The hospital where a black woman died after she was forcibly removed from the emergency room by a white police officer was cited for 10 "deficiencies," including failing to properly examine the woman when she complained of difficulty breathing, state health officials said. Elizabeth Dudek, the secretary for Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration, said Friday the violations at Calhoun-Liberty Hospital in Blountstown were "egregious." The hospital must submit correction plans by next Friday and if the problems are not fixed by March 1, it could be suspended from the Medicaid program. The 25-bed facility is also facing fines that could total $100,000.
When doctors and nurses arrived at Room 834 just after 11 a.m., a college student admitted to the hospital hours earlier lay motionless on the floor, breathing shallowly, a sheet draped over his body. A Houston police officer with a cut on his head was being helped onto a stretcher, while another hovered over the student. Blood smeared the floor and walls. "What happened?" asked Dr. Daniel Arango, a surgical resident at the hospital, St. Joseph Medical Center. The student, 26-year-old Alan Pean, had come to the hospital for treatment of possible bipolar disorder, accidentally striking several cars while pulling into the parking lot.
Marion General Hospital's President/CEO-elect is ready to serve the community. Stephanie Hilton-Siebert will take over as CEO of MGH July 1 and will be the hospital's fifth CEO since 1962. In June of last year, she was hired as the hospital's Chief Administrative Officer, a role that gave her plenty of opportunities to meet and get to know the hospital's staff, a staff that she says she has impressed her. [Subscription Required]
After visiting sick youngsters at Kosair Children’s Hospital on recent holiday trips home, Louisville native and Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence felt moved to help the place that cares for kids. On Friday afternoon with her two brothers and parents, Greg and Karen Lawrence, present, Lawrence announced by video that she's giving $2 million to establish the Jennifer Lawrence Foundation Cardiac Intensive Care Unit. "My family and I have met so many wonderful children on our visits to the hospital. Their strength and courage is inspiring," Lawrence said, while issuing a challenge for others to match her gift with another $2 million.
For most people, the pager represents a sad, humorous relic of the past—a reminder of the primitive time before cellphones, Google, and the Twitterverse. But for doctors like me, pagers are still an important part of everyday life. It's estimated that about 85 percent of hospitals still rely on pagers for communication, and during a recent episode of post-call delirium, I wondered why. The first pagers—hefty 6-ounce boxes—were introduced to physicians in New York City in 1950. Over the next four decades, the device became a status symbol both inside and outside of the medical profession; after all, wearing one meant you were so in-demand you needed to be reachable anytime, anywhere.
The news earlier this week that Miami Cancer Institute (MCI), one of the new hybrid academic-community cancer centers, had joined Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center's Cancer Alliance, was only the latest evidence that this emerging model for delivering oncology care won't just be a flash in the pan.