SAN FRANCISCO, March 10, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – A septuagenarian Californian
learned of his impending death through a video link, outraging his family,
which protested the dehumanized and robotic way in which the news was
delivered.
Ernest Quintana received the news last Monday in a hospital in Fremont
when a doctor appeared on-screen and told him. He passed away the following
day.
“That Robot Dr. May be ok for some situations but not to tell a Man he is
going to Die,” a family friend wrote in a Facebook post that included a
screenshot of a video taken by the patient’s granddaughter, Annalisia
Wilharm.
Wilharm was alone with her grandfather when the doctor remotely told
Quintana that his lungs were failing and he would not be going home.
“We knew that it was coming and that he was very sick, but I don’t think
somebody should get that news delivered that way. It should’ve been a human
being come in,” Wilharm told local TV station KTVU.
As her grandfather had a hearing problem, she had to relay the news, KTVU
reported.
The Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, where Quintana was being treated,
responded in a statement carried by US media in which it offered condolences
to the family but disputed the characterization that the news was delivered
by “robot.”
“The use of the term ‘robot’ is inaccurate and inappropriate. This secure
video technology is a live conversation with a physician using tele-video
technology, and always with a nurse or other physician in the room,” Kaiser
Permanente said.
“It does not, and did not, replace ongoing in-person evaluations and
conversations with a patient and family members,” the center said.
“We regret falling short in meeting the patient’s and family’s
expectations in this situation and we will use this as an opportunity to
review how to improve patient experience with tele-video capabilities.”