Doctors Oath - Above All Cause No Harm

Throughout the United States and Canada we have certain expectations of our doctors and hospitals. Do we get what we expect? Saddly, often we do not. Studies in the United States have suggested that approximately 200,000 people each year die as a result of inappropriate medical care. Medical misadventure has been cited to be the third highest cause of death in the United States.

I had the misfortune of being woken in the middle of the night/early morning by a family member in some medical distress today. I took that family member to the emergency ward of the local hospital. Over the course of a few hours waiting I had time to observe and to contemplate my expectations for medical care and compare it to what I observed.

First, my family member did receive appropriate care. They are on the way to recovery as I write this blog. My comments do not relate to the specific treatment today, but rather to a much more general danger to society.

The emergency department was filthy. Sick and injured people sat around waiting to be assessed and treated. The floors were filthy. Virtually every patient coming into that department washed their hands at the station in front of the door. They then spent the next three or four hours in the waiting area touching chairs, arm wrests, their noses and faces, hand rails on the walls, the automatic door opener buttons and so on.

It was three hours before someone came in to do any cleaning. A woman then arrived and mopped about 1/3 of the floor (2/3 remained untouched), she did some cleaning in the triage nursing station.

Not one chair was touched. Most of the floor remained unswept and unmopped. In a few minutes the employee was gone, leaving behind a "wet floor sign".

The triage nurse and the clerk/employee who registered incoming patients embarked on a discussion in the middle of the emergency department. What were they talking about? How stupid the patients coming into the hospital were. I heard them saying things like "they can't even follow the line to X-Ray" "they don't know enough to go from 1 to 2 to 3"; "I'm tired of answering the same questions for directions over and over when there are directions on signs".

I could not believe my ears. Do they not want to help sick and injured people? Do they not understand that when people go to the emergency department they are often in a very emotional state that might cloud their judgment?

Given the attitude of these hospital employees it does not shock me that statistics from 2004 indicate over 80,000 people died from infections they received in hospitals in the U.S. How many of those deaths were caused by the filth uncleaned within the hospital? Until the attitudes of the hospital staff, administrators and doctors changes more preventable deaths will occur. When it does, contact a qualified personal injury / medical malpractice Lawyer. Make them accountable for their actions. There are many services on the internet to assist people in finding qualified lawyers. One such source is www.injuryalliance.com, a web site dedicated to helping injured people find the resources they need to maximize recovery - both legal and medical.

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