Hospitals nationwide are still turning away ambulances due to emergency room overcrowding, despite research suggesting the practice can harm patients, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Three things to know:
1. Of the 25 largest cities in the U.S., 16 still allow ambulance diversion or other practices, the Journal Sentinel found. The hospital investigated the practice last year after a Milwaukee woman suffered a stroke and was turned away from Froedtert Hospital — one of the state's top hospitals for stroke care. The woman later died.
2. The Journal Sentinel noted diversion varies by city. In some areas, hospitals cannot divert stroke and heart attack patients. In other cities, like Miami, paramedics often ignore diversions, which are considered a request or courtesy under federal law.
"If my patient's care dictates that or if they want to go there, I will take them there. I don't care if they are on diversion," a paramedic who wished to remain anonymous told the Journal Sentinel at an emergency medicine conference in Dallas.
3. To reduce diversions, hospitals must address the root causes of overcrowding, such as scheduling too many elective surgeries at the start of the week, emergency medicine experts told the Journal Sentinel.
"I don't want to vilify diversion," Riccardo Colella, DO, medical director of EMS for Wisconsin and Milwaukee County, said during the conference. "There are certainly legitimate times that that has to happen. … But that should be the exception, not the routine way of doing business."
To view the Journal Sentinel's full report, click here.
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