The Woman Who Died in th Waiting Room
"The Woman Who Died in the Waiting Room" from Newsweek on July 12, 2008 by Jeneen Interlandi is the story of Ms. Esmin Green. She was found dead in the waiting room of Brooklyn Psychiatric Hospital. Tha article says that incidents like this could have been avoided if there were enough facilities and help provided. Mentally ill patients like Ms. Green usually suffers from waiting the longest for treatment as other patient population do.
"With just 50,000 inpatient psychiatric beds for tens and millions of people across the country, the mentally ill typically wait twice as long for treatment as other patient population do" I used to volunteer at some public hospitals in Brooklyn and Queens before. I saw all these psychiatric patients waiting on line since early morning and not be given services until mid day and some patients in the emergency room waited longer. One night im on my way out of the hospital to go home around 10 p.m, as i was walking along the hallway of the emergency room, coming across to me are two paramedics pushing the stretcher with an old man. When I came back the following day at 8 in the morning, I was surprised when i saw the old man still waiting in the emergrncy room and havent seen by any doctor yet. I felt sorry for him to be in that situation.
In contrast, I had the chance to work at a private nursing home facility in Brooklyn. Even with the appropriate services given to all the patients, some still have to wait awhile because of their existing condition. Some requires special attention to their medical needs. As i was reading the article and based on my experiences, i realized how unfortunate the psychiatric patients are because of their status. They have no other option because they have no other means. I agree with Ken Duckworth, medical director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. "There is just no place for them to go".
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