COMMENT ON THIS STORY
CHICAGO (WBBM) - Newsradio 780 has learned the federal government is threatening to take action against the University of Chicago Medical Center now that investigators have found deficiencies in the emergency room.
This follows the death of an elderly man in the emergency room waiting room last month.
What the federal government is threatening to do is take away the University of Chicago Medical Center's Medicare certification.
The conclusion: that a 78-year-old man brought to the emergency room by ambulance last month was neither triaged nor logged in, even though he was placed in a wheelchair in plain sight of the triage area.
The U of C Medical Center has issued a statement which says, in part: "Proper policies and procedures were in place but staff members may not have followed the protocol. Appropriate disciplinary actions are being taken... UCMC has prepared a thorough performance improvement plan related to the issues identified during the investigation."
Investigators conclude that the man was taken to the ER at 12:30 p.m.
"At 4:15 p.m.," almost four hours later, the patient's daughter "took the patient to the Triage Nurse and stated no one had called for the patient."
The report says the Triage Nurse noticed the man wasn't breathing, and that rigor mortis apparently had set in. A "code" was called, but he was pronounced dead.
The report says two staff RNs were suspended.
Statement from the University of Chicago Medical Center
An elderly, debilitated patient was brought to the emergency department on Tuesday afternoon, February 3, and, unfortunately, died later that day. Because of privacy rules, we cannot publicly discuss the patient's medical details.
Our hearts go out to the patient’s family for their loss. Emergency department physicians and nurses and hospital administration have met with the patient's family to explain the event and express their sympathy.
UCMC is dedicated to providing the best possible patient care. As with any serious event at our institution, the hospital conducted an investigation to determine whether every aspect of the care and coordination in the emergency department was appropriate. Our investigation found that proper policies and procedures were in place but staff members may not have followed the protocol. Appropriate disciplinary actions are being taken.
We also notified regulatory groups like the Joint Commission and have been working closely with the Illinois Department of Public Health and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to demonstrate continued compliance with regulatory and patient care standards.
The Medical Center has a strong quality and safety program focused on the recognition and prevention of adverse events. UCMC has prepared a thorough performance improvement plan related to the issues identified during the investigation. This will be submitted to IDPH and CMS this week and presented to the Joint Commission in May. It includes greater emphasis on monitoring patients in the waiting room and establishes a quality committee to make certain that the emergency care meets the highest standards.
Although there has been widespread recent discussion of proposed reorganization of the emergency department, this incident occurred prior to implementation of any changes.
E-Mail Story
Print Story
