When Northeastern University freshman Michel Goldberg went to her school’s health center, she complained of pains in her ear. The staff nurse, treating it as a routine earache, prescribed an antibiotic.
Over the next five months, Michel, a high school athlete who normally was in robust health, visited the Lane Health Center at least three times, suffering from fatigue and chills. It wasn’t until one of her last visits that Michel finally saw a doctor. But the doctor agreed with the nurses’ diagnoses, telling Michel to take aspirin, drink plenty of fluids and get rest.
Two weeks later, on February 28, 1993, the 18-year-old coed died.
Michel had been suffering from anemia brought on by a rare and virulent form of leukemia, called acute myelogenic leukemia. Treating her complaints as symptoms of standard college-age ailments, the center did no tests to determine whether some deeper cause might be at work.
These details emerged only after Michel’s parents sued the school for malpractice, contending the clinic did not provide anywhere close to proper care, such as administering a blood test.
In February, a Massachusetts jury agreed, awarding the Goldbergs $4 million almost seven years after Michel died. The university has not decided whether to appeal the decision. Officials contend that Michel received proper care, but they have begun examining the possibility of accrediting its health center.
“We still believe that the proper care was given to the student,” said Siobhan Houton, a spokesperson for Northeastern University.
As thousands of students head off for college this fall, few of them or their parents are thinking about their school’s health center and the kinds of services it can provide. But judging from the wide variability in care on campus these days, medical authorities suggest that parents and students ask tough questions about whether those clinics are prepared.
Learning about the clinics, the availability and credentials of doctors on staff, and even the hours of operation could make the difference between catching a cold and succumbing to pneumonia.
A growing number of healthcare advocates have been calling for accreditation of the nation’s more than 1,500 student health centers. Such a move would ensure uniform standards of care, they argue. But there has been little movement on the matter over the past decade. Only 107 two- and four-year college and graduate school healthcare facilities have been accredited by the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC), an organization that inspects student health centers. About 70 were accredited a decade ago.
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