Tashonna Ward Milwaukee, Wisconsin woman dies after waiting hours in ER, goes to urgent care only to fatally collapse there. America’s health care system in peril.
A Milwaukee woman has died after waiting several hours at a Wisconsin emergency room —only to be forced to leave after not receiving any attention- and then die after making her way to urgent care, according to reports.
Tashonna Ward, 25, went to the emergency room at Froedtert Hospital on January 2nd, complaining of chest pains and shortness of breath, WITI reported.
She underwent several tests which included a chest X-ray showing an abnormal enlargement of the heart.
But after waiting for around two and a half hours, she decided to leave and seek help at an urgent care center, according to the medical examiner’s office.
Ironically, Tashonna had posted on Facebook that she had already been waiting in the emergency room for several hours – only to be told it could be several more.
At 7.35pm, Ward posted she’d been told she might have to wait two to six hours to see a doctor.
‘She didn’t even have a band on her wrist [when I picked her up] so she was never even processed in,’ her sister, Brianna Ward, told WJDT.
‘All they did was take her to the back, do chest X-rays, send her back in the lobby. She was never even admitted.’
Her sister brought her to an urgent care clinic — only for Tashonna to collapse in the parking lot and rushed back to the hospital.
Tashonna was pronounced dead minutes after arriving at the hospital in an ambulance. Her cause of death was ruled to be hypertensive cardiovascular disease.
US healthcare system at peril:
‘I need them to explain this to me, why they didn’t treat my daughter when she was there,’ her mother, Yolanda Ward is reported saying.
Adding, ‘She had everybody laughing and smiling, everybody loved her.’
The hospital declined to comment on Tashonna’s death, citing patient privacy rules the Milwaukee Sentinel reported.
‘The family is in our thoughts and has our deepest sympathy,’ a hospital spokesperson told WJDT.
Tashonna worked at a daycare center, loved the kids she cared for and was equally loved back her family said. A GoFundMe fundraiser has been started in her memory. As of Sunday night, EST, a total of $4,143 of an $8,000 goal.
Tashonna Ward’s death has put a face to the numbing problem of America’s inefficient healthcare system and individuals so often not necessarily getting the care they need or able to afford it. While others wondered if race played a role, and if the hospital’s lack of funding was also influenced by the general vicinities under employed ‘black’ community.
