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If that had been my mother.... I would have been pissed at the lack of attention
WAUKEGAN, Illinois (AP) -- A coroner's jury has declared the death of a heart attack victim who spent almost two hours in a hospital waiting room to be a homicide.
Beatrice Vance, 49, died of a heart attack, but the jury at a coroner's inquest ruled Thursday that her death also was "a result of gross deviations from the standard of care that a reasonable person would have exercised in this situation."
A spokeswoman for Vista Medical Center in Waukegan, where Vance died July 29, declined to comment on the ruling.
Vance had waited almost two hours for a doctor to see her after complaining of classic heart attack symptoms -- nausea, shortness of breath and chest pains, Deputy Coroner Robert Barrett testified.
She was seen by a triage nurse about 15 minutes after she arrived, and the nurse classified her condition as "semi-emergent," Barrett said. He said Vance's daughter twice asked nurses after that when her mother would see a doctor.
When her name was finally called, a nurse found Vance slumped unconscious in a waiting room chair without a pulse. Barrett said. She was pronounced dead shortly afterward.
Barrett said he subpoenaed records after finding discrepancies in the hospital's version of events.
It wasn't immediately clear if the ruling would lead to criminal charges. Dan Shanes, a chief of felony review for the state attorney's office, said his division needed to review the case.
Vista Medical Center spokeswoman Cheryl Maynen said the hospital, just north of Chicago, cooperated with the coroner's investigation and had also investigated the incident. She declined to comment on the homicide ruling.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/09/15/er.....ap/index.html
If that had been my mother.... I would have been pissed at the lack of attention
ER is a joke in these days. The wait time is insane. I remember my sister had a fan blade that broke off and skimmed her head...she was bleed profusely, it was everywhere on her clothes her hair... When we took her to the ER, we waited 3 hours before someone saw her. Not to mention the fact that when a Doctor does in fact see you in the hospital these days...you barely get to talk to him for more than 2 minutes. He's in, asks you if your allergic to any meds, gives you his prognosis and says goodbye. It's sad whats happened to our medical services in this country.
I blame it on Shoog.
. . . be with you in a moment . . .
Two things:
1. The standard of care is, when you have symptoms suggestive of a coronary event, to have an ECG performed within 10 minutes of arriving at the door. No matter what was actually going on medically with that woman, the hospital has no leg to stand on and will pay dearly.
2. Due to the screwed-up nature of health coverage in this country, too many people us the ER as a clinic, which it is not. This can often a be a major reason (thought not the only one) for ridiculous wait times: too many people in the ER without emergencies.
Last edited by ShoogarBear; 09-15-2006 at 06:09 PM. Reason: change "even" to "event"
there are probably some crazy staffing issues as well.
You're a Doctor?
He plays one on the Internet!
Open wide, little girl and say Ahh....
Sincerely,
Shoog
Oh, man.
He plays one on the Internet!
Open wide, little girl and say Ahh....
Sincerely,
Shoog
He plays one on the Internet!
Open wide, little girl and say Ahh....
Sincerely,
Shoog
1Parker1 has been admiring Shoog for years and just figured out he's a doctor??
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