Bizarre, Things That Tick Me Off, Torts

Sorry, Not My Examination Room: 82-Year-Old Told To Call For Ambulance After Fall In Hospital!

Submitted By Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger

In yet another sign of the Apocalypse, an 82-year-old grandmother was denied medical attention for 30 minutes and told to call an ambulance after she fell and broke her hip. That’s bad enough, but what is particularly infuriating is that she was told this by staff at Greater Niagara General Hospital where she’d fallen.

Doreen Wallace was leaving the Canadian hospital with her son after visiting her dying husband. She fell in the lobby area and fractured her hip, cutting her arm in the process on a metal grate. Seeing the fall, a hospital security guard called for help and rushed to her side. Two nurses from the ER responded to the prone octogenarian, but refused help until the victim’s son called an ambulance and paramedics arrived to assess the situation.

“It was horrible. It really was. Everybody who walked through the door stopped and stared at me,” said Mrs. Wallace, who already had a broken arm from a previous fall. Her son Mike, who had frantically tried to get help from the on-site medical staff, added, ” We’re probably, maybe, like a 50-yard walk, literally, down to the emergency department.”

The only compassionate person on staff apparently was the security guard who wrapped Wallace’s head in a blanket and tried to wipe the blood away with a paper towel. An orthopedic surgeon s finally intervened, and, with  the assistance of an aide, moved the poor woman to a wheel chair.

Adding to the farce, when paramedics did arrive, they were dispatched from far away St. Catharines Hospital because none from Niagara General were available. The supervisor of the Niagara Health System said the incident stemmed from a communication problem among staff. Apparently, they were operating under an old rule that required the staff to call an ambulance if persons were injured on the premises. A review is underway, and the Canadian Health Minister promises reform.

Call me unconvinced. Last April, 39-year-old, Jennifer James died from a “catastrophic heart event” (English translation: Heart Attack) after Niagara General Emergency Department staff refused her aid after her boyfriend rushed the unconscious and dyspneic woman to the hospital parking lot and begged for help. He was told to call 9-1-1.

Canada’s highest courts have set limits on medical malpractice awards and the country’s liability laws make establishing professional negligence difficult.  Health care providers’  insurance companies defend lawsuits very vigorously and a large portion (up to 83%) of  their premiums are sometimes reimbursed by the government.  Punitive damages are rare. Ms. Wallace may have an uphill fight but it’s a climb worth taking.

Source:  Toronto Star ; Law Library of Congress

~Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger

56 thoughts on “Sorry, Not My Examination Room: 82-Year-Old Told To Call For Ambulance After Fall In Hospital!”

  3. YA KNOW, considering that woman who died on the ER floor a couple of years ago, and when the people in the ER called 911 for help as she lay dying they refused to send an ambulance or help because they will not ANSWER 911 calls from inside an emergency room, that I feel this is VERY lame.

  4. Oro Lee said:

    “This sounds like a staff that has been burdened with a bunch of management directives that are asinine and ineffective, but have been rigidly enforced by those whose motives are other than the welfare of the sick or injured. The staff probably thought, with good reason, they could lose their jobs if they had done anything other than follow the rules.”

    You are 100% right, boyo. Cheers to the clarity.

    I don’t pretend to know much of Canadian protocols. But I can speak with some authority on what happens in this country. And the fact is, Medics are dispatched to medical facilities dozens of times per day, right here in the good ‘ol USA. I personally have responded to 30-40 911 calls all over So Cal – to clinics AND hospitals.

    Although at first blink it sounds ridiculous, the fact is that quite often, neither the expertise nor the proper equipment, is available. Neither MDs nor nurses, are trained to extricate patients from a floor, i.e.:

    “An orthopedic surgeon finally intervened, and, with the assistance of an aide, moved the poor woman to a wheel chair.”

    The LAST thing this poor woman’s broken hip needed, was for a nut in a lab coat to sit her up in a wheelchair.

    Dumb.

  5. Not Ross Perot, The game went downhill after the umpire made that wrong call at first base. Dirk threw the first pitch last night. W is up tonight.

  6. I suppose, it can be said, We (Texas Rangers) Really SUCKED last night. At this point the economy don’t look so bad.

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  8. eniobob1, October 22, 2011 at 4:18 pm

    Here’s a lady who fell,and not sure if she will mend:
    ———————————————————-
    What you can be sure of, eniobob, is that we ALL fell.

    I’m just hoping that the company is better when I pick myself up off the floor….
    reminds me tho, *best* movie ever;

  9. I too have been lucky to have been blessed with great nurses and doctors over the years for myself and my family. My mother just got out of the hospital a week ago and her nurses were excellent.

  10. Woosty’s —

    I agree with your clarification as it applies to you and those who deal directly with the welfare of third parties. I was thinking more along the lines of the cut towing cable in Caine Mutiny. The problem, as you have indicated, is that it is nigh impossible to hang a mid-management bozo if hie superior is a bozo.

    I and my family have had more than our share of nurses and I have no complaints whatsoever and am very grateful of their services and many acts of kindness. The nurse’s face is often the only “human” face a patient sees.

    Bless you and you colleagues.

  12. Oro Lee1, October 22, 2011 at 12:05 pm

    This sounds like a staff that has been burdened with a bunch of management directives that are asinine and ineffective but have been rigidly enforced by those whose motives are other than the welfare of the sick or injured. The staff probably thought, with good reason, they could lose their jobs if they had done anything other than follow the rules. (And they also know that the publicity generated by their following the rules in egregious situations is one way to get the rules changed).

    The situation is not limited to public institutions — it maybe even worse in profit driven, private institutions.
    —————————————————————
    Yes! except I don’t agree with this part of your statement; “(And they also know that the publicity generated by their following the rules in egregious situations is one way to get the rules changed).”
    I’ve been a Nurse for a long time and I have never seen staff at that level use a pt. to make a statement. What I have seen is that people are more reluctant to report incidents that go unaddressed and can increase personal liability or potential loss of job in todays climate. Instead, people are self-medicating to survive disgusting work loads and compromising delivery of care not by choice but by edict….
    I have learned that Corporate overlords are more inflictive than responsive.
    Look at staffing, in fact, just look at all the numbers…

  13. lottakatz1, October 22, 2011 at 12:32 pm

    Woosty, I’m not sure of your reference – is it to limited liability or public health care?

    I think it’s to limited liability, something I think is a gross miscarriage of justice: politics as justice in fact. If I’m correct in my understanding you don’t have to bother yourself with a response.
    ——————————————————
    BOTH!
    Limited liability takes the teeth right out of the law IMHO and these days, where Corporations run the show and prove time and time again that it’s bottom line $$$ that is the language they speak….more so than safety, or quality….

    The shift in Healthcare has created a shark-like competitiveness that really clouds the atmosphere for those who deliver the care and for those who need to receive it. As long as there are parties involved because of profit motive and quality or responsibility are not part of the picture, look for more ‘turfing’ of sick people to avoid costs, covering up of accidents and incidents…. One thing I haven’t seen as a Nurse is any improvement in staffing….in fact, now there is an army of part time and fill-ins and complete evasion of any Corporate support in work-force training or retention. The law used to provide some sense of boundary to those who play fast and loose with other peoples lives and property…

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