Jun 13 2007
Anger over woman’s death continues to mount
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As more and more details are uncovered and leaked to the press the more and more I find myself disgusted with the hospital care in general and Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital.
A woman who lay bleeding on the emergency room floor of a troubled inner-city hospital died after 911 dispatchers refused to contact paramedics or an ambulance to take her to another facility, newly released tapes of the emergency calls reveal.
Edith Isabel Rodriguez, 43, died of a perforated bowel on May 9 at Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital. Her death was ruled accidental by the Los Angeles County coroner’s office.
Relatives said Rodriguez was bleeding from the mouth and writhing in pain for 45 minutes while she was at a hospital waiting area. Experts have said she could have survived had she been treated early enough.
County and state authorities are now investigating Rodriguez’s death. Relatives reported she died as police were wheeling her out of the hospital after the officers they had asked to help Rodriguez arrested her instead on a parole violation. Sheriff’s Department spokesman Duane Allen said Wednesday that the investigation is ongoing.
In the recordings of two 911 calls that day, first obtained by the Los Angeles Times under a California Public Records Act request, callers pleaded for help for Rodriguez but were referred to hospital staff instead.
I understand that there are procedures and protocols to follow but there is always a clause, it’s called emergency/extenuating circumstances. In order to protect a life or the wellbeing of someone(s) you need to act beyond the protocol. There is a lot of finger pointing being down right now and the blame is most certainly very widespread. No doubt many are in denial as to who really is at fault here but one thing remains unchanged; a woman lost her life when she could have been treated and would have survived. Her death was completely unnecessary.
I was reading about this story recently…pretty appalling. From what I understand, this particular hospital has had all kinds of crazy problems in the past as well.
Very sad.
This is the most appauling situation I’ve ever heard. I think every single qualified employee that witnessed this poor woman’s agony, and ignored it, should do serious prison time.
They killed her.
The entire roll of the hospital is to save lives. The entire purpose of all the years of education for doctors and nurses is to save lives. How in the hell could anyone misunderstand that!!
There’s a certain slang word that I have always dispised, but in this case, I can’t think of one that fits any better…. “Daaaaaaaahhhh!!!”
Bad Hospital, you bet, bad 911 system, you bet. The tone of the dispatcher toward the caller was inappropriate, and when he began to argue with the caller, the 911 system lost all credibility. What does it take to send someone to the location. Does this 911 operator pay the ambulance crews out of his pocket? Sure 911 gets prank calls everyday, some wanting to expidite their waiting period by escalating the need for services, BUT every call cannot be judged on previous experience. They should treat every call as the very first call they took when they were first hired as an operator. Putting dollars and cents on a human life is not acceptable. Putting callers concern over a fellow human being on the back burner is unacceptable. Who know, he might get struck down….