Waiting Doom: How Hospitals are Killing E.R. Patients
Document Type
News Article
Publication Date
7-24-2008
Journal
Slate
Keywords
Emergent Care; Hospitals; Quality improvement
Abstract
Last month, Esmin Green, a 49-year-old mother of six, tumbled off her chair and onto the floor of the Kings County psychiatric E.R. waiting room in New York City. Members of the hospital staff saw her lying there but did nothing for about an hour. When Green was finally brought into the E.R., she was dead. An autopsy revealed that she died from a pulmonary embolism, which occurs when a blood clot forms in the leg, breaks off, and travels to one or both lungs. This can also kill long-haul airplane passengers who sit in one spot for hours: The blood sits stagnant in their legs for so long that it clots. You could say that Green, too, had been on a plane ride of sorts. She'd waited for a psychiatric-unit bed to open up for more than 24 hours, roughly the same time as a trip from New York to Tanzania.
Recommended Citation
Meisel, Zachary F. and Pines, Jesse M., "Waiting Doom: How Hospitals are Killing E.R. Patients" (2008). Health Policy and Management Informal Communications. Paper 15.
https://hsrc.himmelfarb.gwu.edu/sphhs_policy_informal/15
Open Access
1
Comments
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