"A man was found dead on a couch in a hospital lounge, and a nurse told police that no one had checked on him for at least 17 hours because he appeared to be asleep.My sympathies to his family, but thank goodness that didn't happen in one of our hospitals. The PR nightmare would be off the scale.
...
Nurse Lynette Chihil discovered Thursday morning that Johnson was dead. She told police that Johnson, who was fully dressed and curled with his face buried in a cushion, was discolored and cold, and that she had seen him on the same couch 17 hours earlier.
[His wife] Robin Johnson said she had not seen her husband since he left home Monday morning after an argument. Police believe he camped out at the hospital rather than return home. "
It's amazing that, not just in a hospital but everywhere, we've inured ourselves to the lives of others. "Don't get involved", "just keep walking", "it's not my problem". We sometimes are so afraid of what another person might say to us, we don't strike up a conversation or smile and wave at a total stranger.
How many people passed by in that 17 hour period? I'd hate to know I was totally ignored for that long. What happened to the connections people used to have to one another?
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