldn't do enough for him. One of them even came by when his shift was over, to find out how he was doing.

[AnneD]

96. Great....

another beat up the Nurses thread.

That hospital has had a horrible reputation for many years. It continues to be mismanaged and underfunded. I live here in Texas and even I know how bad it is there. Folks tend to turn a blind eye or hit the closest target. I seldom work the floor any more. It's not that I can't-but that I refuse to work in unsafe conditions.

I was offered a prn job this weekend-11 patients. Let me repeat that. I would be responsible for the treatments, IV's and IV antiobiotics, medications for breakfast and lunch passes for 11 patients. Oh, I wouldn't be alone-I would have 2 aids heping me to baths, helping feed those that couldn't feed themselves, toileting, restraining and ansewering bed alarms of the confused. I don't think they liked my answer. Now, every one of those patients draw either medicare/medicade or insurance and I get $30/hr and the aids get 8. So the hospital pays out $46/hr for care plus meds and it would drop a bit more at night because you only have one aid. They are out $1280 to pay for 24 hours of care yet they were billing 11 patients for the care. I am not sure what the room costs were but the more they save, the more they pocket.

But the funny thing about working short is that you tend to make errors which increase healing time if your patient survives. Oh, and did I mention all those nasty lawsuits. Of those Nurses I knew that were drug into court-I have yet to meet one that truly deserved it (this is not to say that there are some that do-I have seen a few that deserved a lawsuit). Most Nurse's make convient, inexpensive scape goats. I have known a Dr to write the wrong dose, the pharmicist fill the wrong dose and the Nurse give the dose that the Dr. ordered and the Pharmicist (also a Dr) fill. Who was canned and liscense taken away? Yeah, the Nurse and only the Nurse.

Oh, and that Nursing job this weekend-I didn't take it because I didn't think it was safe. Wonder how much safer it was without a Nurse. This my friends is what health care has become in this country.

[Honeycombe8]

97. Wow. How sad. But I wouldn't fault the other patients.

Although I would probably have reacted more proactively than those patients there with her, I wouldn't have done much more than call it to the nurse's attention or other staff. They were, after all, at a hospital. I would've figured that if it were serious, and called to their attention, they would take care of it. I would assume that if they weren't taking care of it, it wasn't serious. Also...what could they do? Well, at least one patient checked on her.

How sad. The lady's family will now own that hospital, I guess, with the size of the legal judgment.

[Megahurtz]

99. California. Typical!

Nobody gives a shit here, especially the people who run "The System".
Look at the fucking Cops arresting her instead of allowing her to get emergency treatment.
Fucking Idiots! :mad:

Seriously this is not the first time in California I've seen gross mistreatment like this.:grr:

This place is a fucking joke.
:rant:

[LisaL]

101. She wasn't getting an emergency treatment when cops

arrested her.
The hospital was refusing to treat her. Maybe cops actually could have taken her somewhere else so she could actually get treatment.

[XemaSab]

100. If they think you're a whiner, you're screwed

I had a bad experience once going into the ER with an asthma attack. The doctor decided there was nothing wrong with me (!) and proceeded to not give me the right drugs *and* give me the wrong drugs, until 6 hours later I had to be resuscitated and I wound up in the ICU.

Assholes.

[entanglement]

102. Racism kills n/t

[Blue_Tires]

103. hideous sign of the times

one of my favorite DUer names was "nothing shocks me anymore"...it's apt.