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By making the hospital pay, I thought, maybe Laura’s death would stand for something.
我想，通過讓醫院賠錢，也許勞拉的死能代表些什么。
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health turned up more patient-safety violations at Somerville Hospital,
馬薩諸塞州公共衛生部在薩默維爾醫院發現了更多違反病人安全的行為，
citing it for failing to provide a safe environment and for “poor quality of pre-hospital care.”
理由是它未能提供安全的環境和“院前護理質量差”。
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services accused Somerville Hospital of violating federal law by denying Laura access to emergency care.
美國衛生與公眾服務部指控薩默維爾醫院拒絕讓勞拉接受緊急治療，違反了聯邦法律。
Officials agreed to pay $90,000 to the government in a settlement.
官員們同意向政府支付9萬美元作為和解金。
But my hope of making the hospital pay went no further than that.
但我想讓醫院出錢的愿望僅此而已。
In Massachusetts, a law protects public hospitals from being sued for more than $100,000 and indemnifies their employees, even in cases of wrongful death.
在馬薩諸塞州，有一項法律保護公立醫院免受超過10萬美元的訴訟，并對其員工進行賠償，即使是在非正常死亡的情況下。
Without the cap, we’d likely be looking at a multimillion-dollar verdict, assuming we won.
如果沒有上限，假設我們贏了，我們可能會面臨數百萬美元的判決。
With the cap, Laura’s death, in the eyes of the law, hardly seemed to matter.
如果有上限，從法律的角度來看，勞拉的死似乎無關緊要。
But how could her death not matter? How could I go on living if Laura’s tragedy changed nothing? And so I began writing her story.
但她的死怎么可能無關緊要呢？如果勞拉的悲劇沒有改變任何事情，我怎么能活下去呢？所以我開始寫她的故事。
The Federal Communications Commission estimates that 10,000 lives could be saved annually
聯邦通信委員會估計，如果緊急救援人員能更快地接通911電話，
if emergency responders could get to 911 callers just one minute faster, and that figure could be vastly conservative.
每年可以挽救1萬條生命，而且這個數字可能是非常保守的。
What can be done to save those lives, to make sure that no one else dies the way Laura did?
我們能做些什么來拯救這些生命，來確保其他人不會像勞拉那樣死去？
There are a number of possible solutions. For one, I hope that regional 911 call centers become a thing of the past.
有一些可能的解決方案。其中一個就是，我希望區域911呼叫中心成為過去式。
Had Laura’s call gone directly to the Somerville Police Department,
如果勞拉的電話直接打到薩默維爾市警察局的話，
I am convinced that a local dispatcher, familiar with the hospital, would have asked Laura whether she was at the top or bottom of that hill.
我相信，熟悉這家醫院的當地調度員一定會問勞拉是在山頂還是山腳下。
It isn’t just my view—911 calls misrouted to wrong call centers are a national issue.
這不僅是我的看法-911電話被錯接到別的呼叫中心是一個全國性的問題。
Millions of 911 cell phone calls register inaccurate locations each year,
每年有數百萬的911電話顯示了不準確的位置，
because of tree interference, poor atmospheric conditions, and other challenges, per the National Emergency Number Association.
根據國家緊急號碼協會，位置不準確的原因是樹木干擾，惡劣的大氣條件，和其他挑戰。
Locations are so often wrong that, according to one survey, 82 percent of 911 operators doubt the location information they receive.
根據一項調查，位置經常是錯誤的，以至于82%的911接線員都懷疑他們接受到的位置信息。
