DALLAS, Sep 25, 2008 (UPI via COMTEX) -- A 58-year-old restaurateur died at a
Dallas hospital emergency room after waiting nearly 19 hours for treatment,
hospital officials and family members said.
Mike Herrera, co-founder of a popular chain of Tex-Mex restaurants across North
Texas, collapsed just as he was about to receive medical treatment at Parkland
Memorial Hospital, relatives told the Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram.
Doctors were unable to revive him. He died of cardiac arrest, WFAA-TV, Dallas,
reported.
"Our hearts are with the family," Parkland Health & Hospital System President
and Chief Executive Officer Dr. Ron Anderson said.
"There are people going over this with a fine-tooth comb now -- our quality
review teams, our physicians, our nurses," he told WFAA.
While acknowledging too many patients spend too many hours waiting in the
emergency room, Anderson also said Herrera did not appear sick enough to die.
On the day Herrera died, he was one of 270 people checked into Parkland's
emergency room, WFAA said.
Herrera nephew Edward Marquez told WFAA he watched for an hour as paramedics,
not doctors, tried to revive Herrera.
He said his entire family did not understand how such a renowned trauma center
could allow a dying patient to sit for nearly a day without help.
Parkland is best-known as the hospital where U.S. President John F. Kennedy,
along with alleged Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald and Oswald killer Jack
Ruby, died.
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Copyright 2008 by United Press International