At Waukegan, IL's Vista Medical Center, 49-year-old Beatrice Vance died of a heart attack, after waiting two hours in the center's emergency room. Vance had been seen briefly by a triage nurse but was told to wait. Two hours later she was found dead, and now the hospital could face criminal penalties for failing to provide appropriate care. A coroner has ruled Vance's death a homicide, stating that she died as "a result of gross deviations from the standard of care that a reasonable person would have exercised in this situation." The hospital has yet to comment on the ruling.
Vance's death is a very real indication that ER overcrowding is more than just an inconvenience for patients and a headache for medical workers. A recent IOM report warned that ERs are overcrowded and that demand for emergency department services has increased 26 percent over the past decade. As the number of uninsured Americans rises, this problem--and the danger it poses to patients--will only worsen.
For more on Vance's death:
- read this article from ABCNews.com
PLUS: Two premature babies died at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis after they were accidentally given adult doses of a blood thinner. Report
ALSO: One New Jersey company has developed software that measures what times the ER is the most busy. This can help hospitals administrators determine how much staffing is needed and when. Report