Hospital Losses
Patients regularly leave a Denver hospital with their health improved but their belongings missing, Deborah Sherman of KUSA TV reports. Sherman's "Denver Health Saves Lives but Loses Patients' Valuables" reveals that Denver Health Medical Center lost one woman's prosthetic eye, one man's dentures and one homeless woman's only pair of shoes among the 368 patient possessions it lost in 2006. Sherman does a nice job of comparing Denver Health to other hospitals while using passages such as this one to show the impact of the losses on its often indigent patients:
Since the hospital lost his upper dentures six months ago, Trujillo can't eat regular food without blending it and has lost 20 pounds. He's also lost his confidence to be out in public.
"I would love to smile, but I can't smile," said Trujillo. "I'd feel self-conscious. How am I going to smile with no teeth?"
Denver Health is now in the process of paying for a new set of dentures for him. Trujillo hopes to have them in time for Christmas dinner.
Trujillo couldn't afford to buy himself new dentures for $1,000 because until recently, he was homeless.
Thank you to the good people at Investigative Reporters & Editors for recommending this story. www.9news.com/news/local/article.aspx?storyid=81843