Posted on 04/23/2004 8:48:34 PM PDT by quidnunc
Montreal – A 21-year-old man died of appendicitis after he was refused treatment at an emergency clinic because he didn't have his provincial health card with him.
Gerald Augustin complained of stomach pains on Thursday but the receptionist at the St-Andre medical centre told him he had to return home to get his health card. He didn't make it back to the clinic in Montreal's east end.
About four hours later, a friend alerted police and called an ambulance for the man, who had a fatal attack of appendicitis in his apartment. He was pronounced dead in hospital.
Rouslene Augustin, administrator at the St-Andre clinic, said the man didn't appear to have any urgent symptoms when he came to the clinic.
"If this guy was an emergency case, we would accept him if he had his card or not," she said.
"I don't see what we did wrong. I'm not defending the clinic, we just followed the rules."
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at cnews.canoe.ca ...
Yes, unfortunately that's what I think we're going to have to do.
My family has run into problems not only as patients, but also as visitors of patients because of this. When my stepdad was on his deathbed in the hospital, my mom sat quietly beside his bed the entire time, doing all her crying in private but keeping her composure in public. Since she wasn't wailing and shrieking and carrying on dramatically enough to satisfy the hospital staff, they went to great lengths to tell her how truly terrible and hopeless his condition was.
They thought she either didn't understand, didn't care, or was in a state of total denial. They were the ones who didn't understand. And, they had no business judging her and tormenting her that way. Since when did it become their job to play the amateur psychologist with their patients' visitors anyway?
IMHO, if we want to get proper treatment at a hospital as either a patient or a visitor, we're just going to have to cast all those "silly" notions of "stiff upper lip" restraint and personal dignity aside. My entire life, I was taught to repress my negative emotions and keep my problems to myself to avoid burdening others. But, times have changed it seems, and apparently the gesture is no longer understood, let alone appreciated.
I hate whining. I was also taught not to run up bills you can't pay for.
I went to a county health clinic last year. The first visit, I had to wait forever as expected. After the EKG(boy those things are expensive, and I've had 2, plus a Holter monitor), 3 doctors kept asking me if I was in pain. To me, pain is relative. I blew out 3 disks in my neck, plus I screwed up my lower back. Feeling like you have cinder blocks tied to your chest is just severely annoying. So is feeling like you killed your left arm, and the vomiting. I had 3 doctors come in, and tell me when, not if, to call 911. On this visit, my pulse was 123.
On follow up visits, I was pushed ahead of the line. Then that bitch of a clerk decided that I wasn't eligible for MediCal, when I asked her who I made the co-pay to. I have a 560.00 deductible. I got the money together, and my worker told me to pay them. I had the paperwork with my name on it and everything. By the time I went in, I was freaking out. The nurse thought the blood pressure machine was broken. I have extremely low blood pressure normally, but my pulse rate is out of control. Oh, and Prozac sucks.
In the past month I've been under a lot of pressure from several different sources. I've almost called 911 twice, but worked my way through it. I quit going to the doctors and quit taking my meds, but I'm rethinking this, considering the lady in the billing office to me not to worry about the bills.
Similar situation happened in China with a worker but in that instance, no one had enough cash. By the time everyone returned with money, the guy had died. That was quite a few years ago and the hospital policy has changed.
You woulda think differently if you were trying to get medical care when you are without insurance and uninsurable.
Sounds like you have some really bad health problems there. Good luck!
Reminds me of the doctor in Arizona who became a private doctor for 'rich' people who paid a certain amount of money per year. He was on call for them and dealt with no other patients.
He couldn't take the hassle of bureaucracy.
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