A father has accused a Taoyuan City hospital of putting off care that could have saved his six-month-old son, who died Thursday with a high fever after waiting more than an hour to receive treatment.
According to an EBC News report, the father, surnamed Wu (?), and his wife brought the infant to the emergency room at Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital at around 4 p.m. on April 28.
Although the child was running a fever of 39.2 degrees Celsius, the hospital told the parents to take him to an outdoor waiting area until he could be seen, the report said.
While a doctor did come out to check on the child, the physician remained at a distance of “about three steps” and did not arrange for him to be immediately brought into the hospital, according to Wu.
The infant was finally taken into the emergency room at 4:40 p.m., but was then made to wait even longer as the hospital went through basic admissions procedures, including scheduling a blood test, the report said.
At 5:10 p.m., the boy’s mother alerted doctors that his condition had deteriorated, and he was finally taken into the emergency room to be cared for, the report said, but he was ultimately pronounced dead at 5:44 p.m.
In the report, Wu blamed the hospital for following standard admissions procedures when his son required emergency care, saying “I don’t think the doctors did everything in their power to help (him).”
In response Sunday, a hospital official said that during the triaging process, the child was found to have a fever but was clearly conscious.
That led hospital staff to arrange for him to be seen in the pediatric division, the official said, adding that the child’s COVID-19 test had come back negative.
“Everything was handled according to the proper procedures, but the patient’s condition deteriorated rapidly,” the official said, adding that the hospital “deeply regretted” the child’s death and was willing to provide a full explanation of his treatment to the parents.
Taiwan is in the midst of a COVID-19 surge, which has challenged hospital emergency rooms and led to long wait times, in part caused by COVID-19 guidelines.
Hospitals have also seen an influx of people who want to get tested for COVID-19, despite appeals from the government to arrange PCR tests at hospitals only when they have shown symptoms of the disease or have tested positive using rapid test kits at home.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel