We’ve probably all heard the story of Edith Isabel Rodriguez, who died in a Los Angeles emergency room after being refused treatment. Concerned people on the scene called 911, and were told there was nothing cops or paramedics can do, since she was already in a hospital. Hospital personnel stepped over her while she was on the floor, writhing in pain. A janitor mopped around her, to clean up the blood which came from her body. Concerned individuals who tried to bring the woman’s condition to the attention of hospital personnel were told that it was not blood coming from her mouth, but chocolate.
The woman, unfortunately, died.
The part of this story being left out of most news accounts, however, is that the hospital called the cops to have her removed from the premises.
When cops arrived, they picked her up off the floor, blood coming from her mouth, and arrested her for a probation violation.
What the hell?
Cops were transporting her to jail when her heart stopped. They returned her to the hospital, but by then it was too late, and she died. She had suffered a perforated bowel sometime within 24 hours after arriving at the hospital. Had she been seen when she had first arrived at the hospital hours before, she probably would have survived.
The problem here lies not just with the hospital, but with the cops. The cops should have demanded that she be seen before they transported her. After all, it’s not rocket science that somone is probably dying when they’re in that kind of condition.
A number of hospital employees have been fired and reported to licensing authorities, and the state has taken steps to close down the hospital since she’s not the only person who appeared there deathly ill and was refused treatment. A murder investigation has also been opened.
As far as I can tell, though, no action has been taken against the cops on the scene, despite their undeniable responsibility to intervene on the woman’s behalf.
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That’s disgusting. Why was she refused treatment?
The triage nurse (who was fired and now may lose her license) told her she had been there for three days in a row, and that she had already been told there was nothing they can do for her. The previous diagnosis was, if I recall correctly, either gallstones or kidney stones.
However, it may also go into finances, because several people who worked in patient accounts have been fired as well.
Needless to say, her family is suing for medical malpractice.
Much as I hate to say this, you have the account on the involvement of the police incorrect. It was her boyfriend/fiance who called the cops. He was told that there was an outstanding warrant for her arrest: when he asked if she would receive medical treatment, the cops said yes.
He then basically told them to enforce the warrant, so that she could be transported to a hospital that would treat her. Unfortunately, this had taken too long, and she was DOA by the time they got her to the police car. I.e.; the cops involved were actually trying to save a life, not just be indifferent bastards.
As to the diagnosis: it was gallstones: she died because the stones ruptured her colon, causing the internal bleeding that resulted in blood coming up out of her. The diagnosis had also stated to return to the hospital if the condition worsened, which is why she was there.
Oh, and for the record: the hospital was a public one: i.e.; what we can expect under socialized healthcare standards. This needs to be discussed under those circumstances.
The account I read said that the cops had cuffed her while she was on the floor; put her in a wheel chair and only noticed she was dead when they ordered her to get into the cop car. Nowhere have I read anything suggesting that the cops were anything other than beastly in their treatment of her. Of course, I realize that the media can not get a story out without it losing all relation to reality, but… from previous experience I know which scenario seems more probable: cops being compasionate and only caring for the well being of a “perp”, or cops being concerned about enforcing the Law at all costs to imtimidate “civilians”.
Hiya, IanC. I got that information from several news sources, including ABC and Fox. Sorry but, with all sincere respect, the version you have heard makes no sense.
Law enforcement has the absolute authority to demand immediate medical treatment at a public hospital facility. So if the cops really were so concerned, why didn’t they just demand immediate treatment for her at that hospital?
It sounds to me like the cops managed to put a pretty good spin on their involvement in this, but I seriously doubt many will believe it. If they were truly concerned about her condition, they would have demanded a doctor the minute they saw her lying on the floor bleeding from her mouth, not taken her to a police car to allegedly transport her to another hospital, and taken the chance that she’d die along the way. I take it from your description that they didn’t even call in an ambulance for the transfer, which is also completely within their authority and it makes absolutely no sense that they would not do so. After all, an ambulance can provide limited medical treatment, whereas the cops can provide no medical treatment at all outside of CPR. Of course by the time she needs CPR, in a situation where someone appears to be bleeding internally, it’s probably too late.
I therefore don’t believe for a minute that the cops were being compassionate toward this woman. I think they wanted to arrest her on an outstanding warrant once they discovered her identity and location; and like the hospital staff, they stupidly assumed she was faking an illness to either get drugs (she was a longtime drug addict) or to avoid arrest, or possibly both.
I just found yet another news report, and it still does not look to me like the cops were being compassionate at all. From CNN:
I can’t document it now, but I do recall that the police were notified by the boyfriend, who was told by the police that she would receive medical attention after being arrested.
Doesn’t actually change the gist of the story, though.