I’ve watched the videos of Cherry Hospital staffers ignoring mental patient Steven Sabock for 22 hours and there’s one thing I want to know: who was this poor man? How did he wind up at the mental hospital? Did he have any family or friends? Its infuriating that the staff would treat Sabock like furniture for 22 hours, but its also sad that the only thing we know about him is that he’s the victim.
We all know how this poor man died. How did he live?
Update: I found an online post apparently from Sabock’s niece. She writes:
Let me start by saying that a newspaper article never has all of the facts, it just gives an overview of them. Now, after saying that, let me give you some information that this article didn’t cover (or that it had wrong). Steven Sabock is / was my Uncle. He was NOT a mental patient, but was recently out of work and without insurance, therefore he was transported to the state funded hospital because they couldn’t deny him care for lack of insurance. His family DID and STILL DOES care about him. We WERE there for him and we were turned away by hospital staff saying he couldn’t be seen at the time we were there to visit.
For those of you with the negative posts…….actually, I have nothing to say to you other then I hope you are never in the position that my family is in; words can’t describe the pain we are going through due to the laziness, negligence and stupidity of people who were supposed to take care of him. Like you, they probably thought “oh, he’s just some crazy person, we can get away with treating him like this.” How about taking the time to learn more then what’s put in front of you…..The Associated Press article doesn’t go into as much detail as other articles, but if you’re interested in reading more, just google his name, you’ll read about the fact that he was left sitting in a chair for 22 hours without food or restroom visits, that he choked on medication that was given to him by an UNLICENSED medical provider, that when he choked he fell and cracked his head and the nurse “freaked out” while the UNLICENSED medical provider tried giving him the Heimlich, that he was then not checked on to make sure he was okay after the choking / head injury, the choking / head injury was never reported to the doctors, the doctors had given orders to provide him with fluids every 2 hours and food every 6 hours, but those orders were ignored (his last 22 hours he didn’t have any food or liquids), that these caregivers were too worried about their card games and dancing around the day room with each other to pay any attention to a man that was in need of care, and then when they were ready to pay him some attention (by moving him to a bed, a room out of their sight), they got frustrated that he wouldn’t respond, so they shoved a chair with wheels under him and wheeled him to the other room, and FINALLY realized that he was unresponsive and called for the emergency cart…..too little too late. So, before you start commenting your negativity, do your research.
He was a good man. He was loved. He was wanted. He was sweet. He was caring. He was giving. He was sick. And he was ignored by these supposed caretakers and he has been taken from a family that has, and will continue to love, miss and mourn him with every passing day.
Also, here’s a little more background on Sabock and his family.