Covid-19 Patient Kept Waiting Two Hours

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

A patient at a Pennsylvania hospital, already diagnosed with Covid-19, was kept waiting for two hours in a hospital parking lot, when his oxygen ran out and he was forced to go to another facility.
The details of the case were included in a report recently made public by the state Health Department. Citing a federal law and state requirements, the Oct. 15 report concludes that the Chan Soon-Shiong Medical Center in Windber,PA. failed to provide required emergency care including a triage assessment.
The 54-bed facility, which was recently purchased by a foundation established by Patrick Soon-Shiong, the billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Times, also was cited for failing to even record the name of the patient in its records.
"There is no medical record for this patient," the state surveyors stated in their October report after examining hospital records.
According to the surveyors, who interviewed several hospital employees, the patient's girl friend was told to have the patient, who was having difficulty breathing, wait in the car in the hospital parking lot.
When the unnamed girl friend returned asking if the patient could finally come in or at least be triaged, she was sent back to the car.
When a staff member did finally come looking for the patient "the patient wasn't there," the report states. "The patient wasn't seen by an Emergency Room physician," the report continues.
The patient and the girl friend had left the parking lot when his oxygen ran out.
The state surveyors went to the unnamed other hospital where the patient was triaged, seen and immediately placed on oxygen.
The Windber hospital filed a plan of correction in which they said staff members would be re-educated on the requirements of the federal Emergency Medical and Emergency Leave Act and the state requirements for emergency care.
The plan, which was accepted by the state, also calls for new procedures to ensure all patients' names are entered in the log book known as the control register.
Request for comment from hospital officials went unanswered.
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