I'm SO angry!

In the past day's news was a story of a woman who was brought into a Los Angeles hosptal's emergency room, where she wasn't seen by doctors for quite some time. The woman's boyfriend, and an observer in the ER waiting room both called 911, where the operators told them that they need to speak with the hospital staff, that 911 could not help them. The woman subsequently died of a perforated bowel. In ALL the news television and internet articles, it is headlined as 911 Operators Refuse Help to Dying Woman...or something in that regard. The media looks for the most sensational headline, irregardless of the truth, which is that the Emergency Room staff refused help to the dying woman. Why is it the 911 operator who is at fault? They're not, but the headline sells stories.

We have several hospitals in our jurisdiction, and we have on numerous occasions, received calls from people in the ER wanting medical help, stating they are not being treated quickly enough at the emergency room. Of course, we can't send rescue. Personally, I will call the ER and advise them of the call that we received, and what they do beyond that point, I don't know, however I feel that I have tried to help the caller and cover any non-existent liability aspect of the situation.

I'm curious as to what other agencies do in this situation. Please share!

I too, would call the hospital and alert them that I have received a 911 call and at least tell them that some one was asking for help. Of course, we have no control over what the hospital ultimately decides to do.

Very sad what happened. I can tell you from 1st hand experiance that the hospital in L.A. is not the only place that happens....On a recent trip to San Antonio I became deathly ill, my husband drove me to a local hospital and I passed out six times between the front door and triage...no one came out to help my husband, even when he flagged down a security guard. When I made it to triage they told me to wait in the lobby, where I waited for six hours before finally leaving and not having been seen by a doctor. I passed out a few more times, but made it through the next day (I had some major food poisoning). Gave me a new appreciation for people who do call 911 from a hospital E.R.

It floors me that all the headlines are saying "911 Operators Failed to Help Woman" instead of "Hospital Staff Fails to Help Woman." WTF??? First off, if she's in the hospital, they shouldn't HAVE to call 911 for anything, they should be getting care. Secondly, the paramedics and ambulance are there to get a person to a medical facility for treatment, and she was already there. Personally, if I got a call like this, I would probably think that the callers were just impatient and exaggerating her condition a little. I mean, I couldn't imagine that the hospital staff would just stand there and stare at a person who was really dying, like they claimed! I would probably think that she was miserable and suffering, but not in any imminent danger and that they were just tired of waiting. I just would never think that the ER staff would really literally ignore someone like that. You don't expect medical professionals to behave like that. So many of the calls we get are people exaggerating things or being melodramatic, so I probably would have assumed that this was another one, that surely the hospital would have done something other than look at her if she really was 'dying.' Shows how much I know, I guess. Still, I really think the only thing that the 911 operator did wrong here was to start arguing with the second caller and get snippy with her. That's why the media is having a field day with this and blaming them for this mess. I don't know how she got to the ER, ambulance or POV, but her family should have loaded her up and taken her to another hospital if they were able. I think it's an inexusable shame what happened to this woman, but I really feel that the blame lies with the hospital staff and NOT with the 911 operators in this case.

I have no idea what happened to my post above, I typed the phrase "exagerrating things or being impatient" and somehow it posted as "exaggerating things or I am an idiot"??? I didn't post it that way, don't know what happened!

[superlw8]

can you believe I have gotten 911 calls from the PARKING LOT of the ER? The hospital staff refused to help them because they were not indoors, I had to dispatch rescue to transport her from parking lot to lobby, it was ridiculous...

welcome to what the officers you dispatch put up with on a daily basis


its kind of hard to understand until it happens to you huh

welcome to what the officers you dispatch put up with on a daily basis


its kind of hard to understand until it happens to you huh

Not hard to understand at all - we have to deal with it daily.

A friend suffered a heart arrhythmia and passed out in a hospital Er parking lot. His wife could not drag him in, too heavy. Hospital staff said they could not come out to the lot and drag him in. During this time his heart was not beating correctly and his brain was starved of oxygen. 911 was called and sent ambulance. They picked him up put him on a gurney and in he went. ER staff worked on him, shocked his heart back into regular rhythm. He has permanent brain damage, like a little kid. She won a big judgment. I mean millions upon millions. This happened in another southern state, but it is the same thing here. They never change. UCH is the worst, I would not take my dog into that place. Horrible uncaring people, horrible hospital.

can you believe I have gotten 911 calls from the PARKING LOT of the ER? The hospital staff refused to help them because they were not indoors, I had to dispatch rescue to transport her from parking lot to lobby, it was ridiculous...

I've gotten the same type of calls from the parking lot of the ER! I got one today from a cardiology office. They told me someone was in their car in the parking lot passed out. When I asked if they sent a nurse out or the doctor the response was, "We can't do anything, he's in the parking lot!" My response, "So if he stops breathing you're not going to do cpr?" Incredible! On call back they had sent a nurse out, had in on the ground doing cpr!!

In the past day's news was a story of a woman who was brought into a Los Angeles hosptal's emergency room, where she wasn't seen by doctors for quite some time. The woman's boyfriend, and an observer in the ER waiting room both called 911, where the operators told them that they need to speak with the hospital staff, that 911 could not help them. The woman subsequently died of a perforated bowel. In ALL the news television and internet articles, it is headlined as 911 Operators Refuse Help to Dying Woman...or something in that regard. The media looks for the most sensational headline, irregardless of the truth, which is that the Emergency Room staff refused help to the dying woman. Why is it the 911 operator who is at fault? They're not, but the headline sells stories.

We have several hospitals in our jurisdiction, and we have on numerous occasions, received calls from people in the ER wanting medical help, stating they are not being treated quickly enough at the emergency room. Of course, we can't send rescue. Personally, I will call the ER and advise them of the call that we received, and what they do beyond that point, I don't know, however I feel that I have tried to help the caller and cover any non-existent liability aspect of the situation.

I'm curious as to what other agencies do in this situation. Please share!

Old timer
If you get a call like this the best thing to do is advise a supervisor.
Advise the sergeant or shift commander put it on their shoulder
and when the media comes out to make you look bad, they can't say
you did anything wrong. You advised a supervisor and the supervisor
said not to dispatch a unit and that is it. It fell on the supervisor.

Now as far as the hospital is conserned I agree that the hospital should
be at fault because they should had helped the woman.
The media loves to bash police departments. For example they will
show some officers beating someone up and say police brutality but
they will not say that the thug beat up a 90 year old woman to take her
purse prior to the police kicking his ass.