Man dies after 8 hours in ER waiting room


Recommended Posts

Jon Verrier came into the emergency room at St. Barnabas Hospital complaining of a rash. Eight hours later he was found "stiff, blue, and cold" in a waiting room chair, having died unnoticed several hours earlier, an emergency room worker told ABC 7.

The 30-year-old arrived at the Bronx hospital at 10pm on Jan. 19, and the hospital says his name was called three times between then and 2am.

Security footage shows he was alive as late as 3:45am. Finally, at 6:40am, a security guard noticed that Verrier was dead. The hospital has concluded that "all guidelines were met," a spokesperson says.

But the employee has a more harsh assessment: "He died because [of] not enough staff," he said. "For me, it feels like a cover-up." Indeed, Verrier's family didn't know the circumstances of his death until after ABC 7's report aired, the New York Daily News reports.

"You're just a number no matter where you go," his brother lamented. "That's how they treated him, like a number." The New York Post adds that Saint Barnabas' emergency room has an average turnaround time of 306 minutes, more than twice the national average.

source

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

What kind of Rash was it? That sounds pretty crazy, I wonder if it's infectious. This doesn't really seem to be the fault of anyone, yes there is a high wait time, but there are a lot of people and a 'rash' is a low priority. Shame it happened though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

holy moly! I don't know what kind of rash it was, but one thing is for sure...I don't wanna ever get it! wow!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If the problem really was that, he went there for emergency care for a life threatening rash, however it was caused (allergic reaction, or other injury). Then I bet the hospital was fully responsible. The typical response in a lot of emergency situations is to do nothing, so doctors and hospital employees might have been deliberately indifferent towards his complaints like they usually are, and didn't react soon enough. They made him wait a super long time before even noticing, which indicates all this. Deliberate indiffernce is common in medical care, usually when doctors refuse to provide medical care or don't take proper action when a complaint is received.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Now if the hospital wasn't overloaded with the idiots who go to the ER for such nonsense as toothaches, hangnails, and nasal congestion, maybe they would have gotten to this guy in time.  The fault completely lies with his fellow man.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

If the problem really was that, he went there for emergency care for a life threatening rash, however it was caused (allergic reaction, or other injury). Then I bet the hospital was fully responsible. The typical response in a lot of emergency situations is to do nothing, so doctors and hospital employees might have been deliberately indifferent towards his complaints like they usually are, and didn't react soon enough. They made him wait a super long time before even noticing, which indicates all this. Deliberate indiffernce is common in medical care, usually when doctors refuse to provide medical care or don't take proper action when a complaint is received.

 

You clearly don't work in healthcare :rolleyes:

 

People might call foul play, but it's unlikely - if it was even a moderately busy ER, he could easily have continued to be triaged low.  If all he complained about was a rash, that'll take less precedence to, say, chest pain, which is one of a handful of complaints an ER has to triage right away for liability purposes.  ERs aren't first-come, first-serve, you get triaged based on severity of your complaint or condition.  If they indeed called his name and didn't get a response, and the guy didn't appear to be in immediate danger (which there is video of), then I can't say they did much wrong.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I will share with you something about my real life....  I was waiting to see dental at hopsital like one month! I was so mad about this. I was not happy with USA health anymore. I had toothache for one month until finally I see dentist there, and they removed my toothache. it is vey bad ones!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You clearly don't work in healthcare :rolleyes:

 

People might call foul play, but it's unlikely - if it was even a moderately busy ER, he could easily have continued to be triaged low.  If all he complained about was a rash, that'll take less precedence to, say, chest pain, which is one of a handful of complaints an ER has to triage right away for liability purposes.  ERs aren't first-come, first-serve, you get triaged based on severity of your complaint or condition.  If they indeed called his name and didn't get a response, and the guy didn't appear to be in immediate danger (which there is video of), then I can't say they did much wrong.

A rash is pretty serious, though. A lot more serious than chest pain. A few causes of rash include allergic reactions to hazardous substances, like medication for example. If that is what this guy had, and say a drug caused it, he would have been in a possibly life threatening state, due to the rash and other complications related to it.

 

Also they have to be deliberately indifferent towards peoples problems in the ER, unless like really serious accident happened like a car wreck or gunshot, or overdose. Most other people are forced to wait in line, many get sent back home with little or no help. I have seen it happen all the time. . It doesn't sound to me like the particular ER this guy went to was adequately staffed or being managed, but at the same time they probably didn't even care about his problem, which led to his death.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

You clearly don't work in healthcare :rolleyes:

 

People might call foul play, but it's unlikely - if it was even a moderately busy ER, he could easily have continued to be triaged low.  If all he complained about was a rash, that'll take less precedence to, say, chest pain, which is one of a handful of complaints an ER has to triage right away for liability purposes.  ERs aren't first-come, first-serve, you get triaged based on severity of your complaint or condition.  If they indeed called his name and didn't get a response, and the guy didn't appear to be in immediate danger (which there is video of), then I can't say they did much wrong.

This is spot on. At the same time, I do wonder if staffing was low. At the hospital I am employed at we miss things all the time we could of caught and prevented if we had adequate staffing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can't really blame the hospital if he was called several times, but decided not to go. :/  Also, it must have been more than just a rash that killed him because rashes don't usually do much.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can't really blame the hospital if he was called several times, but decided not to go. :/  Also, it must have been more than just a rash that killed him because rashes don't usually do much.

 

Depending on the type of rash, it could have been meningitis, which is VERY fatal.  We won't know until the coroner's report comes out, though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What I am surprised is that if it was the busy.. other people would have noticed.  Also if he had waited that long why wasn't he up asking/demanding to go in the back?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What I am surprised is that if it was the busy.. other people would have noticed.  Also if he had waited that long why wasn't he up asking/demanding to go in the back?

 

Depending on the cause of his death, he might not have been able to.  That he didn't respond to them calling his name tends to indicate he was unable to do so.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is spot on. At the same time, I do wonder if staffing was low. At the hospital I am employed at we miss things all the time we could of caught and prevented if we had adequate staffing.

I completely agree. The pencilnecks try to save money in all the wrong places.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This topic is now closed to further replies.