When idiocy prevails

I read this report this morning and the anger that welled up inside me was unspeakable. How could something like this have happened. Unimaginable! Unconscionable!

Man Dies Outside Emergency Room After Hospital Tells Police Call 911

PORTLAND, Ore.

The death of an Oregon man just feet from an emergency room has left his family in grief, upset police and drawn a request for an investigation from a congressman, all asking why an officer was told to call 911 for a heart attack victim just outside the hospital door.

Birgilio Marin-Fuentes had driven to Portland Adventist Medical Center shortly after midnight Wednesday, unable to sleep or stop coughing, then crashed his car into a pillar and wall inside the first level of the hospital parking garage under an "emergency parking only" sign about 125 feet from the emergency room entrance.

By the time somebody noticed the 61-year-old Cuban immigrant in his car and told a police officer in the emergency room, about 20 minutes had gone by.

Officers Angela Luty and Robert Quick found Marin-Fuentes unconscious and unresponsive and began cardiopulmonary resuscitation. A third officer, Andrew Hearst, went to the ER intake desk and told them what was happening.

He was told to call 911.

"The officers recognized this man needed medical attention immediately, and two officers began CPR immediately, and a third officer went to ask for assistance, and they were told they had to wait until an ambulance arrived," said Sgt. Pete Simpson, a Portland Police Bureau spokesman.

Judy Leach, a hospital spokeswoman, said emergency room staff was told it was a car crash and they were following the proper protocol by instructing police to summon an ambulance crew.

"With an automobile accident you don't know if the patient needs to be extricated or transported," Leach said Friday. "There are protocols in place to ensure the right thing is done for the right patient at the right time."

She said hospital security officers equipped with a mobile defibrillator were dispatched, and a paramedic went outside to check on the situation.

I am sorry, but the officer should have told this idiot...."you are are talking to 911 moron, now get a gurney and come with me now or else!"

And the hospital's official response? Someone should be prosecuted for even uttering that idiotic of a defense to this incident. Someone should be prosecuted period.