Portland Adventist Medical Center: This Looks Bad

[Guest]

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2011/02/portland_adventist_refuses_to.html

This doesn't look good---I expect this will be all over the media soon...sigh! I hope they have a good reason for doing what they did.

Maggie

[karl]

Portland Adventist doesn't have the manpower or the resources to treat people outside of the facility. Even though the parking garage may have been relatively close to the ER, the ER's equipment, which is not set up to be used outside of the hospital, would have to be transported to the man's car. It would actually be faster for the ambulance, which has everything onboard, to drive to the emergency than for the ER staff to pack up and run out there with all their stuff.

And when they did that, they would leave the patients already in the ER unattended.

[Liz]

There are always two sides to every story, and media usually jumps to the side that will cause the most reaction--even if it is slanted. So I hope that more comes out.

[doug yowell]

Portland Adventist doesn't have the manpower or the resources to treat people outside of the facility. Even though the parking garage may have been relatively close to the ER, the ER's equipment, which is not set up to be used outside of the hospital, would have to be transported to the man's car. It would actually be faster for the ambulance, which has everything onboard, to drive to the emergency than for the ER staff to pack up and run out there with all their stuff.

And when they did that, they would leave the patients already in the ER unattended.

I tend to sympathize with the victim's immediate need but if the cops had just put him in their car and driven him to the ER they probably would have been sued.

[Guest]

Thanks for the insights!

Blessings,

Maggie

[Daryl]

I hope the hospital will adequately explain the reason for such a policy in relation to this incident.

[Amelia]

[Daryl]

Why the need to call 911 in regards to this specific case?

Why didn't the ER dispatch the ambulance themselves instead of asking the police officer to call 911 that wasted even more time?

[Guest]

Thanks for posting the hospital's response on here...in the second paragraph, it sounds like they are saying they DID send someone from their staff out? If so, I wonder why the media says differently?

Blessings,

Maggie

[Dr. Shane]

In the area I live, I don't think hospitals have ambulances that respond to 9/11 calls. I believe here that is all contracted out to private ambulance services.

[Woody]

Shane do you live in one of those 'deprived' areas?

Many hospitals like to provide services in cost effective areas.

They prefer not to go into poverty stricken locations.

[Dr. Shane]

Where I live the 9/11 service is administered by municipalities. When someone calls 9/11, a city employee answers the phone. The cities bid out the ambulance service and enter into contracts for a specified period of time. So the ambulance services actually get paid by city governments and not by hospitals. Some hospitals may own ambulances they use to transport patients but all the 9/11 calls go through a municipality.

[fccool]

I don't care which hospital we are talking about... whether it's Adventist or not, a person who is suffering a heart failure should be at least administered some assistance while the ambulance arrives. If I would be that cop, I would be fairly astonished too. Imagine your house burning down and a fire station down the road saying that they are not properly equipped to answer the call, so you have to call the one the next town over.

It's not really an issue of Aventist hospital. It's an issue of the purpose of a hospital. Sure, the legal system can use some reforming in that regard, but people don't have to die in the meantime.

[Gail]

I agree that it is not an issue of an Adventist hospital. This scenario might well be played out at our local hospital here.

[Amelia]

Shane, our ambulance service is administered the same way. Hospitals don't have their own ambulances.

[Dottie]

Imagine your house burning down and a fire station down the road saying that they are not properly equipped to answer the call, so you have to call the one the next town over.

That exact thing happened only a few blocks from where I live. The house was in one county, and the next county had a fire station very close to the fire. But they did not respond because of "policy". When the firemen did arrive, the house was too far gone to save it. The policy has since been changed.

[Dottie]

Our emergency calls are answered by both fire trucks and ambulance. The workers are so coordinated, that the say "Hi," and each has his own assigned duties. The hospital has its own ambulance, which is used for transport from one hospital to another, as several belong to the same organization.

There are also some private ambulances which have contracts, but we have never had need of one, so I don't know how they fit in.

[Stan]

FWIW the Hospital was recently cleared of all wrong doing.

[Jeannieb43]

From 12:30 a.m. to 12:56 a.m. when he was rolled into the ER, sounds like pretty quick response time to me.

[ClubV12]

Someone rushing to the scene, out of the hospital, may not have been able to do anymore than the police officer was already doing, CPR. It was an auto accident, so what medic tools do you grab to respond? Jaws of life maybe? Or do you just GO, without any provisions (officer already on the scene)? You could possibly grab a "crash cart", something on wheels with basic equipement, less than an ambulance has, but at least the basics. Assuming such a cart was available, which it might not be. Who is going to respond, immediately, by the way? A doctor? Nurse? Trainee?

It's a good call asking for 911 to send an ambulance, that well may be the fastest way to get advanced equipement to the scene itself, an AUTO ACCIDENT (with no clue about the possible injuries). At the very least it's a good backup plan, in case the hospital staff can't get that "crash cart" rolling in time or cannot send someone more qualified than a police officer in those first few minutes.

Glad to hear the hospital was cleared of wrong doing.