Woman goes to ER, kicked out for trespassing, dies in jail.

[Razgovory]

Alright, if a doctor can't reasonably be expected to find out what's wrong with a person who comes in with a problem, who do you go to?

If doctors are required to find out everything that is wrong with a person, then they will need to (at least) run full body checks for everybody who comes into the emergency room.

No, just the main problem would be fine.

[Razgovory]

I'm grasping for answers here.

I think derspiess is saying that the copy editor chose the word "Mom" for the headline to pull at heartstrings rather than to just inform the public. Since an article's job is to sell newspapers, using mild sensationalism like that doesn't seem like such a big deal to me, but I can see how it can bother someone else. Luckily, there are usually plenty of other papers one can go to if they dislike one or another. And hey, at least the headline wasn't "Police and ER stupidity kills homeless mother of two!"

I think this simply the kind of story that Derspeiss doesn't like to hear, so he's attacking it in anyway he can.

[Monoriu]

No, just the main problem would be fine.

Is it standard procedure to check for blood clots if the main complaint is a sprained ankle?  I honestly don't know.  If the answer is yes, then the hospital is, I would think, negligent.  But if the answer is no, then the incident is a tragedy, but nothing more. 

[Ideologue]

Hospitals are evil.  I told you.

[Razgovory]

Hospitals are evil.  I told you.

True.  You ever been locked up in one?

[merithyn]

Is it standard procedure to check for blood clots if the main complaint is a sprained ankle?  I honestly don't know.  If the answer is yes, then the hospital is, I would think, negligent.  But if the answer is no, then the incident is a tragedy, but nothing more.

Blood clots are usually pretty painful, so if they checked her ankle, it seems odd that they wouldn't have noticed her flinching when they touched her calf (assuming that's where the clots were as that's where they usually are). That being said, the woman is mentally ill, so they may have disregarded the flinching or thought she was exaggerating for effect or to get more pain meds.

Honestly, it's really hard not to have preconceived notions about the people who come into the ER for treatment. It's likely what happened here, just as it happens in every ER in the country.

[Razgovory]

Sprained ankles also tend to cause bruising.  If they didn't see bruising it might have alerted them there could be some other problem.  Of course they could have simply assumed that the woman was just trying to score drugs and simply ignored her.

[garbon]

Hospitals are evil.  I told you.

I wonder what you'll be saying when you get the diabetes and need dialysis to keep your ass alive.

[Razgovory]

Hospitals are evil.  I told you.

I wonder what you'll be saying when you get the diabetes and need dialysis to keep your ass alive.

That Hospitals are still evil.

[Syt]

Her being a mom is mentioned purely for emotional purposes, because a probable first reaction when reading the headline might be, "But what about her children now?" Only to read in the article that she didn't have custody, anyways.it's similar to how news story are more newsworthy when kids die or get injured. Buses with tourists crash every couple of weeks in Europe and are a footnote in news reporting. Yet when a bus of kids crashed in Switzerland, the media covered it for a week and there was a day of mourning in Belgium (where the kids were from).

[Razgovory]

I suspect that if a Muslim shot up a supermarket in the US Derspeiss wouldn't be unhappy if the headline said that "Muslim man shoots up supermarket".

[Ideologue]

I also think he'd be okay with "Mom Shoots Up Muslim."

[grumbler]

Having blood clots is not an emergency situation, it is a long-term one.

It definitely can be if clots are dislodged.

  Having a leg can be an emergency situation if that leg has been sliced off.  So what's your point?

Having blood clots is not an emergency situation, as I have said.  Having impaired heart or lung function from blood clots can be an emergency situation, but that's not what this woman went to the emergency room to complain about.

Emergency rooms are manned by ER doctors, who are trauma specialists.  They are not family practice specialists/internists, who would be the kind of physicians who would give tests that would discover blood clots.

The woman was homeless and presumably qualified for Medicare.  She didn't get medical care from the state, possibly because she was mentally ill and didn't want to put up with the hassle.  There are tons of stories about homeless diabetics losing limbs because they only go to the ER when pain is excruciating, and even then only get the symptoms treated, not the cause.

This woman would probably only have lived had health care been mandatory and compulsory.  Not sure how you could do that.

[Caliga]

I don't see the point in blaming the victim, though.  It generates less outrage.

[grumbler]

I don't see the point in blaming the victim, though.  It generates less outrage.  

If the victim was mentally ill, then there's no sense even blaming her.  People die all the time.  No one is to blame in most cases.  This seems to be one of them.