Hit and run driver leaves S. Tahoe teen in road
A 15-year-old South Lake Tahoe teen is at Renown Medical Center in Reno today recovering from injuries sustained the night before after being hit by a vehicle.
The name of the youth has not been released. The extent of his injuries is also not known.
The boy was at the intersection of Third and Washington streets in South Tahoe on Feb. 10 at about 6:45pm when a white or off-white Subaru struck him.
A witness did not see the impact, but saw the boy under the vehicle. The vehicle passed over him. The witness said the youth was bleeding from scrapes and was bruised. He asked the passer-by to drive him home. From there the witness took him to Barton Memorial Hospital.
He was later flown to the Reno hospital. It wasn’t until the boy was at Barton that officers were notified of the incident.
The vehicle fled the seen headed east on Washington. A white male was driving the car, according to officers.
— Lake Tahoe News staff report
I’m suspicious as to why Barton cannot treat an accident victim. Barton is supposed to be a hospital. I’ve been hearing about accident victims being shipped out to renown every time. This doesn’t seem to be an exception, this appears to be standard procedure at Barton. Gee, could it be they do this to create a helicopter bill of several thousand dollars. The reason I am suspicious is that according to this story, the teen’s injuries were described as scrapes and bruises, bleeding, and the teen was conscious asking to be taken home. I’d be interested in learning if this person is released from the hospital soon. I’d also like to see the bill.
I’m with you pizza eater. Barton is the biggest rip off in the basin!
Barton is not certified as a trauma center. That’s why they send so many down to Reno.
Remember when that woman was shot by her husband at Carson Tahoe a few weeks ago? Even though it happened IN a hospital, they sent her to another hospital because THEY were not trauma certified.
It’s all about lawsuits.
Suspicion often comes from lack of knowledge.
First, you are suffering from selection bias. The accidents you hear about are the ones bad enough to make the news, and so they are shipped to “Renown every time”.
Secondly, many victims who later die are initially conscious, but have head or abdominal injuries that later kill them. These patients are very high risk, and should be transferred to a level one trauma center like Renown which has immediately available specialists like neurosurgery and trauma surgeons,which a small hospital like Barton does not have.
You should be very grateful that you live in a town that has a forward looking hospital that has appropriate referral relationships with a level one Trauma hospital like Renown.
And that young man may now be alive because the witness was smart enough to take him to the hospital, not home.
Well said Sakamoto.
In all the above comments, doesn’t anyone even bother to express care & ‘best wishes’ for the boy ?. . .as a victim of such an event myself (ironically, in front of Barton Admin building), an RN was coming out of the building and treated me before the ambulance, EMT, and Fire Truck (they always all show up together)- noting Sakamoto’s comment above, her tending to me may have kept me from being air-lifted, as things go – [I was nevertheless admitted to Barton]. . .I’m still feeling things from that day (August 2011), so my Empathy vote goes for the boy’s quick and complete recovery, aside from any shortfalls of Barton. . .
The driver ?. . . way beyond ‘spacing out’ behind the wheel (almost 50% of drivers who stay around report “the sun in their eyes” even when it’s in the wrong direction or the wrong time of day). . .so many kudos to the ‘passer-by’. . .I’m sure the boy appreciated it.
As to my first comment, do folks ever really look at what the subject matter is about before the ‘trashing starts’ – is the pain of living here more than the allayed fear, comfort, and support needed in such a stupid event ?
Sakamoto,
I’m glad we have Barton here in So. Shore, their only 5 minutes away from my house.
Now if someone could give me the phone number for Care flight or is it Cal Star? I can’t find it in the phone book. That’s what I’m getting my sweetie and myself for valentines day, a years membership. I know it’s not very romantic and I hope we never have to use the helicopter but I’ll feel better knowing we have this. Anybody have a phone number? OlS
OLS: the membership info # is 1-888-207-5433.
Do it. We’ve been members for years. Hope we never need to use it, but it’s cheap insurance!!
Hi OLS: You can join Calstar through their website, which is http://www.calstar.org. Here is their mailing and phone contact info:
CALSTAR Memberships
4933 Bailey Loop
McClellan, CA 95652
(888) 207-LIFE (5433)
(916) 921-4091
(916) 921-4098 fax
My wife and I are members and I think a membership is a great valentines day gift!
Well said Sakamoto and Garry.
Best wishes for the young man who was injured.
Hope the boy is doing well and back home soon. and I hope the person who hit him is caught promptly and punished appropriately for doing a hit and run!!!
Thank you Barton Hospital for having the relationship you do with Trauma 1 hospitals. We are so lucky to have their knowledge and expertese here in this town. I have had several stays at Barton and always felt like I had expert care.keep up the good work. I hope this boy is ok. I live nearby and I will keep my eyes open for the car and driver. Hope that they get the full punishment for this crime.
Dogula and Janice Eastburn, Thanks for the contact info for Calstar!!! I’m all signed up. I did it over the phone, super easy and the lady I spoke with was very nice and we laughed alot. It’s only $50 a year for both of us. A value and a valentines present I hope we don’t have to use but it’s good knowing it’s there. The Calstar number is 1-888-207-5433.
This is something everyone should do for their sweetie pie and yourself. Valentines day is friday, so call and get a membership, then go to Gaia-licious for a scented candle and you’re all set.
Take care , Old Long Skiis
While it easy to criticize Barton, I don’t think it always stems from lack of knowledge. There are facts that often show it in a confusing light.
Barton has a long reputation as a very expensive place to be injured or sick, and this was at one time even verified and highlighted by an article in the Wall Street Journal, which analyzed various hospital’s “Charge Master” or the price list for various procedures, equipment and services. Don’t quote me but if I recall Barton was right up there, cost-wise. with Sutter Memorial in Sacraments area.
What Barton does have however, is an awful lot of expensive, supposedly state of the art “stuff”. The
Da Vinci robotic surgery system and a ton of new scanners and imaging devices that have million dollar plus price tags. Add to this Barton University and whatever it does, and the ton of real estate the hospital controls and buys, along with all the other doctors practices it has bought. And I don’t buy the reasoning a Barton employee gave me that “we didn’t have to buy all of it, the Barton foundation raised the money and paid for it”.
Well, while that may be partially true, all this hardware/software etc comes with a huge upkeep and training load that also must be paid for on a continuing basis.
This is in a town which has a shrinking population, and even including the Nevada side, can only be described as a small town. The Tahoe basin area is also a very low wage area, with high unemployment and large seasonal swings in the number of workers employed.
It worked quite well for years, when the Casino’s had full time employees with good health insurance, and the myriad public agencies which, as government, also had great health insurance. We all know that on average the only groups left with great health coverage now are the wealthy, retired on medicare and the various governments. Even the governments are cutting back, and bringing more costs to the remaining employees.
The standard excuse for high prices from Barton staffers is “the government makes us care for all the illegals and welfare cases for free”, so that is the problem. We have to charge the people with insurance or wealth high prices to cover those costs.
While on that subject, it really galls me that if you go in with cold cash, you have to pay the entire inflated bill, as opposed to the negotiated rates that insurance companies have to pay. The difference is often well over 100 percent.
My personal belief is that Barton is equipped itself to provide services that are not justified by the population and the economy. There is an “if you build it they will come” mentality in many ways. Barton seems just as confused as the Community college, the City of South Lake and El Dorado County as to what direction to go to resolve the problems of low wages, shrinking population and the inflation in costs caused by California’s difficult, over regulated business climate.
E.Morrow,
You bring up several good points regarding Barton and some of So.Shores economic woes. Barton is good as it’s well staffed with a competent crew of doctors, nurses and technicians. Also it’s centeraly located so you can get there quickly if the need arises.
Barton is expensive, and I would suggest that anyone who goes there to go over their bill carefully. Charges for unneceasary tests, charges from doctors you never saw, medication that you never received are just a few of the things I’ve expeirenced. Family and friends have gone thru this as well. I’m glad Barton is here but just keep your eyes open for your stay there.
The population of the town is shrinking and those that remain have had hours reduced or jobs eliminated entirely. Those lucky enough to still have a job have seen benefits, such as health insurance, cut dramaticaly.
I wish I had some answers for these problems. I reckon I’ll think on it for a spell and get back to ya. OLS
Some of you commenting behind me have been aware of the over billing at Barton, and some of you have not been aware of it. I said what I did to open up the eyes of you who have automatically believed that because Barton is a hospital, they must be doing good. That’s not necessarily so. Without a trauma center, what good is a hospital ? We need emergency treatment at every hospital in the U.S.. A trauma center should be the number one priority at all hospitals. If I come to a hospital in serious danger, I expect to be treated; Not shipped away to another hospital several miles away. That’s what I think, and I think most citizens agree with me. If I go to Barton with serious injuries, my bill will automatically include a helicopter ride to Reno. That’s not health care; And that adds thousands of dollars to a bill. You who disagree with me should ask yourselves why you are paying hospital prices and not getting hospital treatment. What is it about Barton that makes you think this is good?
Kae, I’ll be sending you a subscription payment Thursday morning. Snail mail and without a form(couldn’t get it to print). So when you see a check with a note scrawled in crayon you’ll know it’s from Old Long Skiis (xxl shirt if I make it into the first ten subscribers).
Once upon a time, ten years ago, Bartons’ billing system was so bad that we didn’t receive a billing for several visits until a year later. By that time I could not tell wether they were billing correctly, and they could not either. So the judge hearing our case told me,as an aside, to offer 25% of their demand. They took it. Trust no one.
Another comment: So now I’m on medicare and not having to pay the $800/mth Blue Shield ripoff policy with $3500 deductible. How wonderful is that ! Oh yeah, helicopter rides run about $25,000, so sign up!!!!
$25,000 : I challenge anyone to justify that price. When people have no choice but to use a service, there is usually regulation that maintains fairness in pricing. Here, we have no regulation that insures fairness in pricing like we do in our electric bills, or gas bills.
Hey barf, how nice is it to have a piece of the government pie? Yup, living in a country that provides for their seniors is a nice thing, no matter what the tea party spews.