Jovita Cásarez berates hospital administrators, emergency services. UPDATED
By Bill Sontag
Feature Writer
In the first presentation since the Val Verde County Hospital District Board created a formal public comment period, Jovita V. Cásarez scolded hospital administrators regarding emergency room practices, and warned board members that – as elected officials – they must participate in correcting the problems.
The board met for its regularly scheduled noon meeting, Tuesday (April 1), and Cásarez topped the agenda with her arguments revolving around ER service, diagnosis, treatment and procedures. Cásarez also submitted a petition she claims is signed by 500 people substantiating concerns expressed in her presentation to the board, as well as eight statements from individuals further attesting.
Though the petition and statements were entered into the record of the public meeting, they were not provided to LIVE! on request for inspection, and Board Vice President Rachel Beavan – serving as acting president in the absence of Board President Bob Boland – said Wednesday morning that she is unclear whether some of the documents can be released because they may contain Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)-protected private patient information. Cásarez presented her remarks in Spanish, but provided all attendees an English version to follow. Offering to assist Cásarez with her presentation was attorney Alpha Hernandez, Texas Rural Legal Aid.
Cásarez introduced herself as founder of Familias Unidas de Val Verde County, Inc., which she began organizing in 1982 to make affordable housing available to those who could not afford it. In 1998, the organization was incorporated as a non-profit in the wake of the tragic flood of August 1998, that killed many and left hundreds homeless.
Cásarez centered her complaints around her request “for the intervention of the state so that an investigation can be initiated into all the negligence and anomalies that this institution [Val Verde Regional Medical Center] has committed…” Among those, Cásarez listed “exaggerated fees for deficient services,” and alleged withholding of information on “programs and means to help those who don’t have Medicare, Medicaid or health insurance.”
“We can assume that if a person seeks emergency room service it is because of a very urgent matter,” Cásarez said, despite repeated observations by hospital administrators, staff and physicians that the ER is often used as a clinic for clearly non-emergent conditions, ranging from colds to flu symptoms. Cásarez further alleged, “Also, this administration has doctors whose professional ethics leave much to be desired,” though she did not elaborate with specific ethical misconduct examples. Houghton said the hospital has been visited by state and Joint Committee for accreditation of hospitals' inspectors on five occasions within the past year, and, while results and reports are confidential, the institution has come away with a clean bill of health each time, and remains fully accredited.
Cásarez also commented on high costs charged to ER patients, stating, “An emergency room visit costs more than a stay at a five-star hotel, the difference being that at the emergency room a person must wait four, six, eight or 10 hours or more sitting in the waiting room…” Cásarez explained, “Many of these patients go to the emergency room two or three times for the same medical problem until they go to San Antonio or another city where they are diagnosed with advanced illnesses…” Cásarez told LIVE! late Tuesday afternoon that her concerns about these issues were focused, Dec. 14, 2007, when her family took her great grandson, Alexander Garcia Reyes, to the VVRMC ER with intestinal distress, including symptoms such as a taught belly and bubbling froth from his mouth. Inside the ER, and stressing that she was a certified nurse assistant at a local nursing home, Cásarez said she called for a doctor to check the froth at the baby’s mouth, was told the doctor was “at lunch,” and finally came and concluded that the child was “OK,” but had stomach gas.
The following day (Dec. 15), Cásarez said, the baby’s mother, Rosemary Cásarez took Alexander to Christus Santa Rosa Hospital in San Antonio where he was diagnosed with a hernia, and received surgery for a successful conclusion of the problem. VVRMC CEO Jack Houghton named the HIPAA restriction, too, when asked whether he’d verified against hospital records the concerns Cásarez made regarding her great grandson’s ER treatment.
Cásarez praised three physicians and two board members for their sensitivity and “professional ethics,” including Dr. Alfredo Gutierrez Jr., Dr. Fermin Calderon, Dr. Angel Martinez, and board members Eulalio Calderon and Tony Sotelo. Cásarez countered that praise, saying, “Some nurses, not all, are so rude or arrogant with the patients that they act as if they own the hospital and they treat the patients without giving them the respect and attention they deserve.” Again, Cásarez did not offer examples to back up this claim.
Cásarez admonished the board members, “I would like to make it very clear to you … that you were elected by the citizens of this county as our representatives, that we need you to defend the interests of the users of this hospital and the community …” Finally, Cásarez warned, that “after a reasonable time which provides you enough time to investigate all the information presented and present solutions, if they are not satisfactory to the needs of our people, I will forge ahead until I succeed in removing the present administration.”
Summarizing, Cásarez itemized her complaints: Need for an increase of professional physicians and nurses, shorter wait times in the ER, and more careful billing for services “to avoid excessive billing, repeated billing and wrong billing.”
Responding Wednesday, Houghton said, "I respect any patient's rights to ask questions and express disatisfaciton with our services, and how we have not lived up to their expectations. i want to know where we have not met those expectations. With respect to the costs of ER services, that is the most expensive level of care that exists in primary care. ER is set up for care and treatment of emergency services. We have a shortage of pimary care physicians in our community, and at certain times of the day and week - particularly weekends and during winter months - we can have a substatnial demand placed on our ER department, because people cannot get into their personal physician's offices because of demand with so many people being sick A lot of people don't have personal physicans, and they should. And this is a causative factor affecting fast service, particulary they are using the ER department for primary care service.
"Let me emphasize that our focus is not on being paid. There is a registration process in the emergency department. We will care for the patient without any question or detalis asosciated with the registration. When folks worry about the hospital not doing its part in the community, understand this, we get about $2 million from the county [for unpaid services] and the hospital contributes another $4.5 million that we don't get paid for. We don’t turn patients away with respect to their ability to pay. But we do $6.5 million-a-year of services and business for which we don’t get paid.”
Board member Frank Larson, author of the resolution that created the public comment period in which the public may propose a presentation and be scheduled (if approved), commended Cásarez for her organized presentation, reiterating that the district board cannot take action to correct problems voiced in complaints. Larson assured Cázarez, however, that her concerns would be forwarded to Houghton – present throughout Cásarez’s presentation – for his response. If Cásarez is not satisfied with Houghton’s reply to the accusations, Larson said, the Val Verde Hospital Corporation Board of Directors should be asked to review the case.
In other business, Houghton told the board that hospital officials have an appointment to interview a nephrologist (kidney specialist) candidate for a medical staff position at VVRMC. The candidate, Houghton explained, is a Mexican national currently doing an internship in a Lubbock hospital. The candidate is seeking a J-1 (work) visa for foreign-born graduates of medical schools who agree to practice at least three years in an “underserved community.” Houghton said if the candidate is selected, a three-year contract with the hospital would be offered. Houghton said the city needs a second nephrologist, so he will continue recruitment efforts.
Early voting for three positions on the board begins at the hospital, April 28 and terminates on May 6, four days before the election voting day, May 10. Only five candidates filed to run before the filing deadline, and all five are vying for the same at-large position being vacated by Board President Bob Boland. They include Dr. Dan Chartrand, Chubbs McCrory, Bob Michelini, Mary Parish, and Diana Zertuche.
You must be registered and logged in to post comments
- Login or register to post comments
- Email this page
Do you like or dislike this story? Please take a quick survey to help us improve. Click here.
Ok, I feel the need to
Ok, I feel the need to comment here. My friend managed to give herself a pretty deep gash on the inner arm.... LONG STORY, cooking gone horribly wrong. She was bundled up and whisked off to the ER. It was a Sunday night around 10 pm. There were 8 (EIGHT) young mothers with small school aged children hanging around the ER. She was attended to quickly, but I stayed in the waiting room. The triage nurse was great. The mothers of these kids were coming out saying that the nurse had suggested to them to go to Wal-Mart get some Tylenol, put the child to bed and go see their doctor in the morning. She was was letting them know that there is a 4-5 hour wait to get in and that this is essentially what the doctor was going to tell them. One woman was yelling, saying that she had been there for hours already and was more than a little agitated that my friend went in ahead of her.
The choice was then theirs if they wanted to wait for the doctor. One of them took the suggestion, and we ran into her at Wal Mart while we were purchasing bandages and other items to clean the wound. She is a first time mother who was panicking about her child with a fever. The triage nurse had told her in detail what was going to happen. The mother took the route I would have taken. If my school aged child is out in the middle of the night and I am expecting a 4-5 hour wait, I would weigh my options and do as she did.
That was the first visit I have ever made to the hospital here. Is it unusual for all these teens and young ladies to be there with their small kids in the dead of night? I am fairly new to this city and am a little aghast at the number of people there. Any thoughts?
Ok, have to make another
Ok, have to make another comment. I have read and reread this article. There are a few questions I have.
First, where was this petition circulated? I and my neighbors knew nothing about it.
Second, is the majority of the people that have a problem with the hospital all first language Spanish speakers? Why was the presentation made in Spanish? This upsets me a little.
Third, this comment was made.... Cásarez also commented on high costs charged to ER patients, stating, “An emergency room visit costs more than a stay at a five-star hotel, the difference being that at the emergency room a person must wait four, six, eight or 10 hours or more sitting in the waiting room…”
Don't know about you all, but an emergency of any kind is never cheap. Be it vehicle, health or homewise.
Fourth, there is a request for better physicians. What is the likelihood of that happening with the complete abuse of the existing docs and nurses. I haven't heard someone in a professional position being treated so poorly in my life as I did the first time I was in the ER. Actually pondering that a little more, I don't think I have EVER seen ANYONE being treated so poorly as those poor nurses were treated. I am not sure how much money the hospital makes off of Medicaid, but I am sure they make more off of private insurance.
Lastly, are the folks that are raising so much fuss over this seeing an improvements? I was pretty pleased with the now two visits I have made to the ER. The nurses and doctors have been nothing but pleasant and professional. Every question we have had has been answered.
I'm perplexed as to why
I'm perplexed as to why emergency room and five-star hotel would even be used in the same sentence. There is absolutely no comparison between the two. Yeah, maybe an e.r. visit would cost more than a stay at a five-star hotel (not sure, never stayed at a five-star hotel). I would definately expect it to if we're talking about having blood work, x-ray, cat scans, i.v.'s (and so on and so forth) verses eating shrimp cocktail while relaxing in a jacuzzi tub. Which would you expect to cost more considering the NATION WIDE healthcare crisis we are all in?????
Hospital board members aren't going to be able to fix that problem. Try starting with local or state politicians. And good luck with that.... (politicians aren't really the problem either, read some of the comments below to see who's causing the problem). Trying to cut healthcare costs here in Del Rio (where the healthcare system is probably abused higher than in a lot of other parts of the country) by threatening hospital board members, may not be the route you should take. That may not get you very far.
Well the costs are so steep
Well the costs are so steep due to higher technology. When it comes to your life and health, it's worth having better technology. I am a firm believer in "you get what you pay for" in that aspect.
Yes, costs are high due to
Yes, costs are high due to higher technology, definately. But they are also very high due to abuse of the system. People who do pay have to pay for those who don't.
No it's not unusual for all
No it's not unusual for all those teens, young ladies and babies to be in our ER. Several things contribute to that phenomenon.
1st, many of those in the ER are on Texas State Insurance TMHP or better known as Medicaid. Medicaid is a poverty level to semi poverty level assistance program that will only pay for Doc's visits under certain conditions. Most people on Medicaid know these conditions and they also know that no matter what Medicaid will pay for an ER visit. Put another way, if a Medicaid patient visits a Doc, and the diagnoses does not meet coverage criteria, the Doc will bill the patient immediately, and well, we just can't have that now can we. Whereas if they go to the ER it is simply an ER visit and billable to Medicaid.
2nd, young or new parents contribute but not as much. They are new and scared for their new little life that they are responsible for [ been there done that], so off to the ER they go.
3rd, is related to the 1st and that is entitlements and a culture of entitlement. Or rather they deserve this service even though they didn't pay for it and have no intention of improving their individual condition in fear of not having or loosing coverage. Medicaid is there to help those in need and I willingly give my tax dollars for that. It's the ones that abuse the system the system that highly irritate me. For example the Texas food stamp program is another program to help those in need [Great]. An example of the entitlement problem with this program are the ones that pay with food stamps and then refuse to bag their own groceries. This may seem a small issue to some but to me it is indicative a larger issue that again I call a culture of entitlement. I have actually skipped around these people in line and bagged their stuff for them and they just stood there and stared at me. That type are on assistance because they are either unwilling or incapable [due to that culture of entitlement], of helping themselves so they stay on the dole forever. Then they teach their children to do the same thing. Very few can break out of the vicious circle. I have a couple who have broken out working for me right now. One's father continually give her a hard time because she is bettering herself, working, going to college and paying her own way through life, [imagine that]. I'm real proud of both of them even though their families aren't.
4th, the parents who either won't or can't take off of work to take their children during normal Doctors office hours. So rather than miss 2 hours of work, they stay up most of the night and go to work and only give their employer 1/4 of an effort the next day, ripping off the employer but they don't see it that way. Because they believe that they are entitled to a paycheck just for showing up.
5th are in the category of normal usage like number 2. Parent picks baby up from daycare, baby is fussy and baby gets progressively worse. Bingo visit to the ER.
[Wonder how many flames I'm gonna get for this one :) ]
Anyway off my soap box now, just relating them as I see them.
Alot of things I have
Alot of things I have witnessed and have been completely shocked about are becoming clear. Thank you.
Sir, or Maam, if you get
Sir, or Maam, if you get flames, I will jump in with you. This indeed IS a culture of entitlements.
I have come to the conclusion that it is an inferiority complex. A lot of these people feel that they are looked down upon....hmm? I don't know if they feel threatened by an educated person or what the chip on their shoulder is. Could it be that they know they are making no effort to improve their circumstances? Don't get me wrong, many need these services and that is understandable.
But I beleive that the abuse is ridiculous-it's funny how it seems that those who abuse the system the most are the ones that complain the most.
I find the culture in this community to be odd- part to what I consider the lack of education or worse yet, the UNWILLINGNESS to obtain one.
I hate to feel this way because I was born and raised Del Rio. Nice community, but ODD!
To people that haven't left
To people that haven't left here in years [if ever] it's not odd, it's just they way it is. To people like you and I who have left here and experienced life elsewhere, things are quite "odd" upon our return. This is why I used the term "culture" when I referred to the entitlement issue.
You hit it on the head when you talked about the reaction you get when you remove the so called entitlements from those who believe that they are entitled to them. That particular form of screeching can be heard by politicians worldwide. This is why our Government in local, State of Federal form has to be very very careful before approving anything that anyone may consider an entitlement. An entitlement will in most cases never ever go away. It simply exists and grows like some form of social and governmental cancer. [sure I'm going to get comment on that one]
The employee's that I referred to in my prior post have heard things like "you don't know your place", "just who do you think you are" and "do you really think you are better than me" from [ no kidding] their parents. All from my encouraging them to take college classes, showing them how to apply for assistance and giving them the time to take classes without having their jobs threatened.
Like crabs in a bucket, one can't climb to the top without others trying to drag them back down.
Amor Patriae "Love of ones country"
Agreed. It's hard to get
Agreed. It's hard to get physicians to move to Del Rio. For the most part they have families and there is not much to do here, there is not much of an option for education or extracirricular activities for their children.
An old school mate of mine is an emergency room physician completing her residency in Philadelphia, I asked her why she wouldn't come work in her home town-she just grinned. I don't know what that meant, and I was afraid to ask!
can't we all just get along?
can't we all just get along?
Apparently, that would be
Apparently, that would be against the law of human nature. From time immemorial, man has argued and fought with other men. Society changes, conveniences arise, luxuries now abound, but man's nature has not changed. Hate to be so cynical, but that appears to be the reality. We can certainly, however, continue to TRY to all get along--and that is certainly an aspiration we should all embrace.
befuddled
befuddled
You guys are missing the
You guys are missing the point. The administration of the hospital needs to be administrators and help the staff do a better job. A facility can not be run by the top dogs staying on the second floor.
A night clinic was opened by
A night clinic was opened by Dr. Guit. Jr. and Family back in the early part of '01 on Bedell St. Not sure what happened. Get after it Jovita, we need advocates like her to do there thing.
I believe it was a staffing
I believe it was a staffing issue as well as one or two other things, but I'm not real sure what happened either.
I agree that we need people like Jovita here to champion causes, lord know that there are many of us that wish we had the ability to do what she is doing. The problem is that if she doesn't get her facts straight the State will take one look , and then ignore her and thusly our problem. We need change at our Hospital not empirical proof that none of us know what we're talking about.
I would suggest that she do an open records request from the Hospital asking for a daily listing of ailments seen in the ER that would exclude HIPPA information like patient name. This would allow her to #1 prove me wrong #2 have hard datum for the State to back up what she is saying. If as I mentioned, she words her request to specifically exclude HIPPA info I believe that the Hospital will be forced to provide this info since they are not a Private Entity.
I have to respectfully but
I have to respectfully but completely and totally disagree with Ms Casarez's statement
“We can assume that if a person seeks emergency room service it is because of a very urgent matter,” and I'm afraid that her making that completely and totally uninformed statement forces me to question almost everything else she said as a matter of course.
Oh don't get me wrong, she is at least partially correct about the wait times being long, [caused by so many people there with imagined or non-emergency situations], about the grumpy staff and the unavailability of the Doc's [arguably due to apathy after hearing the cry wolf so many times]. All that being said, there is ZERO excuse for letting a true emergency languish in the waiting room due to this "apathy". The kid that died in the waiting room from a knife wound a few years ago was utterly inexcusable.
I can also name a looong list of things that are screwed up with our hospital. However that being said, and leaving aside certain aggressiveness when it comes to protecting what they consider to be their practices, no and I repeat no Doc that I know of [well since a certain bone Doc was run out of town] is or has been unethical.
About the trouble with the child, there is only one Pediatric Gastrointestinologist that I'm aware of West of San Antonio and that one is in Laredo. I do not expect our Doc's to be able to specifically diagnose what she described without further symptoms which would appear quite quickly in that case by the way. Going back to dire emergency use of the emergency room, the past few times I have had to camp out in the emergency room the have been no fewer than 3 mothers each time with an infant with stomach problems. On each occasion I overheard one of the nurses on staff tell the mother something similar to the following [your baby only has one degree or so of fever you need to try Tylenol] [since you haven't tried it yet] and see your regular Doc tomorrow. One lady said I can't do that I have to work. Once the ER was full of sniffling crying babies and all the mothers were complaining about having to sit there while my Grandmother was suffering from a Stroke and got shuttled right in.
And on the exaggerated fee's I don't even want to get started on the [why's] of that one. I just hope that Ms Casarez will do her homework so that she will understand the expenses incurred in just making an ER available let alone using one.
I have made my complete dislike of the Hospital Administration quite clear so I find it to be highly irritating to be in a position where I feel that I have to defend them. Slightly amusing but mostly painful.
By the way this town is ripe for a night clinic to open up.
After speaking to several
After speaking to several different people (some being doctors and nurses who work at the hospital), nobody can recall that unfortunate incident of the kid dying from a knife wound in the waiting room at VVRMC e.r. a few years ago. There was a very unfortunate incident when a kid died from a knife wound a few years ago while doctors and nurses worked desperately to save his life. Does not seem that anyone with a knife wound to the throat would be asked to sit in the lobby and wait his turn.
I could be wrong but, when I
I could be wrong but, when I got out of the Military about 5 years ago and had recently returned to town, there was a male patient that had an abdominal would from a knife wound here at VVRMC. He was not showing any signs of extreme trauma and so on and so forth so he as sent back to the waiting room after triage. It is my understanding that he died there from his wound. If I remember correctly it was internal bleeding that didn't show up with his initial blood pressure readings or some such thing. Also [again as I understand it] he was rushed in when he started to or failed in the waiting room and attempts to resuscitate failed. I don't really have any memory beyond that, if you find out anything different I will publicly apologize [here] to the VVRMC. Lord knows that my memory has failed me in the past and it could be doing that again.
taking it with a grain of
taking it with a grain of salt
I completely agree with this. Unfortunately a very large amount of the population in this town has a low level of education, hence the thought that a fever, headache, the flu, a sorethroat, a cough, rash or other minor ailments are emergencies. People come to the emergency room to seek services for situations that can be treated at home with over the counter remedies, or can wait to be seen by their family doctor. These are the ailments that are kept waiting in the waiting room. Strokes, heart attacks, gunshot wounds, are "shuttled right back" as you say. You can't go to the emergency room with the pain in your arm that you have had for the past month and claim it to be an emergency. Pain, although very real and uncomfortable is NOT an emergency all the time-hence the triage process. What people don't seem to comprehend is that when they show up at the e.r., they are going to be told what they DON'T have, not necessarily to be diagnosed. They don't always know what causes your chest pain or stomach pain, but their purpose is to tell you that it is not a heartattack or any other thing that is going to kill you, otherwise you need to GO TO YOUR DOCTOR!! Poople don't want to assume responsibility for their own health, i.e. not having a family doctor, taking their medication, having diabetes and not watching what they eat, then they show up at the e.r. and expect to have a lifetime of medical issues to be resolved. These chronic issues are NOT emergencies.
We are a society of instant gratification, this isn't Burger King, you can't always have it your way all the time in 10 minutes or less.
About withholding information about services to provide financial assistance, again, that goes back to personal responsibility- ASK!!
Why would the hospital withold information that will help it get its funding?!?!
Complicating the issue
Complicating the issue beyond your well-taken points is the observation that many of the folks don't have a family doctor. Similarly, they are also devoid of health insurance and know they cannot be turned away for lack of ability to pay for the services our tax dollars provide freely.
In short, these folks know that the ER physician IS their doctor, and U.S. laws ARE their health insurance.
Bill Sontag
Feature Writer
Southwest Texas LIVE!
But the e.r. physician is
But the e.r. physician is NOT their doctor. People need primary care physicians so that they recieve ongoing medical treatment for chronic issues. There is not just one e.r. physician at VVRMC, therefore a patient may see a different doctor everytime they make a vist to the e.r. They need one person to provide continuity of care. There are alternatives for patients who do not have health insurance. There is a clinic called United Medical Center that bases its charges off of an individuals income. Maybe that could be an option for some of these non-emergent "emergencies" thus shortening some of the wait times at the emergency room.
I beg to differ. The ER
I beg to differ. The ER physician SHOULD NOT be their doctor, but in their perception he is. And, with no insurance, they are prepared to wait in order to have their "free" care. United Medical Center is unable to care for all those needing their help--too few workers, too many patients. Too, there is the "able to pay" question. Solution: go to ER. THAT is the REALITY.
You have hit the nail right
You have hit the nail right on the head!!
"too few workers, too many patients"!! This is absolutely correct. I don't believe there are enough physicians in this town. Recently, I called a local clinic in an attempt to set up an appointment for a check up. I was told that they were completely booked and was redirected to the emergency room! I don't understand why. If this is what they do to others, that would partially explain why people with minor ailments flood the e.r.
VVRMC services this region-kinney county and Acuna as well, for an area this size, I believe the e.r. to be too small. But what would happen if it expanded? The fees would go up, and they would have to find more nurses to staff.
I'm sure Ms Casarez's intentions are to do well. Unfortunately, I believe she has allowed her vision to be obscured by the emotions of what she considers to be a bad experience-and she has every right to.
What I don't believe she has the right to do is to belittle an institution and its employees based on a personal rant because of this experience. It comes across as a personal vendetta not a service for the greater good.
I don't know if she is aware of this but most emergency rooms are staffed by contract physicians. The hospital has nothing to do with their billing fees. Most hospitals have a sign posted that informs the patient that they will recieve a separate bill from the e.r. doctor-these doctors are not directly employed by the hospital. I'm not sure if I have seen such a sign in this e.r.
Ms Casarez should be aware that the misuse of the emergency room is a large contributing factor to the long wait times in the emergency room-ALL emergency rooms. This in addition to staffing issues. There is a nation-wide shortage of nurses. Emergency services are a specialty just like Cardiology or Neurology they come at a high price.
If Ms Casarez expects to be taken seriously, for her benefit, she should be well informed (as previously suggested)otherwise she will lose credibility and come across as somwhat foolish.
Perhaps we should be glad
Perhaps we should be glad that we are not yet in the position of having our hospital shut down. Some hospitals in southern California are simply bankrupt from treating illegals and others who cannot pay. Retired seniors have difficulty living in Del Rio--too few doctors in general, understaffed and underequipped hospital, and too few specialists for elderly care. This town needs to "get with the program" and attract professionals who will move here to provide needed medical care. Air-lifting to San Antonio or San Angelo is way too expensive.
They do not seem to be
They do not seem to be "prepared to wait" with all of the complaints heard about the E.R. wait times.
Again this points back to
Again this points back to the patient taking responsibility for their care. There are always two sides to every story-blaming and finger pointing does not remedy anything.It is understandable to be upset about a healthcare issue but before ANY complaint is voiced-the facts need to be uncovered. The healthcare providers in this community are not the enemy ; it is not a "we and them" system. They are people, our friends and neighbors trying their best to do a job in a NATION healthcare crisis. Be in their shoes for one day. Ask their side of the story before you scream "foul". Get the facts straight before you speak.Put the torches and pitchforks down and start working on a solution. I wonder if the hospital administration was notifed of the issue before the newspaper.