No Vascular Surgeon In Dothan This Weekend - Medical Care Needs ATTENTION or People Fired

Rickey Stokes

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Posted by: RStokes
Date: Aug 14 2017 12:01 PM

DOTHAN - HOUSTON COUNTY:      This Article will loose one or two advertisers for Rickey Stokes News.com. However it is one that I see the importance of bringing to the attention that needs addressing.

This past Friday a man was stabbed in the throat with a pair of scissors. There was no vascular surgeon in Southeast Alabama Medical Center or Flowers Hospital. The patient could not be flown to another hospital and had to be ground transported by ambulance to Pensacola Florida.

The paramedic team had to hold pressure in order to control the bleeding because of the lack of a vascular surgeon to stabilize in Dothan. And the weather prevented air transport.

THIS INFORMATION DID NOT COME FROM THE HOSPITAL OR AMBULANCE, BUT DID COME FROM SOMEONE WHO KNOWS IN FLORIDA.

There has been a battle in recent months between the two hospitals, Southeast Alabama Medical Center and Flowers Hospital. It seems that doctors who practice both hospitals have been told, by the Board of Directors and Administration of Southeast Alabama Medical Center, they are not allowed to practice at both hospitals.

For decades both hospitals have been working together. It has always been patient care first. SAMC went through optimization and I saw the plan and had no problems with it. The reason being every organization needs to go through cutting expenses where they can. And I know as big as the hospitals are they have a lot of things that can be cut.

However, when the cuts are affecting patient care, someone has to say something. And with Dothan - Houston County being the medical hub of the Wiregrass, there are no excuses for no vascular surgeons being available. And since we are dealing with lives, doctors seeing patients at both hospitals should be allowed.

We are talking about people's lives. And lives matter, no matter who they are.

The Board of Directors, the Dothan City Commission and the Houston County Commission...the time has come for you to step in. I know Houston County Commission Chairman Mark Culver has already placed SAMC on notice.

But patient care has now been affected. And this can not be tolerated. Also the one hospital verses another, can not be tolerated. 

I was called by a SAMC official Sunday. They said two vascular surgeons are forthcoming. No one with Flowers Hospital has called me back.

Which they do not have to. But people's live's are in your hands and the decisions you make.

SHAPE UP or the people of Dothan will run you out of town. We will not tolerate your actions on patient care.

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