Who’s More Likely to Kill Americans?

ISIS or American Hospital Staff?

     I’m living in two parallel worlds right now. In one, I’m watching the tragedy in Paris as ISIS wages war against everyone. In the other, I’ve watched a relative endure mal-treatment by American hospital staff.

     As many as 98,000 of us are killed in American hospitals each year due to staff mistakes – the third largest killer behind cancer and heart disease.

     Much I witnessed in the large Texas hospital chain my relative was in in Fort Worth is too visually revolting and personal to put in print. On the less-graphic end of the spectrum is a doctor refusing to x-ray her back despite wrenching pain in the area. It was five days before he finally ordered an MRI. She had a fractured spine.

     Or when staff forgot to give her crucial medications because they were gaggled in the hall taking selfies; or, as one RN explained, “We’re too short staffed to give everyone their medications every time they need them.”

     My relative is sicker now than in hospital, due to (lack of) aftercare immediately following surgery.

     In the end, she begged me to stop intervening on her behalf. “When you complain, they take it out on me.”

     Once out of hospital, I discovered festering sores on both her legs. They were from an RN who, despite repeated pleas, over-tightened the circulation apparatus on her lower legs when I kicked up dust about my relative not receiving her meds.

     It’s hard to suppress my fury about what I saw in that hospital. And there should be a war waged against what is happening in our hospitals. (276 Words)