Rush considers ambulance diversion legislation
U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., said Monday he is considering sponsoring federal legislation to address the controversial practice of ambulance diversion.
His statement comes as the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel continues to investigate the decades-old practice, in which hospitals turn away ambulances when officials declare their emergency rooms are too crowded.
“I am deeply disturbed by these reports and it is utterly shameful that people, particularly African Americans and other minorities, are dying due to ambulance diversions in Chicago and beyond,” Rush said in a statement. “I am actively considering legislation to address ambulance diversions and bypasses at the federal level.”
Researchers have found ambulance diversion doesn’t solve overcrowding longterm, and the practice puts patients at risk. The impact of diversion falls harder on minority patients and those who are older, poorer and sicker, studies have shown.
Rush’s staff is researching the practice of diversion and studies that have been done on the matter. That research reaches back decades and has repeatedly called for the elimination of diversion, but the practice continues across the nation, especially in large cities.
In 2006, the Institute of Medicine, which advises Congress on health matters, said diversion can lead to “catastrophic delays in treatment for seriously ill or injured patients,” in a study on the crisis in emergency care in the U.S.
The Government Accountability Office
“I am deeply disturbed by these reports and it is utterly shameful that people, particularly African Americans and other minorities, are dying due to ambulance diversions in Chicago and beyond. I am actively considering legislation to address ambulance diversions and bypasses at the federal level.” U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush
has studied ambulance diversion at least twice, in 2003 and 2009, as part of a larger examination of overcrowding in hospitals. And Congress also has examined the issue several times, including after the 9/11 attacks, saying ambulance diversion and hospital overcrowding threatened readiness for terrorist attacks and disasters.
The state of Massachusetts banned diversions 10 years ago. More recently, hospitals in Milwaukee, Seattle and other cities have voluntary agreed to stop diverting ambulances.
There is no single federal agency tracking when hospitals turn away ambulances and hospitals often resist the release of such information.
The Journal Sentinel investigation uncovered at least 21 deaths involving ambulance diversion — though the true number is likely far higher.
That number included Tiffany Tate, a 37-year-old mother of two who in 2014 suffered a stroke close to Froedtert Hospital, a top stroke center, but was taken to a less-qualified hospital and later died. Milwaukee County hospitals later agreed to stop diversion.
In Illinois, a critically ill infant, Lenise Nelson, was turned away from the University of Chicago’s children’s hospital in 1990 and died. The state created an oversight system to monitor hospitals’ hours on diversion. The Journal Sentinel found that oversight is deeply flawed. Two state lawmakers are demanding answers on the state system.
Contact John Diedrich at (414) 2242408 or jdiedrich@journalsentinel.com . Follow him on Twitter at @john_diedrich, Instagram at @john_diedrich, LinkedIn or Facebook.