As state and regulatory officials continued to investigate the death of 15-year-old Christopher Sercye at Ravenswood Hospital Medical Center, hospital officials gave a more detailed account Tuesday of why emergency workers failed to treat the boy as he lay bleeding just steps from the hospital door.
Dr. Bruce McNulty, Ravenswood’s medical director of emergency services, said the hospital’s initial reluctance to admit Sercye was based on a decision to wait for an ambulance that would have taken the boy to a well-equipped trauma center where experienced surgeons would be ready to deal with his gunshot wounds.
“The thinking behind a situation like this is as follows: For a patient who is critically injured, the place to be is a trauma center,” McNulty said. “They have all the right facilities and surgeons available at a moment’s notice.”
Sercye’s friends and police officers waited outside the hospital for nearly 10 minutes as hospital emergency workers declined to help them. One of the officers wheeled the boy into the hospital just as an ambulance was arriving that could have taken him to a trauma center.
Sercye’s grandfather, Clifford Hicks, said Tuesday that the inaction of hospital personnel assured the death of his grandson after he was shot, allegedly by a gang member. “The boy pulled the trigger, but the hospital pulled the plug,” said Hicks. “They let him die.”
A spokeswoman from the Illinois Department of Public Health said the agency is investigating Ravenswood for a possible violation of federal “anti-dumping” laws, which require hospitals to give initial care to any patient who shows up requesting aid. The hospital also is under investigation by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals.
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Hicks said the family has discussed a possible civil suit against the hospital with several attorneys.
Ald. Ed Smith (28th), head of the City Council’s Health Committee, said Tuesday that he planned to introduce a measure at Wednesday’s City Council meeting to address the case. Smith said he was working with city attorneys to draft some sort of legislation, possibly shielding Good Samaritans from litigation.
On Monday, Ravenswood officials revoked a hospital policy that discouraged its personnel from aiding someone outside of the building.
But McNulty bristled at comments by James Maurer, the Chicago Police Department’s deputy chief of patrol, who said that hospital workers were casually lounging outside as police officers pleaded with them for help.
“The statement that emergency personnel were smoking outside is just not true,” McNulty said.
“Every staff member was incredibly busy taking care of a full load. That suggestion was very hurtful to the staff here.”
According to McNulty, the workers at Ravenswood had wanted to avoid bringing Sercye into the hospital.
Once he was inside the building, the hospital would have had to use a private ambulance to transfer him to a better-equipped facility because fire department ambulances do not perform site-to-site transfers.
“I’ve waited two hours for a private ambulance to come, and meanwhile you’re twiddling your thumbs,” McNulty said.
Because a private ambulance would likely have taken too long, McNulty said, emergency workers did their best to treat Sercye once he was in the hospital.
They paged a trauma surgeon, who arrived in 40 minutes. Trauma centers have such surgeons on the premises 24 hours a day.