Comments on: Ignored By 911, Woman Dies In Hospital

Emergency Operators Did Little To Help A Woman Dying In A Hospital Waiting Room

[toldyouso21]

If our health care were really the best in the world, we wouldn't be so far from the best in areas like life expectancy and infant mortality.
90,000 people a year die in the U.S. because they don't have health insurance. Many of them are the hardest workers in our country, on whom everyone else depends.
Posted by weareone2 at 06:24 PM : Jun 13, 2007


Every year, over 100,000 people will die in hospitals due to neglect, malpractice or a disease contracted while in the hospital (usually due to air flow, contaminated equipment and unwashed hands or nurses and doctors) this is a stat that has remained pretty consistent for the past 10 years. This poor woman died of neglect and in my opinion--malpractice. In triage, she should have at least been examined to determined the severity of her problem.

[toldyouso21]

We Do have the best in the world. In Canada you have to get on a waiting list to get an MRI and it takes weeks if not months."

Posted by rudy654 at 10:50 PM : Jun 13, 2007

elective procedures and tests may take weeks or months but not emergencies or acute conditions. I and my family have experienced excellent and immediate care in Europe including x-rays, minor surgery, exams, shots, ultrasounds, etc.

The average wait time was less than 30 minutes. in the case where my son broke his collarbone--we were seen immediately and were in and out in about 2 hours. A lot of what is said about care in Europe is not true and is usually said to prevent Americans from demanding comparable care.

Oh yes, before everyone rushes to Europe, understand that care is still a tiered system. absolutely free care only applies to indigent people --all others pay for supplemental insurance (at least in Holland) based on income. It is still far less than here and when one leaves the hospital, there are no deductibles or copays or other stuff. The most I ever paid was around 27.00 for supplies I insisted on having for an injury.

This is based on my experience--not some article sponsored by the AMA.

[toldyouso21]

We do have the best health care in the entire world. ANYONE who claims anything different hasn%u2019t been far beyond our borders. The problem is that everyone in the inner city expects the same care that they would get if they actually paying their own way and had an unlimited supply of money. What%u2019s next in California---free breast augmentations because some these people in the inner city feel inadequate%u2014it would make their self image improve I%u2019ve heard.
Posted by Fire1009 at 06:14 PM : Jun 13, 2007

NO we don't. Even the Surgeon General and others have acknowledged the validity of the stats compiled by the WHO and others that shows that we have some of the worse care for an Industrialized nation--best to google before saying something that sounds very patriotic but is not based on actual present day FACTS and statistics anymore.

[toldyouso21]

When Republicans tell you that we have the best health care in the world, laugh to yourself and remember this article.
Posted by Smirk5 at 02:39 PM : Jun 13, 2007

Well there are idiots everywhere just like you posting on this web site. Have you even been to other parts of the world? Apparently not by the above ignorant comment you have made. Get a grip and get out of your sheltered little world and see what is happening in the rest of civilization. We have it so good here, but there are uncaring people in places of authority who cause accidents such as this tragedy. There is no cure for STUPID!
Posted by retmilspouse at 05:15 PM : Jun 13, 2007


Actually, in healthcare, America ranks 35th among industrialized nations for healthcare--right up there with Albania. Italy ranks at #2 (the hospitals the TB guy ran away from) that means there are 34 other countries in the Industrialized world with better health care than us.

In low infant mortality we rank #18--that means there are 18 industrialized countries with lower death rates for babies than us.

Instead of resting on America's past glory--you might want to keep up with the latest stats compiled by many world organizations based on hospital related deaths and accidents, bad surgeries and infant deaths.

Another interesting fact, the rate of longevity in the US has been declining for the past 10 years--and those other stats--we have been in those obscene #s for the past 12 years or so.

[toldyouso21]

charge all involved with negligent homicide. and sue EACH one separately.

[toldyouso21]

I'm in the emergency room. My wife is dying and the nurses don't want to help her out,%u201D Rodriguez's boyfriend, Jose Prado, is heard saying in Spanish through an interpreter on the tapes.

So which is it wife or girlfriend ?
Posted by rharrin1 at 04:05 PM : Jun 13, 2007


Who cares? The woman was DYING and was ignored. Stay with what is relevant--let the petty and the bull *****--bushit mentality go.

[toldyouso21]

Does anyone want to guess how much this gentleman will win in his upcoming lawsuit? Probably less than a million dollars. Thanks to insurance reform that has swept the nation state by state, he will probably never get near the amount that I believe he deserves. Who wins? The hospitals insurance company will, in this case. How sad!!!
Posted by US8th_Hit at 03:48 PM : Jun 13, 2007


The family should sue the hospital, the city (9/11 dispatch), and each individual ER nurse/doctor that was on duty. The hospital will have records to show where each employee was to work that night and who was in reception, intake, triage, etc. all should be individually sued.

Always look for the loophole, there may be a cap on what is paid for a particular instance by an entity, but since each would be a separate case, perhaps they could win separate suits. I bet the insurance company would be willing to settle than to go through separate lawsuits--especially since in this case, public opinion is already weighted toward the patient. They can get MILLIONS and they should--though this will not bring back their loved one. My condolences to the family and I do hope you will sue.

[toldyouso21]

think this indicates the absolutely need for privatizing the medical system. It's broken down and when even an obvious medical emergency goes unattended due to the incompetence and lack of care of staffers who were available to give emergency care, well, it only speaks to the lackadaisical attitudes of managers, staff and 9-1-1 personnel, all of whom failed this woman. It seems obvious to me that the county needs to close this hospital down. If people are going to die, they may as well die at home surrounded by friends and family, not writhing in pain on a hospital floor for over 40 minutes waiting for help that never comes.
Posted by l_diaz41 at 03:25 PM : Jun 13, 2007

If it was private, they would have either ignored her or stuck her in a room so that no one could see her and she probably still would have died. If she had no insurance, the private hospital would have sent her away to County. Private hospitals are about money and are notorious for not treating or ill treating those who cannot pay --they may have allowed her to stay if she had Medicare/Medicaid or maybe not--it depends on whether they accepted those kind of cases. The wait in some hospitals for people with poor or no insurance is about 3 to 6 hours in an obscure room. I have heard so many horror stories about certain private hospitals here in Kansas, that it is not funny.

[toldyouso21]

Part of the oath healthcare professionals take is to care for others and "to do no harm" Every single medical person be they paramedics, nurses, doctors--that was in that area should not only be fired, they should be investigated and if found to be one of the ones who interacted and disregarded this woman, they should be arrested and face prison time. What they did goes beyond negligence and due to their supposed training--borders on manslaughter.

[frankfort_ga]

Yes this is tragic and senseless, but you cannot hold the 911 dispatchers at fault. It is not the responsibility of a 911 dispatcher what happens after the patient is handed over to the ambulance service, much less the hospital. They're job is to take the call, offer as much assistance as possible, and send the appropriate responder. Once that responder arrives it is out of the dispatchers hands. If the complaint was that this woman sat at home dying after calling 911 and they failed to send an ambulance then it would be completely different. Most ambulance services have only one hospital per district they are assigned to. Patients cannot request to go to a particular hospital, because per the ambulance service policy, and so as to maintain a rapid response time to the rest of the population, they do NOT leave their districts. My city is fairly small, and only has one hospital, even though depending on which end of town you are on there are closer hospitals in neighboring cities. However our ambulance service is REQUIRED to take all patients to the local hospital. Once they are evaluated, and ONLY if a doctor recommends it, will they be taken to an alternate hospital.