December 11th, 2009

Reports the Philadelphia Inquirer:

City Council yesterday voted unanimously to hold hearings in the case of Joaquin Rivera, whose death last month while he waited for emergency medical attention at Aria Health-Frankford Campus has sparked a debate about the health care available to people in modest neighborhoods.

Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown, who sponsored the resolution, said Council still had questions about Rivera’s death.

She said Council would look at best practices in emergency rooms, and whether those practices were followed on the night of Nov. 28, when Rivera arrived. He informed staff that he had a pain in his side, and took a seat in the waiting room. He died 11 minutes later, but hospital staff did not discover he was dead until nearly 50 minutes later, when someone reported that three homeless drug addicts had taken the 63-year-old musician’s watch.

The hearing has not been scheduled but is expected to be held next month.

Find out more at the Inquirer.