Saturday, June 05, 2004
Low Expectations Plaguing Health Care
This morning’s Boston Globe reports the case of a woman whose appendix burst during a six-hour wait for care in the Emergency Room of South Shore Hospital in the suburban town of Weymouth. According to the report, she had been transferred to the Hospital by ambulance from South Shore Medical Center in Norwell (an ambulatory clinic) where her appendicitis had been diagnosed.
Dr. John Benanti, the hospital’s director of emergency medicine, issued a written statement saying that the hospital “remains committed to patient care” and through a spokeswoman said that the case “did not meet our expectations of how care should be delivered.”
One would hope so.
He also said “as the second busiest emergency center in Eastern Massachusetts, there will be times when our care does not meet our patients’ expectations.”
Like waiting six hours to receive treatment for an already diagnosed appendix, one supposes.
The state Department of Public Health said that it would investigate the case. Spokeswoman Roseanne Pawelec said the investigation would try to determine whether anything was done wrong.
Sounds like a real challenge.
The article also mentioned an asthma patient in the hospital’s ER who was having trouble breathing and after two hours of waiting used her cell phone to call an ambulance, which transported her to nearby Quincy Medical Center where she was treated.
In any other kind of organization, such gross misfeasance would give rise to calls for heads to roll. But not in health care. At least not yet.
RDW
This morning’s Boston Globe reports the case of a woman whose appendix burst during a six-hour wait for care in the Emergency Room of South Shore Hospital in the suburban town of Weymouth. According to the report, she had been transferred to the Hospital by ambulance from South Shore Medical Center in Norwell (an ambulatory clinic) where her appendicitis had been diagnosed.
Dr. John Benanti, the hospital’s director of emergency medicine, issued a written statement saying that the hospital “remains committed to patient care” and through a spokeswoman said that the case “did not meet our expectations of how care should be delivered.”
One would hope so.
He also said “as the second busiest emergency center in Eastern Massachusetts, there will be times when our care does not meet our patients’ expectations.”
Like waiting six hours to receive treatment for an already diagnosed appendix, one supposes.
The state Department of Public Health said that it would investigate the case. Spokeswoman Roseanne Pawelec said the investigation would try to determine whether anything was done wrong.
Sounds like a real challenge.
The article also mentioned an asthma patient in the hospital’s ER who was having trouble breathing and after two hours of waiting used her cell phone to call an ambulance, which transported her to nearby Quincy Medical Center where she was treated.
In any other kind of organization, such gross misfeasance would give rise to calls for heads to roll. But not in health care. At least not yet.
RDW
