Patient turned away

Woman dead: hospital drama shows complete failure

The Kepler University Hospital in Linz was operating at full capacity, as were hospitals in Wels, St. Pölten and Passau.(Bild: Pressefoto Scharinger/Daniel Scharinger)

The death of a woman in the Rohrbach hospital(the "Krone" uncovered the case) is now triggering strong reactions: Politicians are shocked, the responsible health politician Christine Haberlander (ÖVP) ordered an investigation. In any case, the hospital drama shows a complete failure.

The "Krone" revelation is the talk of the country - in the hospitals concerned as well as in public. One comment on krone.at reads something like this: "It's not the completely overburdened hospitals that are to blame! Our healthcare system itself is sick. It is neither up-to-date nor affordable. Again and again, political laymen decide on medical necessities. The main thing is that the figures are right and the voters are happy."

Relatives didn't realize how dramatic the fight for life was
The "Krone" was able to speak to a relative of the deceased woman from Mühlviertel on Sunday. She was at the Rohrbach woman's funeral herself, but initially did not know how tragic the fight for life had actually been.

As reported, the businesswoman went to the emergency room at Rohrbach Hospital at around 7 p.m. on October 14. The 55-year-old complained of chest pain. The doctors recognized the seriousness of the situation and ordered a CT scan. At 9.10 p.m. it was clear: "There was a highly acute, life-threatening clinical picture," confirmed Christine Dörfel from OÖ Gesundheitsholding (OÖG).

The diagnosis was a Stanford A dissection, which cannot be treated in the Mühlviertel. The doctors tried to have the woman, whose life was in danger, flown to the Kepler University Hospital in Linz. However, the most important hospital in Upper Austria turned them down: "At the time, the heart team was tied up with a highly complex emergency procedure and the intensive care unit was working at full capacity," says Dörfel.

The search for an available hospital took too long for the patient.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/stock.adobe.com)

Further attempts to get the woman to specialists also failed. There was also no capacity at the Wels-Grieskirchen, Passau and St. Pölten hospitals. Inquiries were also made in Salzburg, where the green light was given. But the patient died before she was transferred.

It is unacceptable for a person to die because there is no space available for a life-saving operation at the crucial moment.

Gesundheitsministerin Korinna Schumann (SPÖ) fordert eine Klärung des Falls

Helicopter transports are also possible at night
A flight after 9 p.m. would have been possible in any case. The ÖAMTC also flies part of its Christophorus fleet at night. Such a mission was successful in March 2018, for example, when a man suffered a rupture in his aortic arch in Hinterstoder at midnight. The crew of Christophorus 14 flew the patient to Wels and he survived.

"We are heading for total system failure"
What happens now after this drama in the emergency room? It is questionable whether the case will also become criminally relevant. In any case, the courts have not yet received a complaint or statement of facts. The hospital has not (yet) filed a complaint either.

It is completely incomprehensible to me that no rapid assistance was possible here, either within the province or across provincial borders.

LH-Stellvertreterin Christine Haberlander, ÖVP

Christine Haberlander (ÖVP), the deputy governor responsible for healthcare in Upper Austria, ordered an investigation into what happened. In a statement, she said: "The death of this woman is a human tragedy, and my sympathies go out to the family and relatives. It is completely incomprehensible to me that rapid assistance was not possible either within the federal state or across state borders."

One of the biggest critics of developments in the healthcare sector is SPÖ Member of Parliament Peter Binder. He is also a member of the Supervisory Board of OÖG and is speechless: "I find it hard to believe that something like this is even possible in our hospital landscape. I am getting massive indications that we are heading for total system failure if we don't act quickly!"