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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsStudent Dies When Hospital Has No ICU Doctors, Calls One on Videochat Who Pronounces Him Dead Remotely, Lawsuit Claims
https://futurism.com/health-medicine/student-dies-in-telehealth-hospital-no-icu-doctorsAccording to the wrongful death complaint filed against Yale New Haven Health, the largest healthcare provider in the state, Hylton visited the emergency room at its Bridgeport Hospital Milford Campus because of abdominal pain and vomiting on the morning of August 14, 2024. When his condition worsened, he was admitted to the hospital ICU and diagnosed with pancreatitis, dehydration, metabolic acidosis, and alcohol withdrawal, per a medical analysis cited in the suit.
Rather than receiving traditional care, however, Hylton was unwittingly plunged into a cold experiment in using remote work to offset hospital staffing shortages, which could be a grim portent in an age of AI automation. During the late hours he was admitted to the ICU, there were no on-hand ICU intensivists the term for doctors that specialize in providing critical care the suit alleges. Instead, the wing outsourced this to a tele-ICU service, which relies on off-site intensivists.
No on-site physician assessed Hylton for hours, despite his rapidly deteriorating condition. A hospitalist a doctor that provides general medical care for in-patients but doesnt specialize in critical care was assigned to Hylton, but allegedly never saw him.
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no_hypocrisy
(54,988 posts)just to be their lawyer.
efhmc
(16,724 posts)City Lights
(25,877 posts)OMG, this is horrible!
TommieMommy
(2,943 posts)UpInArms
(55,031 posts)No doctor ever examined him
ICU is supposed to be above any other care provided in any hospital
This is criminal
Blue Owl
(59,191 posts)And who is benefitting? Only the billionaire tech bros bank accounts ..
PatrickforB
(15,438 posts)AWAY from shareholder primacy to a stakeholder approach, overturn Citizens United, and raise taxes on billionaires until there aren't any, and on corporations until they are paying their fair share.
leftstreet
(40,913 posts)MustLoveBeagles
(16,593 posts)This was completely preventable. I feel badly for his family. 😔
Vinca
(54,055 posts)Bettie
(19,750 posts)No. This is death from neglect, deliberate withholding of lifesaving treatment, not the the providers, who were probably traumatized by having to wait, unable to provide needed care, but by the management company who will charge this young man's family and insurance HUGE sums of money, on top of the massive premiums they already paid over the years for him to die from "that department is not profitable enough"
Grim Chieftain
(1,805 posts)- Oh wait ...
ChicagoTeamster
(1,001 posts)TBF
(36,797 posts)The post is an illustration of how bad care has gotten in some hospitals. How could they not have an actual doctor in the ER?
Blaming it on coverage or blaming a university is ridiculous. This is what our government, in particular the republicans selling out to billionaires, has done to us.
ChicagoTeamster
(1,001 posts)To control who gets to profit from Medical care, and other than direct surgical procedures, they are restructuring positions within hospitals such that patients are cared for by the lowest paid employee and the qualified professionals are supervising. If this Dental (Medical) student was covered by University Insurance, His school should have been advocating for him but they probably assumed he was getting quality care. Same with his family if he was under their insurance. I don't recall whether or not the article mentioned ER but the maltreatment occurred in the ICU. And, this facility was either affiliated with a University or in a town with a University that had medical programs so it should have had an adequately staffed ER and functioning ICU. It wasn't some underfunded rural hospital that had it's medicare and medicaid funding cut by DOGE although those cuts affected all hospitals.
Not that his death is anyone's fault but the hospital and insurance company but the only recourse the surviving family are left with now is to sue the medical institution for institutional malpractice. Nobody should die because possibly the plan they had didn't cover having a personal care team of qualified professionals because the policy wasn't high enough quality or the hospital cut corners because the insurance carriers were cutting back on re-imbursement rates. That's what the insurance companies and hospital groups are fighting over. If they didn't have the ICU they should have stabilized him and flown him air ambulance to a hospital that could have treated him.
Evolve Dammit
(21,793 posts)OhioBack2Blue
(127 posts)You get to the ER and there is just a person at a desk who calls a Dr based on their (2 year health degree) assessment.
Deprofessionalization
Defunding
Deregulation
All dumb ideas brought to us by the RepubliCON "from Ronald to Donald" dipshits.
blue_jay
(268 posts)This case and the resultant death is just awful and am sorry that it happened. I have known for years and have witnessed and heard too many stories about poor care or on-site hospice nurses having to split their time between multiple very sick people miles apart and there is always some poor soul and family that pulls the short straw and family is left alone to try to handle medical conditions without the skill set. This is just an even dumber and more horrifying extension of business trying to save every last penny at the expense of good products or good care.
Also, it seems our health care system is not set up to handle very ill patients who are not ready to go and/or have their pain, whether existent or not, be eased by sedating, stupor inducing medicines just so you will get your medical care covered, so they are easier to handle for the understaffed facilities. Not saying pain meds are never needed or helpful but people should have choices and that's a whole different topic with no easy answers. I just firmly believe everyone should have a say, if they are able, "alert and oriented" (or made plans in advance) in how they choose to go out and not be forced along a path that most pleases someone else, some societal norm, some religion's norm, someone else's war, some entity's business profit goals or some bureaucratic, legal framework more focused on fear of potential lawsuits than good patient care. We need a better system, both federally and locally.
Apologies for the rant, I know this is a loaded subject and everyone has different perspectives and experiences.
SunSeeker
(58,299 posts)WestMichRad
(3,284 posts)Before we provide any service, you must sign this release agreement that absolves us from any responsibility, regardless of your outcome.