Today, almost two full months from the date my husband was released from Parkland, I got a telephone call from one of his attending physicians saying he had heard I was unhappy with the care we received at Parkland. He just wanted to let me know that, when someone is unhappy, they address it. He says they are working on improvements. Says he knows that doesn't help us but it might help the next person.
I hope they really ARE working on improvements, but how strange is it that this call came tonight? No one cared while we were there. Judging from Dr. John Jay Shannon's response to my newspaper column, they didn't seem to really think they had done anything wrong - other than in the most general sense.
I can't help but wonder if the mother of the psychiatric patient who died there will be receiving a call soon. Bets, anyone?
Smells fishy to me. No doctor is going to think, oh, I forgot to tell the patients' that we're sorry two months after they're through. Shannon's letter basically said everyone internationally knows we're one of the worlds best units. Someone from high up told him to do it.
ReplyDeleteSure, of course someone is coaching them for damage control. That means they'll be told to call Mr. Cornell's mother too. But who would make the call in his case? Mr. Cornell didn't have attending supervision. The attending didn't walk into the room until after the Psych ER staff "took him down," and "gained control" of the patient." Surely, they're not going to have the Psych techs do it. The fired Head Nurse of the Psych ER won't do it. The next up the chain of command is the man who has responsibility for the Parkland culture, and for the way things are run. Ron Anderson. Mr. No Big Deal, "Have you ever cut a leg off? Just takes three swipes of the blade!" As he does with amputations, he'll probably say it's OK to designate an intern to do it.
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