Spring Break
Health Center fails to diagnose serious illness
Molly Phillips, Contributing Writer, mphillip@smu
Issue date: 4/30/07 Section: News
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While Espinosa initially went to SMU's Memorial Health Center to be treated and diagnosed for his cold-like symptoms, he said the health center is not equipped with proper resources to diagnose and treat severe cases.
"The health center can't recognize and [doesn't] really know how to handle hard-core cases like mine," Espinosa said.
Espinosa said he expected the health center to offer advice and guidance when they were unable to diagnose his symptoms. However, staff at the health center said very little and did not suggest going to a hospital.
"I expected the health center to be more responsible," he said. "It was obvious my test results were off the chart and they weren't like 'Go and see a doctor in this hospital,' and they should have."
The health center had no comment regarding Espinosa's case and referred questions to SMU's Assistant Director of News & Communications, Robert Bobo.
Bobo said that Espinosa's case cannot be talked about unless he signs a contract releasing the school from HIPAA or FERPA. HIPAA is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and according to the online U.S. Department of Health and Human Services it's the "national standards to protect the privacy or personal health information." FERPA is the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.
However, Bobo did say that he believes the center and SMU do a great job staying involved with students who are sick.
"SMU tries to do everything possible to help its students when they're sick and in helping them to try and get better," he said. "I would say the health center does a fantastic job staying involved and seeing how students are and how their recovery is going."
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