More and more these days, the Gorilla hears new stories about negligent occurrences at hospitals, and each time, he is more shocked than the last! There have been stories about surgeons performing brain surgeries on the wrong side of the brain; nurses giving the wrong medications and killing or critically injuring patients (remember the recent Dennis Quaid twins incident?); and yes, we’ve all heard this one a time or two…babies being switched at birth and going home with the wrong parents! (Haven’t they perfected newborn identification by NOW?)
Some of the stories are simply unbelievable, but this news story really takes the cake. In Australia this week, a woman was admitted to the Ballarat Hospital in Victoria, because of a miscarriage she suffered. And if that wasn’t distressing enough, she could not have anticipated that the worst was still yet to come. The woman was gathering her personal belongings, preparing to check out. When she looked through her overnight bag, she found a package with her name on it, so she opened it. To her extreme shock and horror that bag contained her almost 19 week old miscarried fetus. The fetus was inadvertently placed in her bag by a hospital staff member. Yes, you heard correctly, someone on the hospital staff, placed the unborn fetus in the woman’s bag. The woman found the fetus- who was approximately 19 weeks old- wrapped in a towel and placed in a plastic bag. Unbeknownst to the woman, she opened the plastic bag wondering what it was, and was appalled to find her own unborn child.
Now, you are probably wondering the same thing the Gorilla is wondering; how in the world can a hospital employee make such an ignorant mistake? Are people truly that stupid? Apparently, this is not the first negligent incident in the hospital’s history, but how and why could a person make such an obvious mistake? The incident is one of a string of lawsuits against the hospital in Ballarat, in Victoria, Australia, in the past two months. But Ballarat Health Services say there is “no cause for alarm.” Really? Someone places a dead baby into an already grieving mother’s belongings for her to find, and this is “no cause for alarm?”
Well, if this is no cause for alarm, then the Gorilla would like to know exactly what does constitute a cause for alarm? Perhaps hospitals should have more regularly scheduled staff meetings to discuss the obviously waning astuteness, which is so frequent these days among its employees; or perhaps the laws need to be reformed regarding medical personnel and proper protocol and procedures therein. Whatever the method, could someone please do something? The Gorilla does believe that these are relatively isolated incidents, and that for the most part, medical personnel are pretty much on the ball at most hospitals. In fact, in every hospital experience the Gorilla has ever had to endure in his area, the hospital staff was completely on task, informative, and fantastic, so rest assured you are most likely in good hands no matter which hospital you might choose. But this story is both sad and ”bizarre,” and it leaves the Gorilla wondering, ”what will be next?”
February 12th, 2008 at 9:38 pm
Hmmm. I have an observation. This lack of attention to basic humanity is, I believe, due to the drive for profit in most hospitals today.
Unions are having a difficult time representing staff, and nurses. This drags down the wages and training for qualitied people working in hospitals. Low pay and lack of benefits are filling hospitals with the lazy of the lazy in America.
Only the Nurses have managed to keep their proffessionalism. (usually)
February 21st, 2008 at 3:02 am
Hey now. Hospitals are on the ropes these days with bankruptcys occuring more and more. How could that be? This is an era of decling reimbursments with many doctors cannibilizing the hospitals profit centers by performing many of these procedures in their offices. Combined with the fact that Medicare and thus insurance companies are decreasing their reimbursements for medical procedures at a time when this country needs medical personell more than ever. So what is the solution? Lay off expensive highly educated staff. Now more work gets done with fewer employees related to declining reimbursement. Great, expect more of these stories as the cutbacks roll on.