Thursday, June 14, 2007

The Death Of Edith Rodriguez: A Despicable Tragedy

I am becoming more convinced that the U.S. is losing whatever heart and soul that it may have had. It seems as if the social fabric that built this nation is coming apart. I know that the U.S. position in the world as a great super-power is beginning to wane.... but have we become a third world nation already? I guess the inner-cities across the country have always had these third world problems, but the story of Edith Rodriguez just blew my mind.... With all that I have seen in this life (which has been a lot).... perhaps I should not be surprised, but this story is just mind boggling.

Those who have been paying attention to the healthcare situation understand that the U.S. health system is in crisis. It has been in a slow motion dive for a long time. From time to time we hear about some crazy story about a long wait in an ER, or how low income communities are being underserved. But no case collectively personifies these problems better than the case of Edith Rodriguez, and her experience at the "Historically Black" MLK hospital in Los Angeles- a Public Hospital responsible for serving low income residents. MLK has a history of problems with service and quality. The reputation of this facility is so bad that it is sometimes referred to as the hospital where people check in.... but don't check out.

Edith's last day on earth was literally Hell. The nightmare started some days earlier...when she went to MLK with stomach symptoms but was sent home .... and she was later sent home at least one other time...before her final day.

On May 9th, 2007 she went to the ER because the same symptoms had gotten considerably worse. Despite obviously needing immediate treatment.... the staff of MLK Hospital refused to help her. She would eventually collapse on the floor of the ER....but the staff still refused to help.
When she began vomiting blood all over the floor.... she STILL received no help from the hospital staff... A member of her family eventually had to dial 911 to see if an ambulance could respond to take her to a real hospital, but the caller was met with indifference. A few minutes later, another patient made a call to 911, but she too was met with indifference....and not only that....the 911 operator was down right rude and ignorant to the caller....telling the caller (in so many words) that she had no business making the call and that her call was not an emergency.
See Story and Video From ABC News (video in top right corner).

The nightmare didn't end there.... Mrs. Rodriguez continued to vomit blood....and scream in pain.... obviously needing immediate care, but the staff continued to stand by and watch as Janitors quietly mopped up the mess around her. This went on for nearly an hour.

But the final insult came when the family summoned police to the scene. But instead of getting help for the dying woman.... the meatheads from the Police Department arrested Rodriguez (obviously a critical patient at this point) on a warrant. She died as they were wheeling her out of the ER.

This case exposes the sick underside of America.... and it highlights trouble in so many different areas...that I don't know where to start with this.

The first thing that comes to mind is.... if this hospital was this bad all of this time, why was it allowed to remain open? Because the patients were mostly poor and black? Did that make it acceptable for so long? It seems to me that something should have been done about this facility a long time ago.

It also shows a complete breakdown in basic health services. This collapse has been in progress for years..... in slow motion. But now the situation is really beginning to take a toll. It's not just poor people anymore. I visited the ER of a suburban hospital in St. Louis a few years ago (a hospital considered to be pretty good) and I waited for 3 hours before I was seen by anyone.
The public hospitals that serve the inner-cities are much worse and have been dealing with problems of poor funding, low salaries, incompetence, understaffing, low morale and other problems for years.

Edith Rodriguez didn't just pass away on May 9th...she was killed. And hopefully she didn't die in vain. Perhaps some positive changes will come out of this story....and I could go on and on about all of the problems in American society and in healthcare that were highlighted in this case... (a sick police culture of indifference to poor people, police tunnel-vision, poor emergency preparedness, inadequate healthcare for the poor and for all Americans, the lack of nurses and good doctors and hospitals, the need for more laws to protect citizens from State sponsored killings like this one, etc)... But this should be another wake up call to America...telling America to get its priorities in order. Any country that doesn't invest in its people is bound to fail from the inside out. Will America finally heed the wake up call? And how many more wake up calls do we need? I'm not too optimistic. I don't know what it will finally take to get this country to wake up from its coma.

Additional Report from Kaiser

Additional Reports

Pressure to Shut Down MLK Hospital

Previous Posts On The Healthcare Crisis

U.S. Health System Near Breaking Point

Illinois Woman Dies Waiting In ER

Veteran Dies Searching for Healthcare

Walter Reed

4 comments:

rikyrah said...

I heard the 9-1-1 call, and it brought up a rage that sometimes frightens me. Because it harkened back to a previous murder in Detroit - remember, the young boy called for help for his mother, and they didn't believe him, and refused to send help?

It's just so wrong on so many levels, I can't even begin; don't give me BS that there's not healthcare crisis in this country. Don't try and shill me that AT ALL.

g-e-m2001 said...

I heard about this and this is so sad that she was treated that way. SOmebody needs to go to jail.

Anonymous said...

This was a terrible way to die. No one is reporting other important information, Ms Rodriguez tested positive for methamphetamine, she had high blood pressure and diabetes. She was 5'6" tall and weighed 274 pounds. She had a history of abusing narcotics and had been to this hospital numerous times. This hospital is located in a very volitile neighborhood, so if those who are outraged by this happening are successful in shutting down this hospital, where exactly are the people in this neighborhood suppose to go for medical care? Shutting down this facility will only cause overcrowding at another hospital ER somewhere else. The healthcare crisis in this country is because of insurance. When everyone paid for their own medical care instead of a copay, they only went to the doctor when they truly needed care. If it is free to everyone, no one will ever get to see a doctor without waiting three or four months for an appointment.

Brian said...

Anonymous Wrote:

"This was a terrible way to die. No one is reporting other important information, Ms Rodriguez tested positive for methamphetamine, she had high blood pressure and diabetes. She was 5'6" tall and weighed 274 pounds. She had a history of abusing narcotics and had been to this hospital numerous times."

____________

How in the Hell is that
"important" information in the context of this situation? If it's true... It's irrelevant! If anything... if the Hospital was familiar with her and knew she had these health conditions, then that should have indicated to the staff that a speedy response was even more crucial. THAT SHOULD HAVE MADE THEM MOVE FASTER.... rather than ignoring her.

You mentioned those things as if they provided a good reason to leave her laying on the floor to die. I don't see the connection. You reasoning doesn't make sense and strikes me as being classist.

And to your second point... Most health experts believe that more money (and lives) would actually be saved with Universal healthcare. More people would be able to go to their primary physicians for care....rather than clogging up the ER's. So the burden on ER's may decrease or stabalize over time.

Furthermore... With Universal healthcare... more health conditions would be prevented or at least dealt with effectively on the front end... before people get so sick that they need to go to an ER (which is what is happening now). This would also save tons of money...

Would there be a need for more doctors? Probably...with more people taking advantage of their new coverage. But there is already a need for more doctors right now.... as well as nurses and other medical professionals.

Also... people who want to keep their current insurance plans could opt out of any new healthcare system (based on most of the proposals that planners have been discussing). So not everyone would be on the same plan.

It is mostly the insurance industry and drug companies that are against a comprehensive healthcare plan... even for plans targeting the uninsured. Why? Because that would present them with government competition and would prevent the insurance companies and drug companies from jacking up prices as high as they want. They know they would not be able to get away with that if people had an option to go to a government health plan.
The insurers and drug companies have big time lobbyists working in DC right now to prevent a healthcare plan from ever getting through Congress (or even getting introduced in Congress). They have both Democrats and Republicans in their pockets. This is one of the main reasons why I believe there will never be any comprehensive health plan. Politicians have brought this up during every election campaign for the past 20+ years....but nothing ever happens. It's simply a tool for getting votes.

But it is these lobbyists who are spreading fear...and misinformation about comprehensive healthcare.