An emergency room doctor in California has been suspended after she was reportedly caught on camera berating a man who was suffering from an anxiety attack and claiming he couldn’t breathe.
ABC News reported that Samuel Bardwell, 20, was rushed to El Camino Hospital in Los Gatos after he experienced a severe anxiety attack and passed out following West Valley College’s first summer basketball workout. Bardwell’s father, Daniel, reportedly recorded their unsettling June 10 encounter with Dr. Beth Keegstra, 57, and posted the footage to Facebook.
The video begins with the concerned father telling Dr. Keegstra that Samuel keeps losing consciousness and vomiting. After he’s met with incredulity, the father explains that he’s worried that he’ll suffer another attack if he’s discharged.
Daniel goes on to mention that the 20-year-old was unable to take Klonipin, a medication intended to treat seizures and panic attacks, because his prescription had run out days earlier.
“I’m sorry sir you are the least sick of all the people who are here, who are dying,” the doctor barks at the man’s son.
She then accuses Samuel of being able to put his head up before attempting to force him to sit up, despite his verbal objections.
“Sit up!” she yells twice as she’s spotted pulling the patient by the arm.
As Samuel explains that he can only move his arms to a certain extent, Dr. Keegstra scoffs before saying, “You want us to wheel you to your house in the gurney?”
After a bit of back-and-forth, Dr. Keegstra can be heard asking Samuel whether he was faking his anxiety attack to get narcotics. At one point, Samuel says he can’t inhale, to which the doctor responds—amid chuckles, “He can’t inhale. Wow! He must be dead.”
Samuel’s father attempts to step in, telling Dr. Keegstra that his son’s breathing is labored. The doctor maintains that the basketball player’s breathing is fine as “he has an oxygen saturation that is 100 percent.”
The doctor then accuses Samuel of giving medical staff conflicting stories. Samuel then accuses her of also changing up her story. The comment leads the Dr. Keegstra to instruct a nurse to give Samuel IV fluids and send him home because “he’s obviously a doctor.”
“You have changed your story every f**king time…Yeah that’s how pissed off you made me,” Dr. Keegstra counters amid gasps from the father and son.
The video’s been viewed more than 4.7 million times as of Monday evening. In a statement, El Camino Hospital CEO Dan Woods announced that they’ve instructed Vituity/California Emergency Physicians, the company Dr. Keegstra is contracted by, to suspend her from all of their hospital’s facilities.
Meanwhile, the patient’s father told ABC’s Good Morning America on Monday that he doesn’t believe the doctor should be practicing medicine at all and that he’s considering taking legal action against the hospital.
“We have expressed our sincere apologies and are working directly with the patient on this matter,” the hospital’s CEO said. “Our number one priority is and always will be to serve our community with exceptional care and the utmost dignity and respect for all.”
This is how they treat black people in Los Gatos emergency room. SMH Everyone share this video. For the record this is my son.
Posted by Donald Bardwell on Tuesday, June 12, 2018
[Featured image: Dr. Beth Keegstra/Facebook video screengrab]