Stabbing Victim Waits 7 Hours for Doctor

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

A stabbling victim, whose case had been classified as urgent, had to wait nearly seven hours after arriving at a hospital emergency room before being examined by a doctor.
That was the finding of surveyors from the Pennsylvania Health Department performing a state licensure inspection of a Montrose hospital.
According to the report on the Endless Mountain Health System hospital the stabbing victim arrived at the hospital at 3:23 a.m. on March 1 with a stab would in the chest. Hospital staff had categorized the case as Level 3 Urgent.
Yet it wasn't until 10:09 a.m. when a doctor examined the patient and ordered a transfer to another hospital for surgery.
The physician "failed to evaluate the patient in a timely manner," the report states.
Hospital officials did not respond to a series of questions about the incident.
The Aug. 20 report also cited the hospital for failure to have a director of anesthesia and for a series of sanitation issues including dirt and dead bugs at the entrance to the emergency room.
The facility "failed to maintain a clean environment," the report states.
The hospital filed a plan of correction which included re-educating staff on triage policy and a monitoring program to ensure compliance.