UMC under scrutiny
If Roshunda Abney is telling the truth about being ignored for hours at University Medical Center's emergency room before she gave birth prematurely last week, Clark County Commissioner Lawrence Weekly wants to know why it happened.
In a Las Vegas Review-Journal story Sunday, Abney said she screamed in pain for six hours at UMC while she waited to be treated. She also said she unsuccessfully sought treatment at Valley Hospital Medical Center before finally giving up and going home. She gave birth to a baby girl who died less than an hour later.
The 25-year-old woman had not known she was six months pregnant.
"I feel very bad for the family," Weekly said.
If Abney's description of events are accurate, "it is totally unacceptable," Weekly said. "If this happened, we have to know how and why it happened."
Weekly, who serves as chairman of the Board of Trustees of county-owned UMC, confirmed Monday that Abney's case is being investigated internally.
A woman who was sitting near Abney in a crowded UMC waiting room, Victoria Taylor, corroborated Abney's allegations about what happened at UMC.
"This woman who I didn't know kept moaning, 'Oh, Jesus, please help me,'" Taylor said.
Abney and her fiance, Raffinee Dewberry, also went to nearby Valley Hospital. Dewberry said he told the Valley representative that they had waited for six hours at UMC without being seen.
According to Dewberry, the employee asked: If they had waited that long at UMC, what would make them think they would be seen any sooner at Valley?
Gretchen Papez, a Valley spokeswoman, said hospital authorities questioned emergency room employees about what happened there around midnight Nov. 30.
The hospital denies the allegations made by Abney and Dewberry.
Weekly said poor people without insurance across the United States often complain about the treatment they receive. "That's part of what the ongoing talk about health care reform is about."
Abney said she bought some over-the-counter pain medication after leaving Valley.
About 20 minutes after arriving home, she said she felt a rush of water from her insides and began giving birth. Paramedics from MedicWest arrived and made the breech birth delivery. The baby, who weighed 1 pound, 6 ounces, was pronounced dead at UMC.
A memorial service for Angel Abney has been scheduled for 11 a.m. today at New Birth Baptist Assembly, 4085 N. Rancho Drive, family members said.
Contact reporter Paul Harasim at pharasim@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2908.
