On October 17, I took my daughter to the emergency room due to a fever that would not break. Upon arriving at Oakwood SouthshoreEmergency in Trenton MI, I was told my daughters fever had spiked to 103.
After being sent to the waiting room, I was told there are no beds and that we had to wait. This is usual emergency room procedure. We went to the waiting room at 12:52 and we sat there alone until about 1:30 when other individuals began to arrive. All caucasian.
I noticed that they had all gotten called before my daughter. Now true, I did not know their conditions but the kids who got called were playing around and begging for sweets out of the vending machine while my African American daughter was laying there lethargic. After the second child was called, I asked the nurse why my daughter had not been called. She informed me that there were no beds and quickly looked away from me.
I sat back down and became angry as any parent would. I asked to speak to the hospital administrator and was told I could speak to a supervisor. I spoke to the supervisor over the phone who informed me they called patients back due to the severity of their conditions. Again, the child who was called before my daughter had a cut on her forehead and was playing and asking for cookies. This is not more severe than a fever of 103. Hospital staff also had the nerve to say, they don't consider a fever of 103 severe. What?
After the 3rd child was called, I became more angry and asked that nurse why was my daughter NOT being called. He explained that they do not call off of severity, but who can be treated the fastest and sent home.in all of my years in dealing with emergency rooms, I have NEVER been told they call who can be treated the fastest.
After 2 hours of waiting, I went to Oakwood Dearborn and my daughter was called back in less than 40 minutes. I had 2 nurses and one doctor apologize to us for the treatment we received at Southshore Oakwood in Trenton. They also stated that individuals are called back in regards to the severity of their symptoms, not who can be treated the fasted. It was blantant racism and I will also be contacting an attorney. My daughter laid there lethargic with a very high fever while they were playing the little racism game, giving me excuses that were invalid.
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