MLK Hospital & 911 Ignores Dying Woman
Martin Luther King Drew Hospital also now called King Harbor Hospital I believe in a bad area in Los Angeles, watches a discharged woman vommtting blood with no immediate assitance. She later dies.
Two 911 calls were made and still the operators gave no assitance. This hospital has been a longtime NO GO zone for Travel Nurses and under constant scrutiny and so called make overs.
Full Story Here:
abc7.com: 911 Tapes Show People Tried to Get Dying Woman Help
More Details Here:
LA TIMES
Related Stories:
LA TIMES
Appalling.......if I hadn't seen the evidence I wouldn't have believed you......how can human beings be so insensitive to others........I worked part time at D.C. General hospital in Washington D.C. before they closed it.......that hospital was awful too but not this bad........again I say the administration sets the tone for the facility......this issue goes to the top.........:frustrated:Originally Posted by HeyFraydo
This was a HOT topic at another BB I frequent. King Drew has a horrible reputation; I read an article several years ago and could not believe some of the things that had happened. They go beyond just making mistakes, and the problems are not limited to one area of the hospital. Everyone from aides on up to the specialists just practiced poorly.
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Re: MLK Hospital & 911 Ignores Dieing Woman
That place needs a complete shutdown. One article said an administrator reported it was not a systemic problem and was related to one nurse who has resigned. Talk about out of touch with reality. This is beyond a systemic problem. The whole culture of the hospital and overseeing organizations need a total replacement. What does it Take to shut a hospital down? Do Doctors and Nurses need to go crazy shooting people running up and down the corridors before REAL action is taken.The press reports it a day or so and then it gets buried under what some popular reality show is doing on celebrity news such as Paris Hilton. The Feds need to step in and take over this place because the county and state are ineffective. What can we do?
CJ Travel NurseToolbox :frustrated:
D.C. General was shut down because the problem there was systemic also and couldn't be fixed......the place was "horrible" as someone said about King Drew.....I won't get into race but unfortunately that was part of the problem.....the government finally refused to fund it anymore....the place was an embarrassment........
this is one of those things that makes you sick.
What are you doing that you can't help someone who is screaming in pain and coughing up blood.
"I'm sorry ma'am, we have a lady with a sore throat, a construction worker who thinks he broke his wrist, and a 5 year old with a tummy ache ahead of you. I'm sure you'll be fine. In the meantime, if you could clean up that blood you're getting all over the place, we'd appreciate it."
The 911 operators...um, people call 911 because they are in desperate need of help. Your job is to see that they get it. It's very simple. If you don't want to do that job, then you need to find a new one. While you're on the job, if you are counter productive to the service you are supposed to provide you should be fired and if your negligence causes suffering, you should go to jail.
COMPASSION. Hard to do any job in healthcare or public service if you don't have that...
My boyfriend was a travel nurse at this hospital last year. It has major problems from the management on down and from the medical school that is associated with it. It is really an outrage that they are blaming the nursing staff for this incident. From the articles I have read about it the ER doc diagnosed her with gallstones and gave her a referal to a clinic. If you are uninsured most hospitals will not operate on you until your gall bladder actually ruptures. She had been seen a few times for the same problem. With the misdiagnosis they were not going to do anything for her. The triage nurse was probably aware of the standing diagnosis and knew they were not going to do anything for that woman. It is to bad they missed the bowel obstruction. But it is not the nurses fault for that.
Re: MLK Hospital & 911 Ignores Dieing Woman
It's my understanding that when security or police brought her back to the ER Triage Nurse following discharge instructions to return if experiecing N&V and Increase Pain that the ER Triage Nurse did nothing while she layed on the ground vomitting blood in pain for 45 minutes. I support Nurses but not at the expense of basic care for patients. I do agree administration there like many places tries to isolate the blame to a nurses or other healthcare workers and that is criminal. I hope and we should push for a criminal investigation from top to bottom but probably what will happen is that the blame gets diffused and the most that happens if at all is the hospital is shut down. I've heard people defending the 911 operators because they were following procedure and it is common for people to call from the ER to expedite service. As a Psych Nurse I know I have had patients call 911 multiple times from the inpatient unit. Maybe thats why the police with a station at the hospital finally got involved. Their solution to the disturbance was to arrest her on a parole violation and attempt to haul her off to jail but she died before they could put her in the squad car. Killer King Strikes again. I beleive in the other related stories on the LA Times another male died in almost the same circumstances being ignored in the ER. I believe the Management sets the tone there and they are negligent but I believe this goes beyond the system in the hospital specifically but to all the overseeing agencies. Its my responsibility as well along with all dedicated Healthcare workers to keep the focus on this issue. This woman had no health Insurance...Gee I wonder if that played into this?
People will say we were following procedures or this is the way it has always been done or people always call from ER crying wolf...I'm not going to acknowledge them. Maybe the video Tape needs to be released to bring about enough consistent outrage to get some real actions taken.
I certainly agree with HeyFraydo on this case.......Just speaking for Emergency Services and as an old ER nurse I have seen too many ER staff personnel become insensitive to the "customers" who come to the ER.....I have seen the unit secretary treat one person like a dog and another like a king based on their insurance or lack of.........their dress or their manner......I have seen nurses do the same up to and including withholding treatment just to "make a point".........is it asking to much to expect the staff to treat all patients as customers and in a professional manner....?........the rude and combative and yes the drug seekers and the drunks......?.......a real professional nurse will just do his/her job without worrying about the persons ability to pay or their lack of education or their dress or manner. I'm not perfect (that's for sure) but I have always attempted to do my job as a nurse in a professional manner and treat all patients well......I don't take it personally........ok, i'm off the soapbox.
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