woman dies in ER waiting room (article)

Myxel67, If you run for president, I will vote for you. I would even work countless hours on your campaign. We really need this scale.

tazz yo jump across the puter as a competent nurse with honed assessment skillls
i didn't read the papers on this hospital but i know that we have charity hospitals where the care is is first rate..we hae a lot of working poor and they just cannot pay for hospital/halth insurance..if a patient comes into the er and needs to be followed up there are clinics whee appts ae made at the d/c from er [i know that this wouldln't have helped this woman but this issue was brought up]
frequently the waits are long but they are also long at private pay hospital and the care is good

can't spell, can't type, hate to proofread - i love you all anyway

Thanks, Dale!

This woman did have an appt made for her, but she was told to return with worsening symptoms, and that's what she did. Problem with the triage nurse is that she looked at the fact that the pt had just been discharged, not that she was worse.

Yeah, I most certainly agree with you there. However, it really isn't all that clear that she even saw a nurse.

Our registration clerks wear scrubs, and get called "nurse" all the time. (And they sometimes say some pretty dumb things).

Who was it that attributed that comment to a nurse? I thought it was either the boyfriend or the person that wrote the article. Either of them could have made an assumption. Even if the comment came from the initial police report, it could have be attributed to the wrong person.

But I do agree that if it was an actual nurse that told her to go home, it is a huge EMTALA violation, and probably a criminal act.

(I once triaged a 30-something that presented with a pimple on her back. I soooooo wanted to tell her "It is a pimple, not an abscess. Go home. It will go away." But I didn't. I couldn't. As a nurse, I am not qualified to do the MSE at my hospital. So I triaged her -- level 5 -- somewhere around midnight. We were very busy, and she didn't get seen until around 6am -- can't believe she stayed. Well, the doc saw her, and told her she had a pimple, and sent her home. She was furious -- at me -- because she waited all night for a pimple. Sigh. We just can't win)

The article said it was a triage nurse. Gave the name too. She resigned, the department manager was reassigned.

That is NEGLIGENT.
....Not to mention Ms. Rodriquez was collapsed on the floor....and there was a CCTV....according to the news, the nurses over there were "indifference."

So...they knew they did something wrong...
This is the reason why they are "running away."

Can you quote it for me?

Don't mean to sound so hopeless, but I just reread the article (again) and can't find that reference.

I knew that she had resigned, but I would have, too, even if I didn't feel like I had erred -- there is no way I would have been able to go back there.

The article certainly does make her seem like a horrible person, but we haven't heard her side of the story (and probably never will).

My heart goes out to this poor patient and her family. I hope eventually they will find peace of heart, and know that most health care professionals are disgusted by what happened, that we care very much about our patients. But I am also very disappointed with some of the negative sentiments expressed in this thread, by other nurses, concerning ER nurses. Remember, do not judge a whole group of nurses, because of the actions of one. I happen to think ER nurses ROCK and I must say bad apples do exist in all nursing specialities, although I'm happy to say they are in the definite minority. Let's all just take this as reminder to never assume anything regarding our patients and to always take the time to REALLY assess any situation.

This is sad! Could the hospital be shut down for this??