Personal Injury Law

ER Patient Neglected in Chicago

By Hurley, McKenna & Mertz

Medicare threatens to revoke University of Chicago Medical Center's certification after patient's death.
The AP (3/28, Robinson) reported, "Medicare officials are threatening to take away the University of Chicago Medical Center's certification after the death of a man who sat in the emergency room for hours without being logged in, a center spokesman said." The patient's "wheelchair was parked within sight of the triage desk for 'a few hours' but...he was neither triaged nor logged in." He was later "pronounced dead" after his "daughter finally brought him to attention of the triage nurse." In a letter to the center, the federal government warned that "the center's Medicare certification could be lifted," but the spokesman stated that "such a warning was standard whenever such an incident took place."

"The Joint Commission, the major accreditor of US hospitals...said it was investigating the incident," the Chicago Tribune (3/28, Japsen) noted. The hospital claimed that an investigation by the Illinois Department of Health on Feb. 18 "found proper policies and procedures were in place but that staff members may not have followed the protocol." But, the letter indicated that "the hospital failed to 'maintain a central emergency services log' and 'provide a medical screening exam.'"

Full post as published by Chicago Medical Malpractice Lawyer Blog on March 31, 2009 (boomark / email).