Death from neglect
From the Associated Press:
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A homeless woman who died after writhing in pain on a hospital floor for nearly an hour could have survived if she had received proper treatment, a county report concedes.
The report, obtained by the Los Angeles Times when it was briefly and inadvertently made public in a court filing, said 43-year-old Edith Rodriguez “could have been saved, at least in the early part of her detention” at the troubled Martin Luther King-Harbor Hospital in May 2007. The report was prepared by an outside firm hired by Los Angeles County to look into its liability.
“This is a case of medical negligence as to the medical treatment provided by medical staff at the facility,” the report said.
It concludes that the county should attempt to settle a $45 million lawsuit filed by the woman’s adult children for $250,000, the same amount recently offered by county supervisors to Rodriguez’s boyfriend in a separate lawsuit.
County prosecutors investigating the death earlier this year decided that the medical staff misdiagnosed Rodriguez and failed to treat her properly but were not criminally negligent. No charges were filed. “Prompt intervention would not have saved her life,” prosecutors said in their report.
Rodriguez, who died of a perforated bowel, had been seen at the hospital at least six times in the month before her death and had spent 14 hours there a day earlier. On the day she died, she was arrested inside the hospital on an outstanding warrant for a parole violation. She could be seen on security cameras lying on the floor as a janitor mopped around her and a nursed dismissed her problems.
Rodriguez’s death and several other instances of allegedly shoddy care cost the hospital $200 million in federal funding in 2007, and it was closed to all but outpatient care.
And another thing …
This isn’t such a rare story anymore.
In April, a 50-year-old man, Steven Dabock, died in a North Carolina State psychiatric hospital. He choked on his medication while nearby hospital employees ignored him. Three of them were fired and five others suspended for less than a week.
In the weeks before Mike died, three people were released from state psychiatric hospitals without proper discharge plans and died as a direct result.
One man died in the county jail here in March, after the local hospital treated him in the emergency room for pneumonia and he refused to leave. Hospital officials called the police. Tommy McMahan died that night in his cell.
Had he been released to the street, that’s where he would have died. Even if the hospital had taken him in, he probably was too sick to recover.
Every day, people are released from psychiartic hospitals and jails to the street or to homeless shelters, and they can’t cope. Some die on the street, some wind up back in jail or the hospital within weeks.
I have covered the “reform” of North Carolina’s mental health system for six years and I have covered homelessness for even longer. I wasn’t suprised at these deaths.
Psychiatric hospital workers are paid poor wages, kept on for double shifts, ordered to look after too many patients and poorly trained.
The people in these hospitals are generally uninsured. Some are covered by Medicaid, others by the state. But the reimbursement rates are low and not enough to cover the care these people need.
Every one of the state’s four psychiatric hospitals has had federal and state violations; two have lost Medicaid/Medicare certification and had to correct deficiencies to get it back.
People are dying because they don’t have access to adequate care, and because they’re poor or have a psychiatric illness or other disability, no one is watching.
Patient Pals & Family Friends
Life o' Mike has a peer support program for people with one or more serious or chronic medical issues or disabilities.
We aim to reduce isolation and fear among people who have conditions, including psychiatric illness, HIV/AIDS, diabetes, mild dementia or other cognitive disorder or disability, thereby reducing depression and complications as people learn to improve self-management of their medical conditions.
Patient Pals help alleviate feelings of isolation and frustration. They can help people develop a list of questions to ask the doctor and then accompany the person to the doctor to make sure all the questions are answered, taking notes to be sure the person understands the doctor’s answers.
Our trained volunteers also accompany their “Pals” to art exhibits, movies and walks outdoors, meet for coffee, call to check in and more.
Our Pals have experienced weight loss, improvement in diabetes, HIV, psoriasis, depression and more, just because they have someone who cares about them. Some relationships develop into longer-term friendships; other Pals move on to more independent lives.
Family Friends are there to help caregivers and other family members grow into their new role.
We need volunteers, who are asked to donate a minimum of one hour a week. Training is free and includes information on active listening, ways to help and when to know more help is needed.
And of course, we need funding.
To learn more, call Leslie Boyd at 828-243-6712 or e-mail lifeomike@gmail.com.
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