Comments on: Woman dies on ER floor as staff watch: video

By: MarkD60

MarkD60 — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 12:09:46 +0000

This is an embarrassment to the USA. Is this what democracy brings? Is this what Capitalism brings?
What do people in countries like Iraq and Iran think when they see this? Do you think this makes them want to be like the USA? NO! It makes our enemies fight us harder. Incidents like this have lasting repercussions all around the world. The staff at this hospital will be responsible for more US troop death.
The US should bring all those troops home and use them to get the US squared away. The US is just as bad as any third world country. worse in some ways.
This lady could not have died without even being looked at in any other country in the world. It could only happen in the Good ‘Ol USA.

By: max

max — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 01:33:34 +0000

But “Mostly Harmless”, one can argue it both ways. We all know about the apathy and lack of service that government run organizations practise, and this could just as well have happened in such an organization. On the other hand, for-profit enterprises know that their reputation and service are fundamentally key in ensuring that the revenue rolls in and such an act, if publicized would have been anathema to a properly run profit driven enterprise. In the old days though it could easily have been covered up, but thanks to You Tube, this bunch of uncouth humans deserve our full-forced disgust and anger.
The only conclusion that I can draw from it is probably not that it is profit or non-profit motivated – a hospital is fundamentally supposed to be built on the Hippocratic oath – in this instance, I am pretty sure that for a mob like to have killed someone by apathy, the culture in the hospital has already been set by the leadership in place, and of course they are to blame too.

By: Mostly Harmless

Mostly Harmless — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 20:38:16 +0000

max- “they neglected…the very basic reason for the existence of [the] hospital…”

This happened at the CORPORATE-RUN King County mental health hospital emergency unit. Care giving to patients takes a back seat to profits and stock values. I’m not disagreeing with your post. Does it really surprise anyone that patient care levels suffer when health care facilities are run as for-profit enterprises? If you needed major surgery would you put it out for bids? That’s how we run our health care system here in the USA.

By: max

max — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 11:39:44 +0000

Human rights is also about the right to treatment in a hospital….not just some highfalutin political missile targeted at nations in South America, Africa and Asia. It is indeed shocking that this happened in New York!
That the staff were simply fired or suspended is a joke….they should be criminally charged for manslaughter as they neglected not only the Hippocratic oath but also the very basic reason for the existence of hospitals – to treat patients.
By morbid comparisons, being bludgeoned to death is an easier concept to comprehend than this death by absolute neglect in a hospital