First few Article Sentences
Such frenzied messages are the stuff of sleepless nights for hospital administrators. But, in spite of administrators’ best efforts, these calls are a given hazard of the business, and this was indeed the call received several years ago by a startled Los Angeles hospital CEO.
As now seen in the rear-view mirror, the call was proceeded by an unfortunate series of events that started with a paraplegic homeless person presenting at the hospital’s Emergency Department. Scrolling through the 24-hours following the patient’s arrival at the ED, a series of triage, evaluation, discharge, and transportation glitches led to the media frenzy upon receiving surveillance camera views of the patient, still in his hospital gown, dragging himself in a Skid Row street gutter.