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| -Lurid Crime Tales- |
| Death of Woman Who Waited for Hours in ER Waiting Room Ruled a Homicide |
| 2006-09-15 |
| WAUKEGAN, Ill. — A coroner's jury has declared the death of a heart attack victim who spent almost two hours in a hospital waiting room to be a homicide. Beatrice Vance, 49, died of a heart attack, but the jury at a coroner's inquest ruled Thursday that her death also was "a result of gross deviations from the standard of care that a reasonable person would have exercised in this situation." A spokeswoman for Vista Medical Center in Waukegan, where Vance died July 29, declined to comment on the ruling. Vance had waited almost two hours for a doctor to see her after complaining of classic heart attack symptoms — nausea, shortness of breath and chest pains, Deputy Coroner Robert Barrett testified. She was seen by a triage nurse about 15 minutes after she arrived, and the nurse classified her condition as "semi-emergent," Barrett said. He said Vance's daughter twice asked nurses after that when her mother would see a doctor. When her name was finally called, a nurse found Vance slumped unconscious in a waiting room chair without a pulse. Barrett said. She was pronounced dead shortly afterward. Barrett said he subpoenaed records after finding discrepancies in the hospital's version of events. It wasn't immediately clear if the ruling would lead to criminal charges. Dan Shanes, a chief of felony review for the state attorney's office, said his division needed to review the case. Vista Medical Center spokeswoman Cheryl Maynen said the hospital, just north of Chicago, cooperated with the coroner's investigation and had also investigated the incident. She declined to comment on the homicide ruling. |
| Posted by:mcsegeek1 |
| #5 My not so famous (almost) last words were, "I need to see a doctor like I need another hole in my head!" Just before I lost consciousness due to stroke-induced rising ICP. After a slight coma for a bit, a couple weeks in ICU and a spiffy new VP shunt (a permanent drainage tube insterted into a HOLE drilled into my skull, I was fine. Well, I walk a bit funny now. :) Seriously, thank God my better half called 911 after I could no longer protest. |
| Posted by: Phorong Clolump1051 2006-09-15 22:54 |
| #4 Now that tobacco settlement money has dried up, expect more things like this from the legal industry. |
| Posted by: no mo uro 2006-09-15 20:11 |
| #3 I forget what blog it was on, but yesterday I was reading a post about Famous Last Words. One commenter said his elderly aunt got sick and went to the emergency room. Five hours later she stood up, said, "Well if they think I'm going to hang around here any longer, they've got another think coming," and promptly dropped dead. He said she had a stroke. Wonder if anyone was charged in that case. |
| Posted by: Angie Schultz 2006-09-15 17:40 |
| #2 My thoughts exactly, Mike. I wonder if the threat of criminal charges is to get more cooperation from staff who have a tendency to clam up in cases like this. |
| Posted by: xbalanke 2006-09-15 17:11 |
| #1 Trying to think which variant of Law and Order this will show up on. I am interested in seeing just how far the records diverged from reality. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2006-09-15 16:45 |