VA tells vet to call 911 to get from parking lot to ER

king5.com ^ | may 13, 2015 | Michael Konopasek

[lowbridge]

The Seattle Veterans Affairs hospital is apologizing for leaving an Army veteran stranded outside its emergency room with a broken foot.

Donald Siefken, 64, told The Seattle Times that hospital staff refused to help him move 10 feet through the emergency room doors. Siefken was told to call 911 for help instead.

Siefken told the Times he fell while getting ready to drive his wife to Sea-Tac Airport in February. He said his foot started to swell and hurt during the drive. After dropping off his wife, Siefken drove to the VA hospital in Seattle. He said he was in too much pain to walk into the ER himself. The hospital told Siefken to call 911 and then a staffer hung up on him, according to accounts from the emergency call.

"It's hurting like the devil and they won't come out and get me. Can you believe that?" Siefken told the 911 dispatcher. "[Hospital staff] told me to call 911 and hung up on me."

The VA originally stood by its actions, according to the Times. The VA told the paper its policy is to have people call 911 if they can't make it from the parking lot to the ER. A VA spokesperson later admitted the hospital did not do the right thing.

[Secret Agent Man]

Epitomizes government is not designed to care.

ALso why they should never be involved in healthcare or charity.

[DUMBGRUNT]

This is S O P at every hospital in the USA.

If you are not in a patient area, call 911.

I have known physicians and nurses that were reprimanded for going out on the sidewalk to provide assistance.

[duffee]

“Fire the VA Managers. All of them!!!”

They could have fired them but they gave the bonuses instead.

[markman46]

any civilan er will help go get a patient out of a car if they are asked to help, standard practice

[Timber Rattler]

Ah, the old liability excuse.

“It has to do with liability and to make sure, like in this case, that the right personnel are there to safely extract the person from the vehicle,” Hutson said.

[Hulka]

Indeed. . .and they can't be fired and this is the future under Bog Zero's vision of medical ‘care.’

[Vermont Lt]

The policy makes overall sense ( people have been injured trying to carry people in from the parking lot) and it is pretty common in Emergency Departments across the country. But, there are times when common sense has to prevail.

That said, the thing most people should take away from this is that when you are injured, don’t drive yourself to the hospital. Men especially, are stupid like this. They die of heart attacks that could have been treated if they had just called 911.