Hospital Refuses To Help Woman, Police Arrest Her

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White Rain

White Rain

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And she ends up dying. I hope some jobs are lost over this.

LOS ANGELES — Relatives of a 43-year-old woman say hospital workers did nothing as she writhed in pain on the emergency room floor, and that officers who were asked to help arrested her on a parole violation instead.
The woman became unresponsive as police carted her away in a wheelchair and died.
County and state authorities are now investigating the May 8 death of Edith Isabel Rodriguez at Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital, formerly called King/Drew, where several patients have died under questionable circumstances since 2003.
Recent scandals have caused the hospital to lose its national accreditation and federal funding, close its trauma center and shut its programs to train aspiring physician specialists.
Rodriguez had been prescribed pain medication for intense abdominal pain and released, but she remained on the benches outside the hospital, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday. Her boyfriend, Jose Prado, arrived later to find Rodriguez on the floor of the emergency room lobby writhing in pain, relatives said. He asked hospital staff for help, relatives said, then called 911 from a pay phone. (more at link)
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,272552,00.html
 
Prado said he told hospital security officers she needed help, but police instead took Rodriguez into custody after a computer search showed an outstanding arrest warrant for a parole violation. She became unresponsive as officers pushed her out of the hospital in a wheelchair, he said.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,272552,00.html


Amazing, if true....
 
:furious: There is just nothing to say. :furious:
 
angelwngs said:
Prado said he told hospital security officers she needed help, but police instead took Rodriguez into custody after a computer search showed an outstanding arrest warrant for a parole violation. She became unresponsive as officers pushed her out of the hospital in a wheelchair, he said.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,272552,00.html


Amazing, if true....
Click to expand...

The article said hospital cameras taped some of the incident...so I believe it. :mad:
 
The nurses, doctors, and guards should be charged with assault or even murder. I hope the poor woman's family win a huge huge lawsuit against this evil entity and law enforcement.
 
How sad for this woman and her family...regardless of what she was wanted for she was obviously very sick......somebody needs to answer for her death.
 
txsvicki said:
The nurses, doctors, and guards should be charged with assault or even murder. I hope the poor woman's family win a huge huge lawsuit against this evil entity and law enforcement.
Click to expand...

From my understanding, none of the facts that have been reported support a charge of assault or murder. The question is, is anyone guilty of neglect, malpractice, or violation of the EMTALA laws. From the description, it sounds like the EMTALA laws were violated when the nurse failed to assist the patient. However, keep in mind that the ER doctors would have no way of knowing that a patient was in distress in the waiting room unless the triage nurse alerted them. The doctors may have missed a diagnosis which led to her death, but from what the article says, you cannot assume they were involved in refusing to assist her in the waiting room.

I will wait to hear the autopsy results before making further judgements in this case. I think there is more to the story than we are hearing right now.
 
Why didn't the police get her in for medical care once they ascertained she was unresponsive. That is a crime, in that they are required to get a person in their custody medical treatment by law in such instances. Since they didn't, they could face charges. I hope Justice is served here, and those who knew of her distress, and did nothing (the arresting officers, the nurses) get hard prison time.
 
There was a similar story recently about a pregnant woman who bleeding and trying to get to a hospital when the police arrested her and refused to allow her to get treatment. She lost the baby. We have a thread somewhere.
 
I am going to venture a quick guess that since it was said she kept going to the ER for several days and in light of her past drug use...
The Dr's not finding anything assumed she was just trying to score some pills.
Possibly in the past she had done so?
I get that the BF dialed 911 to seek help for her from the hospital but I find it odd the police would even do a check on someone they were called for to recieve medical help.
 
txsvicki said:
The nurses, doctors, and guards should be charged with assault or even murder. I hope the poor woman's family win a huge huge lawsuit against this evil entity and law enforcement.
Click to expand...
What a bunch of insensitive medical personnel and LE officers.:banghead:
Each and every person who denied this woman medical attention should be fired.
Isn't it odd that whenever there is an altercation between LE and a perp and the perp is injured, an ambulance is called immediately or LE can be sued. Yet this woman was denied medical attention that resulted in her death.
 
What a sad story and a sad outcome for this lady and her family, someone should be held accountable, if not persons then the hospital itself. I have heard so many bad stories about the health system in the USA, and this is just another one that adds the need for an overhaul investigation into the health system.
Too many people are denied or turned away from hospitals because of the beauracracy in the governments handling of health for their citizens.
 
I am an RN and thought I would just play the devils advocate here. Before I do though let me say that I do not agree with how this was handled but, there are two sides to this story.

It has been said that this women had a history of drug abuse and addictions. My guess is that this women was a frequent visitor or as some of us say a "frequent flier" in the ER. If this staff had dealt with this patient on many occasions and her complaints were found to be without merit it would be very hard for them to distinguish that this occasion was any different. Maybe she has come in many other times with complaints hoping to get some type of medication for her fix. I do realize that obviously there was something wrong with her in this instance and it was missed but, it sounds like maybe she was like the "boy who cried wolf ". If this is the case, she would bear some responsibity for this instance herself. (yes I realize she is dead). People do need to realize that Dr. and nurses are human, they do make mistakes. I can tell you that I have never worked with staff who would intentionally bring harm on a patient. I can also say though that if the case is that she was a "frequent flier" in the past it can be very frustrating in a department such as the ER where there truely others that are in great need.
 
sleuthin4fun said:
I am an RN and thought I would just play the devils advocate here. Before I do though let me say that I do not agree with how this was handled but, there are two sides to this story.

It has been said that this women had a history of drug abuse and addictions. My guess is that this women was a frequent visitor or as some of us say a "frequent flier" in the ER. If this staff had dealt with this patient on many occasions and her complaints were found to be without merit it would be very hard for them to distinguish that this occasion was any different. Maybe she has come in many other times with complaints hoping to get some type of medication for her fix. I do realize that obviously there was something wrong with her in this instance and it was missed but, it sounds like maybe she was like the "boy who cried wolf ". If this is the case, she would bear some responsibity for this instance herself. (yes I realize she is dead). People do need to realize that Dr. and nurses are human, they do make mistakes. I can tell you that I have never worked with staff who would intentionally bring harm on a patient. I can also say though that if the case is that she was a "frequent flier" in the past it can be very frustrating in a department such as the ER where there truely others that are in great need.
Click to expand...
I understand what you are saying, that happens here too, but they usually keep them in for observation, this lady must have had a temperature, or other symptoms that would suggest she had a real problem, and if she was a "frequent flier" did she always writhe around on the floor, if she was examined and you found there were no abnormalities after observing her for a period of time and her temperature etc were all normal she may still be alive today.
It sounded like she was tagged as a "frequent flyer" and therefore was not taken seriously, she should have been given the benefit of the doubt.
 
Shazza said:
I understand what you are saying, that happens here too, but they usually keep them in for observation, this lady must have had a temperature, or other symptoms that would suggest she had a real problem, and if she was a "frequent flier" did she always writhe around on the floor, if she was examined and you found there were no abnormalities after observing her for a period of time and her temperature etc were all normal she may still be alive today.
It sounded like she was tagged as a "frequent flyer" and therefore was not taken seriously, she should have been given the benefit of the doubt.
Click to expand...


That is what we don,t know is this the way she always acted? I would assume that they did a basic assessment on her and everything was as it had always been. "normal" As I said before I do not agree with how they handled this but, I think there is more to this than the staff refusing to treat her. When you work in a high stress enviorment like this the
" frequent fliers" get old especially if it is taking away from the care of other patients who are really in need.
 
sleuthin4fun said:
That is what we don,t know is this the way she always acted? I would assume that they did a basic assessment on her and everything was as it had always been. "normal" As I said before I do not agree with how they handled this but, I think there is more to this than the staff refusing to treat her. When you work in a high stress enviorment like this the
" frequent fliers" get old especially if it is taking away from the care of other patients who are really in need.
Click to expand...
I admire all the nurses, they do have a stressful and demanding job, I know I wouldnt be able to do it, but it is a profession they chose and must know the toll it will take on them, as in everything in life there a good and bad, (good nurses, bad nurses), I am not pointing the finger at the nurses, as here they work long hours are underpaid and most that I have had to deal with have been exceptional, it takes a special kind of person to be a good nurse. As you have said there must be more to this story, so if you find out anymore please keep us informed, I would be really interested to know more about this situation.

I congratulate all nurses who dedicate themselves to caring for others.
I do not wish to upset or put down the medical profession, but someone has died without getting any treatment. Please keep us informed of any other details that may arise in reference to this story.
 
Rodriguez had been prescribed pain medication for intense abdominal pain and released, but she remained on the benches outside the hospital, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday. Her boyfriend, Jose Prado, arrived later to find Rodriguez on the floor of the emergency room lobby writhing in pain, relatives said. He asked hospital staff for help, relatives said, then called 911 from a pay phone.
Click to expand...
if she was only drug seeking wouldnt she have left after she got the script?
 
just know I am not saying there actions were right. Just saying that there is probably a much bigger picture!
 
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