Quote Originally Posted by HeyFraydo View Post
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.