I have been trying to avoid commenting on the death of Joaquin Rivera at Aria Health Frankford. There are a few issues going on here but none of them changes the fact that this guy died in the hospital waiting room. I like this hospital as much as you can like any hospital and go there several times a year for tests and the occasional ER visit. The people there are generally cordial, helpful and professional. So what happened?
Was this an anomaly or does the hospital routinely ignore people going into cardiac arrest. The authorities will have to make that call.
Almost as important to me is what were those low life characters doing in the waiting room that night and where was the guard who always looks me over when I walk through there on the way to the Frankford Civic meeting once a month. Why were they permitted to have free reign of the premises as if they owned the place, thereby giving Mr. Rivera the final indignity of, after losing his life, losing his property.
The thing that bothers me the most is the feeling that maybe, if those bums had not been in that waiting room doing their thing, the staff might have taken Mr. Rivera more seriously and he would be out of intensive care by now. Maybe that was part of the problem. So maybe the hospital ought to stop making “no comments” and clean up that operation. The hospital is not a circus for the homeless to perform in. Get them out so the sick people can get the attention they deserve.
