'Wash Post' Reveals New Findings in Death of 'NYT' Reporter

By: Greg Mitchell In the aftermath of the murder of New York Times reporter David Rosenbaum in Washington, D.C. this past January, Colbert King, columnist for The Washington Post, has written at least three columns probing the poor care he received in the hours before his death. Today the newspaper carries an editorial on the same subject, with details from a probe of the tragic incident.

The editorial reveals that "thanks to an in-depth investigation by the D.C. Health Department, we learn what happened to Mr. Rosenbaum after he arrived at the emergency room of Howard University Hospital on the night of Jan. 6. It is a distressing account of across-the-board failures."

The Health Department, according to the Post, found that:

-- "Once Mr. Rosenbaum was transported to the Emergency Dept., the triage nurse failed to properly assess, evaluate and manage his clinical presentation" as required by protocols and patient care standards. "The triage nurse also failed to perform a neurological assessment to determine Mr. Rosenbaum's level of consciousness and the possibility of a brain injury, based on the low GCS scorings [suggestive of a severe brain injury] obtained by the EMS unit while on the scene."

--"The evening charge nurse then failed to assess and evaluate Mr. Rosenbaum's condition prior to assigning him to the hallway. Furthermore, she failed to alert and specifically assign his care to one of the ED nurses overseeing patients in that hallway."

-- "Mr. Rosenbaum was . . . left unattended in the hallway for approximately one hour and 20 minutes after his arrival to the ED . . . after which time he was discovered to have a life-threatening brain injury which required emergency neurosurgical intervention."

-- "There was no documented evidence that Mr. Rosenbaum's initial evaluation by the physician included a comprehensive head-to-toe assessment . . . that would have revealed any trauma to his head. . . . Concurrently, there was no evidence that [his] initial level of consciousness (documented as lethargy), along with his limited response to painful stimuli, was investigated by the physician to determine a possible cause."

The Health Department, the Post concludes, has notified Howard of several deficiencies in its patient treatment and has demanded an "acceptable plan of corrective action," D.C. Health Director Gregg A. Pane said yesterday.