She may have had no family.
She may be estranged from her family.
Her estrangement may even be her fault.
It’s an ethical dilemma that bumps right up on socialism. If a person shows up at a hospital and says they need care, even if they have no money or insurance (if she was elderly she surely had Medicare), and the hospital makes an error? in not predicting her imminent death? and she is acting like she is just drunk or high. . . and smoking while saying she can’t breathe?
I mean I am not sure about “fault,” here. But I am truly sorry she suffered like so in any case.
She might be well insured, have loving family that wasn’t contacted, had all sorts of vital signs that indicated she should stay in hospital, I don’t know. In which case she is a total victim.
Lisa's family have said that they 'can't believe the way she was treated', adding 'she did not deserve to be treated like that, nobody does'
And yes, it's a tragic end. I think the hospital needs to be investigated myself, if she was seriously having issues. I would think an autopsy should ne able to determine if she did or not.
More info:
Her family appeared on the news. They described her as loving and caring. She moved to Rhode Island in 2018. She had a stroke in 2019 that left her physically disabled, but she was not mentally disabled. She still was very independent. (She was only 60.)
She’d just flown back to Tennessee to live with a friend. The flight was arranged by the nursing home. After the flight, she was taken to one hospital where she was evaluated and discharged.
Then, she went to this hospital, where she was observed overnight and released. She refused to leave, and hospital security called the police.
She must’ve been insured, probably through Medicaid. Hospitals kick insured patients out, too.
Wondering... Was her friend contacted? Was the friend unable to pick her up?
And why wasn’t this woman sent to a nursing home? That’s typically what hospitals do. Someone on staff at the hospital makes the arrangements.
The hospital website shows a Patient Representative on staff: https://www.fsregional.com/patients-visitors/patient-representative/
Maybe they did offer all these things, but she still refused to leave. In that case, the hospital still is at fault for refusing to provide her with the emergency care she needed.