University Medical Center officials have moved to fire six employees involved in the care of a pregnant Las Vegas woman who went untreated in the emergency room for six hours.

On the day of the incident, the couple first went to a Quick Care clinic seeking treatment of Abney's pain.

A doctor performed a brief physical and ordered a urinalysis and urine pregnancy test, but Abney was unable to urinate. She was transferred to UMC for "higher care," according to patient records.

Abney, who said she didn't know she was pregnant, went to UMC and waited. As the night wore on, other patients in the waiting room volunteered to let Abney go ahead of them, said Victoria Taylor, one of those patients.

Abney and Dewberry left after six hours, saying they were convinced they would not get the help she needed. They went to nearby Valley Hospital Medical Center, but she said she was in too much pain to fill out the required paperwork. The couple said Valley officials suggested to them that if they had waited so long without help at UMC, they should not expect things to be different there.

The couple picked up some pain medication and went home. Twenty minutes later, Abney went to the bathroom and gave birth to the girl, Angel, who weighed 1 pound 6 ounces.

...baby later died,,,,what a shame,,,

that is partly the hospitals fault

and partly the couple's fault

the emergency staff should have attended to them a bit quicker but she wasn't in actual life threatening danger until the moment of the actual birth

but the couple should have stayed there and waited for the system to process them. It was mostly their impatience that killed the baby

I understand that except it happened here in Las Vegas and the UMC in question is a QUICK CARE facility, there is no way they should have made this couple believe they could potentially wait six I hours.I think lots of heads will roll on this one.

Wait. If Obummercare passes, it'll get a lot worse.

I guess the hospital admin agrees. I found this. apparently the hospital has more problems than that. I would call it a management problem because the lower levels of a administration reflect the management

Six University Medical Center employees have been suspended while the county investigates claims that a woman was ignored for so long in the emergency room that she went home and gave birth to a premature baby who later died.

Clark County released a statement Friday from hospital chief executive Kathy Silver expressing condolences to the 25-year-old woman, Roshunda Abney, and promising a thorough investigation.

"All of our employees are expected to treat patients with dignity, respect and kindness," Silver said. "We will uncover what happened that day and will not stand for the mistreatment of our patients or their families."

Jacob Hafter, a lawyer for Abney and fiance Raffinee Dewberry, said Friday the couple would not comment on the suspensions. But he said he intended to press for "systemic change" at UMC.

Several other people who were in the waiting room at the region's only public hospital have corroborated accounts by Abney and Dewberry that they were ignored for several hours Nov. 30 until they finally left.

Abney gave birth at home to a premature baby girl who died a short time later, authorities said.

In a separate issue, county officials also said in the statement the hospital was sending letters to more than 100 patients treated at the regional trauma center Oct. 31 or Nov. 1, offering free credit monitoring to those whose personal information may have been leaked to outsiders.

Silver has said the hospital was cooperating with an FBI investigation of whether Social Security numbers and other information may have been given to personal injury attorneys. Silver said those allegations hadn't been proved.

The county-run hospital has stepped up its patient record security procedures, Silver said.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2009/12/12/2009-12-12_las_vegas_hospital_suspends_six_after_ignored_womans_premature_baby_dies.html#ixzz0Zm1OjJY2

I dont think the issue of reform or non reform has anything to do with the existence of uncaring people in the medical field.

I dont think the issue of reform or non reform has anything to do with the existence of uncaring people in the medical field.

part of the problem: Emergency Units are seeing patients that do not have family doctors... therefore they are busy with "non-emergency" medicine...

some of this is the hospital,
some of this is the patient (the couple in this case)
some of this is that americans do not know how to affectively use their healtcare system.
some of this is due to the fact that people would rather live in an appartment, lease a hummer and not pay for healthcare...

there are more reasons, but the bottom line is personal responsibility - and it is easier to blame everyone else.

Uhm, if you are "not aware I am pregnant" - you are not taking responsibility for your own body....

$.02

then you are being naieve...

$.02

There are women who continue to have periods past their second trimester and others who have used contraception which is MEANT to stop their periods for at least three months at a time . Being that most people are not doctors they probably would have no reason to consider pregnancy. We go to doctors because we are ill, to then excuse a medical professional for being unprofessional because we were irresponsible enough to get sick is not reasonable,,in my opinion. The medical center in question is meant to be for quick care and even if it werent,,some treatment or assuarance was due this patient instead of the blow off they basically received.

people have to keep in mind

there is no such thing as quick care in a hospital emergency room

they are over crowded and swamped with people using them as a primary care physician.

I agree she should have been seen quicker. but for anything thats not life threatening a 8 hour wait is average

Not true.

Women can be unaware of being pregnant until the birth sometimes. So not irresponsibility if you are not aware.

Reasons for healthcare reform with a public option.

uhm... then they should have been responsible enough to wait in the ER in the first place. Sounds to me like they were not patient, and took things into their own hands. By the time they got to the second care facility - they may have been attended too in the first one. Even if they waited and were seen by a doctor, the outcome may have been the same... you assume too much, was she in fact using the contraception you describe?? What is the woman's history, perhaps the baby would have been still born no matter what the care was??? in these types of situations, emotional response may not reconcile with fact - you throw in assumptions and jump to your own conclusion based on your emotional response - and not fact. News media relies on sensationalizm to sell advertising space... you do not know enough to blame the hospital.

$.02

Ok, so adding 12 million illegals to the line awaiting helthcare is going to make ER's less crowded? *sigh*...

$.02

According to the news report, she did see a doctor. So her not waiting around for the test results only proves how impatient and bright "Miss I didn't know I was pregnant" is.

How could she not know if she was pregnant if she was that close to birthing it? Maybe if she would of visited a doctor within the prior months, she might have known she was pregnant. Because obviously she was not getting the prenatal care needed. It was 3 months premature. That's why it died. Not because of some hospital. She needs to take responsibility for her own part in this. I bet we find out she's a crack head or something. I'm sure a frivolous lawsuit will ensue. I only hope she doesn't ever have children since she seems can't even take care of her own body.

Wow xen,,,ok,, I live here in las vegas and the story goes like this. UMC is not a hospital. It is actual small clinics all over the city that specialize in QUICK CARE. The first doctor she saw sent her to the other doctor because she could not pee and he sent her to get a higher standard of care that could help her some other way...it was not her decision to just leave, this physician sent her for better care. She arrived for this care and was made to wait SIX hours..so she then went to the UMC who behaved( according to witness reports) in a completely unattentive and uncaring manner. This is not the level of chare that people or insurance companies get billed thousands of dollars for. Three separate healthcare facilities, and two of them just looked right past her. She should have waited but they should have taken her pain seriously and been more attentive.

Medical Malpractice lawsuit...

That will not be affected one way or the other by the public option or healthcare reform.

No illegals are covered under the healthcare reform so they will still be showing up at the hospitals to be treated.

If we don't stop the employers from hiring them here, this problem will never end.