Monroe Dispatch - No Struggle, No Progress

Another local woman has come forward to tell her story of a harrowing experience she had at LSU/ E.A. Conway Hospital not long ago. The woman who wishes to remain anonymous, tells a story that is very similar to one that the Dispatch ran several weeks ago about a sickle cell patient being rudely treated at the facility. The individual upon reading the article recounted vividly in her memory almost the same details that she encountered as a sickle cell disease patient at the same facility at the hands of the same emergency doctor. "Barbara" said that back in July she was in tremendous pain and had to go to E.A. Conway where she could be treated as a sickle cell disease patient. Barbara said that when she asked for pain medication, she was refused. When she asked why she didn't receive any pain medication, she was allegedly told by the emergency room doctor that according to her medical file, she is given enough medication to last her for a 30-day period. Barbara thought that she was going to get a pain shot to stabilize her until she could go back to regular regiment of taking medication. She waited in pain. But this wasn't her first time. She said that she and others that she knows have sat in pain for long periods of time before they are seen. She said that is why she is speaking out against what she says is happening at E.A. Conway to people who are suffering from the sickle cell disease. Barbara said that if a patient is brought to the hospital by ambulance, that after being checked in at the desk, patients sometimes are placed in hallways in a chair. They don't know when they will see a doctor. It becomes "a wait game", said Barbara. She said that it is not the waiting "for a few minutes" that bothers them, but when those minutes can sometimes last an hour or two and all that they can do is bear the pain the best way they can, as no one is coming to see you. But there is one doctor in the emergency room area that patients like Barbara has said, who make their visits, one that is unpleasant because of her alleged attitude. And that attitude is sometimes allegedly shown through some nurses. When this particular doctor sees a patient, that doctor allegedly says things such as, some patients only "come to the hospital "just to get a shot", as if saying, "what's a little pain, deal with it". Barbara says that she does everything that she is told between regular doctor visits, as her bloodwork is good. She says that when she and others like her are seen by some nurses, their badges are turned around so a patient can't read their names, which Barbara said is "disturbing" to her as a patient if she can't identify a nurse who treats her. Barbara said that she doesn't know or understand what the problems may be in the emergency room area, but it seems to her that patients are not being respected and coupled with an attitude by one doctor, the feeling that they experience is worse than the physical pain that brought them to the emergency room in the first place. This is Barbara's side of the story. She just wants others to know of her experiences and to share her story.

The Monroe Dispatch