Yet Another Patient Dies Waiting For Emergency Care « WhiteCoat Rants
Mr. Herrera waited 19 hours for care and still had not seen a doctor when he went into a cardiac arrest and died.
Dreadful. And, unfortunately, predictable.
ED’s are one of those “If you build it, they will come” things, but they’re not funded or equipped (those are related) to see everyone. I fear the answer will be some bureaucratic “Everyone must be screened within…” (some arbitrary number) and will generate the corresponding foolishness to comply with a foolish requirement.
It won’t change a thing. Until our ED’s are properly equipped and funded, this will keep happening.
(There’s a WTF in there for ?why is it okay to have patients waiting that long? and where is the administration? They should have a protocol to call in more of whatever is needed to keep anyone from waiting that long, absent Act of God. ‘Because we’ve always done it that way’ is an incorrect answer).
