Tot found alone with dead mom in St. Paul home

Tot found alone with dead mom in St. Paul home

www.twincities.com

Amanda Hammett tried to reach her friend Shanta Hamiel for three days and got no response. On the third day, Hamiel's 3-year-old daughter came to the door when she knocked.

"My mommy's sick, my mommy's sick," said the little girl. She had blood on her pajamas.

(visit the link for the full news article)

What really makes me mad about this story is the woman had went to the hospital to find out why she was vomiting blood and was told that she simply had indegestion. How many of these incidents have to happen before doctors stop treating us like second class citizens and start taking issues more seriously?

Now this poor little baby has went through a traumatic experience and has to grow up without a mother. Very very sad.

www.twincities.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Snowflake,

It's a very sad story, although I can't comment further as the link requires an email address sign in. Is there another link you could post?

MonKey.

Here is a new link so everyone can read it.

My heart hurts when I read stories like this.

toplistings.twincities.com...

reply to post by snowflake_obsidian


Unless there is more info in the original article, they don't actually know the cause of death yet, so blaming the doctors would be a bit presumptuous. Sometimes people get misdiagnosed, it happens, it can be anything from tests getting mixed up to the doctor having a bad day and making a hasty diagnostic, something that he or she may be beating themselves up about right now. Or maybe it was some jack of a doc, but so far it's not known.

reply to post by RuneSpider


I've had indigestion many times and I have friends that have chronic indigestion and never have I ever heard of vomiting blood being a normal symptom of indigestion.

I found some more info about the particular symptom of vomiting blood
vomiting blood

It sounds pretty serious.

Also I know from experience and from stories I have heard from many of my fellow Minnesotans, many of the major Twin Cities hospitals and Clinics act discriminatory of patients for many reasons including race and economical status.


And I am sorry you couldn't read the link monkey, I didn't need to registar my email to read it.

How sad

We at least have to be thankfull that the child was found safe, A 3 year old could have easly been hurt just toddleing around the house,

What a brave little girl.

just goes to show if you think you are sick you really have to push and push to be listened to, We know our own bodies and can tell sometimes when we feel there is something really wrong,

I worked with a woman who died of a ruptured appendix after going to the hospital and being told she had indigestion.

It's sad that things like this happen. In some cases, it's criminal.

However, making this into a class (racial) issue does not address the problem.

I nearly died from vomiting blood myself, but sometimes vomiting blood is only an indication that you've ruptured some vessels in your stomach from vomiting too much, not that your stomach is full of blood.

For now, the cause of death is not known.

The procedures followed by the hospital are unknown.

In fact, based on the article, no one knows anything except that the woman is dead.

Playing the tragedy for political reasons, even on a bulletin board is unnecessary.



[edit on 2008/1/25 by GradyPhilpott]

Hey Snowflake. (I came back) Cheers for the link RT.

That is freaking awful, surely just the fact that the poor lady was 7 months pregnant and was having stomach pains would have been enough for her to get a decent consultation.

That poor little girl.

The way the US runs it's health care really does leave a lot to be desired.

MonKey

Grady, I do not know the specifics of what happened to the woman at the hospital, that is true. However the extremily wrong diagnosis is enough to make me cringe.

Also I never said I knew for sure if this was another case of discrimination, but with the way health care is around here, it wouldn't suprise me and I am willing to bet money that it was the case.

My brother was vomiting blood and diagnosed with indigestion. He died of leukemia.

Vomiting blood is never an indicator of indigestion. Alcoholism can cause esophageal varices that cause you to erupt like Mt. Saint Helens. Internal bleeding, gastric ulcers, leukemia with it's enlarged spleen, etc. none of which can be confused with indigestion. My brother was white but poor.

Medical workers are some of the most egalitarian people on the planet. All blood is red. Anatomy and physiology doesn't change if your skin is a particular color or your political beliefs are unorthodox or if your sexual lifestyle is non-traditional. Doctors and nurses like to get paid for their work, same as every other worker. When poor people come in to the ER, they usually don't end up paying their bill which makes the rest of us have to work more hours to pay our increased tax bill. I'm not saying it's right or moral, just that it's human nature. Also, the most common reason people come into the ER vomiting blood is alcoholism. Add to the probability that "this drunk isn't going to pay for their medical care after ruining their own health" attitude MAY account for what happened to this woman when she sought medical attention earlier.

I'm thankful that the child is well as this tragic story could have easily had a bad outcome for the little one as well.

In my own personal experience with local medical care and the experience of many people I have talked to, the medical profession in Minnesota (not every one of course, but many) seem to act differently to those of us who are on Minnesota's medical assistance program. Their bills are obviously getting paid by the state, however I feel that people on medical assistance in the state of Minnesota get treated differently because of economical status.

I don't know if Shanta was on medical assistance, but it would be interesting to know because the speedy diagnosis of indigestion and acting as if it's not serious is typical of how myself and others I have spoken to have been treated while recieving medical assistance.