Man, 80, Left To Wait In Hospital Lobby Alone After Surgery

beth israel deaconess medical center hospital boston

BOSTON (WBZ-AM) -- An 80-year-old patient was made to wait alone in the lobby of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center while waiting for a ride home.

Allen Ramsland was discharged after a 24-hour stay at the hospital, and told WBZ-TV he was told by a nurse to get dressed and go down the hall.

The problem was, he had no clothes--because he'd been transferred from another hospital.

"I don't have any clothes! 'Well, you gotta go down there and wait,'" was how Allen described the conversation. 

He wrapped himself in a couple of johnnies and, his family said, he was left in the lobby alone and confused.

"Someone should have been with him," his daughter, Charlotte, told WBZ-TV. "I think if you're 80 or 25, you don't want to sit in a lobby in a johnnie waiting for a ride. I just think it was poor judgement."

Another daughter, Libby, who is a nurse herself, agreed.

"With the medications he was on, if he had fallen, it could have been deadly," she said.

Though privacy laws prohibit the hospital from speaking about individual patients, Beth Israel said that, when concerns are raised, they do a full review and work to identify opportunities to enhance the patient experience.

WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Ben Parker reports


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