Joaquin Rivera, 63, died before seeing a triage nurse at Atria Health's Frankford Campus
Posted on 01/22/2010 9:13:57 AM PST by JoeProBono
A Pennsylvania Health Department report says a nurse twice called the name of a Philadelphia man who died of a heart attack in a hospital waiting room but never went to look for him.
The report issued Thursday found that hospital staff first called 63-year-old Joaquin (wah-KEEN') Rivera's name 17 minutes after he arrived at Aria Health's Frankford campus on Nov. 28. He had already stopped moving.
Hospital personnel checked on Rivera an hour after he arrived only when another patient alerted staff he wasn't moving.
Police say Rivera's watch was stolen after he lost consciousness.....
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
Joaquin Rivera, 63, died before seeing a triage nurse at Atria Health's Frankford Campus
One cannot help wondering if mr Revera was going in on the taxpayers’ dime.
The hospital is just practicing for the day Obamacare goes into effect....
Mr. Rivera emigrated from Puerto Rico in 1964, worked a factory job while getting a GED and then attending college, then worked for 30 years as a high school guidance counselor.
None of which answers the question was he getting medicaid/medicare
I'm pretty sure that working public school guidance counselors have insurance.
That makes sense. What I find particulary reprehensible is that someone stole his watch.
That doesn’t matter and shouldn’t be a question. When someone is in an emergency room seeking help they should get it. Not every person with an hispanic name is an illegal. One of my ancestors came to this country in the 1750’s and he was named Francisco Segura.
“One cannot help wondering if mr Revera was going in on the taxpayers’ dime.”
This didn’t even occur to me until I read your comment.
I don’t think you should judge anyone’s health coverage by their appearance. I’m assuming that’s what you did, after you saw his picture? He could be a multi millionaire. He could have a cadillac plan. You can’t tell just by looking at somebody.
Anyway, once we are over, what, 60 or something, we get Medicare, do we not? Are we supposed to refuse it in principle even though we paid for it all of our working lives? Is that what you are planning to do?
My condolences to him and his family. He was not treated well at the end.
Why? Do you consider health care to be a right?
Mr. Rivera moved from Puerto Rico, not emigrated. Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States and Mr. Rivera was a natural born citizen of the U.S.
No I was actually wondering if he was one of the tens of millions of illegals who are clogging the system making it worse for everyone else. Apparently he was not.
It’s the law.
It’s also something called simple human decency.
"As a teenager in Mexico he had a strong interest in politics. He was very critical of his contemporary Mexican leader, Antonio López de Santa Anna, and gladly joined the Texas Revolution to rid Texas of Santa Anna's rule. He led a band of twenty-five Tejanos who favored a revolt and fought on the Texan side at the Battle of the Alamo. Because Seguín spoke only Spanish, he was chosen to carry the message through lines that the Texans "shall never surrender or retreat." Seguín got the message to the other soldiers on the Texan side. He returned to the Alamo, but it had already fallen to Santa Anna's army. Seguín arranged for the dead Alamo defenders to be buried with military honors."
If he worked at a legitimate job for 30 years as the article reports, then he paid a whole lot into Medicare and has every right to use it. I abhor the system, because most of the money taken in is spent on deadbeats who paid little or nothing into the system. But it doesn’t sound like this man fell into that category — more like he got overlooked and died, because the hospital was overwhelmed with hordes of deadbeats who it’s legally mandated to treat just like the non-deadbeats.
All people over 65 get Medicare, even if they didn't put a penny into it. People who make 100K a year pay the maximum for their future Medicare, but they get the same plan that people who paid a lot less or didn't pay at all.
Yes, but is it a just law? Is it fair to make other people pay for someone else's medical problems? How is that different from making someone else pay for a car or a cell phone or a big screen TV?
And that was the basis of my original question: was he one of the former or one of the latter. It appears that he was a non-deadbeat.
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