Another Hospital Emergency Room Death!
Posted by
Dan FrithSeptember 25, 2008 10:07 AMI live in Roanoke, Virginia, a city of about 150,000 people tucked away in the beautiful Appalachian mountains. It is a great place to live...unless you need good, prompt, and affordable medical care. You see we have an 800 pound gorilla in our medical community and its called Carilion Health System (Carilion). Carilion owns the largest hosptial in western Virginia, and owns over a half dozen other hospitals in the region which it uses them to refer patients to its main facility in Roanoke. Carilion is also buying up all the local phyisican groups in order to eliminate competition and keep the costs of medical care as high as possible.
I also forgot to tell you that Carilion is a "non-profit" corporation....but at least the Wall Street Journal doesn't think it is non-profit and wrote a scathing article about how Carilion conducts business. Carilion's heavy-hand has resulted in the creation of a local group of citizens who oppose its practices (Citizens Coalition for Responsible Healthcare).
Today, our local newspaper ran a story entitled, "Carilion Scolded for Gaps in Safety." The story ran as a result of a psychiatric patient hanging herself in a room where she was being held until a bed in a mental facility came open for her. Because there was no space available in a psychiatric facility, Carilion had put her in a special locked wing of the emergency department. Eight hours after officials determined the woman needed hospitalization for mental-health issues, she used a cord to a medical device slung from a ceiling light to take her life.
Lorraine Ryan, spokeswoman for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, said that Carilion has been placed on a special status for hospitals that run afoul of agency regulations. Carilion was notified in a Sept. 11 letter that, as a result of the suicide, Medicare concluded that the hospital had failed in its duty to provide all patients a safe setting in which to receive care.
Is this care acceptable? Is this the type of care provided by the following hospitals owned by Carilion?
Bedford Memorial Hospital
Carilion Franklin Memorial Hospital
Carilion Giles Memorial Hospital
Carilion Roanoke Community Hospital
Carilion New River Valley Medical Center
Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital
Carilion Stonewall Jackson Hospital
Tazewell Community Hospital