VA tells vet to call 911 to get from parking lot to ER
KING 5's Michael Konopasek reports.
Michael Konopasek, KING 5 News 11:59 a.m. PDT May 13, 2015
SEATTLE -- The Seattle Veterans Affairs hospital is apologizing for leaving an Army veteran stranded outside its emergency room with a broken foot.
Donald Siefken, 64, told The Seattle Times that hospital staff refused to help him move 10 feet through the emergency room doors. Siefken was told to call 911 for help instead.
Siefken told the Times he fell while getting ready to drive his wife to Sea-Tac Airport in February. He said his foot started to swell and hurt during the drive. After dropping off his wife, Siefken drove to the VA hospital in Seattle. He said he was in too much pain to walk into the ER himself. The hospital told Siefken to call 911 and then a staffer hung up on him, according to accounts from the emergency call.
"It's hurting like the devil and they won't come out and get me. Can you believe that?" Siefken told the 911 dispatcher. "[Hospital staff] told me to call 911 and hung up on me."
The VA originally stood by its actions, according to the Times. The VA told the paper its policy is to have people call 911 if they can't make it from the parking lot to the ER. A VA spokesperson later admitted the hospital did not do the right thing.
The hospital has apologized to Siefken, according to the Times.
Statement from VA Puget Sound:
"After a complete review regarding this Veteran's visit to the VA Puget Sound Seattle campus emergency room, we have determined we did not do the right thing to ensure the Veteran had assistance into the emergency room.
"When the Veteran told our emergency room staff that he did not have an urgent or emergent medical issue, our staff should have considered the request for help as a patient assistance issue. The emergency room personnel should have called the appropriate staff to come and assist the patient, ensuring he made it into the emergency room safely.
"Policies used to make the recommendation to call 911 for assistance, at the time of the emergency room visit, did not apply to this particular situation due to the non-emergent needs of the Veteran.
"This review has prompted the VA Puget Sound Health Care System to implement corrective actions to ensure this does not happen again to one of our Veterans. This includes education of our staff regarding what to do in similar situations and clarification of the official policy that deals with patient assistance into the building.
"We have also written a formal letter of apology to the Veteran and offered a verbal apology from our Chief of Staff."
http://www.king5.com/story/news/local/seattle/2015/05/13/seattle-veterans-affairs-injured-vet-er/27227519/
