Woodhull Hospital, Flushing and Broadway, Bushwick,2009
We are all aware of the stereotypes attributed to shitty hospitals, especially the "dying in the waiting room." Unfortunately, I exprienced a double whammy yesterday. I had to take someone to Woodhull yesterday, and ultimately paid the price of a 4 hour wait from arrival on to departure. Aside from sitting in the damned room for 4 hours, I was surrounded by patients having arguments with the staff over the long wait, people making threats of vomiting unless they got service, and the occasional drunks that got kicked of the waiting room for loitering. I had heard Woodhull ER waiting room was like the waiting room in a bus station, but never like this.
But then came the a man and his wife. The man was panting, and just looked fucked up. As they waited for a nurse to check them in, the man all of a sudden tilts his head backwards and stops breathing. The wife yells, and a nurse comes running in. After a few slaps on the face, she ran away, and then within 20 second a whole group of doctors with a stretcher came. Then I heard one of the doctors asked, "Does he have a pulse?" and then the dreadful reply of "no." A few chest presses, and it was apparent the guys was dead. They pushed the stretcher back behind the doors, and left his poor wife, by herself sobbing in the waiting room, while the rest of us kept on waiting for our names to be called. All within 8 feet of me.
My friend who was getting treatment, later told me, that the doctor has told her, the man had died of an overdose.
By 9:30pm we left. I had lost my Sunday afternoon, but that was peanuts in the scheme of things.
