I'm speechless. Even RN's think they're doctors now.
Lake City ER sends starving disabled boy home with just a note
Lake City Medical Center cited for violations.
By PAUL WALSH and WARREN WOLFE, Star Tribune
Last update: June 17, 2010 - 8:16 PM
A severely disabled boy was wrongly sent home from a hospital emergency room in Lake City, Minn., without an assessment or treatment -- but with a note saying he was well enough to return to school -- after Wabasha County officials ordered the boy's parents to seek treatment for his unexplained injuries and weakness.
The next day, officials say, local authorities sent an ambulance to the boy's home and took him to a different hospital, where he was admitted for several days with what state investigators described as "severe malnutrition, starvation, bedsores and uncontrolled seizures."
In a report made public Thursday, the Minnesota Department of Health cited Mayo Health System's Lake City Medical Center for violating two federal rules on emergency room care. They concluded that a nurse at the hospital granted the father's request that the boy not be examined but be sent home with a note.
Lake City Police Chief Lyle Schumann said Thursday his office is investigating whether the family should be charged with a crime.
Under federal rules, the hospital should have recorded the boy's March 4 visit to the emergency room and conducted a medical assessment to determine whether he required emergency treatment -- regardless of what the father wanted -- said Stella French, who supervises the Health Department investigators.
The Health Department did not offer any identifying information about the boy, his family or any other individuals. County, hospital and police officials also declined to release the boy's name, age or school.
How the story unfolded
According to the Health Department report:
School nurses examined the boy on March 1 and 2 after he was absent for a week. They saw several open lesions on his back and noted he could not walk or feed himself and lay on a school cot in the fetal position. They contacted the parents both days and urged that he see a doctor. After the boy missed school on March 3, the school notified county social service officials of the boy's "urgent need for medical care."
Social service and law enforcement officials told the family to take the boy to an emergency room as soon as possible.
The father took the boy to Lake City Medical Center that evening. He told the nurse that he didn't want his son examined by a doctor but wanted a note saying his son could return to school.
On a prescription pad, the nurse wrote that the boy was "vitally stable and there is no emergent/urgent need that needs our attention."
When Wabasha County social service officials discovered the next day that the boy had not been treated, they went to the house, were given the nurse's note by the father and immediately called an ambulance.
An administrative nurse at Lake City told the Health Department she reviewed the case with the emergency room nurse and counseled him about his performance.
Protocols not followed
In a statement Thursday afternoon, the hospital said "the child's condition did not appear to be serious when he was first seen in our emergency department."
However, it acknowledged "our policies and protocols, designed to protect patients, were not fully followed."
The hospital also noted that "we identified and implemented several improvements to our processes as a result of this situation to ensure that an incident like this does not happen again."
The nurse cited in the Health Department report is still employed at the hospital in acute care, said hospital spokeswoman Asia Christensen. She declined to say whether the nurse was disciplined in any way. No appeal of the state's findings is planned, Christensen said.
) the PA who was dabbing the N2 with a q-tip mentioned that warts were caused by a pesky fungi that prospers on human skin.
