LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A Las Vegas woman says she could not find her brother, who failed to return home, in part because the hospital where paramedics took him after he collapsed gave him a fake name.
Clifford Allen, 60, died on July 27 at MountainView Hospital, the Clark County coroner’s office confirmed to Nexstar’s KLAS.
Not as tragic as this but about 2 years ago my dad had a double brain bleed. Same day that he went into the hospital one of his younger brothers was brought into the Salem hospital (different than my dad's) for heart attack/problems. While earing dinner, waiting on my dad's surgery to finish, I got a call from my uncle David telling me the hospital lost Richard. Over two hours of looking they found him in a recovery room. Apparently someone decided he needed surgery and didn't inform any of his nurses or admin. Makes me wonder how often this happens.
I am a Medical Examiner. This kind of thing happens when the person admitted to the hospital is not carrying ID or there is some other question about the ID (such as carrying multiple IDs, which I see sometimes with illegal aliens). In the Emergency Department, they give an arbitrary name for paperwork purposes. They can't call *everybody* John Doe, or there would be a bunch of John Does all being taken care of at the same time, which is guaranteed to result in treatment errors. Different hospitals have different protocols for assigning names. Some hospitals assign variants of John Doe, moving to Tom Doe, Jack Doe, etc. Some assign random nouns. I've seen people given names like "Kyack Automobile." If the person survives long enough to be stabilized, *then* they will start trying to find out who he or she is. HIPPA regulations do not allow giving random callers medical information on people, even if they are not identified. If the person dies, it becomes the job of the ME or Coroner office to determine ID.
HIPPPA should not prevent them from saying they have an unknown person in their care so perhaps the family could at least check it out and then deal with the HIPPA rules. Seems too many times that entities hide behind rules and do everything they can to block the family or whomever. It was the same thing when we lost our dog, stupid bureaucratic animal shelter would not even tell us if a yellow lab had been brought in recently, said we had to come down, jump through the hoops. Meanwhile we were wasting precious time that could have been spent looking for her.
In fact, HIPPA does prevent it. It is not allowed to tell random people that a particular patient is in the hospital or receiving therapy. "Entities" don't hide behind the rules. They suffer severe financial and even criminal consequences when they break them. Don't complain about the hospital. Complain about the regulatory morass this country has created.
What are the chances that their Oracle software will only allow a single patient who's name is John Doe and who's SSN is 123-45-6789.
ReplyDeleteWhat happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Maybe he should have used the name Frankie Sinatra Doe
ReplyDeleteSue those assholes into extinction. They'll figure out a better system.
ReplyDeleteNot as tragic as this but about 2 years ago my dad had a double brain bleed. Same day that he went into the hospital one of his younger brothers was brought into the Salem hospital (different than my dad's) for heart attack/problems. While earing dinner, waiting on my dad's surgery to finish, I got a call from my uncle David telling me the hospital lost Richard. Over two hours of looking they found him in a recovery room. Apparently someone decided he needed surgery and didn't inform any of his nurses or admin. Makes me wonder how often this happens.
ReplyDeleteJeez...How about John Doe1, John Doe2, etc.
ReplyDeleteBueller?...Bueller?...
ReplyDeleteI am a Medical Examiner. This kind of thing happens when the person admitted to the hospital is not carrying ID or there is some other question about the ID (such as carrying multiple IDs, which I see sometimes with illegal aliens). In the Emergency Department, they give an arbitrary name for paperwork purposes. They can't call *everybody* John Doe, or there would be a bunch of John Does all being taken care of at the same time, which is guaranteed to result in treatment errors. Different hospitals have different protocols for assigning names. Some hospitals assign variants of John Doe, moving to Tom Doe, Jack Doe, etc. Some assign random nouns. I've seen people given names like "Kyack Automobile." If the person survives long enough to be stabilized, *then* they will start trying to find out who he or she is. HIPPA regulations do not allow giving random callers medical information on people, even if they are not identified. If the person dies, it becomes the job of the ME or Coroner office to determine ID.
ReplyDeleteHIPPPA should not prevent them from saying they have an unknown person in their care so perhaps the family could at least check it out and then deal with the HIPPA rules.
DeleteSeems too many times that entities hide behind rules and do everything they can to block the family or whomever.
It was the same thing when we lost our dog, stupid bureaucratic animal shelter would not even tell us if a yellow lab had been brought in recently, said we had to come down, jump through the hoops. Meanwhile we were wasting precious time that could have been spent looking for her.
In fact, HIPPA does prevent it. It is not allowed to tell random people that a particular patient is in the hospital or receiving therapy. "Entities" don't hide behind the rules. They suffer severe financial and even criminal consequences when they break them. Don't complain about the hospital. Complain about the regulatory morass this country has created.
Delete