1 Fired, 2 Suspended After Patient Is Found Wandering On Parkway
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- One security guard has been fired and another guard and a nurse suspended.
Now, other workers at UPMC East in Monroeville could be punished after police found a patient with mental illness wandering along the Parkway.
She spent three hours walking on the Parkway. The woman, who suffers from depression and anxiety, says she had to.
"He was all business," the woman said. "He said, 'I'm sorry ma'am, I have no other choice, you have to leave the property or we will escort you off.'"
She was at UPMC a few weeks ago, brought in by an ambulance with chest pains. She was treated and released about 2 a.m., and told she could not stay and wait for a bus.
"My main concern was I had no way home," she said.
No money for a cab, no bus for three hours and told she couldn't wait on UPMC property, she says security guards gave her written directions to walk home, directions that led her to the Parkway East.
"We released you, you're not a patient of ours any longer; you need to be on your way," she said.
Sources confirm that one security guard has been fired. Another guard and a nurse have been suspended. Also, other staff members could be disciplined.
Hospital officials want to know why the woman wasn't given a voucher to take a cab home. Hospital policy is that patients with no transportation or money are given vouchers. Or, if she wanted to wait for a bus or a ride, she should have been allowed to wait in a hospital waiting room.
Sources say there will likely be additional staff training.
For this woman, change can't come soon enough. State police found her walking on the Parkway East at 4:15 a.m.
"All I know is, when the state troopers found me walking along the roadway, I had been walking for two, two and a half hours," she said.
KDKA's Marty Griffin: "On the Parkway?"
"Yes, on the Parkway," she said.
There are conflicting stories being investigated.
KDKA's Marty Griffin's sources say security personnel claim the woman was never asked to leave the property and that she asked to walk home.
They do admit they did not offer her a cab voucher because they thought the voucher program was eliminated.
RELATED LINKS:
Woman Found Wandering Along Parkway After UPMC Visit (7/16/13)
More Reports by Marty Griffin
