A 43-year-old mother of three showed up in the
emergency room of an inner-city hospital in Los Angeles complaining of severe stomach pain. The staff was familiar with the woman by now, as this was the third consecutive day she had come in. A nurse sent her away, telling the woman that she had already been seen, and there was nothing more they could do.
Minutes later, the woman collapsed on the floor screaming in pain and began vomiting blood. Employees ignored her, nurses walked past her, a janitor cleaned up around her. No one did anything until police were called to cart her away. They didn’t get far before she went into cardiac arrest and died.
I'd like to think that this incident is one of a kind and that it has never or will never happen to anyone else. Unfortunately, I don't think that's the case. While I hope that people wouldn't be callous enough to ignore a woman collapsed on the floor, vomiting blood, I'm sure that there are many people who get turned away at hospitals. It's tragic.
