Veteran dies waiting for ambulance in VA hospital

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A veteran who collapsed in an Albuquerque Veteran Affairs hospital cafeteria, 500 yards from the emergency room, died after waiting 30 minutes for an ambulance, officials confirmed Thursday.

news.msn.com...

I want someones head on a plate for this one...

Yea I know nothing will happen, democrats will blame republicans, republicans will blame democrats..

Yet blame rests solely on the heads of both parties...

abcnews.go.com...

www.ibtimes.com...

www.koat.com...#!79tMy

a reply to: Irishhaf
500 yards from the ER and they waited 30 minutes for an ambulance? Smells like BS to me, why would hospital staff call 911 and not a doctor?

all I know right now is what the article says.. .and if staff policy is call 911 because he isn't in the same building as the ER someone's head needs to roll.

a reply to: Irishhaf
nothing adds up, it says its in the HOSPITAL cafeteria, guaranteed there is a wheelchair in there. In a hospital cafeteria you have workers always on alert for people's health. Someone would have put the guy in a wheelchair and ran him over to the ER. The only head that needs to roll is whoever wrote and approved this BS story.

if you want to roll a head do it for this, but I don't know if this is real or not

VA 2 YEARS LATER

a reply to: KnowledgeSeeker81

Yup the KOAT link I edited in covers that a little bit at the end of the video..

the time line looking at other links has it fluctuate between 25 and 30 mins for him to get to help.. Nothing seems to touch on is and AED was present like its supposed to be.

a reply to: Irishhaf

and if staff policy is call 911 because he isn't in the same building as the ER someone's head needs to roll.

But, the people who work there were too afraid they'd lose their jobs if they didn't follow "policy" - so no one did anything. Economic slavery at it's finest. And a lack of heroes...you know, those people willing to do the right thing in spite on the consequences....

But, consequences these days are pretty severe. A conundrum.

I wish more people had balls and I wish punishment for doing the right thing wasn't so harsh. And while I'm on a roll, I wish common sense was common!

originally posted by: Irishhaf
a reply to: KnowledgeSeeker81

Yup the KOAT link I edited in covers that a little bit at the end of the video..

the time line looking at other links has it fluctuate between 25 and 30 mins for him to get to help.. Nothing seems to touch on is and AED was present like its supposed to be.

Hmmm well the time was 14 minutes, but with a heart attack every SECOND counts, that is disturbing. Not so much on the response time, but the fact that no one rushed him the few hundred yards to the ER. If I worked there freaking fire me, I'm running the guy over.

government run health care at it's best.

a reply to: KnowledgeSeeker81

As somebody who works in a hospital I can tell you that there are NO wheelchairs in the cafeteria. They have no place in the caf unless somebody in there is using one. They are a safety hazard when in the way and just take up space. On top of that the staff in the caf are not trained to handle ANY kind of medical situation. The general idea of what would happen is the guy collapses, somebody flags down a kitchen person, kitchen employee calls operator for hospital, operator calls a code there and depending on what their SOP is they either call 911 to get an ambulance to transport the man the distance or Doctors from the ER run there. If it is in another building chances are that they would call 911. Everything here that happened was what they are told to do. If the patient had been in the main building doctors would have responded.

originally posted by: KnowledgeSeeker81
a reply to: Irishhaf
500 yards from the ER and they waited 30 minutes for an ambulance? Smells like BS to me, why would hospital staff call 911 and not a doctor?

The rules are you still need to call an ambulance to transport you. Stupid rule. My son drove me to ER with a broken hip. He went in to tell them and they said go back, wait for ambulance. It came and took me in. We were in the parking lot right beside the doors! They gave him # for driving me there. I'd rather my son had just carried me in, like he did to load me in his truck. It was more painful doing the slider board transfers.

Must have to do with liability. Stupid.

originally posted by: Divin3F3nrus
a reply to: KnowledgeSeeker81

As somebody who works in a hospital I can tell you that there are NO wheelchairs in the cafeteria. They have no place in the caf unless somebody in there is using one. They are a safety hazard when in the way and just take up space. On top of that the staff in the caf are not trained to handle ANY kind of medical situation. The general idea of what would happen is the guy collapses, somebody flags down a kitchen person, kitchen employee calls operator for hospital, operator calls a code there and depending on what their SOP is they either call 911 to get an ambulance to transport the man the distance or Doctors from the ER run there. If it is in another building chances are that they would call 911. Everything here that happened was what they are told to do. If the patient had been in the main building doctors would have responded.

How can they take up space when some collapse and fold up?

A VA. Hospital surely must have wheelchairs in the building? I don't believe they are " in the way" in a place full of amputees. What happens when a patient tires of walking on his prosthesis'? Nobody would come bring them a chair? There's chairs there.

a reply to: violet

Although they(some) fold up they still take up space, and can be hard to maneuver with in a crowded cafeteria. If somebody tires I would assume they could call a runner or somebody to bring one however in my hospital we have the cafeteria in the same building.

Now if he had been just outside the building we are allowed to bring a wheelchair and help him into it. In your situation your son could have come inside, said "my dad may have broken his hip, i need help getting him in" and my response would have been "is your dad small, average or larger?" just so I grab the right wheelchair. Like I said the situation is different because of where the cafeteria is. If we had a situation in our other building we would call 911 to get help to transport the person even though it is a similar distance.

a reply to: Divin3F3nrus

Hi
I'm the sons mother not dad. I'm very tiny. 100 pounds at the time. They wouldn't give him a wheelchair. They have strict policies on transfers.

I was in a rehab VA hospital type place for months, with amputees and other accident victims, MS, etc. if you got seriously ill, they called the ambulance and transported you to the big hospital in the same property. So I get the part where you aren't equipped to deal with emergencies.

Anyways there were hundreds of wheelchairs, spare parts, a wheelchair repair shop. They were left all over the hallways, in the cafeterias. One guy kept stealing them because he hated walking and the therapists hid your chair to make you walk, which is why they were always left in hallways.

I don't know if you folks are understanding the distance involved.
500 yards is nearly a quarter-mile. At speed, in a wheelchair,
in a straight line, with someone young and physically fit pushing
at the reasonably fastest possible speed it would easily be a two
or three minute race to the ER.

I'm just saying, 500 yards is not an insignificant distance in this
scenario...it's quite a haul. It would be a tough call to make, whether
to wait for an ambulance or not. It would depend entirely on the
man's condition...if his heart had stopped, it would be better
to give CPR and wait for rescue, as an example....it wouldn't
immediately be a "no-brainer".

originally posted by: KnowledgeSeeker81
a reply to: Irishhaf
nothing adds up, it says its in the HOSPITAL cafeteria, guaranteed there is a wheelchair in there. In a hospital cafeteria you have workers always on alert for people's health. Someone would have put the guy in a wheelchair and ran him over to the ER. The only head that needs to roll is whoever wrote and approved this BS story.

I didn't see any stray wheelchairs the last time I was in a VA cafeteria, but that was a couple years ago, so maybe things have changed. Anyway, they were doing CPR on him. The usual training states once you start CPR, you do not stop until a professional tells you to stop. If they had stopped doing CPR to put him in a wheelchair and race down the hallway, they could have been held liable for the man's death. And you are assuming the canteen employees knew how to get to the ED, which is not a given.