Dying woman on a psych ward floor . . .

it’s amazing how all those people were pulling up medical equipment, looks like a crash cart, a bp cuff. Nobody checked the ladies pulse or even tried to initiate resusitative efforts. That was really pathetic

I trained in IM/Psych because I thought I could provide better care. TOTAL care. After practicing in the “grown-up world” I realized that mental health care isn’t really medical care after all – no matter where you are admitted.

I just graduated a critical care medicne fellowship. I decided that I enjoyed taking care of the “really sick”, but that was always true even when I was running a psych ward. This scene is my worst nightmare realized – that the staff on the ward simply don’t know what they’re doing MEDICALLY. They can run an activity group or stress management class. But they almost always drop the ball when medical stuff comes into play.

I can run group therapy, but I can also run a code. Funny how not much of either was going on here. I hope she wasn’t admitted for panic attacks and chest pains.

This video also showed up on one of the national news cable programs. This was a New York County hospital, Kings County if I heard correctly. I believe it is also a teaching facility. Here in California a major facility was shut down (Martin Luther King Hosital ). (a teaching hospital)for incidents such as this.

The issues are multifactorial,poor or non-existent leadership, apathy and severe depression amongst not only the patients, but also the staff. It was also obvious that the staff physically blocked the view of the security cameras.

Thousands of people depend upon this poor excuse for a hospital. The problem extends to the entire community. No doubt the fact it ocurred in a psych ward made the incident worse.

If they are competent enough perhaps there will be some peer review.
Perhaps medicare (too young unless she was disabled to begin with), or medicaid will refuse payment for an ‘avoidable’ error.

I see some political hay making here.