HUP Cited for Hitting, Mistreating ER Patients

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

Security personnel at a major Philadelphia hospital dragged an emergency room patient from her seat, deliberately causing the patient to make "forcible contact" of her head and body to a metal detector before ejecting the her from the facility.
That incident was one of two cited by state health officials in a highly critical 60-page report on the Hospital of the Unversity of Pennsylvania (HUP)recently made public.
The incidents, which one HUP employee dismissed as an "unfortunate isolated incident," resulted in the four employees being placed on administrative leave and later terminated. The incidents occurred at the Emergency Room of a remote HUP facility on Cedar Avenue.
HUP officials did not respond to a series of questions on the report, but they did file a Plan of Correction with the state.
According to the April 27 report the first incident occurred at 3:02 a.m.on April 3 when an unnamed female patient, who had completed the registration process, left in "a state of verbal distress," but was grabbed by an employee "from the rear of the collar" and then, joined by 2 other employees, ejected her from the emergency department.
The patient "appeared to be emotionally and physically distressed and resistant to the physical handling and removal from the emergency department," the report states, citing videotaped recordings of the incident.
The report states that three of the employees "purposely made forcible contact of the head and body of the patient with a metal detector."
Citing the "seriousnes of the hospital's failure to comply with state law and regulations, the report cites (HUP)for failing to assess and treat the patient.
The second patient at the same HUP emergency facility had become verbally abusive and threatening and was asked to leave.
After the patient was asked to leave for a second time the report states that patient laid down on the sidewalk and later eloped.
The report concludes that HUP violated the the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act and "failed to provide services in a safe environment."
The hospital's plan of correction calls for close monitoring of patients seeking care in the emergency department, staff re-education and a series of audits and reporting the incidents to local law enforcement officials. Contact: wfrochejr999@gmail.com