Barbara Dawson (1958-2015), a Black American woman, died soon after police forcibly removed her from Calhoun Liberty Hospital in Blountstown, a small town in the Florida Panhandle. This was four days before Christmas,
At 10.30pm on the night of December 20th 2015, she was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. She had stomach pains.
Before dawn the next morning, the hospital discharged her. It said her condition was stable. She said she was still in pain and had trouble breathing.
At 4.46am the hospital called the police. The police say it was because:
“she was causing a disturbance in the hospital with her language and the volume of her voice.”
Officer John Tadlock arrived. He told her she could either leave peacefully or he would arrest her and take her to jail.
She said she did not want to leave, she did not want to die. She kept saying, “Help me!” and “I can’t breathe!” Neither the hospital nor the police took her seriously. Instead they took away her oxygen and had her arrested for trespassing and disorderly conduct.
Even after she suddenly dropped to ground just outside the hospital, they still did not take it seriously. Tadlock:
“Ms Dawson, falling down like this and laying down, that’s not going to stop you from going to jail.”
For two and a half minutes after she dropped no one thought to make sure she was all right. Instead they were concerned about how to get her in the police car to take her to jail.
When a nurse did check her, she said her breathing and heartbeat were fine. It was the same nine minutes later.
But when a doctor arrived, 18 minutes after she dropped, and checked, he said:
“This is totally different than what she was when I was discharging her.”
They brought her back in the hospital and did CPR: her breathing had stopped.
At 6.24am the doctor said she was dead.
The medical examiner said she died of a blood clot in the lungs.
On January 6th 2016, her family’s lawyers made public the police dashcam video. You cannot see much, but you can hear the whole thing. Her family is taking the hospital and the police to court for negligence.
On January 11th, the hospital put one worker on unpaid leave and took two others off of patient care – for showing a “lack of compassion”. It also said a task force of outside experts and leaders will look into the matter and report back in 90 days, suggesting needed changes.
As it turns out, the hospital had called the police on Dawson before: in 2006, 2012, 2013 and in August 2015. The 2012 case was much like this one, except that instead of jail they let her stay at the hospital another day.
The police, meanwhile, maintain their innocence.
State Representative Darryl Rouson:
“We think what they did was put criminality over health care. We think what they did here was compromise public safety by failing to give her the medical attention that she needed.”
– Abagond, 2016.
See also:
- The hearts of white people: the science
- Black American women who died in police custody in 2015:
- Sandra Bland
- Kindra Chapman
- Joyce Curnell
- Ralkina Jones
- Raynette Turner
- Barbara Dawson
- Also in Florida:
- medical apartheid
- The police
560
Terrible.
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I hope this goes beyond civil into criminal allegations… but I doubt it. Of course, the hospital’s insurance policy will cover the penalties from the civil suit. The doctors and nurses will continue to convince themselves and their supporters:
1) There was NOTHING more we could have done
2) There was no way we could have known
3) It was a unavoidable freak accident
4) We all acted professionally and appropriately
5) Had Barbara Dawson’s tone been different she might still be alive today
6) The family should be grateful she received care instead of complaining
7) THIS HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH RACE
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As I mentioned in another post, it’s the unwritten stereotypes that exist in most hospitals that allow things like this to happen and get people killed.
It’s not common knowledge unless you have worked in the hospital, nursing homes, paramedics, or in someway connected to the medical profession
What killed Barbara Dawson, were 3 things:
1) She was considered a “frequent flyer”
(she came to the hospital often for treatment for a chronic manageable condition, so they knew her– familiarity breeds contempt)
2) The stereotype that “if the patient can talk, they can breathe”
this false thought pattern has landed many “stable” patients into the ICU, who ended up getting placed on a ventilator because the nurses on the medical floors ignored the patient until they called a “code blue/rapid response”
3) Medical personnel become jaded because
a) they are burnt out because they’ve worked too many days/hours (hospitals are always short-staffed)
b) they are used to dealing with drug addicts/substance abusers who lie in order to stay in the hospital to get their “fix” or alcoholics/drug addicts who overdose or go into withdrawals
c) they become disconnected to human suffering because of all the trauma and death they see on a frequent basis (especially in the ER)
The hospital will settle this quickly because they know they are in the wrong
and I hope the family gets a LARGE check,
even though, this does not bring back Barbara or ease their loss
This hospital will be fined and their Risk Management team will make sure more than 3 heads roll. This is an embarrassing event that will force them to clean house and clean up their act.
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@ King
King wonders if:
I think that the episode was sad and tragic but I don’t believe that it is correct to put “race” in it.
I think the factors listed above by Linda gave us a better framework to understand how and why things can go wrong in a hospital and “race” is not included in none of them.
At worst I can believe that given disparities in health services for different social classes in American society, that in some cases a systematically worst level of service is given in some health units than others and there more casualties because of that can occur.
But I can be wrong, of course…
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As someone who also works in health care I concur with Linda’s comment.
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@ munubantu
It may have nothing to do with race. It might be that a White woman, under the same circumstances would have had the very same outcome.
BUT the problem is that there is still such a double standard when it comes to reading Black actions as opposed reading the identical Whites actions.
What is particularly telling is this quote:
The problem is that when Blacks raise their voice they are often seen as threatening or belligerent. When Whites, or even Asians are speaking at the same volume level, they are being “insistent” or perhaps “passionate.” There just is not the same presumption of sanity or application of patience. If a middle-class Black person is at a nurses station making demands it is almost always seen as different than a White middle-class person making the same demands at the same volume level.
– One is a salt-of-the-earth working person trying to fight the system
– The other is an undeserving ghetto dweller trying to milk of the system
But no, we certainly cannot know for sure that it was race, It’s just that so often in America race plays a part in the way that people are perceived and treated it is difficult not to at least raise the possibility.
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King @ There just is not the same presumption of sanity or application of patience. If a middle-class Black person is at a nurses station making demands it is almost always seen as different than a White middle-class person making the same demands at the same volume level.
Linda says,
no, King… they are both seen as a “pain in the a’s !”
I do agree that race does play a factor in how patients are treated on certain levels… because stereotypes are alive and well in the hospital
It’s typically assumed that black families are demanding, white families are lazy (they won’t lift a finger to help the patient, they would rather call the nurse to pour a glass of water), and that Hispanic families are very close-nit and smothering
class also plays a factor – money talks and everything else walks
money forces the staff to answer the call light faster than normal
Insurance is the biggest factor, prior to Obamacare, life expectancy could be equated based on the insurance you had… no insurance got you stabilized and kicked out of the ER in most private hospitals
that’s why the county hospitals were used by people with no insurance as their only line of medical care
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Where can a person of color be safe?
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If I felt like I was dying and was being refused help, I would be loud and irate, too.
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Black people are treated as criminals for as little as being loud. Remember the group kicked of the Napa Valley Wine Train?
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[…] Sourced through Scoop.it from: abagond.wordpress.com […]
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@ Linda
Agreed… well, that is, by the hospital staff who has to deal with them.
But Law Enforcement is liable to see them quite differently.
And the public (potential jurors) will also see them differently.
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@ Glen Robinson
Actually, that was exactly the first comparison of unequal perception that came to mind. White groups of women get on Wine Trains all the time and they whoop and laugh out loud! But it is just seen as civilized people “blowing off steam” and “letting their hair down,” However when Blacks do it, they are seen as somehow threatening to the experience of other passengers.
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This lady is dead because she didn’t die politely enough while black and some of you want to debate whether race was an issue.
I have no words that won’t keep this comment from going through to describe how filthily disgusting I find some of the comments here.
Where the hell can we even go from here if white people can’t admit that racism caused this woman’s death and if black people are too ashamed and afraid to stand up and say, yes, white people – not white supremacy, not a system, not an even- but actual ********* white people – an entire group of them, let this woman die – and then put black people in the foreground of press conference while they described how a damned task force is being formed?
Are they serious?
Are you all serious?
I can’t right now. Just can’t.
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May she rest in peace this very tragic. I hope her surviving family is compensated although no amount of money will bring their loved one back.
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Abuse against Black people is a pandemic.
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@Glenn
Wow!!! I was not even aware of that story.
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Pumpkin – No, the police are more at fault.
The policeman is an authority figure and could have and should have insisted that they make absolutely certain that she was not ill before taking her into custody.
But no, unruly darkie must be arrested at all costs.
I have seen medical professionals, the police and the media all collude together t to lie, more than once.
There’s a point in the video where I believe they realize she’s dead or dying and they simply do nothing because they realize ti’s gone to far so they have to keep pretending that she’s faking.
Please watch the youtube video. Then you tell me that white people’s racism is not the direct cause of Barabara Dawson’s death.
I watched the video and it made me cry. I could be and probably will be Barbara Dawson some day. I just hope they catch it on video only for people to say I had it coming.
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Of course RACE had a lot to do with this Black woman’s mistreatment!
And If she doesn’t have medical insurance, the hospital becomes more motivated to get her out the door.
Aren’t Black people usually mistreated on the basis of race, stereotypes, skin complexion and perception?
“Implicit racism/bias” remains very much alive.. even in hospitals.
The last time I checked, in the USA whites receive overall better medical care than Black people. Has that changed?
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“The last time I checked, in the USA whites receive overall better medical care than Black people. ”
I can testify to that from numerous personal experiences.
@sharinalr
” I was not even aware of that story.”
I mentioned this on an earlier Abagond post.
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http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/07/us/florida-woman-removed-hospital-dies/
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0jL9fk1qWw&w=560&h=315)
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Oh, how the prejudices play out over blog.
Study after study has shown that medical professionals discriminate against black people. Black people includes black women. The word people includes women. Women make up 50% of people. Barbara died because she was black. Are we to believe that in this case the cop and the workers “didn’t have a racist bone in their body” or that for time they were with Barbara Dawson they suspended their racists beliefs? That doesn’t mean this would never happen to a white person. However, it wouldn’t happen to them because they are white.
I wonder if people so readily dismissing race as a factor is because she is a black woman. I think it is.
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nomad
Thanks. I am sorry I missed it or must have forgotten.
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@Lord of Mirkwood
You can find just as many, or more, examples of racism in New England.
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I see everyone here wants to only blame race, even though I am telling you how the hospital really works– race is a factor, but it dam sure is NOT the only factor.
If you think Barbara Dawson is the only person to die like this, you are kidding yourselves.
People get kicked out of the hospital on a regular basis, and if they are lucky, their family members can take them to a different facility to get treated.
Most hospitals don’t call the police because they know better and don’t want embarrassing situations such as this, but you better believe they put patients out like cats.
if you look at records of your local hospital, you will see that quite a few people got kicked out and died at the outside the door.
but carry on blaming ONLY race if it makes you feel better.
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“ThatDeborahGirl,
The policeman is an authority figure and could have and should have insisted that they make absolutely certain that she was not ill before taking her into custody.”
Linda says,
in the hospital, a policeman does not outrank a doctor- he can’t tell the doctor or the staff what to do… he would have to take it to ER or Hospital Administration just like anyone else.
What the policeman could have done, was Refuse to remove Ms Dawson from the hospital premises — that would have been within his scope– they can’t force him to touch her
but as mentioned, both hospital and police dept knew Ms Dawson from previous incidents, this sh’t was personal
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As for me Linda, I am willing to say that race MIGHT have been a factor. It is impossible to know 100% if it absolutely WAS a factor or not. Just because prejudice is prevalent does not mean that it is universal and is applied in EVERY situation and from every institution always.
BUT my observation is that Black insistence in all other places in society, is seen as much less tolerable than is White insistence. A Black woman raising her voice and loudly complaining about the level of service in a department store is reacted to quite differently than is a White woman, unless the White woman is visibly poorer or less educated. That was the point I was making in my last item on my original list.
Race often is a factor (even if it’s not the main factor) and it often is ignored by those in positions of power.
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Yes, I agree King
but we are discussing the Hospital…so, it’s the Hospital culture that has to be focused on
I’m know race played a factor, Ms. Dawson was black, fat and loud and I’m sure, the hospital staff based their perceptions of her, just off those things and the stereotypes that come with it…that’s what prompted them to call the police
but they discharged her while she was calm and quite … so what needs to be looked at is why they discharged her so quickly and ignored her statement, that she “can’t breathe”
she wasn’t being discharged because of her race… they discharged her because they did not want to deal with her because they felt she was wasting their time.. they knew her because she went there frequently.
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they coulda handcuffed her to the bed like in police custody and let the dr talk to her like idk i cant stand going to the hospital
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i had that happen a couple times
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@ Linda
Agreed. But the initial discharge order to my mind is not the problem. The problem was that when she continued to INSIST that her symptoms were intolerable and that she feared to leave the hospital lest she would die.
Yet, she was:
a) not believed
b) threatened with JAIL (not just removal or being taken home)
c) not immediately examined after falling to the ground gasping
d) declared “fine” once she was finally examined
THEN shortly after upon reexamination the doctor finally confirmed her symptoms and she died shortly thereafter.
At this point I don’t care about the initial discharge order. What I do care about is rapidity with which Ms. Dawson turned from patient to criminal. Once you have flashing lights outside and a man in uniform talking about jail time, everyone involved starts to see you quite differently.
Imagine if you were trying to get a home loan from a bank and during a disagreement about your credit rating the bank manager had a policeman come over and threaten you with jail time. Do you think that ANYTHING you said would be taken seriously by anyone in the bank after that extreme had been reached?
The problem is that Barbara Dawson was criminalized. A woman who was sick was very quickly turned into a threat and a lawbreaker! And it was THAT criminalization that made it all the more difficult for a dying woman to make the case that would have saved her life.
And here is the key;
THAT KIND OF CRIMINALIZATION IS INDICATIVE OF THE RACIAL BIASES that are commonly practiced within the institutions of the United States of America. And that is why racism becomes such a big issue in this case. I’m not saying that she was discharged because of racism. What I’m saying is that when she insisted that she couldn’t breathe and ended up with a policeman taking her to jail—THAT smells much more like a racially effected outcome to me.
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Whether folks want to believe in a higher power or not is fine with me. However, these things happening to black folks are the Most High’s way of showing the world exactly what group of people are representative of the devil in the flesh. I don’t know about you folks, but I like to shoot from the hip; call it how I see it and let the chips fall where they may. Therefore, philosophical statements pointing finger towards the hospital officials or the police is irrelevant. Why?, because the whole damn, demonically profane system of white supremacy is guilty.
Be certain that these are not isolated incidents and too frequent are these circumstances to qualify as a phenomenon. After all, you don’t see white men or boys getting shot by black cops with such frequency as they do in Chicago. Have anyone of you ever heard of white patients dying in the same manner as Ms. Dawson, where all of the officials at the hospital and law enforcement personnel were black?
At some point, collective white people must pay for what they’ve done; still are doing and for what they will do to black folks in the near future. Even contradictory, racist ass, concubine loving Thomas Jefferson realized this with the following quote:
“Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever” – Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, 1782.
I give him a little credit for stating the truth here and due to his purported state of trembling for his fellow white countrymen. In contrast, contemporary white folks (have a few here on this board) always rush to rationalize the behavior of certain officials as opposed to stating the obvious, in an attempt to avoid culpability.
I hope her soul rest in peace!
Romans 13:10 10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword.
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To Linda , Munubantu, Abagond himself and others !
My question is if you the Africans who LIVE in the U.S., call it your land and your country and, I hope you STRONGLY believe that the United of America is your country, you are not SPEAKING OUT and WRITING with PASSION about the negative opinion and the hatred the WHITE man – white people – has against you on daily basis, I don’t know who is going to do that for you!
Africans in US, STOP talking about organisations, corporations or entities like police, school, universities, cities or hospitals, media, HOLLYWOOD, Oscar and so on in the U.S.
It’s TIME to start vehemently CALLING OUT the WHITES on their disdain and dehumanizing mindset about the nonPALE human beings.
white Europeans do not see Africans as a human being. All they see is ”colour”, ”black”, anything, except a HUMAN BEING. This is a huge part of the challenges African people face. No white escapes this gruesome picture, NO MATTER what he or she claims. Even the self-proclaimed advocates of the nonwhites or the white females who are reluctantly CHASING the Jamaican, the Kenyan , the Senegalese, the Nigerian men for their SEXUAL gratification are no exception! Those white females do look down on the men out of the ”superior” white race they pursue and are equally hateful towards African people.
Linda and others, the REALITY here is that all the nurses, security guards , cops, doctors, emergency crew are ALLwhite and have beenj very heart LESS towards this lady. The fact that they took the oxygen from HER while fully knowing it’s critical for her it is quite CHILLING about the ways whites perceive and ”interact” with African people if I can even call that an interaction to begin with .
Even when there is a nonwhite among them, he or she is usually the ONLY one and not in position of power. Even if he is, he is likely not going to use his authority to REMIND the white staff that they’re dealing with a HUMAN BEING, a lady named Barbara Dawson. Make sure that the white personnel treats Barbara Dawson just like a PALE skinned European woman with the same medical history with frequent visit to the same hospital will be treated. For instance, asking that the oxygen remained with her not be taken from her. Even when the police is in in the hospital, the nonwhite in position of power can say thanks and let the cops know that at this time, they pretty much have everything under control. Right now, we believe the patient needs further medical tests and, in case the hospital needs their service, someone will contact them .
I don’t know how if anyone has STEPPED up and handled the situation in this way with tact, the white police and security will not LEAVE this lovely lady in peace.
White people need to be constantly reminded that the people they invaded, raped, mass murdered on their own lands, dragged in heavy chains around the world , Hanged on threes, burned alive and forced to endure BARBARIC and CRUEL treatments for CENTURIES , BREATH, FEEL, THINK and SEE, simple BECAUSE they are HUMAN BEINGS !
Abagond, Pumpkin to name a few, DON’T expect the white man to take on that HUMANE and MORAL duty for you!
Whites are too busy PROTECTING their own interests.
Even if whites have any time, their European TWISTED mind filled with strong negative views and low expectations towards African people will undermine their ability to do the RIGHT thing in a situation like the one Barbara Dawson, Sandra Bland, little Tamir Rice, Travor Martin, Freddie Gray crying for assistance, Renisha McBride seeking help, and the little girl at the pool party find themselves in. Each one is a nonPALE skinned European. And in every case, the white personally GUNNED him or her down, viciously beats him or the white’s inability to do the RIGHT thing for the nonwhite in his custody or ”care” ended up killing him .
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@ King
Thank you for getting to the heart of the matter.
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King, like I said
for the general public, it’s a passionate situation
whoever needs to see this incident as solely a racial one,
then do so, if that’s what makes you feel better
I agree that Ms. Dawson was criminalized by the police and discriminated against for being black and fat
because if people got arrested in the hospital for yelling and wilding-out, then 25% of the patients would be in jail at all times… her behaviour was perceived as more of a threat because of her skin colour.
but that’s not what killed Ms. Dawson
Ms Dawson was not going to get further medical treatment because once the discharge orders were written and processed and they wanted her gone
and she wasn’t believed because unfortunately for her, the hospital staff had her labelled as a “frequent flyer” who they believed was crying wolf (they knew her personally)
so she was not going to receive further medical treatment by them
because as I stated, the unfortunate working mentality is “if the patient can talk, they can breathe”
Racism is rampant in the medical field but race alone is not what got Ms. Dawson killed.
Her not receiving further medical care after adamantly stating something was wrong is what bothers me the most
for me, this is my world, so it’s not a passionate moment, it’s another example of same shi’t, different day
and these common occurrences of “inaction by medical staff” has got to be stopped because this is what get’s people killed
that’s why malpractice attorney’s make a lot of money
http://injurylawservice.com/librarys/when-patients-are-discharged-too-early-wrongful-death-in-florida-can-occur/
and I make sure to tell my black/brown staff, to cover their a’ses at all times
and don’t let anyone (doctor, nurses, administration) drag them into a situation that will “have you lose your license, land you in jail, or get sued”
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Let’s not forget this little gem.
Black woman collapses in ER and dies after 24 hour wait
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lKUwBCIBzA)
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So much bullsh’t goes on in the hospitals that does Not receive media attention
if the general public knew Half the sh’t that goes down, people would be scared to go to the hospital
but here are a few “gems” that happen in my neck of the world:
Jackson delayed transfer of patient needing emergency surgery- Hospital waited nearly 18 hours to verify patient’s ability to pay
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/health-care/article36611469.html
The patient arrived at a hospital in the U.S. Virgin Islands shortly after midnight on a Sunday, complaining of sharp and tearing chest pains and shortness of breath. He was sweating.
Doctors diagnosed a ruptured aortic valve that required emergency open heart surgery — a procedure no hospital on the island is equipped to perform. So they called the nearest medical center with the cardiac surgeons and resources to save the man’s life: Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami.
But rather than clear the patient for immediate transfer to Miami by helicopter, Jackson Memorial doctors and administrators waited while they verified his health insurance coverage and method of payment
Patient needing lung transplant dies after Jackson Memorial declines transfer -Jackson Health requested a $350,000 deposit in order to admit her.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/health-care/article54985205.html
Doctors at West Kendall Baptist noted in their medical records that Jackson physicians had examined Huaman, kept her under observation for several hours and discharged her the same day with a prescription for a heart burn medication.
After being admitted to West Kendall Baptist the next day, Huaman’s condition gradually worsened as her liver failed, and she suffered hypoxia and acute respiratory failure, medical records show. Doctors eventually placed Huaman in a medically induced coma.
Unable to perform a lung transplant that doctors at West Kendall Baptist said she needed, social workers at the hospital tried to transfer Huaman to Jackson Memorial’s Miami Transplant Institute- The case was “not accepted,” with no reason specified.
Huaman and Marquez were uninsured when West Kendall Baptist requested Huaman’s transfer
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The man from the Virgin Islands obviously died on the 18th hour while they were still trying to verify his ability to pay
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Linda,
Most black people are afraid to go into the hospital. Very few people I know go to the hospital alone if they can help it and usually it’s because they want an advocate or witness.
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@BytheGrace Verywell
I don’t live in the USA.
The place where I was born and live in right now is Maputo, a city in Africa (try to figure out in which country!). The appearance of that place is:
Aerial view 1: (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=130001521&postcount=1608)
Aerial close view 2: (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=129615836&postcount=1599)
View from the see: (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=124082249&postcount=1489)
Why do I pay attention to events taking place in a so far away country like the USA?
Let me answer this question with a list of sentences:
* I was born when my own country was a colony of an European power and I had the possibility to see directly White power in action, especially how it affects not only its victims but also the perpetrators; therefore I’m not strange to the issues debated here in this blog;
* During a few years I was in an European country for University studies and I had again the opportunity to see how Europeans relate to colored people in their own continent; I saw the good and the noble, the bad and the ugly in their behavior, again something reflected in some posts and discussions in this blog;
* Because my country became independent and, indeed, the whole part of the continent of Africa it belongs (Southern Africa) in my lifetime, I had the privilege to see first hand the kind of changes in Black/White relationships can occur once the White power structures are dismantled and replaced by more equal human and racial relationships;
* Yet regarding the last sentence let me tell you that a lot of the abuses, Blacks had to endure before our independence, have become things of the past; despite what many people seem to believe in this blog, White people know how to behave properly when the social environment dictates so; never again I saw or heard a single event where a White person yelled “seu Preto!” – translation “you nig*er!” – to a Black individual; the lest I noticed is reading in a newspaper about some incident where a White foreigner did something of that kind, only to receive a few days later a order to leave the country, like a persona non grata;
* During my stay in Europe I had the opportunity to see the meaning of a dictum of Frantz Fanon (in Black Skin, White Masks), who I had red years before, “The Black man going to Europe see it as the last station of his journey of becoming a real man, and he waits the acknowledgment from the European that he indeed is civilized. But during his close encounters with Europeans, these will show him that, indeed, for them, he remains a Black man, a member of an alien race” (free adaptation);
* The USA is a VIC (Very Important Country); almost everything happening there is relevant for people in other places, be it the financial crash a few years ago, the election of a direct descendant of Africans recently – Barack Obama – as President of the USA, etc; we can’t afford to ignore!; the recent and ongoing revolution in telecommunications worldwide bring to our homes knowledge of things happening far away; by the way, do you know how many people in Nigeria, for example, have access to Internet? look at the CIA World Factbook for an answer: it’s something on the order of 97 million! more than all the Blacks Americans put together!; people know a lot more about other places than we sometimes imagine;
* I’m in this blog trying to bring my own perspectives which reflect my own life experiences; for example, in the context of the ill-fated case of Barbara Dawson, I’m fully aware that racial prejudices certainly played some role in the development of the situation, but leaving in a Black-ruled country, I feel that it is my duty to alert my American cousins that similar things happen also in my place of residence and have something to do with the way hospitals oft relate to their subjects (patients) as Linda aptly and repeatedly explained;
* This is a racialized world, for sure, but even then not everything is racial or mainly racial in nature; as a further example, I remember that some Black women have already spoken in this blog about specific situations where gender not race were the main issue – ex.: domestic violence; one cannot discard their stories because we are mainly focused on race in this blog;
* Lastly, one small thing that other Africans have already said before: I would like to see more and more Black Americans visiting Africa and see how far different from the USA a society, where anti-Black racism doesn’t rule, works; and also to see that despite all the negative images they received their whole life about Africa and Africans, things are far better there in many aspects that it seems; such a visit could functions as a breath of fresh air for you, and help you gain more strength for the social battles ahead in your own society.
P.S.:
So far I know, Abagond is not an African… at least in stricto sensu. He is an American citizen!
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@ munubantu
Thank you for that information. Very informative.
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@munubantu
Thank you for your clear-eyed observations.
America is a very insular country with a stunted educational system and media system focused on propagandizing the subjects er, citizens, into complete passivity. A lot of Americans of all ethnicities are unaware of America’s global empire. They are completely absorbed with the minutiae of their own lives and forget about the wider world.
“…I would like to see more and more Black Americans visiting Africa and see how far different from the USA a society, where anti-Black racism doesn’t rule, works; and also to see that despite all the negative images they received their whole life about Africa and Africans…”
I agree it would be a wonderful development but there are some obstacles.
1. Travel outside of the country seems like a far off luxury (and a hassle, if truth be told). This is especially true for Americans of African descent who suffered huge losses in wealth with the great Mortgage Swindles of the early 2000’s. People who are working 2 to 3 jobs just to put food on the table are not likely to prioritize travel.
2. A bare majority of Americans don’t have valid passports:
http://www.theexpeditioner.com/2010/02/17/how-many-americans-have-a-passport-2/ Those Americans who are least likely to to be valid passport holders are concentrated in the very states with the most African Americans (i.e. the South and Midwest).
3. It pains me to say this, but the people who have imparted the most negative view of Africans to slave-descendant Black people in America are African immigrants. They tend to see the native born through the eyes of the White population that despises and distorts every aspect of our lives. Their arrogance and contempt is hard to bear, especially for those of us who were raised on a pan-Africanist ideal.
I understand that their images of Black folk are based on media such as White owned newspapers and magazines, Hollywood movies and television shows ( written by ignorant, racist White men) and music videos produced by sell out hip hop “artists”.
Many African immigrants don’t know that their ability to live in the neighborhood of their choice, go to the school of their choice, pursue a professional career and even immigrate to the USA was paid for in the blood, sweat and tears of countless unnamed Black folk who have struggled against White Supremacy versions 1.0 and 2.0 and now 3.0 for centuries. CENTURIES.
But, I digress.
I think revisiting Pan-Africanism in a concrete, practical sense would be very enlightening and liberating. Sending Black high school and college aged youth to Africa would strengthen them in so many ways. To me, it would be ideal for Black youth to not only make the emotional pilgrimage to West Africa where the majority of their ancestors were dragged (literally kicking and screaming) from, but also Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Namibia and your country of Mozambique. A plateful of Piri Piri Chicken would be just the thing to set them on fire (literally and figuratively) 😊.
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ERRATUM to my last comment:
Where is:
1.
relationships can occur
should be
relationships that can occur
2.
who I had red years before
should be
who I had read years before
3.
but leaving in a Black-ruled country
should be
but living in a Black-ruled country
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@ Afrofem and munubantu
It’s kind of like… asking American Blacks to visit Africa is like trying to get poor people to visit their poor relatives. It’s not impossible, but when you both have financial struggles it’s harder. Ever seen this happen when families migrate from their people in the south to a northern city?
-Can’t afford 4 plane tickets so have to drive down
-Oops, the radiator is overheating again, we’ll need to fix that first
-Actually these tires don’t look like they are ready for a long trip either
-Maybe we can take Greyhound but how will we get around once we arrive?
-Just got word nobody has much room and we can’t afford a hotel
-It’s summer time, maybe somebody has a tent… it’ll be fun like camping?
-What about food? I mean for a week or two? I Didn’t think of that
-Oh no, one of the kids has a toothache… how much is this gonna cost
-Once we are there, will anyone be able to even take off work? If not…
-Wow gas prices are going up again!
And that’s how people leave Decatur Georgia, move to Chicago, and NEVER get back down there until their Mama dies 30 years later. If they come from Costa Rica or the Caribbean they just send a postcard to the funeral and mourn from home.
To many of us are still in that predicament. But your suggestion is still a good one. I guess many of us her on this website are educated and therefore have the means to travel. I admit that I do. I really need to consider going over to the Continent. My brother has been several times already.
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@ King
LOL (with some bitterness). Long distance grieving is the worst. It seems to prolong the pain.
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@ThatDeborahGirl
I agree. Going to a hospital is like stumbling through a mine field. The worst part is that you are not up to full strength when you walk through the door…you are vulnerable and the staff is harried, overworked and many of them seem uncaring. It seems to be a recipe for disaster.
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Linda said: “Whoever needs to see this incident as solely a racial one, then do so, if that’s what makes you feel better. I agree that Ms. Dawson was criminalized by the police and discriminated against for being black and fat.”
Spoken like a true herrenvolk!
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King and Afrofem, thanks for your kind words!
Afrofem, I’m fully in agreement with your comment regarding the good that could come from a strengthening of the relationships between Blacks in America and Blacks in Africa. That could be fruitful for both sides.
I’m aware of the behavior of some Africans who immigrate to the United States and become, to put it mildly, pro White idiots.
I friend of a younger brother of mine is an example of this. He benefited from a scholarship to a PhD degree in the USA back in early 90’s and went to visit there Cornell, Berkeley and Stanford schools (his subject is linguistics).
I was speechless when during one of our conversations he was very critical about some politicization of procedures which should remain purely under rigorous academic criteria and he cited the award of the Nobel Prize of Literature to a Black woman (Toni Morrison) as an example. He was also against affirmative action in the USA Universities!
Apparently he believed that he entered USA Universities by merit alone.
He forgot how actually his connections back in the USA Consulate helped him to secure a place in those prestigious centers of learning! And, as Afrofem said, how the fight from Black Americans paved the way for him to be accepted in USA circles.
Some Africans are mere opportunists and this is one of the reasons that in another thread I suggested that any reparations programs directed to Black Americans because of slavery, should explicitly exclude newcomers from Africa.
See (https://abagond.wordpress.com/2015/12/31/walter-plecker/#comment-305564)…
But I see that we are already further away from the main subject of this thread…
P.S.:
The expression pro White used above (in pro White idiots) should be interpreted as meaning pro White racism. In general I am pro Humanity and this includes pro White, pro Brown, pro Black, pro Yellow, pro Red, etc. But I am not pro racism of any kind or color!
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A mistake in my last comment…
in
I friend
should be
A friend
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@ blakksage
Oops! I didn’t mean to like your comment! I actually think that Linda has probably argued most vehemently against so many anti-Black posters that I believe she certainly has earned the right to occasionally air a difference of opinion on any matter without being rhetorically linking to the ‘Master Race.’
She’s saying that race was ONE of the causes. She doesn’t feel that it was the primary cause, and that is fair. There is no absolute “proof” either way.
I just think it’s important that people can disagree about things without getting branded as a “race traitor” or something similar.
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@Linda said: “and I make sure to tell my black/brown staff, to cover their a’ses at all times.”
No need in telling white staff members the same thing because their whiteness have got their asses covered already, … right!
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@King said: “She’s saying that race was ONE of the causes. She doesn’t feel that it was the primary cause, and that is fair. There is no absolute “proof” either way.”
Your point is well taken and it’s nice to know that you are so well aware of her inner thoughts. However, in what documented instance(s) that you can point to and say definitively the same thing has happen to a white Ms. Dawson, where an oxygen tank taken was stripped away from her, with all of the medical staff members and law enforcement personnel were black??
Take your time, … I’ll pat my feet and wait for your response!
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I’m not basing my comments on her “inner thoughts.” I’m basing them on what she wrote.
And lest we get off track here, I was defending Linda’s right to state a different opinion based on her own honest reasons. Her opinions may be right or it may be wrong, but that is not the point. A person should be able to simply state an opinion different than the majority without becoming suspect. And when it is a poster like Linda (who has more than proven that she is both knowledgeable and reasonable) it seems even more understandable.
I think that’s fair… don’t you?
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blakksage,
whatever….I’m not here to argue rhetorical blah blah with black folks
I don’t need to be lock-step with everyone here.. this blog is not an echo-chamber
I do my part in the real world to help black/brown patients and my staff
while you are sitting here getting aggravated online, which doesn’t change much or do anything of substance
In the real world, I do my part in making sure black and brown patients are treated like human beings and that they have advocates who give a sh’t, when ever they walk through the door
besides trying to insult me, what are you doing in real-life to make sure there are less Ms. Dawson’s in the world?
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King, I appreciate you trying to “have my back”
but the fact that you felt the need to, is a bunch of BS
I know sometimes on this blog, if a particular post does not have a white troll or person in it, making noise
then certain people like to pull the “I’m blacker than black” card, if they feel not everyone is “towing the line”
I don’t have time for that and I’m not interest.
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@King and @Linda,
It’s wasn’t about yours truly being a frustrated troll or attempting to insult anyone. I was only pointing out the inconsistencies, follies and absurdities of your comments.
I wish you both a wonderful afternoon!
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blakksage @ I was only pointing out the inconsistencies, follies and absurdities of your comments.
Linda says,
nobody called you a troll… so don’t try to come for someone when you can’t even read the sentence straight
I don’t like ignorance, especially when it comes from other black/ brown people
and you aren’t “winning” anything right now, all you’re doing is showing your a’s, and it doesn’t look cute
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Linda thinking that Barbara Dawson’s race is only one of many reasons and not the primary reason she was treated so cruelly is part of the problem.
I’m tired of this new racism without actual racists that nobody seems to recognize. It’s impossible not to see and state the obvious.
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blakksage, I don’t have any quarrel with you, of course and I have been careful not to insult you.
My comment to you only came after you said of Linda’s comment:
My recollection is that Herrenvolk was a German word invented my the Nazis to indicate the “Superior Folk” or literally the “Master Race” meaning the “Aryan Race.” So you were basically saying that because Linda disagreed that Barbara Dawson’s initial discharge was primarily based on racism that she was essentially speaking like a Nazi.
That seemed unnecessary and over the top in my opinion. That is why I brought it to your attention. But that was not meant to be an indictment of you, just me calling your attention to it. I have certainly said MANY over the top things on this site, particularly in me early years. I actually kept Abagond quite busy erasing my comments!
So again, no ill feelings
@ Linda
I call them how I see them. You know that. I don’t think blakksage is a bad person or anything, but I just disagreed with his characterization of you. I would be just as swift to defend blakksage if I thought that you were being unfair to him. I try to have the back of “Fairness.”. That is all. I respect a lot of the things you have written.
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ThatDeborahGirl,
there is no “new racism” — it’s the same sh’t, different day
I’m the first person who will call “a duck a duck” but I also don’t believe in keeping my head in the sand.
the fact that I see the abuse and malpractice 1st hand (also committed by black and other non-white people)
is why I can emphatically stand by my statement that race is not the Only factor in this case, it’s a part of it
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King, again Thanks
I’m also responding to his “Herrenvolk” comment, not to him personally
as I said, I’m cool with the fact that we all can “agree to disagree”
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@munubantu
“He was also against affirmative action in the USA Universities!”
Your brother’s friend seems both sad and hilarious. If he had been college aged just 40 years earlier (in the early 1950s), he would have been completely shut out of many predominantly White American colleges and universities. Instead of Cornell, Berkeley and Stanford, he would have been directed to Tuskegee, Florida A&M or Hampton Institute. If he were really aiming for the top, perhaps Fisk, Meharry or Morehouse.
He is like so many African Americans who took full advantage of the work of thousands of Civil Rights activists to pursue an education at the school of his choice and then work tirelessly to destroy opportunities for young Black people who follow him. He would feel very comfortable with the likes of Clarence Thomas, Armstrong Williams and other Rented Negroes. https://abagond.wordpress.com/2010/07/12/rented-negroes/
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@Linda said
but that’s not what killed Ms. Dawson
Ms Dawson was not going to get further medical treatment because once the discharge orders were written and processed and they wanted her gone
and she wasn’t believed because unfortunately for her, the hospital staff had her labelled as a “frequent flyer” who they believed was crying wolf (they knew her personally)
@ King said: “My recollection is that Herrenvolk was a German word invented my the Nazis to indicate the “Superior Folk” or literally the “Master Race” meaning the “Aryan Race.” So you were basically saying that because Linda disagreed that Barbara Dawson’s initial discharge was primarily based on racism that she was essentially speaking like a Nazi.”
@Linda and @King, I was done with both of you regarding the Ms. Dawson situation. Simply put, this woman is now dead at the age of 58 years-old due to RACISM and MEDICAL INCOMPETENCE. Linda, you continue to say that racism wasn’t the only thing that killed her. However, you also continually fail to mention what issue other than racism that contributed to her death. Well, here it is, MEDICAL INCOMPETENCE also played a decisive role in her demise. Personally, if I was in the medical field, I would’ve been too darn embarrassed to post a comment regarding something so tragic.
Linda, I found your comments regarding Ms. Dawson to be quite harsh, cold and a lack of compassion and empathy. Furthermore, when you consider the fact that you work in the medical field, your statements appear to be even more outlandish and bizarre. In fact, I thought your comments were unconventional and weird, I incorrectly thought you were a white woman. This is why I referred to you as a herrenvolk. Isn’t this the medical field’s motto: “Primum non nocere is a Latin phrase that means “first, do no harm.” Unfortunately, the hospital’s staff brought so much harm to her, she died.
The hospital is a place people go to when they’re feeling ill and there is no doubt that Ms. Dawson had the same idea in regards to a hospital. Unfortunately, the medical staff members didn’t think very highly of her because, as you put it, “she was a frequent flyer, fat and black.” This woman went to the hospital for assistance and instead, the oxygen tank, of all things, was snatched away from her when she needed it the most. And as a result of multiple medical incompetency and failures, she died on the floor of the hospital.
If you see nothing wrong with the way this woman died; if your heart equals the weight of a couple of cinder blocks and it is as cold as a glass of cubed ice, perhaps you should consider exiting the medical field. There is such a thing referred to as “burn out.” Incompetence is not a virtue in any field, you know!
@King, thanks but I do not need you to inform me of the definition of the word, “herrenvolk.” First and foremost, I thought she was an American white woman (neo Nazi). I utilized this word because I thought her comments were quite abrasive, unforgiving; insensitive and displayed an abundance of indifference towards Ms. Dawson because as Linda explained very well: “black and fat”, amongst other not so kind words. Again, this is why I originally thought she was not a woman of color.
By the way, I’m still waiting for you to inform me of a white Ms. Dawson, who was treated in the same tragic manner and was provided with an overwhelmingly less than diligent care, with the entire tending medical and law enforcement personnel were black.
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Well blakksage, one thing I have learned is that meanings, identity, and intent are for more easily confused on the web than face to face. I think more than anything else this was just a bit of a misunderstanding.
Well I’m quite sorry for your wait, but that point is irrelevant and will remain unanswered.
As I mentioned before, I am not here to argue Linda’s case for her (she is more than competent to make her own case) My argument was simply that she should be allowed to disagree without being stigmatized with Nazi terminology. Since you thought that she was a White troll (more or less) I now understand better what you said and why.
Like I said, it’s mostly a misunderstanding.
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@ blakksage
i should probably amend that to say:
“…but that point is irrelevant to the points that I was making and will therefore remain unanswered.
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Linda says, that ‘s your business– I’m not here for you or your feelings
Linda says,
what’s embarrassing is your lack of reading comprehension skills. In your rush to come and try to tell me off, you missed what I wrote here:
What killed Barbara Dawson, were 3 things:
1) She was considered a “frequent flyer”
2) The stereotype that “if the patient can talk, they can breathe”
3) Medical personnel become jaded because
c) they become disconnected to human suffering because of all the trauma and death they see on a frequent basis (especially in the ER)
what was so hard to understand about that… did I not put the blame on the medical staff?!..was that too hard for you to understand…
I didn’t realize I needed to break it down further for you, like you are a 5 year old
which is what you are acting like now… why don’t you find a sandbox and take several seats in it… instead of bothering grown folks with your simple bs’t
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blakksage @ Linda, I found your comments regarding Ms. Dawson to be quite harsh, cold and a lack of compassion and empathy. Furthermore, when you consider the fact that you work in the medical field, your statements appear to be even more outlandish and bizarre
Linda says,
Other posters and I have discussed issues like this many times on this blog.. so if YOU don’t understand it or it seems outlandish and bizarre.. that’s your problem
you are NOT in the medical industry and so therefore, you are the last person I need to hear from about “what’s normal, and what’s not”
if I was so crazy and bizarre, Ms. Mary would not have found the desire to write that she agrees with me
so, is Mary white now too? Is Herneith white too? both these ladies also work in the medical industry.
I don’t need to justify anything to you.. you are taking yourself Wayy to seriously
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blakksage @ Linda, However, you also continually fail to mention what issue other than racism that contributed to her death. Well, here it is, MEDICAL INCOMPETENCE also played a decisive role in her demise. Personally, if I was in the medical field, I would’ve been too darn embarrassed to post a comment regarding something so tragic.
Linda says,
Really.. Mr. non-medical degree holding “sage” who is blakk
can you prove the staff was medically incompetent? were the staff untrained or unlicensed? Did anyone there have their license revoked.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/incompetent
because from the little that was released and from what I gathered on medical websites that are discussing this issue…I didn’t read anything that shows that the staff was not qualified to do their jobs, so therefore, they were all “competent”
because based on the non-medical information that’s out right now… all I see is human cruelty conducted by the police and medical staff.
What you should have said was she died from “racism and medical negligence”
I’m still waiting to see if a D-Dimer screen, ABG or a chest x-ray was done,
to see if the embolism, effusion or early CHF was apparent but overlooked…because she had a known respiratory history…if these things weren’t done…it’s negligence
They knew the woman used oxygen but yet they unplugged her oxygen tube from the wall and did not wheel her out with a supplemental oxygen tank..
That’s not called “medical incompetence”, that’s called “medical negligence, un-ethnical and uncompassionate behavior”
if you intend to be a smart a’s, then get the terminology right…
I’m thankful that her attorney knows the difference.
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When I lived in New York City, I worked for a while at the largest hospital in the Bronx. I was the staff statistician for the hospital, the only one at the hospital in that capacity.
I also have spent a lot of time in the Deep South and have family there. I have an idea what it is like.
.
As part of the finance department, I learned that besides providing medical care, one of the main objectives of the hospital was to maximize revenue while minimizing risk (e.g., risk of bad publicity due to negligent care or something like that). This was in the pre-Obamacare era, so I do not know how it is different now.
In that way, the hospital did all sorts of things that I found to be unethical.
As a NYC urban hospital, it treated many patients on medicare and Medicaid. In fact, Medicaid was the lead payor of the hospital bills. The hospital had a huge department that focused on getting the patients eligible for those government reimbursements.
As statistician, I was supposed to figure out how to analyse the DRG (Diagnostic Related Group) that patients were admitted or treated as, so as to maximize the revenue, as well as minimize hospital days for patients that could not pay, or for which they would not get a good revenue return. I was also tasked with finding ways to minimize risk (eg., patients dying from bed sores) that could be attributed to negligent care (eg, from the hospital staff nurses).
After reading about Barbara Dawson, I can only conclude
– Hospitals are in the business of making money. The industry happens to be medical care, but they are nevertheless in business.
– Barbara Dawson had visited the hospital many times. They knew her. They did not like her as a patient (and I could only presume it was based on her ability to pay for treatment). Her being black certainly did not help the situation, but I doubt it was the primary cause of the mistreatment. This led to their objective of finding any way to force an early discharge (or even not admitting her in the first place), without exacerbating the risk any more (for example, dying in the parking lot).
– the hospital frequently invokes the police to enforce their admissions and discharge policies.
– the nurse that checked up on her was first of all, tasked with the hospital protocol of discharging patients early, and as long as she found a pulse and breathing, she did not think about any need to perform additional emergency care.
The police, however, do enforce laws with racial bias. It happens all over the country, but viewed as “normal” in the Deep South culture. The hospital is viewed as a “white” institution in that town, but the patient is black. For the police, it is a “no-brainer” how to enforce this situation (given that they are not medical service providers).
So, I would conclude
* the hospital viewed her as a financial risk, based primarily on prior experience with her.
* they discharged her prematurely to minimize financial losses, not because she was black.
* Her being black played a bigger role in the hospital decision to call the police to help them enforce their discharge policies.
* The police had no problem enforcing their “Seeking medical attention while black” protocol, which criminalized her behaviour.
* The police are not medical practitioners, and were in no position to evaluate her health or medical condition.
* The nurse that checked up on her should have been in a better position to evaluate Dawson’s medical condition, but she was more intent on enforcing the hospital policy regarding early discharge for undesirable patients, rather than treating her. If she detected a pulse and at least some breathing, she was not dead, and therefore not in a critical situation from the point of view of the nurse.
* A doctor came later, but was too late. He recognized the problem and re-admitted her. She died before any treatment could be provided.
* The race problem was more one with the police than the hospital. But the hospital is in on it as they use the police to enforce their own policies.
Something went wrong. She should not be dead. What happened was:
— America’s healthcare delivery system is still broken. The incentive is to make money and treatment is based on ability to pay (and to minimize undue risk that might affect future revenue). Their is no incentive to provide adequate care beyond the negative publicity and legal ramifications of failing to provide it. Hospitals make decisions about admittance and discharge based on a financial risk management logic, not on a health care optimization logic.
— the nurse should have called the doctor right away, not 18 minutes later. But, it was probably due more to negligence than incompetence, as was her care before discharge.
— The police are used to enforce the US’s broken healthcare delivery system. The are racially biased as hell and blacks (and in other cases, other POC) will suffer disproportionately.
–>
In the end, if the hospital is found negligent, they will suffer. They will have to reexamine their treatment protocol, but again on a financial risk management basis. The police and the judicial system will cooperate to try to make sure the hospital’s negligence is minimized.
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Listening to the audio, it is super clear that she is in need of medical attention – she begs for her life, then goes silent and drops to the ground and never says another word. But the police officer, the hospital worker and the nurse all take part in maintaining this fiction that she “fine”. They keep saying it, like saying it will make it so. Even the nurse, BEFORE she checks on her, says she is “fine”. Nothing was done to help her till the doctor arrived and refused to take part in that fiction.
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^ So, it seems that even a police officer or any layperson would have enough sense to know that she was in dire need of emergency medical attention. Certainly a nurse should know.
So now need to confirm:
– Was Dawson indeed in stable condition to the point that any sane or rational doctor would have her discharged from the hospital prior to calling the police? Dawson herself seemed not to think so.
– Was her oxygen and other apparatus disconnected before the police arrived?
– was she technically in hospital custody or police custody
– whether that 18 minutes in care delay made a difference.
To determine if the police are culpable, we have to determine if, based on their training and responsibility, if they acted reasonably. We would need a non-biased investigation – not the police themselves. They could have forced the hospital staff to re-examine her and put her on apparatus support until a doctor came. After all, she was at a hospital. It is not like one would have to wait for 15-20 minutes for emergency medical care to arrive.
The nurse was obviously negligent, but she might have been acting on the instruction of a doctor which ordered her to make sure she was discharged. I don’t know if this will come out in court.
Something went wrong, and probably some combination of negligence and misconduct by the police, the hospital and individual staff members collaborated to result in a deadly situation.
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@ jefe
The oxygen was disconnected AFTER the police arrived.
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@ Linda – Yeah, you pretty much broke it down without blaming ‘race’ alone.
I just call my doctor for a house call or roll up to her office. Most of the time, for simple issues, she won’t even charge me.
Besides when I was born, I’ve been to the hospital emergency room exactly one time. As a young bartender with my work insurance, my Indian insurance and still under my parent’s insurance – it took a while for the administration to decide which to bill.
As I was chillin’ reading the newspaper and waiting for them to figure things out, a cute Korean girl (Sophia) came over to ask if I was doing alright. She and her friends signed me up for Medicare in about 20 minutes and rushed me through the line to be seen.
I think that the ability to flirt definitely helped me in that situation.
I wasn’t a fat, loud, freauent-flyer but I was (am) still Black.
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@Linda said: “I didn’t realize I needed to break it down further for you, like you are a 5 year old which is what you are acting like now… why don’t you find a sandbox and take several seats in it… instead of bothering grown folks with your simple bs’t
Are you upset? What’s wrong?
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@Linda said: “can you prove the staff was medically incompetent? were the staff untrained or unlicensed? Did anyone there have their license revoked.”
Look no further than the fact that the oxygen tank was stripped away from Ms. Dawson while she was literally screaming that she couldn’t breathe and in pain. Need I say more?
Furthermore, I’m quite certain the involved staff members here were trained. But, the question should be: Did they follow proper procedures like they should have after they were properly trained and being deemed medically qualified? Thus far, the answer appears to be NO!
Merriam’s dictionary for the word incompetent: “inadequate to or unsuitable for a particular purpose; lacking the qualities needed for effective action; unable to function properly.
I’m not saying that these people were untrained. They knew what they were supposed to do. However, their prejudice and learned racism prevented them from properly performing their jobs simply because Ms. Dawson was black.
There is no question that the medical personnel here diverged from already established protocols. This is why Ms. Dawson is dead and all those involved will eventually have to pay for their incompetence, imbedded racist attitudes, prejudice and inadequacies as well.
As far as anyone having their licensed revoked is unknown at this point, but still, that’s an irrelevant question. Why? As I stated already in an earlier post: the asses of white folks are always covered! I have no doubt that this is what gave them the impetus to snatch an oxygen tank away from a 58-year old woman who was experiencing breathing difficulties. They knew already that no one would be disciplined if in fact she did die. Well, she did die. And the asses of white folks being permanently covered explains why they’re still working today, … undisciplined. Therefore, for these people to not have their medical licenses revoked literally proves nothing, just as your question means noting.
Linda, it is utter foolishness for anyone to even attempt to rationalize Ms. Dawson’s death. And for anyone to do so is in fact, an indication of being divorced from reality. You cannot rationalize this woman’s death by simply stating the following: “she was loud; the discharge order was given; she was a frequent flyer; they (medical personnel) knew her personally and she was fat and black.” In short, are these your bizarre justifications for her to die on the hospital floor?
Question for a know-it-all medial professional: Is removing an oxygen tank from someone already experiencing acute respiratory distress the standard protocol and the same thing is done to white patients?
I highly suggest that you brush up on your punctuation skills, or lack thereof. It doesn’t look good for a supposedly, educated medical personnel to continually make these elementary mistakes.
Place a period at the end of your sentences; capitalize the first letter of sentences and place an apostrophe where a letter is left out, which is referred to as a contraction.
Henceforth, I will continue to point out your inconsistencies, irrational statements, follies and absurdities. Oh yeah, … don’t forget the medical field’s motto: “DO NO HARM!” You will not get a reprieve as those white folks at Calhoun-Liberty Hospital. A black woman like yourself is headed straight to jail. Therefore, be careful and consider yourself having been forewarned. Good luck!
Have a great a day!
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Linda says @ you aren’t saying anything worthwhile.. all that is still negligence
Linda says,
anyone who is educated learns how to be passionate and have an discussion that can view the situation from all sides –that’s called being MATURE — something you are lacking right now
Anyone who is educated and trained in the medical field, learns how to discuss the factors that cause sentinel events like “death”
because that is what we are trained to do… it’s called an “assessment”… an analysis of the situation
That’s what your doctor does every time you show up in his office complaining of something.. he assesses you to figure out the problem
Linda says,
already answered in my previous comment, which you once again ran past in your haste (if you did go to college, I see you slept through Reading Comp 101):
Linda @ They knew the woman used oxygen but yet they unplugged her oxygen tube from the wall and did not wheel her out with a supplemental oxygen tank..
That’s not called “medical incompetence”, that’s called “medical negligence, un-ethnical and uncompassionate behavior”
if you intend to be a smart a’s, then get the terminology right…
Let me guess– you ARE NOT an attorney either in real life
you aren’t in the medical field, you don’t know anything about the law
hmm, what do you know???
Just kidding, it’s obvious you don’t know shi’t 🙂
________________________________________
Like I said, thank GOD the black medical professionals and black attorney on this case
know how to COHERENTLY: discuss, analyze, and can rationalize Ms. Dawson’s death
because that’s what is needed for the family to win their LAWSUIT
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If that is the case, then it looks very bad for the hospital. If she was indeed “fine”, then there should have been no need to keep her connected to life support apparatus. It looks they delayed disconnection just to keep her stable until they handed her over to the police. If she died in police custody, then it is the police’s problem, not the hospital’s.
There is something fishy on the hospital end. They were just trying to get rid of her and make her someone else’s problem.
The investigation must include a review of how, when, the hospital calls the police to remove patients. If it is used 90% of the time to remove black patients, then Houston, we have a problem. If a significant die in police custody after removed from the hospital, we have a problem.
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Linda says @ dam, where did I put my coffee…Oh I’m sorry, did you Speak?!
Linda says,
Uh-oh… I’m scared now… a black man who is showing his a’s and looking Stoopid is coming after me.. oh no.. I need to go run and hide
You keep talking, son… I don’t mind stepping down to your level of simpleness
because it’s “your inconsistencies, irrational statements, follies and absurdities” that are on Full Blast right now
and you are NOT “winning” any kind of points in this ridiculous game you want to play
The saddest part is you really don’t see how foolish your comments are looking right now.
but please proceed with your bad self
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Jefe @ If that is the case, then it looks very bad for the hospital. If she was indeed “fine”, then there should have been no need to keep her connected to life support apparatus. It looks they delayed disconnection just to keep her stable until they handed her over to the police. If she died in police custody, then it is the police’s problem, not the hospital’s.
Linda says,
There is a police report floating online and it shows that the policeman tried to take the oxygen tubing from Ms. Dawsons’ nose but she fought him off and kept it.
So, one of the nurses told him, he could disconnect the tubing that connected to the wall, and that’s what he did
She came with her own personal oxygen tank but they did not connect the tube to her own tank their haste to remove her.
All of this is negligence and cruelty, and it’s a problem for both the hospital and the police
Police Case reports
http://data.tallahassee.com/dawson-report-bpd/
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“So, one of the nurses told him, he could disconnect the tubing that connected to the wall, and that’s what he did
She came with her own personal oxygen tank but they did not connect the tube to her own tank their haste to remove her.”
If that is the case, and it can be shown that Ms. Dawson might have been able to stay alive for that extra 18 mins. had she had access to oxygen until the doctor arrived (or if a doctor would have been summoned immediately) then the hospital and police would be guilty of negligent homicide. How could they possibly rule otherwise!
The nurse should have the training to distinguish between pretending to be unconscious and actually unconscious. Ms. Dawson lost consciousness because the blood clot hampered blood flow to her brain. Oxygen would have definitely been helpful to keep her alive until a doctor arrived.
The thing is, this happened in a hospital parking lot. It is not as if no medical care was available nearby. IT would have been different if it happened at the victim’s house.
To confirm that racism was involved, then we would have to determine that a pattern emerged, ie, the hospital has a history of refusing, delaying, or withholding service from black patients, of calling the police to enforce this withholding of service and if blacks disproportionately die in police custody.
In any case, it sounds like a strong case for the family lawyer to present that the hospital and police were negligent to her in particular and caused her death.
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First of all, she was not a frequent flyer. She had simply been there before. One of the visits was a caregiver to a child she brought in and they gave her a hard time for that visit as well.
Linda – just because the racism behavior is carried out by black people on behalf of a white owned system, doesn’t make the actions any less a function of racism.
Racism is a learned behavior. Teaching black people that it’s ok to devalue their own lives and the lives of other black people is very much a function of racism.
Disgusting but sadly true.
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Here’s another one. Are they men or beasts that do this shit?
http://countercurrentnews.com/2016/02/elderly-woman-dies-of-thirst-after-police-dragged-her-from-hospital-to-jail-her-over-unpaid-fines/
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@nomad
Thanks for the link.
It’s beyond men vs. beasts. This involves a system that sees most of the population as disposable. While people of African descent are bearing the brunt of policies of a far off Capital City right now, tomorrow other groups will find themselves on the chopping block.
The fines are the primary way the system is funded. The system is also a jobs program for people in the court, prison and law enforcement industries.
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Thanks. I was hoping that comment would not be overlooked due to being a late addition. Countercurrentnews covers many such stories. I recommend it.
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ThatDeborahGirl
I haven’t followed this discussion lately so am not sure of every thing that’s been said…but, damn, this is about the truest thing I have ever heard:
“Racism is a learned behavior. Teaching black people that it’s ok to devalue their own lives and the lives of other black people is very much a function of racism.”
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Some of the info you are being given is not right. blood clots do not always move from the legs or arms they cam form in any blood vessel in the body. I had on in my lung 5 years ago I am on some strong pain meds already and was still in a ton of pain and had trouble breathing. They never found where it started at but they know it did not move from my arms of legs. They also said it was very large so they think it formed close to the lung some place and if I had not been sleeping siting up that night I would not have woke up that morning. I think it was the most freighting thing I had ever had happen to me, I woke up at midnight and could not breath it was so bad I could not even reach for the phone or yell for help I felt helpless. It took me 7 hours to get to the phone to call 911, it was Christmas morning I will never forget that day I am lucky to be alive. If I had a way to send my condolences to the family that lost this lady I surely would this is a horrible way to go and to feel so helpless and so much pain I feel this kind of thing should have been caught it only takes an ex-ray and they would have seen it. There is no reason someone complaining of shortness of breath should not get an ex-ray!!!!!!
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[…] #BarbaraDawson […]
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