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911 Operators Did Little to Help Dying Woman in ER
- Thread starter Lyle
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Oh my gosh...
I can't even begin to imagine what that must have been like. Her for experiencing such excruciating pain, her husband who could only stand by and watch as his 911 call was ignored.And even a separate bystander's 911 call was ignored!
Truly, a tragic death.
Wow... refusing to pick her up because she was already in a (poorly operated) hospital.
That's horrible.
That's horrible.
It seems to be more the hospital and the police officers' fault. It was at least understandable that the 911 operator was confused. But the hospital staff just let a woman writhe and bleed all over the floor! And the policemen who arrested her instead of letting her get medical attention! It's just disgusting.
I think my soul just threw up.
The failure here is on so many levels, I'm afraid that blame is going to end up hitting only one group. The 911 operator, the police, the paramedics, the hospital, the nurses in the hospital, the doctors. This is one time where I can't see a failure on the part of the health care system.
Why not the system? The system got her to a hospital. I imagine that it receives medicare/aid money - therefore the ER was available to treat her. The hospital couldn't send her away. Nothing that I can see demonstrates that she would have gotten care if she was well to do or she/Prado (was he her boyfriend or husband, story says former, his call the latter) spoke English.
What I do see is abominable care. What I see is that the health care system got here where she needed to be, and the people failed her. What I see is that when the people failed her, the emergency system failed to remedy that. While I know that they would trade it all to have Rodriguez back, but I can think of one family that should be very well to do after this.
The failure here is on so many levels, I'm afraid that blame is going to end up hitting only one group. The 911 operator, the police, the paramedics, the hospital, the nurses in the hospital, the doctors. This is one time where I can't see a failure on the part of the health care system.
Why not the system? The system got her to a hospital. I imagine that it receives medicare/aid money - therefore the ER was available to treat her. The hospital couldn't send her away. Nothing that I can see demonstrates that she would have gotten care if she was well to do or she/Prado (was he her boyfriend or husband, story says former, his call the latter) spoke English.
What I do see is abominable care. What I see is that the health care system got here where she needed to be, and the people failed her. What I see is that when the people failed her, the emergency system failed to remedy that. While I know that they would trade it all to have Rodriguez back, but I can think of one family that should be very well to do after this.
I don't think so. The way I read what the operator said, it sounded like he just didn't get it and thought it was good enough that she was already in a hospital, despite everyone explaining what kind of situation she was in right now.
... except for the accountability/oversight part. The article says that this is just "the latest high-profile lapse at [this hospital]", and it sounds like it was already under investigation for previous problems. But otherwise I agree with what you're saying.nbs2 said:
Yep. I'm guessing that that scenario isn't in the 911 Operator script, and that 911 call center managers don't encourage their employees to "think outside of the box" (assuming they're even capable of doing that).
I'm not saying the operator isn't blameworthy. I just think the staff who is actually watching the woman suffering acted more egregiously than someone on the phone, no matter how lousy a job they did of trying to understand the situation. The article doesn't make clear what was going on at the hospital. It's a poorly written article. I have a hard time even picturing it. Does working at a hospital desensitize the workers into ignoring that type of thing? Does the same apply to the operators? After rereading the article, it seems like the police arrested at the end, just as she was about to die.
That's the same thing I thought.
It's the manager part of what you said that concerns me. You would reasonably think that when confronted by this kind of situation (especially from two different callers), that 911 employees are advised to get a manager. Something like "is a person receiving a sufficient standard of care in the ER?" is a lawyer question, not an operator question.
That's not their job.
Which part? Getting the manager or answering a lawyer question. I agree with you on the latter, disagree on the former. If you are saying that answering a legal question isn't part of the operator's job, that's my point. When someone calls in an emergency, it isn't the operator's job to say "you're at a hospital, so you are receiving proper care." Their job is to call paramedics who will speak and visit the person to assess the situation.
They stood there watching her die on the floor writhing in pain with blood coming out of her mouth for 45 minutes and no one did anything about it.
Great.
Great.
They probably cannot make judgement calls on the quality of care at a hospital. Otherwise, why not always send people to the hospital with better care? They most likely have to treat all hospitals as being equal, even if the individual operator knows better. I'm not advocating it, I'm just saying it is what it is. I wish things were different.
By the way, I was being sarcastic before.
king/drew has a long history of mistreating patients since 2000/2001. i was gonna volunteer there becuase of its unique location and high volume of trauma cases. it turned out that they didn't need a lot of volunteers because a lot of its services were forced to close due to mismanagement and lack of funding. in fact, the hospital is known as "killer king" amongst the locals.
the los angeles times has a series of pulitzer prize-winning articles about the troubling king/drew.
the los angeles times has a series of pulitzer prize-winning articles about the troubling king/drew.
Oh. Sorry.
I suppose I could try and defend myself with a "sarcasm doesn't travel well over the net" excuse, but really it's just my fault. I'm so embarrassed.
Oh. Sorry.
I suppose I could try and defend myself with a "sarcasm doesn't travel well over the net" excuse, but really it's just my fault. I'm so embarrassed.
Oh, it happens. It doesn't convey well in person either. I often meet people who think I'm a horrible person because of my sense of humor. Imagine a raunchy Stephen Colbert without the charisma.
Normally, 911 operators don't have a say in the matter... the ambulance crew take injured to the closest hospital. In this case, she was at a hospital and therefore no ambulance was required. Otherwise people might request one hospital over another, and if they died in transit, the crew is to blame.
However, the primary focus of this incident is not the 911 operators and the ambulance situation... it is the status of the hospital itself. It should have been closed years ago; probably would save more lives that way.
The article didn't mention if she walked into the E.R. or was taken there via emergency vehicle. I wonder if that would have made a difference.
Despicable.
Every doctor and nurse at that hospital should have their licenses revoked, and the involved police should be fired. ...Then they should all be sent to jail.
Every doctor and nurse at that hospital should have their licenses revoked, and the involved police should be fired. ...Then they should all be sent to jail.
It is always comforting to know that the second largest city in America has inadequate hospitals, unable to care for a woman dying in their emergency room.
My college town of a population of 25,000 has a better hospital.
My college town of a population of 25,000 has a better hospital.
the county wanted to close it, but the community voiced the otherwise. king/drew's history means quite a bit to the neighborhood.
Not doubting you personally, but that really is incredible. Then again, I've things like that happen in DC and Baltimore.
At that point, you wondering if the community will simply continue to reap what they have sown....