the first few paragraphs, click link for rest of story (too long to cut/paste)
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.
Aside from one patient who briefly checked on her condition, no one helped her. A janitor cleaned the floor around her as if she were a piece of furniture. A closed-circuit camera captured everyone's apparent indifference.
Arriving to find Rodriguez on the floor, her boyfriend unsuccessfully tried to enlist help from the medical staff and county police — even a 911 dispatcher, who balked at sending rescuers to a hospital.
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.
interesting. says she was in for abd pain 3x in 3 days,but never what they did for her test wise, or what they suspected her diagnosis was, etc.
The triage nurse should be sued, as should her employer. The money settlement won't restore the patient's family's wife, mother, sister, daughter, cousin, aunt, granddaughter, and niece but that's how settle such scores here in America.
I hope the Board of Nursing in California goes after this nurse, too, big time. At the very least, she should have had her seen again. How utterly unthinkable that someone in this day and age should have to die like a dog because ER staff, including the doctor(s) who missed the Dx when they did see her, were incompetent. Dear God, help us all. This is absolutely horrible. Where was a Nursing Supervisor? An Administrator? Didn't anyone think to call a Manager or a supervising physician?
One way to look at this is to step back and see the big picture. ERs in many places, especially places that serve poor, uninsured, sometimes illegal minorities are imploding. First there will be bad care, indifferent care and neglegent care. Then there will be no care at all. This does not absolve the nurses and doctors involved of responsibility but the responsibility does not end with them. Believe me this is not merely a problem related to bad nurses, it is MUCH, MUCH bigger than that.
One way to look at this is to step back and see the big picture. ERs in many places, especially places that serve poor, uninsured, sometimes illegal minorities are imploding. First there will be bad care, indifferent care and neglegent care. Then there will be no care at all. This does not absolve the nurses and doctors involved of responsibility but the responsibility does not end with them. Believe me this is not merely a problem related to bad nurses, it is MUCH, MUCH bigger than that.
Don't take my words personally....
You sound like if you are poor or new immigrants...legal or illegal...you might not get the care that a human being is supposed to get.
While Ms. Rodriquez was dying like a "dog," none of the nurses in that ER came out and spoke for her. What a shame!!!!
I know nurses who quit working at King Drew after a decade or more because management, both hospital and the County Supervisors, didn't care. I heard too man say, "I only have one license. There are many hospitals. I had no choice."
This really sounds like the other side of the ER nurses venting. First, the woman was obese, she was also Mexican or Hispanic. Can't you hear the accusations of "Drug Seeker!" resounding down the hall. Then, she probably did not have insurance. She had 3 strikes against her before she came in the first time. How could anyone let a woman lie on the floor in pain like that. ER nurses can do it because they are extremely judgmental and they think they know it all and are always right. The woman had a perforated large bowel, for God's sake.
T. Soup--how can you lay the blame for this at the feet of ER patients. This woman needed care, and apparently never got any kind of diagnostic workup. They gave the woman instructions to come back if pain worsened. She did, and they totally ignored her. Not even so much as a temp or BP check.
Now, another really good reason why NO ONE wants to work triage.
I don't think the nurse is entirely to blame here. You have to remember she was discharged by a DOCTOR only 3 hours prior!
Also, the police were the ones who brought her to the ER in the first place to be examined. obviously they thought her complaints were warranted at some point.
Sad, very sad for all involved. I hope whoever inspects the place in the next 6 weeks goes over the place like a toothbrush on tile grout!
I don't think the nurse is entirely to blame here. You have to remember she was discharged by a DOCTOR only 3 hours prior!
Also, the police were the ones who brought her to the ER in the first place to be examined. obviously they thought her complaints were warranted at some point.
Sad, very sad for all involved. I hope whoever inspects the place in the next 6 weeks goes over the place like a toothbrush on tile grout!
Yes, the doctor is at fault for missing a perf'd bowel, but the triage nurse did not triage as she was supposed to. She carries some of the blame here.
I am sorry but i really take offense to the comments regarding ER nurses. Someone blatently said,"ER nurses could because they are judgemental." As an ED nurse i am really disturbed by that comment. That would never ever ever ever happen in the busy ED i work in. Even the most hardened nurse I work with with never ever ever ever leave a pt. writhing in pain on the floor. Is that just my ER ? I think not. Who knows what really happened. Now is not the time to point fingers at our fellow nurses. Now is the time to stand up and figure out what REALLY happened and not ever ever let something like that happen again.
TrudyRN
1,343 Posts
Not to mention jail time.