Video of a doctor speaking harshly to a patient who came into the emergency room with a panic attack has led to the doctor’s removal from the work schedule at El Camino Hospital Los Gatos in Los Gatos, California.
The Mercury News reported the incident, as did other outlets. The video, taken by patient Samuel Bardwell’s father, shows the doctor, Beth Keegstra, mocking the 20-year-old, a newly enrolled student at West Valley College in Saratoga, California. (Check out the incident below, in the video.)
“He can’t inhale,” said Keegstra, mocking Bardwell, who is seen lying in a hospital bed. “Wow! He must be dead. Are you dead, sir?”
At one point Keegstra also uttered an expletive.
Bardwell, a lanky 6 foot 9 inches, reportedly had a panic attack while attending his first summer basketball class Monday night, said West Valley basketball coach Scott Eitelgeorge.
“He wasn’t looking too good,” Eitelgeorge told the News. “It looked like he was having a pretty severe anxiety attack. Sam played for maybe five minutes before he had to step out.”
Eitelgeorge said Bardwell tried to “pop back in” to the game once, and also lifted weights for a few minutes at the end of class before going outside.
“He collapsed on the grass outside the weight room,” Eitelgeorge said. “When we went outside, he tried to get up but fell back down.”
Eitelgeorge called 911, and “they [the paramedics] took him away,” he said.
A panic attack is an abrupt onset of intense fear or discomfort that reaches a peak within minutes, according to the AADA (the American Anxiety and Depression Association of America). Multiple symptoms can occur simultaneously, including palpitations, pounding heart, sweating, trembling or shaking, sensations of shortness of breath or smothering, feelings of choking, and chest pain.
Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S., notes the AADA, affecting 40 million adults in the United States age 18 and older — or an amazing 18.1 percent of the population every year.
“I have seen my wife have a panic attack, and it’s nothing to joke about,” one Boston-area sales professional told LifeZette. “The person having the attack is extremely vulnerable, and is just living second to second as they work their way through it. This doctor’s actions are the height of unprofessional conduct but, sadly, aren’t too surprising. It’s a very misunderstood disorder.”
Having a panic attack or anxiety is not cool, you start sweating, your heart starts racing, your mind is going 100 miles per minute, you start shaking and crying, and you feel like you can’t breath. You feel hopeless af like nobody can help you.
— Layla ? (@Keishlaaaa) June 19, 2018
Once at the hospital, the Bardwells said they waited three hours before Samuel Bardwell was seen by Keegstra. During their tense interchange, Keegstra can be heard telling Bardwell, “I’m sorry, sir, you were the least sick of all the people who are here, who are dying. There, so you picked your head up. Now don’t try to tell me you can’t move. C’mon, sit up.”
In the wake of this incident, Dan Wood, CEO of El Camino Hospital, issued a statement noting that Dr. Keegstra, a physician with 31 years experience, is suspended from all facilities associated with the hospital, ABC News reported.
Wood called the doctor’s attitude “unprofessional, and not the standard we require of all who provide care through El Camino Hospital.”
“We have expressed our sincere apologies and are working directly with the patient on this matter,” Wood said. “Please know that we take this matter very seriously, and the contracted physician involved has been removed from the work schedule, pending further investigation.”
Samuel’s Bardwell’s father, Donald Bardwell, said his son previously had been diagnosed with anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder, and was prescribed Klonopin, a benzodiazepine often taken for anxiety and panic attacks.
“The contracted physician involved has been removed from the work schedule, pending further investigation.”
“He was on medication for his anxiety, but was off his meds for two days because he couldn’t get to the pharmacy before it closed,” Bardwell told the News.
“They treated us like we were there just to get drugs,” he added. “We were there for four hours, and the doctor finally came in with a security guard. She didn’t even say hello or ask why he was there, just came in with guns blazing. That’s why I started the video.”
Bardwell said he wasn’t trying to hide his filming of the doctor’s attitude and actions, and held his phone at chest level during the recording.
Keegstra had worked at El Camino since 2010, but she was not a staff employee; the hospital’s emergency room doctors are employed by Emeryville-based Vituity, reported the News.
“We are saddened that a patient in our care was affected by this behavior and are working to ensure this never happens again,” Vituity spokeswoman Allison Kundu said in an email. “We are conducting a thorough investigation into the matter.”
She added that Keegstra has also been removed “from the schedule at all the hospitals she works at.”
Related: The Shocking Influence of the Media on Suicide Attempts
Keegstra has never been reprimanded or faced disciplinary actions, the News said.
Donald Bardwell did say his son was looked after by a nurse “angel,” who ordered tests that confirmed there were no drugs in his son’s system. As a result, the younger Bardwell was given some supplements, fluids, and pain medication.
“They did not give him Klonopin,” Bardwell told the News. “All he needed was a pill or two until he could get his prescription.”
Deirdre Reilly is a senior editor with LifeZette. Follow her on Twitter.
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