Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

The fact remains that Dr. Naylor had ordered monitoring and that Kent County Hospital FAILED to implement that treatment as ordered by the physician. Whoever gets the final blame; the physician who did not follow up, the nurse who put Mr. Woods in the hallway, the "flight-controller" charge nurse who had no clue as to what was transpiring, or some combo, the fact remains he was not handled properly. He was allowed to crash and burn before anyone did anything. Kent needs to get their act together and fess up to this screw up. How many "near-miss" situations do we not know about?

Haha the above comment is clearly not from anyone who knows anything about a cardiac monitor. It wouldn't have made a difference. It would have maybe bought him 10-15 extra seconds of CPR. Cardiac monitors are almost useless these days. They do not warn you of impending doom! This man slumped over and CPR was started almost immediately, I am sure that his monitor wouldn't have shown anything until he slumped over.

Furthermore, he wasn't on a monitor because there were no more monitored beds available (I don't know all the facts, but that is what it looks like to me). What were they supposed to do, take another patient off a monitor? The charge nurse, who put the patient in the hallway, is not responsible for knowing everything about a patient. That nurse is responsible for making sure the ER runs as smoothly as possible. The nurse taking care of the patient is the one who is supposed to know if they are on a monitor. It is possible that she didn't know, which is probably because her seven!!! ER patients all have two pages of orders written in terrible handwriting that she was deciphering, haha.

Thanks for the medical opinion Cournety. Sounds like you must be in the nuress union. Cardiac montitoring would in fact identify, if present, a malignant arrythmia, precursosrs to a malignant arrythmia, and depending on the type of monitor, ST-T waves changes (changes in specific components of the ECG) suggesting an evolving myocardial infaction ("heart attack"). Then again, we will never know what it may have shown as he was never placed on a cardiac monitor. If there were no more monitors, how was it he was placed on one when he suffered a cardiac arrest ?

when a hospital has no beds it should reroute pts,a hosp that continues to take pts into the er knowing they have no beds and are understaffed is wrong.a sneek peek to managed care!

Courtney:

Unfortunately, I do. Had he been placed on a monitor and the monitor watched by the nurse (he was ordered on a monitor for irregular heartbeat per the testimony) there in all probability would have been changes to kick up his treatment. If Kent couldn't follow the physicians orders and he needed to be monitored he should have been transferred. He would have received better treatment in any ALS resuce in the state than he received at Kent! You refer to the staffing levels which is all too true, but no excuse since she is supposed to triage the level of care necessary. Hopefully, electronic record keeping will help the handwriting issues. I've seen it in use, and once trained, the physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and billing depts. all love it. I just wonder how secure it is.

I have been in the Kent County ER when the staff has had their hands full with patients lined up everywhere including the hallways. They (the staff members) also wish that many of those patients had been sent to other hospitals so that they could get more of the attention they need. There isn't much they can do if the ambulances and rescues are dumping patients left and right on top of the people walking in off the street and there are only so many of them to handle it all. Maybe they could have taken him to Rhode Island Hosp. where they never make mistakes, like operating on or removing wrong body parts, etc. Unfortunately all hospitals have their problems and they all bury their mistakes, always been that way and always will be.

If he had been put on a cardiac monitor, the doctor probably would have ordered a cardiac drip which would have killed him since they knew so little about him. Pick your poison.

Everyone is giving their testimony---that is what a trial is for. In this case Michael Woods was not given the proper care. This seems quite obvious. Whatever the chances were he deserved that chance. He was not given that chance. I had a simular experience at Kent and I was transported Miriam. I realize now how lucky I was. Mine was also heart related.

If you have a cardiac event, GO TO MIRIAM HOSPITAL. This place is the gold standard for cardiac care in RI, and their ER is well run and staffed.

I feel like wearing a bracelet that says "Take me to Miriam Hospital in case of heart attack" so no EMT dumps me at Kent or RIH. It's too bad Michael Woods didn't know this.

It's too bad michael woods didn't understand smoking drinking and obesity all contribute to heart attacks.

And it is likely that if he was going to have an event he wouldn't died enroute.

Should we sue the people who drove him to Kent instead of RIH or Miriam. Surely we could get some money from them because they should have known better.

my 2cents, he drove himself...

Hi,
I am very interested in knowing more facts about this case. I see in your comments that some of you talk with confidence that knowing of facts and data usually gives you. Is it any place where I can see the whole history of this case, such as timing of various events, diagnoses, labs, etc..

Thanks