MONONGAHELA, Pa. (KDKA) – A family in the Mon Valley is sounding the alarm after they said their local hospital failed them.
Amanda Rimsek said her dad was experiencing stroke symptoms but claims instead of getting help, they waited for hours without answers.
“When you’re in fight or flight and you just want to get somebody help, you go to the closest facility you can, and you expect that at minimum, somebody is going to help you get to where you need to be, and that system entirely failed my family,” Rimsek said.
Her dad, 55-year-old David Rimsek was rushed to Penn Highlands Mon Valley Hospital early Monday morning.
“He was having a right-sided sharp headache, pain that would not go away, nausea, vomiting, and left-sided tingling,” Amanda Rimsek said.
She said she got there about an hour later at 2:30 a.m. where she told KDKA-TV her dad had already gotten a CT scan.
“I was told he had a CT. So we were waiting for CT results,” Rimsek said. “And one hour, two hours, three hours go by.”
Rimsek has been a nurse for nine and a half years and knew if it was a stroke, her father’s window for help was closing.
She said she was trying to get answers from those at Penn Highlands Mon Valley Hospital.
“She responded by letting me know that they did not have neuro in-house, that they outsource their reads to, whatever Penn Highlands outsources their reads to, and there was a problem transmitting images, so they were not able to get the images back,” Rimsek said.
Now at 5 a.m., the Rimsek family told KDKA-TV they knew they had to make a move in order to get their loved one the help he needed.
“Their only option was for me to sign my dad out, AMA, which is against medical advice. which feels scary, especially as a nurse,” Rimsek said. “They didn’t have any idea what was actually happening, since they didn’t have the results. I asked for a transfer. I wasn’t even offered one. Nobody even talked about potentially getting me one at all, because, in my mind, I work with doctors, and if you’re advocating and you say, ‘This patient needs a transfer, he needs this result read critically, we don’t have the time or the resources,’ you should be working to get them out.”
Rimsek said she transported her dad in her own car nearly one hour away to UPMC Mercy.
She said once he was there, he had a stroke.
“The fact that I left when I did, and he did not experience his stroke at Mon Valley. He did not experience his stroke in the passenger side of my car on the way here in the middle of winter, but it did not happen until we were here (UPMC Mercy), and that’s God and that’s luck,” Rimsek said.
Rimsek said within minutes, UPMC Mercy got her dad the help he needed.
“We were in this UPMC Mercy’s ED. Had my dad from the ER bay to a machine and back to me within 15 to 20 minutes. They had a read, they knew where the clot was, and he was in surgery,” Rimsek said.
Now, Rimsek blames Penn Highlands Mon Valley Hospital for not doing more and claims they had no neuro doctor on staff or the capability to read test results.
“He was showing telltale stroke symptoms, so in the end, you weren’t getting your results. You were not getting anything in time. So, you should have made sure that I got somewhere safely,” Rimsek said.
Rimsek said her dad is the Director of Imaging at Magee Women’s Hospital and echoes the fact that he should have gotten results faster.
“The man who knows imaging the best, couldn’t get imaging,” Rimsek said.
KDKA-TV reached out to Penn Highlands Mon Valley Hospital for comment.
A spokesperson responded saying:
“People who come to Penn Highlands Mon Valley can expect to receive the high quality care we deliver. The hospital regularly implements state-of-the-art technology to diagnose and treat many different illnesses and injuries. In reference to stroke care, Penn Highlands Mon Valley continually earns the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With the Guidelines – Stroke Gold Plus Award that recognizes the hospital’s commitment to providing the most appropriate stroke treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence,” Corinne Laboon said, the System Communications Manager at Penn Highlands Healthcare.
KDKA-TV reached out again, specifically asking how long it typically takes to get results for a CT scan and if there is a neuro doctor at the hospital 24/7.
Laboon said, “We take all patient concerns very seriously. With respect to patient privacy, we will not comment on care given to specific patients.”
Rimsek said her dad is now recovering at UPMC Mercy Hospital where she hopes he’ll make a full recovery.
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