Hard Up For Help

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A bus driver has sued a Connecticut hospital, saying staff at an affiliated facility failed to promptly and properly treat his painful erection and watched a baseball game on television while he waited.

Daren Scott of Brockton, Mass., is seeking $2 million in his federal lawsuit against Yale-New Haven Hospital. The lawsuit says Scott was diagnosed before the incident with recurrent priapism, a persistent painful erection unrelated to sexual stimulation.

Scott was driving customers from Boston to New York on April 17, 2009, when he suffered a persistent and disabling erection. After dropping off the customers, Scott said he checked into an emergency medical facility affiliated with the hospital but was told he had to move his bus because he had parked it in the wrong place.

Scott suffered more pain as a result of moving the bus, and when he explained he was in great pain was told to wait, according to the lawsuit, which was filed in March.

While waiting, Scott said he noticed that the facility's staff, including physicians on duty, was watching the game on TV. Scott says his pain worsened and he told a nurse.

Another issue we need to take care of in our ever-ailing healthcare system is the utter lack of caring we see.  Bill gouging, terrible collection practices and slow-witted counter people are a given.  Hospitals have become a dreaded place where even the lowest expectations aren't met.  This would be comical except that the pain must have been dreadful.  It is one of thousands of stories from everywhere that illustrate what injured and sick people deal with regularly.