Seattle VA hospital staff refused to walk 10 feet to help disabled vet into ER, demanded he call 911 instead
Army Veteran Donald Siefkin wasn’t asking for much when he called the emergency room at the Seattle VA Hospital on February 27. The 64-year-old was parked just a few feet from the ER entrance and was in severe pain from a broken foot he had suffered earlier that day. The pain was getting worse, and his foot swelled to the “size of a football” on a 3.5-hour drive to the Seattle-Tacoma airport from his home in Kennewick, Washington…
…By the time Siefkin reached the hospital parking lot at around 3:30 am, the pain had become excruciating, so he called the emergency room front desk to request assistance getting inside. He could no longer walk because of the swelling and the pain, and he needed someone to bring a wheelchair and push him inside the building.
This sounds like a manageable request, right?
The hospital employee who answered the phone refused Siefkin’s request. After a brief argument, the employee told him, “No, we’re not going to come get you. You’re going to have to call 911 and you’ll have to pay for that.” The employee then hung up on him.’
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