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Nevada Hospital ER Shows ?Pattern? of Refusing Care

By Andy Hoffman

We?ve talked any number of times about the terrible hazards many patients have faced when seeking care from a hospital?s emergency room.  And that makes sense, given that the ER is the location where most medical malpractice occurs.  It?s bad enough that in many states, like Nevada, patients killed or injured by negligence in ER?s have limited rights.   But some have actually targeted ER patients for additional restrictions, laws that would affect no other hospital patient even as the ever-growing litany of ER nightmares continue.

Speaking of Nevada, consider the case of Roshunda Abney (see video below) who was refused treatment last November at the University Medical Center (UMC) in Las Vegas, NV.  Abney, who was unaware of the fact that she was pregnant and in labor, showed up at the hospital?s ER in excruciating pain.  Nevertheless, Abney was made to wait more than five hours in UMC?s ER before eventually seeking help from nearby Valley Hospital Medical Center, where her baby was born?and shortly thereafter, died.  Abney currently has a lawsuit pending against UMC?but the story doesn?t end there.

According to state records obtained by the Las Vegas Sun, Abney?s case was ?just the latest in a handful of [similar] cases? at UMC over the past five years.  Patients who received similar treatment (or lack thereof) included a woman bleeding profusely with seven fractures in her face, a woman in labor who was told the hospital had no beds for her as she watched another pregnant woman stroll right in (?Some people have priorities,? the hospital explained, according to the state report), and a man with a ?fever, elevated white blood cell count, and possible abscess? on his spine.

You get the idea.  Hospital ERs continue to be incredibly dangerous places?and any suggestion that ER personnel should somehow be immunized from liability for such blatant mishaps makes about as much sense as, well?telling a bleeding woman with seven facial fractures to wait her turn ?like everyone else.?

Full post as published by ThePopTort on January 07, 2010 (boomark / email).