Council approves hearings on Rivera death

City Council will hold hearings on Joaquin Rivera's death in the emergency waiting room at Frankford Hospital, which went unnoticed for more than an hour.

Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown, whose resolution calling for hearings was unanimously approved Thursday morning, said Council still has unanswered questions about Rivera's death.

She said Council would look at best practices in emergency rooms and whether those practices are followed. The hearing is expected to held next month.

Councilwoman Maria Quinones Sanchez, said officials from Aria Health have insisted that proper protocols were followed on Nov. 28, when Rivera came to the hospital with pain in his side.

But the fact that Rivera lay dead in his waiting room chair while a triage nurse took in other patients was hard to justify, especially after watching security video, Sanchez said.

"It is going to be difficult for any report to counter what is very strong visually," Sanchez said.

In a statement, Aria said, "We take this situation very seriously, and we are conducting a complete examination of our policies and procedures in partnership with the Pennsylvania State Department of Health as it relates to this incident."

"As part of this process, we are taking a number of proactive steps to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again," the statement said,

Aria said it will its officials "will fully participate in any future proceedings, including those called for in [today's] resolution."