Man Dies of Heart Failure Outside Hospital Emergency Room

SYLMAR, Oct. 31, 2007 (KABC-TV) (KABC) -- A 33-year-old man suffering from chest pains goes untreated and dies at the place it should have been prevented: a hospital emergency room. Wednesday, that hospital is under scrutiny.

The allegations involve Olive View UCLA Medical Center in Sylmar. The family is searching for answers following their loved one's death.

A nurse at Olive View has already been fired and an investigation is underway as to how a 33-year-old man who came to the hospital for emergency care ended up dying after waiting hours to see a doctor.

Christopher Jones was having chest pains; he was shaking; his left arm was going numb -- all classic symptoms of a heart attack.

"I'm devastated," said Kathy Waters, Christopher's mother. Waters says her son should still be alive. "He was my baby and my best friend and my son," said Waters.

Christopher Jones and his friend went to Olive View hospital on Sunday. They were returning from a weekend trip to Las Vegas. Christopher told his friend he needed to go to an emergency room.

The nurse who attended to Chris apparently failed to run an EKG, one of the most basic tests to check for a heart attack. His family says Christopher waited three hours before walking out of the county hospital and collapsing in the parking lot. He was dead at 33.

"I'm angry with a hospital that did not take care of him and let him sit there for three hours and suffer," said Waters.

In a statement released Wednesday, an official with the County Department of Health Services said:

"The treatment of this patient was not consistent with Olive View's high standards ... The triage nurse in the hospital emergency department who was responsible for evaluating this patient was terminated today for failing to follow established hospital policies," wrote Bruce A. Chernoff, MD, L.A. County Dept. of Health Services.

Christopher's death comes a few months after the county closed the troubled Martin Luther King Jr. Harbor Hospital in Willowbrook for failing to meet federal standards.

Christopher's mother says they don't necessarily want Olive View to close, but they don't want this to happen to anybody else.

"My brother was the best person, the best brother that you could ever ask for," said Sheryl Jones, Christopher's sister.

"My son was priceless and I've heard other stories of deaths at this hospital and we are going to end this. It's not going to continue," said Waters.

The L.A. Times reports that Olive View has already been cited five times this year by the state's public health department. As for the cause of death, the county coroner says Christopher showed signs of heart disease, but it needs to run more tests before it determines an official cause of death.

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