text"Medicine (and the post office) are the only

text"Medicine (and the post office) are the only businesses that get paid no matter
how badly they do. Imagine hiring a mechanic to do a tuneup, and he accidentally
drops a bolt down the running engine and it breaks a valve. But he says that his
tuneup ""uncovered"" the weak valved condition and now he must do an engine
rebuild. While putting the engine back in, it falls on the fender making a big dent
and also strikes and cracks the windshield. So you get charged for an engine, body
work and a new windshield. Why don't mechanics try to get away with that and why is
it so easy for doctors get paid for such incompetence?""Hear, hear.""Garrick - I
wrote an article about that called ""MediCar"" where you go in for 4 new tires and
when you pick up the car you are handed a bill for tires and a new windshield. They
explain that it's your fault because your windshield is so clean that the new,
student, intern mechanic couldn't see it and dropped a hammer on it. When you
refuse to pay they say, Oh that's OK, we'll just file a suit against you and report
it as a bad credit.""It's the same in Australia Shannon Koob. The taxpayer ar
paying a fortune for the unnecessary radical surgery I was tricked into, because
unscrupulous doctors needed guinea pigs to learn to practice laparoscopic surgery
on....""The doctors and facilities always benefit when a mistake is made because
insurance companies pay no matter what, and this includes Medicare. If the mistake
results in a longer hospitalization or time in a nursing home, these facilities get
paid; the specialists who are called in get paid well too. Mistakes actually make
more money for doctors and facilities."Marian I absolutly agree! Its true and then
we have laws like MICRA where is better off to kill a patient then rather pay on
going fees for actual damages it takes to live."This is nothing new. Doctors have
been getting away with ""mistakes"" for years because they know there is little or
no enforcement of health laws. Even Moliere commented about bad doctors in the
1600's when he wrote, ""We can spoil a man without paying one farthing for the
damage done. The blunders are not ours, and the fault is always that of the dead
man...and never yet has one been known to complain of the doctor who killed him."""
"Michelle. I'm convinced of what you say. I believe that all too often what may
have started out as a mistake or carelessness or even cluelessness morphs
intentionally into criminality in a CYA effort. We need to call it what it is murder. As a 'gentle' start towards adopting that terminology, I'd be happy if
authorities and licensing boards just started out with charging manslaughter."
"Unnecessary surgeries like hysterectomy are performed for the sole purpose of
making women patients for life. Why else would healthy vital hormone-producing
organs be routinely removed in over half a million women every year? Facts:
Hysterectomy is the second most performed surgery in the U.S. 90% are known to be
medically unnecessary. Only 1% are considered to be life-saving. It doesn't take a
rocket scientist to connect the dots here... Women necessarily have to turn to
hormone drug pushers once they are no longer able to make their own. Big Pharma and
doctors make out like bandits. Then, regardless of buying and taking artificial
hormones, many women go on to develop heart disease, brain disease, eye problems,
sexual dysfunction, thyroid disease, bone loss, etc., etc. and so many specialty
areas/fields profit. Hysterectomy doesn't happen by accident. Hysterectomy isn't
performed to save lives. Doctors hysterectomize women intentionally for profit. It
is what it is. Hysterectomy is not the only surgery that purposely abuses for
profit but it's probably the best and most obvious example we have. Elizabeth
Plourde, author of 'Hysterectomy - The Ultimate Rape', says ""In reality, the
lifetime after-care cost is in the tens of billions of dollars. Just osteoporosis
alone, one of the major outcomes of hysterectomy, costs Americans between ten and
eighteen billion dollars a year."" This is why everyone should care about the
medical abuse of women via hysterectomy. The mentality of the doctor who abuses
women for profit via hysterectomy is alive and well in many specialty areas/fields
today. Many in this group know exactly what I'm talking about... I flat don't have
the energy to call a spade anything but a spade at this point. No sugar-coating
such evil. It's obviously wrong, unethical, immoral and it should be criminal. It's
critical that those of us who've been devastated and traumatized by doctors for
profit take a stand and speak out loudly at every opportunity. We must stand
together on this. Please sign my petition on Change.org regarding unnecessary
hysterectomy http://www.change.org/petitions/help-stop-unnecessary-hysterectomyand-castration""Allan, I would love it if law enforcement would start charging
doctors and nurses with murder. The problem is, they rarely do. Every attorney
and advocate I have spoken to about this have said that the authorities never ever
go after a doctor. Other doctors and nurses will not testify against them because
they themselves will be blackmailed or lose their jobs. If a medical ""crime""
happens in a facility, there seems to be some kind of immunity against prosecution;
but if you give your loved one a little poison in his ice tea every day, that's
murder because it happened outside of a hospital or nursing home. It's called
""standard of care."" or in other words, if all the doctors are ordering black box
drugs without consent, it is considered acceptable. Doctors know they above the
law, and they also know that any ""mistakes"" they make will make them more money.
Doctors also know that if it comes to your word against theirs, they will always
win, even if you have medical records that back you. The agencies that are
supposed to police doctors and nurses protect them as well. For example, I filed a
complaint against a nurse for falsifying a consent form for twice the amount of
Ambien an elderly person should get; the health department gave the facility a
citation, then the nursing board cleared the nurse, saying she had done nothing
that violated the nursing code. (The investigation took 2-1/2 years.) Your best
defense against ""mistakes"" is to be as informed as possible, ask questions, and
ask to see your records every day.""You brought up a very significant point Marian.
When enough doctors do something wrong, it's considered to be 'the standard of
care'. Most people don't know realize this. That's why over half a million women
end up hysterectomized every year. It's considered 'the standard of care' to remove
women's healthy sex organs. Your example of doctors ordering black box drugs
without consent is also a perfect example of the danger the is inherent in 'the
standard of care'. Of course, no harmed patient can sue a doctor unless their
doctor acted in a way that is considered to be below 'the standard of care'. Harmed
patients are caught in an insidious web. In other words, they're trapped in a web
that's meant to trap them.""Some (many, most or all?) States have ""Mandatory
Reporting"" laws for medical ""professionals"" requiring, not asking or hoping,
that if something is happening that is not right, it be reported either up the
chain or to law enforcement. Nurses, doctors, pharmacists, lab workers, and other
licensed medical personnel are seldom or never sanctioned for failure to report
abuse, malfeasance or malpractice. If some of these people were to lose their
licenses and right to earn a living in their profession for failure to report these
issues, their co workers would take notice and maybe the Code of Silence could be
broken as in ""Hmmm, be disciplined by my employer for blowing the whistle on
someone or go to jail and lose my income"". There are also laws/regs requiring an
institution to formally report a practitioner that has failed to properly treat. A
few major hospitals losing their ability to accept Medicare and excluding all
doctors who accept Medicare from practicing at those hospitals for these violations
of the CMS Conditions of Participation would jump start to practical changes as
well. It is not that we need more laws and regs., we need to somehow pressure
those that have the power to use it. If everyone who has suffered and found the
regulators guilty of failing to protect them as required by their charter would
network with everyone they knew to pressure their State and Federal congressmen and
senators to call for hearings and provide hard data to them of regulator failures,
perhaps some broad sanctioning would occur? Seems to me to be a better use of time
than to pressure these same public officials to tighten a reg or pass a new law or
fund a new study. Maybe pressuring for strict enforcement of ""Mandatory
Reporting"" would be an easier pill to swallow for law and reg enforcers than
murder or manslaughter charges.""Thank you all for using the correct definition for
'standard of care' - especially in conjunction with the use of black boxed drugs.
The wagons have been circled by one and all healthcare safety agencies. When a
Board Certified Research Physician working for a QIO puts in writing that a black
boxed drug is NOT black boxed nor would those specifically mentioned drugs
mentioned in the 'non existent' black box warning intensify damages, especially
given in MEGA doses. That is flagrant, in your face lying. When I asked where he
got his cutting edge medical data to make that statement - he said he used a PDR would not give me the date. PDR info from Wiki - Originally distributed as a
promotional item, the PDR has come under recent scrutiny with the lack of reporting
of updated and accurate drug dosages along with adverse drug effects. Often dosage
information can
be taken from phase 1 trial information where clinical drug information is
incomplete, resulting in higher PDR-recommended dosages than therapeutically
effective dosages for many medications. And since most of the information is taken
from drug data sheets generated by drug manufacturers, it is more likely to not
include drug studies reporting the worst side-effect and adverse effect data.[2]
This is opposed to evidence-based medicine or clinical reviewed material which
examines all such data but is not contained within the PDR.The PDR has also been
criticized for its being paid for by the various pharmaceutical manufacturers that
present medications within its pages. This criticism stems from the lack of special
interest disclosure and the potential for guiding medical recommendations apart
from evidence-based medicine[3] The lack of medical editorial capacity within the
PDR which is standard in the review of all scientific literature by informed
scientific peers has also been criticized.[4]While proponents may argue that the
controversies with the PDR may seem insignificant, critics allege that in fact,
most physicians and pharmacists rely on it in a bound, online or PDA version for
drug dosaging and the lack of transparency in its formation most certainly leads to
adverse patient outcomes.
This behavior by an agency of the DHHS charged with
patient safety is outrageous in my opinion. But, to have the total stonewalling
that harmed patients are experiencing takes even more entities to turn a blind
eye.""Shannon Koob this is truly unbelieveable what happened to you. They don't
call the heart a VITAL organ for nothing. You had yours EXPOSED, your body cut
open, your chest cracked for nothing. UNBELIEVABLE! What was the doctor's mea
culpa? Nothing more then a ""Oopise, my bad""?!? Our bodies are not our own
anymore."Allen J. Van Putten - you wrote that most/all States have mandatory
reporting. Can you provide some links on that?"Google 'mandatory reporting' or
'reporter' and you'll find plenty of citations. Add a State's name to make it
specific to where you are. Some are general and some have special provisions for
abuse of children, seniors and/or disabled.""This has mandatory reporter
requirements as of 2006.
http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/migrated/aging/docs/MandatoryReportingPr
ovisionsChart.authcheckdam.pdf. What we saw in Virginia is that the regulators
refused to apply the regulations wholesale. Folks keep saying that we need more
regulations. We don't need more regulations in general, we need people to have the
wherewhithal to enforcement them.""""In lawsuits and interviews, they (doctors)
describe increasing pressure to meet the financial goals of their new employers
(hospitals) ��� often by performing unnecessary tests and procedures or by
admitting patients who do not need a hospital stay."" nyti.ms/QvAC2r""Dr. Marty
Makary is scheduled to be on the ABC network show 20/20 tonight, Nov. 30, talking
about his NY Times bestseller, "" #unaccountable What Hospitals Won't Tell You and
How Transparency Can Revolutionize Healthcare."""Thanks David. I'll be sure to
watch:)I am recording it: 9 pm CT."Well advocates, activists, seems to be a new
wave of gloom and doom in the patient safety realm. Los Angeles does not stand
alone, things are getting worse all over the country.
So, what are we doing
wrong? First thing we might think about doing is accepting this reality, and stop
dancing around the term patient safety. Lets just call it ""Keeping Patients Safe
from Healthcare Harm."" http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/UCLA-HospitalGets-F-in-Patient-Safety-Report-Leapfrog-181282681.html""Enlisting the help of some
of the fiercest patient advocates known to man, would be a start :)""Time after
time, nurses, doctors, and healthcare professionals see what is happening yet are
intimidated into ""keeping quiet"" the problem will continue until that issue is
resolved.""This is just one case of many, where a nurse has stood up for their
patient, and been crucified for their advocacy.
http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Amanda-Trujillo-Fired-Advocating-Patient4172177.S.190241244Andrew Lopez""Thanks Andrew for your thoughtful comments, you
are so right. I know of Amanda and her story. Amanda and others like her need to
be rewarded and thanked rather then put through such misery. Healthcare delivery
and the very fiber of how it is delivered is backwards and nothing will change
until there is real healthcare reform. After 17 years of hoping that the system
will fix itself I have accepted the fact that the changes must come from informed
consumers of healthcare. Public education of the facts will make the difference.
After the public begins to demand safer care, good providers will no longer fear
speaking up and doing the right thing.""It can be difficult for patients & family
members who have been affected by ""Healthcare Harm"" to trust doctors, nurses and
""Members of the Establishment."" I get that.""Realize though, we know the system
well enough to guide you to where you can make a difference. Andrew Lopez""It is
very hard for them, most providers do the best that they can do given the
circumstances of the severely flawed system.""Many a health inspection,
investigation has been initiated by an anonymous tip telling the investigators
where to look :)""We need you to make it work, we need providers, clinicians to get
out there and talk about this issue. Graciously of course, but the pubic still has
little to no clue until it is way too late. Most folks believe patient safety
means that patients' slip on wet floors or have personal belongings stolen from
hospital rooms. The industry really does not wish to educate the public on the
facts. Simple facts that some media outlets, such as this one, have brushed upon.
Yet, as active as this group is, there is little concern driven about safer care
to even those who are advocates for single payer, Obamacare and other healthcare
related venues.""Awareness is the Key Jeni. We've made hundreds of thousands of
nurses aware of Amanda's situation, it will be millions in the not too distant
future. She gave us permission to spread her story via Social Media, and we have."
"In telling her story, and others, we are raising awareness among consumers as
well. We could look into doing something collaboratively :)""I want to see more
and more insiders stand beside her, check out the video I am posting here, saw it
at a patient safety conference years ago.""We are mad as hell about what has
happened to her Jeni, and the world is going to know about it . . . . and how it
puts patients in imminent danger.""Channel some of that anger constructively Jeni.
Make examples of high profile cases and show people how it could happen to them, or
to their loved ones. Show them how it is happening every day. Andrew Lopez""Been
constructively doing this for over a decade. Do you know what righteous anger is?
When we see greed, personal gain and fame overpower what is right and just, it soon
becomes apparent that it is time to clean house.""Hmmmmm, have a websiite or
somewhere I can read about it?""High profile cases are good teaching tools, but I
have learned from the past that most people look at these situations as rare and
unusual. Remember, 687 people die every single day due to medical harm, (according
to the last study done by healthgrades). We see far less then 100 of these cases
profiled each year nationally. The public is totally unaware of the true figures,
and sadly, most of these high profile cases are about lawsuits, which push the
consumers even further away from concern as we all have had that false sense of
security thinking that lawsuits reduce medical harm."You are exactly right Jeni.
Most people have no earthly idea just how dangerous healthcare/medicine is until
it's too late for the reasons you state above.What are you doing December 3? The
US Senate MedTech Caucus and FDA are announcing MDIC-Medical Device Innovation
Consortium. Who is invited to represent the harmed patient?"ProPublicans,My 23 y o
daughter's best girlfriend was yesterday diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (I
don't know which flavor). Although I'm not consulting to the family, I'm curious to
know if this disease is subject to some level of misdiagnosis..."I'm wondering if
this is something Isabel the computerized symptom checker would be helpful with."My
impression is that it is not. Diagnosis is the result of a white blood count, with
a very striking result and an automated process. That said, lab results can be
wrong with poor sample handling. I would, no matter what get a second opinion from
a hemetologit and an oncologist. My best friend in kindergarten had aml and she is
still around. It responds well to treatment but it looks like chemo is tough."A
second opinion is always worth it! I would do that first."In any case, I didn't
know about Isabel. Nice to know.""Bart, make sure that she gets a second and maybe
even a third opinion. A few weeks ago I happened to turn on CSPAN and learned a
great deal about young people and cancers. Please watch this video of the Natl
Press Club Meeting in it's entirety. Your daughter's friend and her family will be
in my thoughts and prayers.""Jene, pls provide a link to the video you mentioned."
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/309386-1"Ok, and now for the most gruesome
country in the world.... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2240075/Now-sickbabies-death-pathway-Doctors-haunting-testimony-reveals-children-end-lifeplan.html#ixzz2DcUKj73D. So glad we have modelled our new fancy health care system
on the UK."I makes you wonder if there is a conscience anywhere in the medical
profession.I've wondered that from the time I was tricked into unnecessary radical
surgery and harmed beyond repair Debra...."Should I write to the NY Times about
this article?? And if so, to whom?? It's got so much whacky crap in it I don't
even know where to begin. This is why we suffer . . . NO ONE in a position of
power(?) seems to ""GET IT!""
[Or . . they do, but they also ""get"" a little
something-something for doing nothing legally substantive for PATIENTS. Oh sure,
bribes NEVER happen in Washington, D.C. {rolling eyes}]
My point is, I would like
to ""rebut"" this article because if this is the extent of what is being currently
done (and proposed) to HELP PATIENTS . . .OY VEY!! All Americans, each and every
one of us, are exposed to the very real risk of iiatrongic injuries, and this
whacky crap is supposed to he helpful to PATIENTS?!? HOW exactly?????????
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/23/health/new-system-for-patients-to-report-medicalmistakes.html?_r=2&"It drives me nuts too."There was a lenghty discussion about
this article in this group when it came out,""Cary Parks I just read it last night
and became part of the group about a month ago . . . I'm always late to the
party :-( As Roseanne Roseannadanna would say ""Nevermind"" ;-)"My blog about
Hospital Safety Score from the Leapfrog group now available on IPAD/Iphone.
Compare facilities in your local area. Thank you at Leapfrog for this important
work! http://reginaholliday.blogspot.com/2012/11/a-b-c-d-or-f-leapfrog-andhospital.html"Have three questions - Leapfrog is a non profit, who is paying the
bills? Leapfrog is using data from the hospitals/CMS - who are not reporting facts
to give said hospitals a grade? Hm, we have already established the reporting
method is hugely flawed. You are telling patients who have been harmed to contact
ProPublica - will these reports be used for some purpose?"http://epatients.net/archives/2012/11/new-hospital-safety-score-data-a-key-enabler-forinformed-choice.html E-Patient Dave deBronkart post might help on Methodology"It
looks like Leapfrog is funded through dues though they might also have grants, I
will have to ask.""The sources are CMS Hospital Comapre, The Leapfrog Hospital
Survey, AHA Annual Survey here is more on Methodology
http://www.hospitalsafetyscore.org/static/downloads/HospitalSafetyScore_ScoringMeth
odology_November2012.pdf""I find it interesting that Inova Fairfax does not end up
super high performing. But the ICU staffing concerns me because when I ask nurses
how many patients they were covering, it was always too
many.http://www.leapfroggroup.org/cp?
frmbmd=cp_listings&find_by=hospital&name=inova+fairfax&cols=oa"Pro Publica is
gathering information on harm. I hope they use it to shine a light on these
matters and do a county by county comparison like they did for autopsy rates. But
Marshall Allen could probably answer that better than I. I have hope for the White
House initiative in May 2013 also. Too many people are falling through the
cracks...what white house initiativeI mentioned it in the blog post from the NY
times piece: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/23/health/new-system-for-patients-toreport-medical-mistakes.html?_r=1&"Oh, that boondoggle.""We don't need a new system
- we need regulations that are in place now to be enforced. If this does get passed
- how many years, how many more patients will be harmed or die. It really seems
redundant to me, wasteful, inhumane. DHHS has the biggest budget of all government
agencies last time I checked. They list employee numbers at 88,000+ - bet that does
not include 'contractors'. Not one of them assisted, validated my well documented
complaint - flagrant disregard for my civil rights, my patient's rights and caused
life altering damages, which if they had read the medicine guide for the black
boxed drug - would not have occurred. What am I missing?
I know about the patient survey on harm. Just wondering who it will be presented
to. Any grading done for hospital safety that is based on hospitals reporting/data
is of no value. Hospitals own TJC, work closely with QIO's and CMS seem to
coordinate with the QIO's - it's an inside job. Another extra layer, sigh."Anyone
have the date logic died?Michelin Anderson The point is patients will now have more
ability to judge for themselves if a facility is dangerous and get out of it.
Where is your blog so I can read about your advocacy mission?"How can I ""Like""
Michelin Anderson's post 10 times. Mr Pres. You now control and have controlled
agencies that have the power to mot only make this happen but effectively ban any
medical service provider, from Drs., Hospitals, Nurses, pharma sales etc. from 95%
+/- of their income. Why invent more costly taxpayer funded stuff that history
tells us will be as efficient as, say, the post office?""Regina Holliday, you say ""The point is patients will now have more ability to judge for themselves if a
facility is dangerous and get out of it."" Yeah right! Let's see, pretty much
everyone using our health system understands that smoking, to say the least, is bad
and that overeating/obesity is bad etc. etc. etc. How's that working?
So tell me
again how it will be good for ""patients"" to judge for themselves? Seems like
""judgement"" is a long lost art. We need the regulators to do their jobs and use
the enforcement tools they already have. Nothing will stop a Doc like being put
out of business and trading his prescription pad for a striped or orange outfit at
the nearest prison.""After my husband died painfully and suffered a great deal from
medical error, I have dedicated everyday of my life to the improving the rights of
patients. I think all of of us must work together to create a better tomorrow.
That means government, providers and patients all working together to create a
system that cares for people. Each night my sons go to bed without a goodnight
from their Father. I know the pain that you are speaking from, but nothing will
change if we do not work together to make a better system.""Regina -would you
believe I refused to admit myself to a hospital because I knew their history? Would
you believe I voiced this many times, clearly, loudly? Would you believe I refused
many tests - and they still did them - one - they had to knock me out totally so
that was a sedative. Your theory puts the onus back on the patient - somehow I
don't believe is an answer for sick people to get safe, humane medical care.""I
agree with you Allen J. Van Putten and Michelin Anderson. I too told the doctors
who forced me into unnecessary radical surgery that I had none of the symptoms they
instisted I had, and they bullied, threatened, mislead and misinformed me until I
finally gave in, because nobody had warned me that it was my body, my choice, and
doctors had no right to force me into an operation I did not want and did not
need.""The issue of low health literacy in the U.S. needs to be addressed if any
initiatives, or even the status quo, are to work/work better. But the dysfunctional
medical culture may be the primary reason for preventable medical errors.""How do
you 'work' with an entity that lies? How do you deal with an entity that
disingenuously avoids facts you present them in writing? Not picking on you - thank
you for your devotion to this cause. I really want to know why they can't read
medicine guides or acknowledge a certain black box warning exists - online, in
pharmacies - how do you deal with that? I personally walk away from new doctors who
do this. You really can't convince someone whose livelihood depends on certain
facts to not be recognized.""June, I hope you won't give in next time. Experience
makes us wiser. MA, there are some fiendish institutions around-no doubt about
that.""Has anyone been keeping up with the case of Amanda Trujillo, the nurse who
was punished because she educated a critically ill patient about an invasive
procedure the patient was about to submit to?"
http://www.nurseratchedsplace.com/2012/04/the-war-against-amanda-trujillo/I am
sorry you each have suffered so. Are you familiar with my Walking Gallery project?
Perhaps you will join us some time. I find sometimes pictures communicate better
than words. http://reginaholliday.blogspot.com/2012/06/walking-gallery-walks-onyear-two.html"I will never give in ever again Claudia Kim Nichols. I would never
have let them harm me in the first place if I had been warned to beware of doctors
who try to push drugs, tests and procedures on you. All we get in the media and on
TV is how marvelous doctors are, and the TV ads are full of scare tactic ads, so I
was totally naive about the dangers of modern medicine. I'm far wiser now, but most
people I talk to still have blind faith in their doctors.....""Regina my wife was
at Inova's ER 3 times in 3 days with severe neuro symptoms. Turned away twice and
admitted the last time after being transferred from the ER of another hospital
since Inova was a level 1 trauma center. When admitted she was not seen by neuro
for 31 hr. Walked in and by
the time they starred treating her she no longer
had any feeling from Mid chest down.Can't walk, can't sit, unable to turn in bed,
can't control bowels or kidneys. Sex is history. Going shopping will be forever
changed event. What good would this rating system do. EMS made the decision. So
she is made a paraplegic but the dump a load steroids in her (14 x the. f d a
limit to""I'll say this AGAIN . . . PATIENTS FIRST! With all due respect for the
committment and time involved Regina Holliday -- the link you provided about
patient reporting is, once again, NOT FOCUSING ON THE PATIENTS THAT HAVE BEEN
HARMED!!! Read it. Where does ANY of it have t do with the harmed patent?? Oh,
sure . . . report it and then what? Blow your legal statutes of limitations?
That's what happened
to me. I reported on the FDA Maude reporting systems and I wasn't even CLEAR at
what had really happened to me. Blew my products liability statute as a result.
And BIG WHOPPIE DOO the patient gets to ""report"" it. Then what? How is that
going to COMPENSATE the victim? How is that going to HELP THE VICTIM? We are
getting our throats sliced, bleeding out over here . . . and they give us this
band-aid?!? To Quote: ""Federal officials said the reports would be analyzed by
researchers from the RAND Corporation and the ECRI Institute, a nonprofit
organization that has been investigating medical errors for four decades."" FOUR
DECADES and they STILL need patients to report these things to get THEIR JOBS AS
MEDICAL PROVIDERS RIGHT?!?!?!?!?!?!?! FOUR DECADES OMIGOSH. It took less time to
get freaking seat belts in cars to protect drivers and passenge""I told my story to
the Health Service Commissioner, the Minister of Health and the Hospital Compaints
Dept. This is what they wrote to me, and this was 6-9 months after the
surgery......""All the pain and complicatiions you are going through is common
after a hysterectomy, go find a pain clinic...The doctors did no wrong...They made
no money on your surgery....You should be lucky they put you in immediately, some
women have to wait up to 9 months for elective surgery in some public hospitals..
It's a matter of science and knowledge...You signed a consent form...You are being
unrealistic, go see a psychiatrist""...These are just a few of the comments the
complaints depts. told me, Those doctors involved in this surgical racket, abused
their power, committed a total breach of trust. They violated every single one of
my health rights. they violated their duty of care and they blatantly violated the
Hippocratic Oath and first did the moste grievous bodily harm. They lied
,fabricated, deceived, coerced and bullied me into surgery I begged not to have and
the HSC tell me the doctors did no wrong....The system is geared to protecting
doctors reputations rather than protecting patients from unnecessary harm...That
last sentence was said by Dr Phil Hammond in his book, ""Trust Me, I'm Still a
Doctor.""""I liked everything that Leapfrog did (since maybe 2001 or so since they
got started), until they did this score. I've looked into it and I won't use it in
decision-making. This is not an academic input. I'm considering a major operation
in the DC area and I may just look at the scores to see if they surprise me in some
way. I won't choose my hospital based on them. The main thing I don't like about
the scores is that any hospital gets an ""A"". A implies excellent performance on
patient safety, and the data that goes into the scores - the part on outcomes - not
on processes, is just not valid enough for anyone to merit an A. Also, I disagree
with the A score for patient safety on principle. If a hospital administrator sees
his or her hospital with a score of A on Leapfrog he or she may come to the
conclusion that their hospital is doing as well as it needs to do on patient
safety, which isn't true of any hospital that I have ever heard of - and I talk
with people who work in hospitals, not just patients. (There are entities that
deserve an A for safety - maybe Qantas Airlines or Alcoa? - but I don't think there
are any in healthcare in 2012.) A numerical score would have been better. A
""90"" would have allowed room for improvement, an A doesn't, and encourages
complacency. People who run hospitals have a lot of legitimate competing
priorities and having an A on patient safety allows or even justifies putting money
and attention elsewhere. If I was a hospital patient safety manager and my
hospital scored an A I'd feel good, but I'd also expect less attention when I came
to a meeting and said that patient safety problem x, y, or z, needed more staff
time or other resources directed at it. (Substitute C diff infection, pressure
ulcers, or problems with the electronic health record, or your favorite issue for
x, y, or z.) The fact that Leapfrog also charges hospitals to advertise their A
score gives me the heeby-jeebies.After writing the above I figured I should check
out the Leapfrog web site, because I hadn't seen it in a few months - since the
weeks after the ratings were issued. I can't figure out how to get a letter score
on hospitals. Only bars (like on a cell phone) for ratings across a variety of
combined domains) to indicate status. And it looked like there was no data for
Sibley in DC, so now I'm really confused.""""there are some fiendish
institutions""..........because there is no accountability. I did not 'give in"" I was totally isolated by being profoundly deaf with no proper communications
offered and no supporters available. Within 24 hours - I began to have an event
which was brought on by the toxic stew of drugs I was given - no one seemed to
grasp I was not HOH but profoundly deaf. They ignored my questions as to why IV was
burning my hand, why my thumbs stopped working, why my legs would no longer support
me. It got much much worse. I was released crippled weighing 16 pounds lighter and
told a bad infection did this - blech. By the fourth day I went into respiratory
and heart failure, wasting. Everything they gave was what I should never been
given. I arrived uncrippled, on no meds just had maybe a sinus infection. You
better believe if I had not had insurance they would have released me quick. The
event was recorded but not reported - to me or anyone else. Quell surprise. being
health literate is not acceptable to physicians - questions are not appreciated. I
grew up with ten doctors families - I know they have to put one foot in their pants
at a time just like us - never deified a doctor except when they are truly caring
human beings who want the best possible outcome for each and every patient - now
they are agents for big pharma, own laboratories, financial backers for hospital
expansions - that is a nightmare scenario if there ever was one.""You are so right
Michelin.Their are some fiendish institutions, because there is no
accountability..Dangerous doctors know this, so they know they can commit criminal
and medical malpractice and never, ever be accountable. In other words, they have a
licence to kill and maim, and they will always be protected by the system."
"Contued..limit for 14 days and instead of DQ it they started treating the steroid
psychosis with anti psychotics - exactly the wrong thing and over our witten
objrctions. We finally got her out only to have her Ems'd back to Inova the 'level
1"" trauma center. They discharged the next day and again we thought we were away
from there clutches but less than a week later she was again EMSd to Inova.
Unbeknownst to each other my daugher and I both were calling 911 to have them
reroute the ambulance to another safer Hosp. They refused and when we arrived we
told Inova that we wanted her transferred immediately to a safer hosp. Again
refused so we called the Hosp Pres at home (like 2 am)and demanded transfer from
him.
He refused and she was admitted. The very next thing she was sent to ICU
where she was not fed for 8 days. No nutrition from ANY source while laying flat
on her back with arms and hands continually tied to the bed rails. Can't move
feet, legs, butt, stomachs, or chest and, for good measure your hands are tied in
moots and your arms are tied sideways to the bed rails. Sounds like gitmo doesn't
it except they just got a million $ new soccer field or whatever. So finally 28
days after she was admitted we finally forced Inova to release her. Incidentally
per their weigh records found in my wife's chart, she lost 49% of her body weight
during the period of starvation and got a stage IV pressure ulcer from being tied
on her back. You could see the bones of her sacrum through the hole. The dr was
asked by an investigator - brought in by our complaint to Medicare that they were
trying to kill her - whe he ordered her to without nutrition and the reports has
him as answering ""that she was a paraplegic"". The state of VA and Medicare are
justr fine with that.So I would contend that though we are fairly knowledgeable
consumers, we neither could keep her out if Inova's clutches nor get her out once
she was there and we needed real help, not some wonky statistics being reviewed by
some new ""help agency"" which won't be published in the Main Street media because
hospitals by ads and their execs hobnob with the docs and admin.I don' think I'm
too cynical. I just live in a real world.""I got news for ya'll . . . hospitals
aren't making the errors. It's the doctors and medical providers, directly.
Hosptial ""ranks"" mean nothing. Another way to obfiscate WHO really causes the
harm, injury, death. HINT: it's a medical provider (a doctor, a nurse, etc.)
doing the deed. Hospitals are inanimate objects last time I checked. The
methodolgy beckoning a hospitals' grade I couldn't care less about. It's useless.
It's the medical providers inside the hospital that cause the pain/damage. Real
people who are using the hosptial as merely facilities to inject drugs into our
bodies, use scaples to cut us open, etc. . . . FOCUS people. FOCUS!!
These
ranking methodlogies, blah, blah, blah are meaningless to me. Because, once again,
it's up to the PATIENT to read their ranks/reviews?!? Give me a break. Medical
providers should not harm patients. Period. When they do . . . it's the
hospital?!? The patient just didn't pick the right one?? I'm trying to undestand
the logic with the latest ""spin"" on the hosptial rank mentality. DON'T HARM ME
when I am in a hospital. Period, end of story.""I have a long post above that I
started writing before I saw any other posts... As I understand it Leapfrog used
to be entirely funded by payers (like GM,
GE, etc.), but now they are also soliciting money from hospitals... See
http://www.leapfroggroup.org/56440/CompetitiveBenchmarking""Noel Eldridge - bingo!
Regina Holliday - please do not take any of our comments personal - some of us have
utilized our research sources to stop this insanity for a while now. You cannot
take any organization at face value - we don't live in America anymore - it's
Americanistan, third world medicine at Swiss prices. Can you say ALEC?""Oh golly
gee Noel Eldridge, no conflict of interest there :(""I love you Carla. You just
told my story. It was doctors who lied through their teeth and fabricated nonexistent bleeding and cancer. It was doctors who totally deceived, coerced,
mislead, misinformed, bullied, threatened and harmed me beyond repair, after
telling me they's done hundreds of laparoscopy radical hysterectomies, when in
truth they were just learning the new procedure. It was doctors who discredited,
slandered and blacklisted me in the aftermath of the harm they inflicted on me for
personal gain...IT WAS DOCTORS!...The very people who swear to put the patients
best interest first and above all DO NO HARM!......IT WAS DOCTORS!.....""The
hospital's administration is the prime facilitator of all activities in the
hospital. They dictate the hours and standards to followed be ER corps and
hospitalists etc. they dictate by contract with radiologists anesthesiasts,
surgeons etc how many have to ge at the Hosp and how many minutes one of these
provider has to get to the Hosp when called. A doc must have Hosp privileges
before he can earn one greedy dime there""REgina, also, don'y take it personally,
but I think the project is a horrible idea.There exist already five six seven
entities that purport to be ""The"" place to send your complaints. Imagine being
in an ICU that had starved your mother and trying to get help to cut the bureacracy
to get her transferred as her life depended on it and each time the precious
minutes from your maybe dying mother are spent ""sharing"" with someone who after a
half hour or seven days, or three months, finally admit that they can't or wont do
a blessed thing. I am not super enthused with telling my story. But I want changed
processes. This is another, for patients, dead end. Maybe researchers think its
great, but if I want a should to cry on, it's not someone on a 1800 line.Noel, I am
really sorry that you need surgery. I would not rule out having surgery
elsewhere-- I have had surgical procedures all over the country. I would find a
place well recommended by patient boards with some real volume and with experts for
post-op care for your underying condition. I have been thrilled to death with
Duke, which is not that far. I realize they have had some errors, but the place is
better than anyplace in NOVA. Your point is well taken.Conflicts of interest that
would be considered venal in other situations are normal in medicine and unti that
gets address, I think progress on anything else is a problem.""I would never have
been near a hospital if it wasn't for a female doctor who came to the local
Community Health Centre once a week to do Pap smears. She was a doctor since 1969
and the staff there thought she was so altuistic and caring for giving her time to
the patients who went there for Pap smears. Under the guise of a caring woman's
doctor, who had our best interests at heart was a snake-in-the grass who was
looking for trusting, unsuspecting women to sell out to her equally unethical
gynaecological buddies to be exploited for personal gain. I'm still in shock at
all the lies and fabrications she told, and how she manipulated and coerced me into
unnecessary tests and then fabricated they found something wrong, and insisted on
me seeing her gynaecologist buddies, who destroyed my health and my life for
personal gain....""Re the conflict of interest comment above, the part of the
Leapfrog rating I don't like (outcomes) are the part taken from government agencies
and re-used by Leapfrog. I'm not critical of Leapfrog's data on processes, which
they compile themselves. My biggest distress beyond the low-quality (government)
outcome data is the letter score (which I couldn't find tonight but I saw earlier).
I think one letter to represent the performance of hundreds of people (from
surgeons to room-cleaners) for tens of thousands of patients doesn't make sense.
Other problems with the letter score, from my point of view, are above.""True that
Allen J. Van Putten -- but it's not the administration doing the procedure,
administering the medications, etc. If they are allowing the few rouge doctors to
continue having ""privileges"" in their institutin, shame on them. The need to
grow a pair IMHO and the administration should be held accountable if they're
continuing to allow Dr. Mengele privileges. But, the hosptial itself, I'm sure, is
not ""bad"" and does have good doctors and nurses who are just as sick of it all as
we are.
Rank/Review the hospitals administrator, Chief of Staff, etc. If the ER
docs, staff, etc. are too burned out, then they need to protest their working
hours, hire more staff, but don't take it out on the patients in the form of doing
sloppy work and saying ""we're too busy"" (I'm going to write a comment about the
NY Times article which was linked. But tomorrow, another day, another subject.
However, in that article they are saying doctors are ""in and out"" and can't
really discern things. OMIGOSH. I'm too tired now to write my thoughts this
evening.) Perhaps the name of the administrators are a better way of ranking: Joe
Blow, Administrator at Mercy Mercy Me Hosptial gets an ""F"" -- they're the
man/woman in charge.""Hospitals have policy manuals - employees do as they are told
or they don't work there. There is even someone who 'checks' records - making sure
certain things are not found it the records.....really a plum job/snark. Well ,
that is not as important as being a Patient Advocate and telling me I cannot get my
full records, that the hospital does not release full records. Like I just fell
off a turnip wagon and do not know my patient's rights.. Or possibly the COO who
tells me they will not correct all the errors - the errors that paint a picture of
an extremely urgent situation - telling me that even though they have my age wrong
- their records are a legal document and can't be changed. My admitting info looks
like whoever filled it out was drunk or drugged - nothing is true. And there is a
reason for it -""I wonder, do we get a special exorbitant consultant fee for
helping everyone figure out how to do their jobs. And noel, that is correct. A
place I might recommend for brain surgery might be a disaster for abdominal
surgery. That is the level of granualarity of data you need. Just because some
says they do X surgery on their website doesn't mean they are proficint at it."The
AHA and others have described why the CMS HACs are not useful measures - in essence
they are just too rare (falsely rare) to be representative of reality. And the
PSIs are better used for case-finding for quality improvement than for measurement.
See this slide set: http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/qitoolkit/webinar0215/toolstouse.htm
and look at slide 29 and some others in the set and see what you think."Carla, I
would recommend looking at Mom's medical records before saying oh, no, they aren't
bad. They, pretty much across the board were bad. But I agree with much.
Administrators have no skin in the game. I suppose we could boil them in oil
every-time a patient died, but that would lead to excessive turnover. I think that
the legal authorities to penalize administrators who chose not to correct harmful
situations -- we haul slumloards in, we haul sloppy food producers in, why not
hospital admins.""We should boil them in oil if the patients' death was advoidable
and a result of medical error . . . but you're right Debra Van Putten it might be
too much turn over. But maybe, they would get someone in that cared and ran a
tight ship! Good analogy about slumlords, sloppy food producers . . .""If the
harmed patient was listened to and believed, there would be a lot of unemployed
dangerous doctors, and patients would be much safer. But instead dangerous, and
even struck off doctors continue to cause havoc wherever they go, because they are
protected by the system..One example is Graeme Reeves, ""The Butcher from Bega"" a
gynaecologist who harmed thousands of female patients. Thousands of complaints over
a 12 year period while unlicenced, he caused horrific mutilations to his female
victims. Nobody would listen to the women, so he kept on causing harm to
unsuspecting patients. It was only when a group of women marched into parliament
that the story finally came out....""Just to clarify ProPublica's mention on the
Leapfrog site: we are not affiliated with Leapfrog, but they are referring to us
any patients who contact them with complaints about suffering harm. We appreciate
this very much, because we can document those stories in our Patient Harm
Questionnaire, which many of you have completed. The questionnaire is a great way
for us to identify individual patient stories and issues to pursue (and yes, we are
pursuing several), and stories to refer to other journalists. It's been a fantastic
tool for this work, so we hope that many people and organizations will refer
patients to it. In case you have not completed it, here's the link:
http://www.propublica.org/article/patient-harm-questionnaire""That's great that you
are getting more information from ""LeapFrog"" Marshall Allen -- our opinions on
this message thread are our own, nothing personal to LeapFrog. We all have our own
axe to grind with what has happened to us. It's hard to go through, we all process
the pain individually. My stance, in a nutshell:
Money from the insurance carriers DOES go somewhere, but it never reaches the
patients who have been truly harmed. That's why they are insured -- for THEIR
medical malpractice, to compensate and make right by the patient (and/or patient's
family).
Since when did doctor's medical insurance become the means to enrich
the defense firms and their cronies?That's pathetic, humiliating and amazingly
cruel for patients when that light bulb goes on.
We are victims and yet, no one
hears our voices, which is why I mentioned (in one of my comments above) our
throats are slit . . . we are silenced, one way or the other. There is nothing
being done legally, substantively to help patients who have been victimized by the
games people play. Ring, ring. ring. ""Hello?"" -- Hey Medical Community, it's
for you. It's the 21st Century. They're calling to remind you to GET A CLUE!""."
"Patients will always be harmed while dangerous doctors are allowed to keep
practicing. In 1976, in the USA, certain responsible doctors had carried out their
own investigation of colleagues' work. They reached the conclusion that 5% of all
doctors were unfit to practice. This meant that 16,000 incompetents were merrily
making wrong diagnoses, issuing wrong prescriptions, recommending inappropriate
treatment in the USA. Yet the licensing boards which were supposed to protect the
public against malpractitioners struck off a mere 66 each year, on average....."
"Park was arrested last month after prosecutors say a woman reported waking up to
find her pants down and Park exposing himself during dental treatment. Prosecutors
say three other women with similar claims subsequently came forward.Read more here:
http://www.sacbee.com/2012/11/28/5016298/merced-dentist-charged-withabusing.html#mi_rss=AP%20State%20News#storylink=cpy""The World's Worst Medical
Mistakes by Martin Fido... We all come into contact with the science of medicine at
some point or another, placing our trust and wellbeing into the hands of doctors,
nurses and drug companies. However, our trust can sometimes be misplaced. Mistakes
can occur, and often on a massive scale, as the tragedy of Thalidomide has shown.
But there is also stories that don't achieve front page publicity - the victims of
the wayward scalpel, of shocking misdiagnoses and of the imposter doctor."
".....MEDICAL INCOMPETENCE..... Medical incompetence had various causes. Some bad
doctors were alcoholics, or had become addicted to their own drugs. Some went on
doing exactly what they had been taught at college, blissfully unaware that medical
science had moved on, and the old ways were now either inadequate or completely
inappropriate. Some had forgotten most of what they learned in college, and stuck
to a little tread mill of cures that were not the universal panaceas they imagined.
Doctors were prescribing antibiotics for illnesses which academic studies showed to
be unresponsive to them. Doctors were recommending quite unnecessary operations:
especially tonsillectomies and hysterectomies. Perhaps most disturbingly, patients
were dying on operating tables they should never have been on. It was estimated
that some 2.3 million unnecessary operations took place in the USA every year.
11,900 people died because the surgery they should never have undergone in the
first place. 6 billion doses of antibiotics were prescribed - 22% of them were
unnecessary. An estimated 10,000 patients died or came close to death because of
antibiotics they should never have been given....."http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=RKmxL8VYy0M&feature=player_detailpageFascinating. Thanks for posting!"I agree.
The doctors at Inova kept changing my wife's meds and not listening to the family
on things like ""she took that drug 3 years ago and had this or that serious
adverse reaction"" and sure enough, they'd order it over my objections and 2 days
later the same adverse reactions occurred. I finally started telling the doctors
that I wanted her treated by a chemist instead of a doctor. Absolute
incompetents.""I agree with you Allen. I almost died from a drug a doctor gave me.
I told her what my symptoms were, and she totally ignored me and gave me the wrong
drug, which made me 10 times worse. I always felt the chemists were more accurate
and helpful, but we have to get the prescription from the doctor. Even when we know
what works, we have to go to the doctors for the prescription. Waste of time and
money. I rarely got sick before I was horrendously harmed by a botched totally
unnecessary radical operation, so I rarely went to the doctors, and rarely took
prescription drugs, but to be given the wrong one really frightened me. I will
never trust doctors for as long as I live. They destroyed my trust completely, not
only in doctors, but in humanity itself.""June Gardner, that's part of the trauma.
Medicine is identified to us as an authority for the purpose of helping us with
it's knowledge and skill. When the practitioners of medicine use those skills with
very self-serving intent, followed by an absolute denial of responsibility, we lose
trust not only in doctors, but that distrust can spread to other authority. If
doctors can disappoint so seriously, so we see the depths of human depravity,
what's to stop humans playing the role of another authority from doing the same?
Traumatized children of abusive parents don't trust other adults, and adults are
traumatized by betrayal as well. When an adult is betrayed by another individual,
we have enough experience to realize that not all individuals are to be placed in
the same bin of distrust as that bad individual. But when an entire group of
people, such as the medical profession, follows the line of falsity laid down by
the one who victimized us, then it is different situation. The contract with
society seems to be one-sided. I imagine the same idea has occurred to victims of
mortgage fraud who lost their homes recently. And since bullies are attracted to
people who exhibit signs of previous victimization, because they know they will
make easier targets, the traumatized victim is more likely to invite abuse again,
which justifies their traumatized outlook.""Doctors say, ""Trust me. I'm a doctor.
You must obey my orders. I'm in authority here."" And the media reveres doctors,
always talking about a new breakthrough or a new miracle drug, so what is the
public supposed to do. Even the smartest of people can be a victim of medical
incompetence. The problem is that there are too many programs on the good that
doctors do, and no programs on the dark side of medicine, so the public can have
their guard up when something doesn't seem right to them. If one person had told me
that 90% of all gynaecological procedures are unnecessary, I'd still have my 6
healthy organs fully intact, and I'd be jumping for joy, not wailing in pain from a
badly botched unnecessary radical operation...."The victims of medical error have
no choice but to experience the following list."It seems to me the story is the
same Worldwide, when a patient has been harmed by Iatrogenic Neglect....""This is
an interesting article Garrick Sitongia. The outcome of the findings is what we
need to implement, and I've mentioned this to a few people: Medical care providers
(doctors, nurses, etc.) must become mandated reporters when iatrongic patient
injuries occur. They use ""statutory"" . . . same thing. And I quote from the
site: ""��_Statutory obligation for health professionals to disclose & report all
medical errors and in particular any medical error that has harmed a patient.
��_Statutory obligation to give an open, full and honest disclosure of the
occurrence of the medical error, and the extent of damage sustained by the patient
- to the patient and his/her family,��_Statutory obligation to provide genuine
remedial medical care for the iatrogenic victim.��_Statutory obligation to
provide fair compensation in case of serious iatrogenic damage - a Victim's
Compensation Fund.��_Full access and control over medical records, checked by the
patient for accuracy before release onto any Electronic Data Base, including rights
to full copies of all manual and computer coded records.��_Developing national
and international systems of recording medical errors with their route cause
analysis and a statutory obligation to include the patient's experience.""
��_Developing national and international systems of improvements of healthcare by
preventing medical errors."We so need this.If you have pain from damage and
radiology reports are coming back as normal you should be worried those reports are
not legit..I had two tests done and then started to question the reports..I
figured out what was going on..Other reports I found had been amended and they had
gotten rid of the original reports for the purpose of concealment..Now I am stopped
from getting any medical tests done.."I was talking to a nurse after I was
butchered, and she told me they had to sign a confidentiality form, where they were
not allowed to report anything that went on in the hospital, or else they would be
sacked and sued. So is it any wonder that they don't report dangerous doctors. It
has happened already. Read about ICU nurse Toni Hoffman on the web, after she
reported Jayant Patel. And when a doctor blew the whistle on a very well known
Neurosurgeon, he was the one sacked and discredited and his life was so destroyed
that he nearly committed suicide...So you see why nobody reports bad doctors, and
even when they do, like the group of doctors who got together and exposed Professor
Kossman who defrauded Medicare and Private Health Insurances by charging for
operations he didn't do, plus for doing unnecessary operations on accident victims
and performing dangerous surgery way beyond his expertise, he wasn't put in jail.
He was given
a job at a well-known private hospital. Doctors are above the law....""PATIENTS
FIRST!! PATIENTS FIRST!! PATIENTS FIRST!! And my after-thoughts
. . . in the
states that have ""caps"" it should be stautory that: 1) defense lawyers have
""caps"" as well, and ALL states 2) defense lawyers or insurance companies should
be able to settle the case. As it is now, ONLY DOCTORS can ""authorize"" their
insurance carriers to settle. Why should the doctors who have harmed their
patients have this say? It is a conflict of interest. OF COURSE with the deep
pocket insurance companies, why wouldn't doctors just let this illogical system
ride out? Patients CAN NOT file a claim. A patent HAS TO SUE. Then when we do -because we are forced to -- we are targeted as sue happy, and all our cases are
deemed frivilous. This type of system sets it up for the doctors to lie, deny,
obfiscate the truth, with their insurance carriers being used to perputate their
lies and medical cover ups the insurance carrriers are set up to pay the defense
firms -- covering for the sins, their crimes against their patients. This should
be illegal to do. Insurance companies ARE paying out ""compensation"" -- to the
defense firms. There is NO incentive for the doctors to offer a ""settlement"" to
patients they have harmed when they know they have their hired guns paying the
defense firms. Even though most settlements have ""without admitting guilt""
language, doctors just string out the pain and suffering of the patients by NOT
authorizing settlements. It's the Fox guarding the hen house mentality that TRULY
raises the costs. It's the defense lawyers that get the compensation, when it
should be earmarked for the harmed patient.
PATIENTS FIRST!! That why doctors
have insurance. But it doesn't go to patents that have been harmed. It goes to
line the pockets of the Defense lawyers are financially benefitting by this
provision -- e.g., givng the doctors the authority to settle, which they NEVER
authorize. They continue to harm us with this system in place.
Auto insurance is
NOT that way. Homeowners insurance is NOT that way. Only the medical malpratice
insurance is that way. Why? Because it lines the pockets of the defense firms.
The insurance companies pay out -- but it's NOT to the patients harmed. It's to
the defense lawyers who have NO CAPS, can drag a case out for fun and provide. This
is, indeed, cruel and unusual punishment to the harmed patients (and/or their
families).""Carla, I believe you've connected all the dots here... What we have is
a very incestuous and insidious system with regard to doctors, hospitals, insurance
companies, med mal lawyers, etc.""Carla, Elizabeth L. once wrote that they keep all
the money circulating at the top, and only a small part gets to the victim. You
have explained how that works.""I just read in a book called ""The World's Worst
Medical Mistakes. Out of 16,000 incompetent doctors who were making wrong
diagnoses, issuing wrong prescriptions, recommending inappropriate treatment in the
USA, the state licencing boards which were supposed to protect the public against
malpractitioners stuck off a mere 66 each year on average."If you are someone you
know was a victim of a hospital acquired infection please call in on Thursday at
5:00 PM (CST). (646) 652-2105"This really needs more exposure, it is so important
for so many.TRANSPLANT Policies - PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD OPEN UNTIL 12/14/2012 The
OPTN, which was established by Congress and is being operated by a private,
nonprofit entity, is requesting public comment on all open policy proposals
(proposals highlighted in yellow below). All public comments received are
considered by the OPTN prior to approval of any final policy by the OPTN Board of
Directors""This is alarming to learn & needs more Journalism interest.Proposal to
Clarify Priority Status for Prior Living Organ Donors Who Later Require a Kidney
TransplantAffected/Proposed Policy: 3.5.11.6 (Donation Status) and 12.9.3 (Priority
on the Waitlist)Kidney Transplantation CommitteeThis proposal seeks to clarify the
allocation priority assigned to prior living organ donors who later require a
kidney transplant. Current policy is unclear as to whether the priority is to be
assigned in the event that a prior living donor requires a second or third
transplant. This proposal would clarify that the priority is to be assigned with
each kidney transplant registration for prior living organ donors.Affected Groups
Living DonorsTransplant Social WorkersOrgan CandidatesNumber of Potential
Candidates AffectedThis proposal will affect a small number of candidates. Since
1996, there have been 33 prior living organ donors listed for more than one kidney
transplant.Compliance with OPTN Key Goals and Final RuleThis proposal will promote
living donor safety by clarifying that prior living donors who experience kidney
failure will receive additional priority with each kidney registration.
http://optn.transplant.hrsa.gov/PublicComment/pubcommentPropSub_301.pdf""Too many
prospective living kidney donors are told they'll ""go to the top of the list"" if
they need a kidney in the future, which is patently UNTRUE. A living kidney donor
is given four points of priority, which amounts to approximately one year of wait
time. Of equal importance is that this priority is local, not national, because we
don't really have national allocation in the US. This proposed policy simply says
that if a living kidney donor needs a second or third transplant (as transplants
aren't not cures and most recipients need multiple transplants to achieve a
'normal' lifespan), the same four points of priority will be applied each time the
person is listed.""To me there is a bigger problem of promoting kidney donation to
save a life, and then the donor is put at risk. I hear so many people donating do
they truely understand the longterm risk."Of course they don't understand the longterm risk because we don't know the breadth and depth of the long-term risk. Why?
Because no one has bothered to track or study us.Snapshot of a life - a story that
reveals more than an obituary about the person behind the lawsuit.
http://www.answersforlisa.blogspot.com"And just think how many exclusions the OIG
would be doing if only hospital etc records were honest, if only Medicare did
quality inspections instead of the Joint Commission and if all Medicare contractors
understood the Regs (the VA QIO has stated to us that in 20 yrs they have never
made a referral to the OIG but rather they have a 'kumbayah' conversation with
the )http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/oig-targets-surgeries-predicts-recordrecoveries/2012-11-28?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal""have updated Windrum's
Matrix of Dying Terms to what I believe is its final version (3) and edited the
blog post describing it accordingly. The Matrix will help anyone wanting to
differentiate among the many dying pathways in our complex milieu, so as to
minimize needless harm at end of life.Many thanks to Jennifer Moore Ballentine, EPatient Dave deBronkart, and Jerome Stone for their contributions. A full article
is soon to be submitted to the American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine.
http://www.hospitalpatientadvocate.com/windrums-matrix/"Awesome Bart!"FDA meeting
on pharmacy compounding has been scheduled for Wednesday, December 19, 2012 from 3
to 5 p.m. It will be held at FDA���s White Oak Campus in Silver Spring, MD.
The meeting will be webcast. The deadline for submitting comments to the public
docket is January 18, 2013.""Our very own Marshall Allen sat down with Fortune
magazine's Mina Kimes to find out more about Synthes, a medical device maker that
navigated around FDA rules and convinced doctors to use its bone cement for an
unapproved use. When docs used it, some patients died on the operating table. This
is a podcast, so click below to listen. (There's also a transcript you can read.)"
Excellent interview Marshall. Thanks for posting Blair:)"The Albany Times Union has
a story today about a claim against medical staff! Amazing! But wait: It names a
town and others, none of them TU advertisers. If they were, there wouldn't be a
word about it. http://bit.ly/UZyzmc"Maybe the medical system is biased to treating
her with low priority because her injury was due to illegal drug use. Victims of
iatrogenic disease know what it is like to be treated with very low priority. Such
treatment bias is not ethical.I met a 92 year old woman (with her daughter) while
at the Cincinnati Eye Institute yesterday who had been severely harmed by a very
well-known eye surgeon. The daughter told me that her mother wasn't treated
properly before or after the surgery; most likely due to her old age. This poor
elderly woman has extremely painful nerve damage now and loss of her sight. They
tried to file a medical malpractice complaint but said no attorney in Cincinnati
would take the case due to the good name of the doctor and due to the mother's age.
This 92 year old woman is utterly devastated by not only what's been done to her
but by the fact that there's no way to seek remedy or justice. Meeting her and
hearing her story and seeing the tears in her eyes as she told it was nothing short
of heart-breaking! Certain classes of people are absolutely discriminated against
by doctors/hospitals/lawyers."I wanted to let you know about an exciting conference
that I am co-organizing in Washington DC next February called Selling Sickness
2013: People Before Profits. The two-day conference (2/21-22) will bring together
more than 200+ influential academics, healthcare reformers, consumer organizations
and advocates, and progressive health journalists to examine the current scope of
""disease mongering"" and over-treatment. It's really important
to have the voice of the consumer and patient represented. Registration is now
open: www.sellingsickness.com""All of you who have had an issue with the Joint
commission dumping a well documented complaint, can you contact me offline at puttd
at msn dot com???"Don't understand your contact info"Carla, can you delete your
post. I wrote it the way I did because writing it up means that it can be sucked up
by scammers. Thanks"thanks!Brava Debra Van Putten - superlative letter! Just now
able to view - have to go back and read again. Brava!!"This is one of the adverse
events in healthcare that doesn't get a lot of attention, although it causes some
terrible outcomes (including deaths). While I was working for the Dept. of VA this
is one that received a few rounds of special prevention efforts. (I wasn't deeply
involved in these, just on the periphery.)
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/26/health/after-dozens-of-deaths-inquiry-into-bedrails.html?hpw&_r=0 Fixes to this problem are surprisingly complicated and
expensive when the number of beds are considered.""Thanks for posting, Niel. We
have a tool called Nursing Home Inspect that lets you dive deeper into the issue,
by searching inspection reports for facilities across the country. A search for
""bed rails"" and ""strangulation,"" for example, reveals 21 violations:
http://projects.propublica.org/nursing-homes/findings/search?utf8=%E2%9C
%93&search=bed+rails+strangulation&state=ALL&ss=ALL""Interesting data on 21
problems, but there's something like 15,000 Long-Term Care Facilities and 5,000
hospitals in this country. All with beds... Some have done things to more or less
completely eliminate the problems with bedrails, but I don't know if anyone knows
if the some I refer to is a large majority or a small fraction. For the others may
be a matter of luck for the patients and for the administrators.""Very true -
wasn't trying to suggest otherwise! Nursing home inspect just provides a deeper
look at one piece of the issue. (A general search for bed rails, not just
strangulation) actually reveals nearly 1800 violations:
http://projects.propublica.org/nursing-homes/findings/search?utf8=%E2%9C
%93&search=bed+rails+&state=ALL&ss=ALL)""Something interesting, that needs
research. I am finding out that many people that have survived kidney removal for
kidney cancer and are now classified Cancer free but now suffering from CKD. How do
drs solve one problem and then create a long term disease that requires dialysis."
"Iatrogenic illnesses ar rampant in the medical profession, but we don't learn that
until we become one of their victims...""Right you are Georjean Parrish. Many
cancer treatments are more deadly than the cancer. Dr. Burzynski doesn't cure all
patients but his cure rate is higher than most and there are no side effects. That
is why he has been repeatedly attacked by the FDA, the NIH and the Texas Medical
Board. If his treatment were to become mainstream then many pharmaceutical
companies wouldn't be able to sell patients on their chemotherapy drugs. And the
scans using gadolinium based contrasting agents are nephrotoxic meaning they can
cause renal insufficiency. Here is the study that shows that gadolinium based
contrasting agents are nephrotoxic. http://www.scribd.com/doc/80320227/GadoliniumBased-Contrast-Media-Nephrotoxic""In Australia, one course of chemotherapy costs
$29,000 dollars. And most chemo patients need more than one course of treatment.
Also chemotherapy can destroy the bone marrow years down the track, causing
patients to need bone marrow transplants. Chemotherapy is not only dangerous, but
is a billion dollar business for the Pharmaceutical company. Is it any wonder that
they don't really want to find a cure for cancer......""If you look up Mary Kelly
Oconnor https://www.facebook.com/mary.oconnor?fref=ts she has had Kidney cancer and
has been a tireless advocate for patients. She can steer you to some good kidney
cancer groups, I would bet. Mary's website pretty much saved my life, so she is a
good egg of the first order.""How can I edit the post the last words after dialysis
needs to be ""AND TRANSPLANT"" The chain of guaranteed revenue for generations. I
would love to find a journalist/researcher to work on a Cost benefit/health effects
article.""Kidney function naturally decreases with age, but nephrons are also
damaged by sodium, toxins, disease, etc. The reason humans have two kidneys is to
be able to compensate for the nephron loss that occurs over the course of one's
lifetime. Removing a kidney takes away that safety net (otherwise known as 'renal
reserve'), leaving the remaining kidney (and person) susceptible to disease,
damage, toxins, etc . Current medical literature advocates for a partial rather
than full nephrectomy (kidney removal) for tumors whenever possible in order to
salvage nephrons and therefore, kidney function, preventing the advent of CKD. <The irony that this same industry is constantly trying to convince the public that
donating a kidney is safe is apparently lost on them.Keep in mind that chemotherapy
can be damaging to the kidney too. And that transplants aren't cures, but merely
treatments, and that not everyone has an improved quality of life after a
transplant. PS. There are living kidney donors that have ended up on the wait list
in need of their own transplant. Not that the industry likes to admit it....""BTW
OPTN has proposed policies up for public comment, including change to the deceased
kidney allocation policy. I encourage everyone to read it and let OPTN know what
you think:
http://optn.transplant.hrsa.gov/policiesAndBylaws/publicComment/proposals.asp"Here
is additional Living Donor Information - I would never allow my family to put their
quality of life and life expectancy at risk.
http://www.livingdonor101.com/index.shtmlhttp://rantpolitical.com/2012/11/23/localpolitics-the-alleged-compassionate-hospital/"Survey: American Doctors Splintered
Over Many Ethical Issueshttp://commonhealth.wbur.org/2012/11/doctors-survey-ethics"
"Doctors are all too often not the source of a cure but the cause of disease or
disability itself. Arrogance, presumption and plain foolishness have caused some
doctors to persevere with theories and treatments that caused appalling damage and
suffering to their patients."This is an interesting analysis and discussion of this
current reality."This is a good article, I predict that steroids will be the next
addiction crisis in this country. first of all, taken in super-physiologic doses
they are highly addictive. Why because why they relieve pain, they cause muscle
weakness and bone weakness that leads to more pain. The withdrawal symptoms are
very bad -- supposedly as bad as heroin -- and as someone who had Cushing's I
attest that withdrawal is no piece of cake. So, you have steroids, they provide
short term pain relief, but as that goes away, it leaves increased pain
sensitivity, and worse pain because of worse physiologic function. We have far
less than a full understanding of the effects of steroids, but we have an
increasing body of evidence that they are poisions.""This article fails to mention
that for those of us who are disabled with spinal stenosis and pinched nerves,
these spinal epidurals are a godsend in providing fleeting pain relief. This is the
only procedure that Medicare will pay for to provide relief for pinched nerves that
turns me into the tin man. Can you even imagine what it would feel like if you had
two by fours tied to your arms and legs? Medicare refuses to acknowledge PRP or
plasma rich platelet therapy used by athletes and others to regrow cartilage
because it does not have FDA's blessing. Had I not been misdiagnosed and the victim
of medical error which caused me to lose my entire life savings seeking competent
care, I would have the thousands it costs to get PRP privately. As a disabled
person now on SSDI, this is not feasible. Medicare only stabilizes people so they
continue to live in pain. There is no other surgery or procedure available to
regrow cartilage. With PRP, it's likely I would be ""abled"" and could go back to
work. The system needs renewal.""Anna, I would say that most likely your doc is
selling your health for a couple bucks. Every time you get an injection it weakens
the surrounding tissue. But you don't notice it. You only notice it when the
steroids are done. And because of the weakness, things hurt and guess what, a
steroid shot sounds good. The truth is that Medicare pays for many many different
strategies fir pain management. I would consider finding a more reputable doctor
with a wider range of treatment alternatives. In fact there was a re bet court
case overtubing the ""improvement only requirement with Medicare, so a trip to a
physical theatpist might be more positive than before.""Debra, I did physical
therapy, chiropractor, you name it. Nothing works on pinched nerves except
relieving the pressure by getting some kind of cushioning like cartilage (PRP
therapy which Medicare doesn't cover) or numbing the nerve (steroids). I am well
aware that steroids destroy tissue. I am doing everything I can think of (because I
cannot hold a job due to my physical condition) to scrape pennies together so I can
get the PRP treatment. It's an uphill battle. One of the most challenging things
about pain is that it is difficult for others to relate because they cannot see the
pain. It seems no amount of my verbalizing my limitations can override their visual
perception.""Did your doctor tell you that it takes a minimum of one year to
recover from the harm caused by steroids. Because that's what the board certified
endocrinologists I have seen say is the case. if you talk to endos, they have a
very different view of steroids than the rest of the medical community, which IMO
is pretty
steroid happy. You could end up spending your money to fix what the steroids
did.""Debra, Believe me I have the same concerns about taking steroids injections
and appreciate where you are coming from. I am not spending my money (depleted in
first years of being disabled due to failure to diagnose). I am spending your money
through Medicare and get what they cover that works for me. If you were in
excruciating pain, would you continue to suffer, seek euthanasia or take steroids
to provide relief during some months of the year? I would seek euthanasia without
the steroids. Again, I am doing what I can to come up with private money for PRP
as a disabled person still ill including reviewing my options to be able to file a
medmal suit given the two year statute of limitations. I need pro bono legal aid
which is non existent for complicated cases. I've been working on studying medical
books and the law to determine my rights the last 10 years as a disabled person. I
was a successful commercial real estate broker working for a publicly traded real
estate investment trust before I was fired for being too sick to perform my
supervisory duties adequately. In Virginia, anyone can be terminated for any reason
at any time. It's a ""right to work"" state.""If we were harmed by a criminal in
the street, we would get support and compensation, yet if the perpatrator has a
medical licence, we are harmed all over again by the system...""June, You are so
right. It is quite eye opening as to what our licensed medical professionals are
allowed to get away with under the auspices of ""sh-- happens"" in our legal
system. Many states put such low caps on possible monetary restitution that
attorneys don't want to bother with the cases because the workload is greater than
the reward.""California's cap on medical malpractice of $250k was put in place in
1975. If it were adjusted for inflation the cap would be $1,075k in 2012.
http://www.corporatecrimereporter.com/news/200/naderbrownmedmal10112012/"Colorado
also has a cap. It is beyond unconscionable.You can thank MICRA for that!
"California was the first state to come up with that criminal law and so others
copied. Do you realize that it was put in place 40 years ago and not one change
has been made, the Capp is 250,000 which is about NOTHING today."My daughter Jessie
at the age of 7 was not considered for a trial because of her age and economic
award instead of looking at the negligence the doctors did to her which caused her
death www.shellybeenz.comI become more committed to this cause the more I read. I
am so sorry Michelle Massey."That my friends is SICK that the insurance companies
get to have billions at their disposal and we are capped at 250,000 which in todays
economy is not even enough for one expert witness!"Another tragedy of the law is
that it keeps bad practices in place as well as bad practictioners.Exactly! Why is
it that the doctor that was involved with Jessie's death had no consequences? He
had been named 2 times before for malpractice and Jessie makes 3. He is stil
practicing and if you look him up it say history malpractice...none. my daughter
meant nothing! That means all of your parents would have the same thing happen.
All she needed was an antibiotic."Michelle Massey, Like you I work to change these
things. I remember Karl Rove and his rants across the country about frivolous
lawsuits...there are no frivolous lawsuits....no lawyer would take a case if it was
frivolous. At first I blamed Karl Rove but then I thought why do Americans believe
such a liar? It is the attitude of average Americans that we must reach and debunk
the lies such as the lies Karl Rove and others like him tell. Mistakes increase
our healthcare cost too. All around there are no good reasons to cover up these
mistakes except to protect the doctors, their liability insurer or the company that
made them."So because of Big business and the very people that need support are
actually stepped on by the money and those involved have to know its profit if
people die rather than live with some kind of ongoing care."That is what happened
with us. Jessie died. No ongoing care, no actual damages. According to MICRA""A
member of the healthcare syndicate told me that doctors don't tell the patient the
truth because they are afraid of being sued by the original doctor. That is where
the real threat of the ""frivolous lawsuit"" comes from.""I think, sad as it is, it
is profitable for them no matter what with the current paradigm. If a patient is
sick for the rest of their lives they make money as well by treating the symptoms.
We simply have to work to change the system. And lawsuits are a huge incentive for
them to do the right thing and pay attention to what is best for their patients. I
like lawsuits because it is an inherent control on the doctors and institutions
that should be responsible for patient care. Lawsuits reduces cost either way in
my opinion.""I was healthy before I was tricked into this barbaric operation, and
now my health is destroyed by dangerous doctors, and the medical establishment is
making a fortune from my iatrogenic illness...."June I am so sorry for all of your
pain and I do not mean just physical torment either.A very disturbing story."What I
have learned is that evil thrives when good people do nothing. We are a small
group, but at least we are trying to do something to warn others about the dangers
of a system that has grown so corrupt."http://ezinearticles.com/?Chronic-KidneyDisease-Diet---Find-Out-What-Doctors-Dont-Want-You-to-Know-About&id=3548552
http://ehealthforum.com/health/topic16839.html#b
http://www.livingdonor101.com/kidneys.shtmlThe New England Journal of Medicine is
commonly regarded as one of the most esteemed journals in medicine and influences
the practice of medicine around the world. But about two-thirds of its articles on
new drugs are sponsored by pharmaceutical companies and most of those are cowritten by their employees."One comment is very insightful. ""you people"" wrote
that after a drug is introduced the line is moved to reclassify a large fraction of
previously healthy population into the risk category. This explains why on two
recent checkups, my BP of 120/80 was used as justification to try to invoke anxiety
about my health situation, and the second the nurse practitioner acted worried and
concerned and I was given a prescription for a statin. One must consider the side
effects of having a BP 120/80 versus the long term side effects of taking statins,
including the financial downside.""Thanks for sharing, Cristy Wright. An important
piece. I also wanted to make sure everyone had seen Retraction Watch, a blog that
tracks retractions from different journals. It's run by the executive editor of
Reuters Health and the managing editor of Anesthesiology News:
http://retractionwatch.wordpress.com/"What do people do when you reach a point of
saving gone and live on a fixed income and can't afford rx and dr bills and not to
mention abdominal binder and spanks my surgical incisions all have huge hernias.
Medical providers and the media - an unhealthly alliance about to be exposed.
http://www.answersforlisa.blogspot.comThis will be show to remember."Please join
our candlelight walk and vigil in memory of children who will never again be coming
home for Christmas.
We will gather at the northwest corner of Dundas Square on
Thursday December 13th 2012 at 6 pm and walk to the headquarters of the College of
Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario at 80 College St. The CPSO is the selfregulating body for the medical profession. Its mandate is to ""serve and protect
the public interest."" We feel our children died because of medical negligence
involving toxic/lethal pharmaceutical effects. We complained to the CPSO. Our
complaints were dismissed. We feel the College of Physicians and Surgeons of
Ontario did not take adequate disciplinary action.
We feel the CPSO protected
their own. We feel the CPSO is no longer committed to patient safety and is no
longer capable of serving the public interest. We want the CPSO investigated and
replaced by an independent organization not controlled by physician members. We are
the Coalition for Physician and Surgeon Oversight. Read our horror stories at
www.cpso.co. Share your own story. Take action. This vigil is our first public
event. If you want to change the way the College of Physicians and Surgeons
conducts itself, join our walk and vigil. Dundas Square is at the southeast corner
of the intersection of Yonge St. and Dundas St.E. in Toronto. The College of
Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario is at 80 College Street, 2 blocks east of Yonge
Street and 4 blocks north of Dundas Square. Please bring a candle, a flashlight or
a lantern. Some of us will carry posters."Good summary introduction on this topic
in NY Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/27/health/hospitals-face-pressurefrom-medicare-to-avert-readmissions.html?hp"There are many ways in which medicine
and its practioners can become corrupted and fail to serve their clients. Not least
is the tendency to uphold the established order and to find ""scientific"" reasons
for doing so. This tendency is virtually inherent in all regulatory organisations
and, as these increased in numbers and power, it was to become an important trend
during the nineteenth century. As the profession became more organised and
knowledgable, weakness, bigotry, greed, power-seeking, hypocrisy and corruption in
doctors were increasingly focused on women. The medical profession developed in a
way that was particularly harmful to women. It usurped their traditional function
of the care of the sick. It changed this function to suit itself, with far-reaching
consequences, both for better and for worse. It used
this unique position much less to improve the health of women than to enhance its
own power. It used, and often grabbed at, women as patients in order to consolidate
and support itself.....Further, some doctors perverted scientific knowledge to
their own ends and added the weight of their ""expertise"" to the perversions of
others..""I have no doubt in my mind that the doctors who harmed me perverted
scientific knowledge, by fabricating I had cancer, to exploit me for personal
gain....""Fun stuff scientists like to think up
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2238242/Cold-War-era-U-S-plan-bomb-moonnuclear-bomb-revealed.html"This might be a good one for the ProPublica reporters to
look at. Maybe the various company stockholders would be interested...This is a
wonderful satire. Universal healthcare is a solution."Good satire. But if they
carried it out, if air travel REALLY worked like health care, one plane per day
would have gone down with all passengers, err I mean patients on board.""The
families of passengers would have to complain to the FAA to get them to
investigate. But the FAA would make absurd excuses, deny the plane crashed and tell
everyone to wait more time for the plane to land. When it was obvious the wreckage
was the plane, they would say the black boxes are ""lost."" Then airlines would
raise prices and blame it on a culture of litigation.""This is from the UK, a much
smaller country. I don't know if the US medical system works the same way.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2238031/One-doctor-month-dodges-misconductcharges-assault-retiring-early.html""Veronica James, The UK, a group of 5
countries, has a much smaller population than the US, and therefore their one
doctor a month statistic may not be the same number about the US."
http://www.cbc.ca/whitecoat/episode/2012/11/23/sully-show/"The Albany Times Union
has an article today about hospitals' use of social media. The story (with the
another of the TU's childish puns in the headline) says some use Facebook and
Twitter to connect with the public, while others have no presence on the sites. The
story says that Glens Falls Hospital uses Twitter to communicate with the public,
while St. Peter's Health Partners (created by the merger this year of Northeast
Health, Seton Health and St. Peter's Hospital) has no Facebook or Twitter accounts.
This leaves it with just my page listing unreported malpractice lawsuits against
and related Twitter links it as its most visible online presence.The TU story is
here: http://bit.ly/10KlJvo My page is: http://www.northeasthealthclaims.com"HAPPY
THANKSGIVING"On this Thanksgiving day, our thoughts turn grateful to those who have
made our progress possible. We are thankful for you and wish you and your family a
very Happy Thanksgiving!"Happy Thanksgiving everyone. May God let this day be full
of joy even when.............With LoveHappy Thanksgiving from An Empowered Spirit..
"Nine years after Lisa's Baker's death in Samaritan Hospital in Troy, NY a Web page
is ready for many expected new visitors.http://bit.ly/hStVoJ""David Baker I'm so
sorry for your loss. It is amazing how they will cover up things instead of
admitting their mistakes. I think that is the hardest part of all this. They call
you crazy, they invalidate your instincts, they deny what you know is the truth and
it is never their fault. Why does it have to be like this? I just don't know. They
blame instead of accept responsibility. We never get to the point of forgiveness,
how do you forgive when they won't even acknowlege they made a mistake.""Thank you,
Sharon. You are exactly right; they compound the error by refusing to acknowledge
it. And so they make the same mistakes, over and over. As you say, it doesn't have
to be this way. And it shouldn't be.""Another area of the law that should be
discussed in any patient advocacy group but generally isn���t until someone is
personally impacted by it is ERISA. ERISA was signed into law by President Ford in
1974 to protect employees that contracted with their employer for benefits. There
may be a part of the law that actually works to protect employees but I
haven���t encountered it. The below linked brief is now before the US Supreme
Court regarding ERISA and subrogation. USAirways, McCutchen���s employer paid
for his medical expenses through the employer healthcare plan for which he
contracted and paid premiums to participate and is governed by ERISA. Through no
fault of his own he was hit by a teenager that didn���t have a decent insurance
policy. His lawyers sued and won a small settlement but not enough to take care of
him. Now comes USAirways and says we want all of that settlement money and we
don���t care that this man is totally disabled and will have nothing to live on,
we want our money. With the corporatist Supreme Court now seated it is likely they
will rule in favor of USAirways and the disabled man will live in poverty for the
remainder of his life dragging his family with him. I opine that this is totally
short-sited on the part of corporations for if you impoverish a family with this
type of behavior you inadvertently take one or more consumers out of the market,
consumers that may have purchased your product or services. Is it nonsensical and
corporations that are in the business of impoverishing Americans are really hurting
themselves but this post isn���t about them it is about the inherent unfairness
of ERISA and how the law absolutely must be changed.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/114091163/USAirways-v-McCutchen-Respondents-Brief-on-theMerits-18Oct2012""How to lie with statistics. Scroll through this. Wow. They sure
are improving. Scroll down the the HACs. Mom had at least seven. Inova Fairfax
(IFH) had fifty something HACS in 2011. Then look at Serious reportable events. We
were in the dozens as they are defined. Yet
Inova is reporting only 13. So, for
you health reporters out there and policy wonks. Hospitals can lie in their
documentation. Unless individual complaints are disclosed and the data is reported
based on audited data and data that can be compared to third party sources, it is
not trustworthy. http://www.inova.org/upload/docs/about-Inova/Inova-QualityMatters-2012.pdf"Debra Van Putten you hit the nail on the head. Thank you for this
post.They doctored the data.Garrick - lol"Covering up their mistakes is rampant
in the medical establishnment. No matter what you do, they have another lie to
cover it up...""Just to showing ""doctored"" is a verb which may mean corrupted or
falsified."Oh my gosh I didn't see this and posted the same story. I'll delete
mine. Thank you for posting this.Because I have an 82% chance of getting cancer
and I do believe in science I'm going to see if I can become a patient of his
before and if I get cancer. This is a great story but shows just how powerful
pharma is and if we don't pay attention it could be taken away from us.got a
meeting tomorrow with the chiefs at the hospital. more bull???? I am sure but I
gotto go so they can't say I didn't."Mary Lou, you will be in my thoughts and
prayers. Is there anyone there who you can take with you to this meeting?"How did
it go?I think I ruffled a few feathers. Supposed to have another meeting in the
future. LOLhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbBURnqYVzw&feature=youtu.be"This is
good. Thank you for posting the link. Corporate farming, made up food for higher
volume/yield, yup it's all done for fun and profit.
Dr. William Davis puts it out
clearly and the more we open our eyes the more we see.""Just reading ""Wheat
Belly"" - great information!""Before you become a victim, investigate, before you
vaccinate, The life you save may be your child....Nora is a victim of Gardasil
vaccine."I would not get my daughter vaccinated and everything I see on Gardasil I
have her post to her facebook account to warn other girls her age. Thank you for
being here to spread the word. I am heart broken about your daughter. She is
beautiful and she has support from this member of the group. Let me know if I can
do anything.me too sorry to hear that"My 13 year old son is getting the HPV vaccine
shots. It seemed like a good choice to the four of us - him, me, my wife, and his
pediatrician.""Noel please do research on Gardasil. Even if you decide to get the
vaccine you will be glad you read up on it. There have been over 10,000 deaths
with this vaccination. There are many families that have been bankrupted from
taking care of their kids after getting one of these vaccines. You are wise to be
here checking things out."Just got back from the hospital. I think I ruffled a few
feathers. Supposed to have another meeting in the future. LOL"Time for ALL
advocates/activists in healthcare to come together and understand how connected we
all are to one another in our separate causes. Each path leads to one SINGLE
road, where healthcare is finally affordable, uniform and safe. We live in the
GREATEST nation in the world, why can't we just do this NOW and do it RIGHT?
http://www.cepr.net/calculators/hc/hc-calculator.html""I have a question for people
here. This is not about poor bedside manner, arrogance, or other negative
experiences that one might normally attribute to a appointment with a doctor. This
question regards going to a doctor or medical service in which you are trying to
get help or answers regarding your medical injury. I would like to find out if
anyone else here has experienced strange psychological treatment from a doctor or
other medical person during an appointment Did you have an unexpected experience
of being treated in way that was strange, bizarre, or as if the person treating you
was trying to make you feel odd, intimidated, uncomfortable, put-off, or undefined
negative psychological treatment? Did you
feel the person was actively trying to ""mess with"" you? Did you feel the person
was trying to put you in an unfamiliar state of mind, or otherwise make the
appointment seem like a traumatic event on a subtle level?""Not in my experience,
which is not extensive."Absolutely they attempt it all the time with patients when
it was a medical error or they are unable to diagnose. Its not all doctors it
usually happens with ones with strong egos."I've found that everyone in the medical
establishment treated me like I was the perpetrator and the doctors did no wrong.
But I have to remember in the area I live in, they all belong to the same Health
system called ""Southern Health."" So of course they will side with each other. It
shocks me how they can do such harm, and turn it into blaming the victim. All
because I trusted them, even though I kept telling the doctors, who kept
fabricating non-existent female problems, that I had nothing wrong with me, and I
even said what they were doing was wrong....But they kept manipulating and coercing
me until they wore me down. I berate myself every day for my ignorance in thinking
that doctors know best.....I was phsically, emotionally and psychologically harmed
by doctors, then revictimized and retraumatiized all over again in the aftermath."
"Preparedness and a good offense may be the best defense - Written and well
prepared questions seeking specific answers, intervening if the answer goes offtopic and a video recording of the whole thing.""People who have experienced
medical harm make many providers uncomfortable, this happens for several reasons.
One that you might not know about is that those who have not had first hand
experience with a bad preventable outcome are truly in denial of such events and
assume that there is something that the patient is not clear on regarding the
situation.
Others just do not like to hear things about other providers. We
always tell patients to say as little as possible to the new clinician, briefly
mention that we had a rough time somewhere else or lost someone, but we really want
to move forward and heal the best we can.
They do NOT want the details, when you
are candid with a new provider, most of the time they will respect you and do the
best that they can. However, if you do what I said and still get resistance, run
as fast as you can from that provider, no good will ever come from that
relationship.""How many times Doug, did I wish I had had a tape recorder and
recorded all the lies, fabrications, manipulations and bullying those doctors
involved in this racket said to me before I was butchered. They way they abused
their power, manipulated, bullied, violated my health rights, totally mislead and
misinformed me would be on tape, and it would be hard for them to lie and deny that
they did nothing wrong, if I only had the proof....."Outright hostility is what I
experience from most doctors. Any doctor that follows the profits before patients'
paradigm has no use for an aware patient. We threaten their very existence and we
should feel confident that when a doctor puts himself/herself in that position of
hostility towards a patient that has been harmed we know we are in the presence of
a perpetrator and need to get out of the situation as quickly as possible."I wish I
had listened to my feelings when the gyno/oncologist who bullied and threatened me
into this dangerous, unnecessary, radical mutilations, Sharon. The hatred and
contempt on his face when I said I had no pain, no bleeding, no symptoms
whatsoever, and begged for another option, should have been a dire warning that I
was dealing with a perpetrator....."An option: Bring a patient advocate with you
to all your appointments- it can be a family member or friend who is capable of
moderating the conversation. Consider changing doctors if the odd interchanges
persist."Joleen Chambers, I went to three GPs in Eugene Oregon. There is a
honeymoon period that lasts 2 - 3 appointments in each case. The doctors play the
delay tactic for as long as possible first, then the strangeness starts in every
case. In Eugene, the doctors are very well coordinated and scripted in denying
treatment to medical injury victims.""What you are saying is easy to see in
hindsight, Joleen, but I don't have family and friends close by. And who would ever
believe that there would be a group of doctors in cahoots together, lying in wait
to find trusting patients to trick into unnecessary surgery, for personal gain. Not
many people know that unless someone informs them. Now I don't trust one word out
of a doctors mouth, and I warn everyone I come into contact with to have their
guard up.""Trust But Verify - A method of self-advocating or for a loved-one is to
1. check the providers credentials and background, 2. get a second or third opinion
about diagnosis and treatment plan, 3. compare the treatment plan against evidencebased treatment plans, 4. thoroughly understand your condition and receive a
thorough Informed Consent for recommended surgery, medication and therapy. All
this before agreeing to a treatment plan.""Doctors ""mess with you"" because they
know they can and they have impunity. Period. That, in and of itself, is strange
psychological treatment. I'm in the Portland area of Oregon. The medical /
legal community here is a very cultish sub-sect in a our local society. A suspect
the judge assigned to hear the motions in my lawsuit is related (by marriage) to a
partner in the defense firm. Of course my case got just far enough to allow the
defense firm's billable hours to profit, I estimate, $150,000 in ""defense"" of my
suit. Then it was tossed out on a ""technicality."" Ironic how my lawsuit was
allowed to play out for fun and profit -- all on my pain and suffering! It was
allowed to proceed to a certain point, then the judge knew it was time to play
gatekeeper and denied my civil rights to trial. The incestuous nature of the judge
and the defense firm . . . yup, no wonder attorneys in the Portland Metro area
aren't taking on medical injury cases. And if these judges were not so insulated
and protected, any other form of conspiracy on this level would be investigated on
RICO charges. The two most powerful CARTELS in the United States of America are
the ABA and the AMA. Don't kid yourself to think this isn't a double-headed snake.
Don't kid yourself that patients aren't bitten twice. -- That is PSYCHOLOGICAL
strangeness. The cruel nature of this two-headed monster who made a lot of money
off my injuries. The medical community billed over $111,000 for ""services
rendered"" (botched surgery and ""revision""). The legal defense firm probably
billed $150,000+, easy! I'm guessing over $260,000 was billed off MY medical /
legal issues. And me . . . the injured patient? Zip, zero, nada, dodly squat . .
, oh wait . . . here's what I got: my body my body permanently damaged, I
couldn't work for about a year, all my savings were drained, I was forced to file
bankruptcy to save the assets I do have, in May 2011 I literally had $75 cash -that was it! How's that for weird psychological treatment?!?""I think the problem
is the system. It is built around profiting by treating symptoms and fee for
service so the more services the more profit. Doctors have become incentivized to
never cure. Profits from cradle to grave are built into the long-term plans and
forecasts of the pharmaceutical companies, medical device and equipment
manufacturers. It is up to us to educate and change the system as sick as we are,
health permitting and if you are committed to making the system better for all.
One way is to get involved in what treatments are allowed for reimbursement by the
insurance companies and we have our work cut out for us because I believe the AMA
controls the diagnostic codes used for billing. I never pass up an opportunity to
speak about what happened and the cancer fear mongering I allowed myself to buy
into. One of the ways we can do this is by convincing policy holders how much it
is costing them and getting them to connect the dots. Not an easy feat but one
that has been made easier by the complexity we're been forced to digest with the
banks. Once those with pensions realize their pensions are gone they will fight to
reel in the banks and stop blaming homeowners. Once those paying premiums for
health insurance can't afford the premiums due to the predatory and deleterious
treatments provided they will get it and change the paradigm.""You don't have to be
sick to be harmed by doctors. You only have to trust them. They will find illness
where none exists, and fabricate non-existent cancer, etc.. to trick you into
unnecessary procedures, and if they botch it and leave you crippled in agony for
the rest of your life, all the better. They get rich trying to repair the damage
they inflicted for personal gain in the first place....... Also, Doug, what you
said is very good advice. What a shame we have to be harmed before we realize
that.""Yes, by many of my doctors. But only when I got well enough to start asking
questions. Then when I got my medical records to find out my pcp willfully witheld
information and later documented in my records by a fellow dr. I found more
information in the weeks prior to my surgery. Even the terminology of ""volatile
combination of drugs, with an order to terminate one of them"" This was the same
combination the pharmacy flagged when dispensing and per record the Dr and said to
fill.""I went in to have a kidney stone removed during a Day Surgical procedure, in
2005. I was supposed to return to work the next day. It's now been more than
seven years and I'll NEVER be able to return to working as the RN, BSN or the MSW
clinical social worker, or the MAT-educated teacher that I was. The 72 year old
surgeon ripped my left ureter
out with the ureteroscope, THEN chopped my healthy left kidney out (without the
knowledge or consent of myself or my legally designated health care power of
attorney - my sister), which left me with paralysis of my left flank and stage 4
kidney failure in my right kidney! The SAME urologist is now 79 years old and was
recently sued AGAIN, for causing the DEATH of a male who had a circumcision done!
The Oregon Medical Board REFUSES to seriously INVESTIGATE medical malpractice
lawsuits that are filed in any Oregon Court. Their ""investigation"" of a
malpractice claim consists of reading the ONE SENTENCE REPORT submitted to them, by
the MD's BILLIONAIRE MEDICAL MALPRACTICE INSURANCE LAW FIRM. They make NO ATTEMPT
to learn the ""other side of the story"", nor to conduct an independent review of
the situation!Going up against the LARGEST LAW FIRM in the State of Oregon, when
one is SEVERELY ILL and PERMANENTLY DISABLED, not to mention newly impoverished, is
one of the most SOUL-CRUSHING EXPERIENCES OF MY LIFE! The settlement I received
was PATHETIC and more than half of it went to my attorneys. The total settlement
amount hasn't even BEGUN to cover all of my medical expenses, THUS FAR, let alone
all those that my insurance companies and the federal government (via Medicare and
Medicaid), will be paying longggggg into the future! All of my retirement savings
was used up long ago and my 11+ years of university education have been flushed
down the toilet! Meanwhile, this elderly, incompetent surgeon is still
""practicing"" on other gullible, vulnerable citizens & visitors within Oregon!How
many more people have to be MAIMED or KILLED within Oregon, before the Oregon
Medical Board will start CLOSELY EXAMINING WHAT'S HAPPENING IN OREGON?!?!?!"
"Janiece Staton, I am interested in contacting you. Can you message me here on
Facebook?"I'll be happy to."BTW, in case those of you here don't know this, EVERY
MD practicing within the USA has a GUARANTEED CHANCE of winning a medical
malpractice lawsuit in 85% - 95% of cases, IF THE CASE GOES TO TRIAL! That's why
personal injury attorneys are reluctant to take medical malpractice cases to a jury
to decide. It doesn't matter WHAT the MD did or didn't do, nor what the outcome of
the event was, most jurors CANNOT and WILL NOT believe that an MD could POSSIBLY
hurt, maim, or kill a patient! Too many Americans are GULLIBLE, when it comes to
BELIEVING in the ""GOD-LIKE"" knowledge and abilities of MDs!!!!!""Janiece Staton,
you hit the nail on the head. Most doctors I encounter don't care about the
patient and even those that do it is futile to go against the billion dollar
liability insurance companies. I have been thinking about this a long time and
individually we can do nothing but as a group we have power. And we can amplify
that power by enlisting the help of the DHHS, Office of Inspector General and the
health insurance companies. We have to get to the health insurance companies
before they take them over and continue to force treatments and bad medicine on the
general population. After all their on-going viability depends on keeping their
insured healthy. I am sorry for you and what you have been through. Unfortunately
I know it is true and that others will continue to be injured.""Not ALL MDs are
incompetent, only SOME of them are. The same is true for RNs, social workers,
occupational therapists, speech therapists, physical therapists, respiratory
therapists, medical technologists, etc. The problem comes with not making
retirement MANDATORY for elderly MDs, just like retirement is MANDATORY for pilots
and others in high-risk occupations. ONE incompetent MD can kill or maim just as
many people as ONE incompetent or unhealthy pilot can! We MUST require MDs to
undergo REGULAR TESTING to make certain they REMAIN COMPETENT! Right now, only
BOARD CERTIFIED MDs are required to take REGULARLY every 10 year EXAMINATIONS to
PROVE that they are STILL COMPETENT to practice! All MDs who are NOT Board
Certified, don't have to take ANY further exams, once they graduate from their
residency programs! In the case of my elderly MD, he graduated from medical school
back in the 1950's! I had NO IDEA he was a OLD as he was, when I had my surgery
(I've never been good at judging people's ages), or else I NEVER would have chosen
him to perform my surgery!Just as ELDERLY DRIVERS are a HIGH RISK GROUP, so are
ELDERLY MDs! We MUST start VIEWING these NON-CERTIFIED, ELDERLY HEALTH CARE
PROVIDERS as the HIGH RISK PROFESSIONALS that they ARE!""It doesn't MATTER whether
they are COMPASSIONATE or NOT! Elderly MDs are NOT SAFE for the general welfare of
their patients! It's the SAME for elderly pilots and long-haul truck drivers!
Right now, that MD who butchered me is STILL cutting on people and SEVERELY
DAMAGING THEM and can continue doing so until he's 198 years old! There's NO ONE
TO STOP HIM!"Veronica James I agree with Janiece Staton but will add that the
system is broken. We have to fix the system and get those that are injured the
diability benefits they deserve and force the doctors and their insurance companies
to accept responsibility. Why should our government have to pay SSDI benefits for
the injury of incompetent doctors. You totally miss the point and I hope you will
join us in making the medical community and insurance companies pay when they
should so as to get them out of the market when they injure or refuse to pay. It
is people like you that don't get it that are harming those of us that were injured
even if you are also a victim. I hope you will reevaluate your position."I AGREE
that it is the MD and the hospital who need to be held FULLY RESPONSIBLE for their
negligence. Until the LAWS change, however, it's a losing battle, from the start.
The hospital where I had my surgery wasn't sued, as my attorneys KNEW I'd have NO
CHANCE of even getting a tiny settlement from them - they're the #2 corporation in
Oregon (even IF they are technically a non-profit)! That's how CORRUPT our state
is - a ""non-profit"" can become the #2 business in the state! How does that
happen? By allowing that religious group to own their own INSURANCE COMPANY, along
with their own substitute ""bank"" (in the form of a Credit Union)! There's been
MASSIVE corruption, at all levels of the state government, to allow THAT pile of
crap to come into existence!There's NO ETHICAL reason why anyone OTHER than the
surgeon and hospital where I was injured SHOULD be held accountable for how I was
maimed and left permanently disabled. No ""criminal"" could get away with doing
that to another person. However, since an MD is ""licensed to operate a scalpel"",
instead of a motor vehicle, s/he can DO AS s/he WISHES here!""Janiece Staton I'm
very sorry for you. Thank you for sharing your story. You wrote: ""Going up
against the LARGEST LAW FIRM in the State of Oregon, when one is SEVERELY ILL and
PERMANENTLY DISABLED, not to mention newly impoverished, is one of the most SOULCRUSHING EXPERIENCES OF MY LIFE!"" -- This pretty much sums it up. It is soulcrushing!! This is the insult to injury that patients here in Oregon, and in the
nation, endure. And most people do not understand how devastating it is in all
aspects of ones life. It is unduly cruel, as a patent, to go through this. It
happened to me, although the defense firm wasn't #1, they were still very
aggressive and cruel. I suffered and they billed off my pain and suffering, as ALL
defense lawyers do.""Veronica James I too know the pain. I was poisoned by
gadolinium based contrasting agents and GE's product is the least stable of all of
them which I had 11 times. They have admitted liability but still they fight the
lawsuits and most of us can't get a diagnosis because the manufacturers of most of
the gadolinium based contrasting agents paid for the diagnostic guidelines, which
eliminates 99% of all of us that were harmed. According to the manufacturers and
doctors, If we wave our magic wand and say they are not sick well everyone will
believe us and the victims will go off and die somewhere without compensation,
without us having to own what we did or take responsibility. There, problem solved
so says GE and others like them. And radiologists and other doctors alike are
saying that they eliminated the disease when people are still being harmed and
still being injected with the toxic metal that never should have been approved by
the FDA in the first place.
The predatory healthcare industry must be stopped, it
is serious and it is killing people and precious and scarce resources are being
used to harm patients for profit. My only hope is that we focus on how to fix the
system. To minimize someone's pain and suffering by telling them, ""it's okay some
old doctors are okay"" is not my idea of validating someone's pain. I feel
invalidated daily by those that say things like this to me. It's time to stop and
listen to the pain of others and not minimize their pain. It is then we will begin
to understand and change the system. My hope is that we change the broken parts of
the system and it is why I am here. Old doctors don't need our support but harmed
patients do.""Read this heart wrenching Motion for Expedited Trial, GE was counting
on the mortality of this disease. http://www.scribd.com/doc/76550639/GE-MDL-19091073-main"Sharon Hanson was the motion granted?I don't believe so. My
understanding is GE is covering this up and may have settled all the cases with
pennies of what should have been their liability. Some say the trial lawyers did
very well and now won't take anymore cases. If I want to sue I'll have to do it
myself pro se and I may do just that."I've just read these heart wrenching stories
and I'm crying as I'm writing. I live in Australia but everything you say is
happening here too. I was harmed horrendously by greedy doctors running a surgical
racket, and they look for the most trusting patients, because they are the easist
to exploit. I rarely went to the doctors, as I was rarely sick. It was scare tactic
TV ads for Pap smears, etc..that lead me to this female doctor of 40 years standing
who did Pap smears every week at the local Community Health Centre. She pretended
to be so altruistic and caring, but her true agenda was to find easy prey to sell
out to her gynaecological buddies for unnecessary radical hysterectoimies. The
mutilated 6 healthy organs and healthy lymph nodes from my body, and botched it so
badly that I'm left an invalid, and I haven't stopped crying from the agony I've
gone through since June 2005. The more severe the pain, the more I bleed out. But
I'm the one discredited and blacklisted by the whole system...So I understand
everything you are all saying. The system is not only broken, but very dangerous
and corrupt.....""June Gardner I have heard that about Australia and the UK. In
the UK just because the government runs healthcare doesn't mean the pharmaceutical
companies and medical device and equipment manufacturers don't have a grip on types
of treatments, scans and drugs that are administered. No matter where you are on
the planet they want to treat you from cradle to grave. The horror stories I have
read about both countries makes my skin crawl."I concur that Medicare should try to
recoup what it pays out for patients like me who finally get diagnosed under
Medicare and the proper surgeries. This medical care should have been provided by
the providers under my employer's insurance Cigna which turned a blind eye to my
complaints as well as media inquiries made on my behalf. There's no line in Cigna's
computer software to record member complaints I was told."One reason medical costs
are so inflated is that hospitals -- in order to maintain their non-profit status
-- write off losses. I suppose these losses are incurred by the talked about ER
patients without insurance who have no means to pay for being seen. I don't see
being seen as synonymous with getting proper health care, but many believe that if
you are seen in an ER, you are getting proper care. Hospitals have protocols
doctors must adhere to so instead of addressing the patient's complaint, they have
to run the same series of tests on every patient that comes in -- standard blood
tests, chest x-ray, etc. in order to ""rule out"" the most common health problems.
How about saving money by listening to the patient and addressing the patient's
concern rather than spending time and money on fictional illnesses that need to be
""ruled out.""""""Is TKR under attack by data analysts and federal agencies? I
think not, and here is why.""This is a quote from a recent article by ""McCann PD""
(what? no first name?!?) in his/her article ""Are We Doing Too Many TKR's?""
published in the American Journal of Orthopedics.Why would he/she even bring that
up?!?The brilliant argument compares patients to computers, and I quote: ""For
example, the number of computers used in the United States has increased
exponentially from 1991 until 2010. We clearly do not overuse computers!"" If I
were a debate team coach, McCann PD would get an ""F"" on this assignment. And
they would get an ""F"" for philosophy AND logic. But, it's orthopedic medicine,
so yeah, it's BRILLIANT!! {rolling eyes}And you know the article is a bunch of
crap when authors, who try to get their point across, use such silly non sequitors.
Pretty pathetic. ""Any formal fallacy will have a non-sequitor at its
conclusion."" Nigel Warburton, Thinking from A to Z, Routledge 1996)
http://amjorthopedics.com/Article.aspx?ArticleId=MKLmezy/IzA="Great information and
great ideas from the Summit. We will be updating you soon with information that
you can use to help all of us get justice and make a change.Me too! I now writing
up a page to start adding links and pictures too!Great to meet you!"Even in terms
of 1 life saved for 3 overtreated, there's a false assumption. They assume that
when they catch cancer, they are saving a life. That's simply not true. Many
cancers - even invasive ones - regress and disappear. Those are not factored in.And
when they say that they've saved a life, they're basing it on survival from time it
was discovered. That means that an earlier-found case might survive just past the
point when it would have been discovered without the mammogram - and that's not
life-saving, nor is beneficial in terms of quality of life.There may be a place for
mammograms, but it's definitely not in this wholesale approach.""I agree with you
Heidi....Also I read in an article that said a survey that was done on women who
had mammagrams yearly for 10 years or more. It said that some women developed
breast cancer, which was caused by the long term use of mammograms."has anyone here
met/heard this gentleman speak? http://blogs.windsorstar.com/2012/11/15/every-halfsecond-counts-says-hospital-patient-advocate/New resource over on ProPublica: three
ways to tell your patient harm story. The inspiration for this post came out of the
feedback we got at the Consumers Union summit this week - so thank you!i wish we
had a ste like this in canada"Want to help develop a national agenda for patient
advocates? Please read, comment and share
http://reginaholliday.blogspot.com/2012/11/dear-patient-advocates-e-patientsand.html""Women who have watched this video, decide against undergoing a
hysterectomy.""Ten years ago the NIH set out to prove that chelation therapy didn't
work to improve a patient's outcome but the results were not what they expected
even after the study was tampered with it still showed those with heart disease
were slightly better off than those that received the placebo. NIH Trial Gives
Surprising Boost To Chelation Therapy
http://www.forbes.com/sites/larryhusten/2012/11/04/nih-trial-gives-surprisingboost-to-chelation-therapy/""I wrote about this study a year ago. It's a
particularly good study, but for some odd reason (sarcasm), just kinda disappeared.
http://bit.ly/ZTjCoo""They did a survey in two towns in a Sweden, I think. One town
where they did mammagrams, they found a number of women had breast cancer. The town
where they did not do mammagrams had no breast cancer. Since the breast is very
sensitive to radiation, the mammagram has caused the breast cancer it is supposed
to detect..""The study showed something highly significant - that early detection
probably isn't such a good thing. Many, likely most, breast cancers - even advanced
invasive ones, like those investigated in this study - naturally heal without doing
anything. Therefore, early detection could be making things much worse.""I agree
Heidi. In my case I had 12 MRIs and became very sick from the gadolinium based
contrasting agents, gadolinium is a toxic metal and they are still injecting it
into patients. I don't have cancer but I do have four autoimmune disorders and and
undiagnosed case of gadolinium-induced fibrosis which the medical community
ignores. The manufacturers that are/were being sued paid for the diagnostic
guidelines so only those close to death can get a diagnosis. And the lawyers and GE
forced settlements on the victims that were well below the damage they caused. Our
system is so screwed up. I intend to get involved and change that.""Consumers Union
Patient Safety Advocates write letter to The Joint Commission pushing for
transparency, timeliness and accountability to patients when filing complaints."Can
additional consumer patient advcocates sign on?"This reminds me of the incredible
anger I had at the denial by the medical center who butchered my nose with an
improper surgery, how intense the betrayal of trust is. The hospitals get our trust
by getting labeled with accreditation (accreditation --> credentialed -->
credible).It was not just the improper surgery injury, but their denial of the
injury no matter how obvious that my nose is structurally damaged. Then they lose
my medical record, and somehow prevent other doctors from telling me the truth and
thereby prevent any help reaching me. The extreme double standard of how such an
institution can commit crimes against my human rights, followed by continuing to
insert themselves in between me and outside doctors like a bully or crime
syndicate, while holding an accreditation is the most backward corruption of truth
and justice I have imagined. The message is, ""We're bigger than you so we can do
anything we want to you. And we're accredited so we tell any other authority what
to believe.""""Accreditation, board certified no longer have any meaning. Nor does
'consult your physician'. This disdain was earned through personal experience at a
great cost which was life altering. Not just my words but my medical records. If
any WHO reports are based on TJC or DHHS data, then they are meaningless.I never
imagined TJC as being international and I do not have any faith they are less
corrupt in other countries. This is global maim and murder incorporated. I did note
that the spokesperson for TJC said they ""are not able to respond"" to their letter
listed in the article. That's TJC style shining through - flick any questioning
off.""I'm sorry but 'write a letter' to the Joint Commission??? Don't make me
laugh. The JC is no more independent than - well, in this country of dependency,
you can pick your metaphor. The JC is bought and paid for by the hospitals. Does
anyone remember in the past 6 mo when 'AmandaJointCommission' joined this forum
with great fanfare. Her JC JOB was in PR for the JC but when members asked
questions like why there was no transparency, gave concrete examples etc., did she
ever respond? No. Like the
coward the JC is, she just disappeared.A more effective thing, IMO, would be to
pressure congress to remove CMS's authority to delegate hospital Medicare approval
(deemed status) to the JC. 'Course congress isn't exactly known for its 'bravery'
either.""Lori Etheridge Nerbonne
I just sent another complaint letter to JC which
was made basically a ""picture book"" of what happened to my mom so that someone
with no more that a sixth grade education could understand it. There is zero
question that her treatment violated the Conditions of participation and equally
clear that everyone is stonewalling -- JC, the survey group, etc. my email is
puttd at msndotcom. I would love to forward it to you and join whatever efforts
you may have. JC has sent denied twice, basically within 24 hours of receipt of
very detailed complaints, running hundreds of pages in documenation. Obviously not
a credible process, which is what I just wrote Mr. Chassin a couple days ago.
Clearly they are not using Medicare's standards. The harm at issue was the
intentional starvation of a patient, causing a heart attack for seven days, with
the documented reason being that she was a paraplegic. What happened to Mom is THE
example of what constituted immediate jeopardy in Medicare's own manuals, so it is
just not possible that the hospital did not have a serious violation. We have over
100 medication errors alone, including schedule II narcotics appearing to be
missing. Plus the hospital hiding that she had cancer and a whole host more."Maybe
I was unduly harsh on Ms AnandaJC equating her own nonresponsiveness to JC's
cowardice. Another possibility might have been --- Could have been that she saw
all the problems the folks are having with the Great J C and the screw you
responses those folks were getting as Professional replies and AmandaJC was so
ashamed that she quit her job and went to work for a tree hugger group. Nope I'll
stick with my 1st thoughtTune in now and send to your friends"I [laced this on my
timeline, please everyone place it on your timeline as well.""Hi Deirdregoogle
jessiegeyer/micra and there is a link On Jessie's fate told by Mommy. It is
written out and has always gotten some attention, that weblink is pink from my past
website. My newest is more of the aftermath and the Medical Injury Compensation
Reform Act passed in 1975....40 years old! I will be adding links to my site and
would like to fill a whole page of stories of people around the country so if you
would pass this on as well it would be such a great help for me to take it to the
whitehouse. Jessie's Law/Abolish MICRA should be taken to the federal level.
Capps DO NOT work. And it is unconstitutional.Let me know if you cannot get that
link, any search jessiegeyer/MICRA."A great thanks to ProPublica and its staff for
coming out to the Patient Safety Summit in New York. If you are a part of this
group you are in safe hands. I encourage you to send in your information about
your harm and any other information you have such as falsifying documents or your
concerns of how the system is working for you. ProPublica will help
you.................. let's work together to make a change.Yes I was there as well
as Marshall Allen. He is a great man and he and his staff are committed to finding
solutions to help us get justice."Monday-Thursday and it was held in Yonkers, NY at
Consumers Reports Headquarters"Sorry Monday-Wednesday"Thank you for having us,
Deirdre Gilbert-Dickson! It was great to meet some of you in person. One of the
best ways people can help is by filling out our questionnaires (one for patients:
http://www.propublica.org/article/patient-harm-questionnaire and one for
providers: http://www.propublica.org/article/providers-share-your-observations-onpatient-safety) and continuing smart conversations in the group, both about the
root causes of the problem and attempts at solutions you've seen."Blair I placed
the questionnaire on my timeline and asking people to forward to their friends."We
were honored to be invited there, Deirdre Gilbert-Dickson. It was great to meet so
many of you in person, and reconnect with those I already know."Marshall and Blair
I received a comment from Elizabeth that she was kicked off the site and I pasting
my response. I hope that I can help you and your team see the hurt that people are
feeling."Elizabeth, I am sorry to hear that. I believe that they want to hear what
you say and it is ok to let them know how you were hurt, what they don't want is
putting things on the site that makes others feel uncomfortable. I believe that you
can tell your story, share your pain, share your experiences and then ask them to
help you solve that problem. I am like you in that I will not sugar coat what
happened, because you are right the boards are not doing anything to help curtail
this problem. What happens when we are hurt we tend to bring in the feeling part,
but we have to put the feeling aside, tell the truth and ask for ways to change
this. When we work together in harmony we make changes. What we want is the
assistance of doctors, politicians, nurses and others to help us make change.""I
must say something to those who write on other peoples pages. If someone else
agenda does not fit your agenda then one must make a conscious decision to find one
that does. If the developer of the page gives a request what they want to see
happen on their site then one must respect that right. We can not change other
people visions. Your vision is yours and other peoples vision is theirs so if the
platform does not fit, find one that does. Not a form of disrespect but just a
right. Hope that helps.""Frederick Lury, DMD, whose office is at 1090 Toll Gate
Road in Warwick, was in the process of selling his practice with intent to retire,
when his office was found to have ""misbranded narcotics and an expired solution""
during an inspection on September, 2012. http://www.golocalprov.com/health/newwarwick-dentist-surrenders-license-over-controlled-substances/"Too many Dentists On
Probation that are disciplined with a short suspension but licenses quickly
reinstated with probation REPEAT their harmful pattern to unsuspecting
patients...Dental Boards MUST provide information to the unsuspecting patients of
DENTISTS ON PROBATION"Prescription pain killers connected the dots, and all were
prescribed by the same doctor noted in the L.A. Times article. But the doctor is
not responsible for what happens when patients leave the office with a prescription
http://www.topix.com/business/dental/2012/11/rising-tide-of-californians-are-dyingfrom-taking-prescription-painkillers"http://foodmatters.tv/2012-free-screening"So
if it was bogus, how come there was no physician discipline? Really?""Turns out
some of these parties were funded by a bogus cancer charity that she set up with
her doctor husband, Scott. """"Dr. Stanley West who wrote the book ""The
Hysterectomy Hoax"" attended a US gynaecological seminar on the subject of medical
economics. It provides an insight into the business attitudes of some
professionals. The topic was how to care for women in order to maximise fees. The
experts who led the discussion reminded us that gynaecologists make most money by
performing surgery, and that the highest fees we can generate come from
hysterectomy. With that in mind, we were urged to ""cultivate"" our patients
carefully. Initially their care would require advice on contraception. Then, in the
normal course of events, we would supervise our patients' pregnancies and deliver
their babies. Once a patient had completed her family, we were advised to plant the
idea that she might some day need a hysterectomy. The culmination of their years of
care would be the hysterectomy, after which no further gynaecological oversight
would be necessary. With proper planning, the advisers suggested, each year of
practice would produce a lucrative 'crop' of women ripe for hysterectomy.""This is
horrifying. I have long wondered whether the outrageous C-section rates in this
country are motivated by profit. Physicians say women request C-sections, but in
doing so they abdicate their (usually closely-held) position as commanders of all
things health-related. They pretend it's the woman's fault for asking for a Csection.""Of course they are motivated by profit Teresa. 90% of all gynaecological
procedures are unnecessary, and you only have to read the dozens of books on
unnecessary hysterectomies and dangers of modern medicine to know that. ""The
Hysterectomy Hoax"" by Dr. Stanley West is a good book to start with. Also ""Women
Under the Knife: A gynaecologists Report on Hazardous Medicine"" by Dr. Herbert
Keyser, explains how some unscupulous gynaecologists use the cancer scare, among
other things, to coerce women into unnecessary hysterectomies. He calls it fraud.
He calls D & C's (curettes) Dollars and Cents....""For those Affected or
Interested, an Excellent piece on the Fungal Meningitis Outbreak on PBS This Eve,
Here tis:http://video.pbs.org/video/2288525071""This Needs to Be Surfed, into
Pain&Neuro Patients, Care&Feeding Of, Because it will Grab Peoples Attention, &
shows how much ""Small"" Government affects care, & Damages done. These Injections
just harden the cartilage, & give temporary Relief. They are a Revenue Generator,
for Dr's how are scared by Law Dogs, of Rx'ing Scripts for Real Pain Meds, a
POLiTiCAL Thing. Wrong. Suicides by Chronic Pain Patients are Bad enough Already,
it has Got to STOP."Are there any doctors on this page?"I know there are some,
Kirpal Singh, but it's hard to know for certain with this many group members. Are
you looking for anything in particular?""just wondering what their thoughts are
about the posts on this page. in addition, i'd like to know if what they are doing
to address the issues
on this page within their workplaces, associations and business transactions (from
malpractice insurance to medical device purchases).""Good questions. I monitor
pretty much everything on this page and can tell you that few providers participate
in the conversations, which I think is too bad. On the other hand, this is a great
venue for patients and their loved ones to engage, so that's a good thing. We've
recognized a need to engage with more providers, and have tried doing so via a
different social media platform called Branch. You can see that here:
http://www.propublica.org/article/discussion-the-top-patient-safety-challengesmedical-providers-face.""By the way, for those who have not checked it out, we
launched a Patient Safety section on our propublica.org site that includes some of
the resources and topics from this page, as well as other stories and blog posts.
It's a way to broaden the discussion of these problems beyond the Facebook group.
You can see it here: http://www.propublica.org/series/patient-safety""My family and
I were recently and tragically made acutely aware of just how dangerous it is to be
gravely ill in a hospital. Our 82-year-old father underwent elective surgery to
remove a non-cancerous polyp from his colon. The surgery was performed at North
Florida Regional Medical Center in Gainesville, FL. The surgeon was not one of my
father's regular physicians and didn't take the time to become familiar with my
father's overall health or medical history. If he had, he would not have performed
the surgery (we were actually told this by the surgeon's PA after the fact).But
that's not the worst part. The worst part, and what I firmly believe led to my
father's decline and eventual death, was the lack of acceptable care on the part of
the nursing staff. So many errors were made, so many things were ignored or
disregarded that I was absolutely dumbfounded, having previously and for years held
this hospital in very high regard. Despite the fact that my father was incapable
of feeding himself, he was provided with a tray of food three times a day and that
tray was retrieved later, untouched by him. When I noticed this and asked what my
father had eaten, the nurses would hurriedly say that my father just hadn't had an
appetite that day. Yet, if I sat and fed him or assisted him in feeding himself,
he ate the food. Bottom line: the nurses didn't have time to sit and feed my
father.My father developed ICU Psychosis - not uncommon in elderly patients who
spend a lot of time in small windowless rooms with little sleep and a constant
influx of unfamiliar faces. Due to this condition, he thrashed about in his bed
and suffered hallucinations. Did the nurses check to make sure his legs were still
covered and on the bed during the day or night? Only when they had to go into the
room for something else like blood work or checking vitals. Did they take care to
close the door all the way or turn off the lights when they left the room to help
him sleep? Absolutely not!We finally got it: a person's chances of surviving a
hospital stay increase dramatically if a family member or other loved one remains
at the hospital with the patient 24/7. This was confirmed by a respiratory
therapist who told us that she would never let a family member stay at the hospital
without a family member in the room as much as possible. She said the nurses just
didn't have time - they were spread too thin. We began to spend every day and
almost every night at the hospital with our father.The weekends were the worst.
That's when recent nursing school graduates would replace the week-day nurses.
Honestly, half the time it was completely obvious that they had NO IDEA what they
were doing or what was going on with our father. Probably the worst example I can
give is when my sister arrived at the hospital later than usual, about 3:00PM on a
Saturday. She found my that my father was not wearing his oxygen tubes (the ones
that go into the nose). When she asked the nurse about this, the new nurse said
that he was ""off oxygen"". My sister asked who had told her this and asked if my
father had. The nurse said that my father had been speaking Spanish to her. This
alarmed my sister who asked my father to say something to the nurse. My father, at
that point, had lost the ability to speak clearly and the nurse said, ""See? He's
speaking Spanish!"" My father was NOT speaking Spanish, he was speaking English he was completely lucid - but his speech was not clear. He had been without oxygen
ever since the nurse began her shift hours earlier in the day. There were NO
orders that he be taken off of oxygen. That day marked the beginning of a dramatic
decline in his health from which he never recovered. The charge nurse was told
that we did not want this nurse to handle our father's case and we were told that
she was removed from it. The next day, however, there she was again. We had to
cause a scene before she was taken off his case.I could go on. There were so many
other examples. And, in case you're curious, this was CCU - the Critical Care Unit
(one step down from ICU). I will say that there were some wonderful nurses who
became like family, but even they seemed to have little help and were grateful for
help from the family (in changing his bed, feeding him, ensuring a bedpan was
brought to him timely AND removed timely, ensuring that his oxygen tube was in
place, etc.). Quite frankly, this hospital is no place for the gravely ill. I
checked at hospitalsafetyscore.org and was not surprised to find C-grades across
the board. My heart is broken for my father and the family he left behind."sounds
so familiar. even here in Canada mistakes are rampant"I also feel that elderly
patients are disregarded and too quickly determined to be ""beyond hope"". Because
my father's speech became garbled (the cause was never fully determined), the staff
assumed he had dementia. We had to repeatedly tell them that he did NOT have
dementia and that he was actually trying to tell them something. Many of them
assumed, as well, that he was hard of hearing, which he was not. My father became
so frustrated at this that he actually yelled at one of his physical therapists,
""I'm not deaf, you don't have to yell!"", but the therapist couldn't understand
him and just ignored him as he undoubtedly would have any other elderly person who
was ranting and raving. I recorded this event on my phone before I spoke up for my
father. What if I hadn't been there?"so true. you do have to be there 24/7 and
question everything that seems wrong. i have learned the hard way by losing my son
to incompetence. i agree they don't care about the elderly as I have witnessed
many times with my mother. very scary"I am so sorry about your son, Mary-Lou."
check out my site if you haven't already www.justiceforjosh.comgood to talk with
you. gotta go to bed now. work tomorrow"Another direct experience, reality based
example of why the US is 37th in the world for health care, between Costa Rica and
Slovenia.""Yes, 60 minutes per hour, 24 hours per day. Review the medical record
every few hours, befriend a few care-givers to help you understand what is going
on, record everything and Speak-Up when anything isn't right.""Mary-Lou, I read
your son's story. Oh, God, it sounds so familiar. Losing an 82-year-old father is
sad enough, but losing a beautiful young son is a tragedy beyond understanding or
description. You and your family are in my thoughts and prayers. I wish you
peace.""Hi Vicki Del Valle Schneider. ""Welcome"" to this group. You've lived it,
as did I and my family during each of my parents' terminal hospitalizations in 04
and 05 (Mom/respiratory collapse/ICU; Dad self-admit for pacemaker eligibility
testing, nosocomial MRSA and attendant buffoonery, including the exact
feeding/watering scenario you experienced).Even after the fact this tidbit may be
helpful. It's what I whittled thoughts down to over a long time:First: hospitals
don't provide care -- they provide bodily repair services under the removed
direction of independent physician-scientists, and nurse-monitoring on some
schedule.Next: advocating for a hospitalized loved one emanates from a place of
continuous skepticism which causes us, always and for every situation, to inquire
what impediments exist to the timely and/or successful delivery of [whatever:
procedure, resource, goal]. Using this truism we can then always ask, in whatever
language we tend to use, what can go wrong. The idea is to ask ask ask ask and
uncover what you don't know you don't know. So you don't have to know what you
don't know in advance; that'll emerge if you focus on uncovering what impediments
exist to timely success, be it for small or large events. Example: family-supplied,
admitting MD-approved Rx's taken away and supposed to be dispensed at 6:30pm? The
doc probably won't know what process the facility has to go through to fulfill the
service (it'll pop your eyeballs when you learn it). So, take nothing for granted;
instead ask ""exactly what process has to unfold in order for these meds to get
dispensed on time"" and don't take vague assurances of success as an answer. Drill
down far enough and you'll learn that the nurse has to write new scripts, the
pharmacist has to come up, read 'em, read the bottle label, pull a pill and examine
it, and sign off. For each and every med. And then you ask about pharmacy staffing
over shifts, etc. Today I'd also go down and talk to the pharmacist. It's like
overseeing a child; the entire system is so understaffed and overworked that the
system itself is childlike in its discontinuities.So remember: the definition of
what hospitals actually provide (it ain't ""care,"" a term that ought to be
stricken from the medical lexicon
until it's re-earned), and advocacy is at root the job of uncovering impediments
and protecting against them.The former thought is in my book, the latter developed
several years after its publication.""Thank you, Bart Windrum. I feel that I
learned these lessons at the expense of my father's life. Too high, that cost."
"You and I share that gruesome unfortunate lesson, Vicki. My dad's death was very
likely premature; despite his weak heart he rolled outa the house and drove here
and there every day and I can report he had no MRSA before the too-large urinary
catheter some incompetent lazy nurse shoved up him (before we got there).""Don't
even get me started on urinary catheters! I had to have a full-blown argument with
one of my father's nurses (in front of the nurse's supervisor) in order to get him
to change my father's catheter after I arrived at the hospital to find him writhing
in pain. The nurse's response to my father's complaints (and my father, a former
Marine Sergeant, thought pain was for weenies), ""Oh, he has a known prostate
problem."" My father had no prior history of problems with catheters - he was used
to them. For him to cry out in pain whenever he moved, well, it made my blood
boil. Needless to say, the catheter was repositioned and my father was fine
afterwards. It makes me physically ill to think of him in pain like that. I share
your disdain for the word ""care"" under those circumstances.""Hi Vicki Del Valle
Schneider, so sorry to hear about your father, but thank you for sharing your story
with our Facebook group. I wanted to ask you to also share your story by completing
our ProPublica Patient Harm Questionnaire:
http://www.propublica.org/article/patient-harm-questionnaire This is the form we're
asking people to complete so we can identify stories and issues that we should
pursue for our reporting at ProPublica. Sharing your experience would be a big
help.""And then there was my sister's subsequent hospitalization. For me, ""thrice
bitten, a zillion times shy."" ""Those circumstances"" are ever and always unless
direct experience in real time is qualitatively different. Hence, ""care"" is a
term I do not use. It's ""treatment"" by ""treatment groups"" (not care teams,
apparently a dual oxymoron). This is not about blame, it's just getting our heads
screwed on straight so that when we pass through those double doors we're oriented
toward the tasks at hand.""What a brilliant observation, thanks Bart, ""care teams,
apparently an dual oxymoron.""""It's the words we use in our heads, Garrick. I
*really* wanted to get to the bottom of why my patient-family failed, fell victim
to, the machinations of a system professing care and delivering the absolute
opposite, twice in a row, during the deaths of both of my parents. The ICU at West
Boca Medical Center (and this is the very first time I've named the place since
January 2004) was a callous place���to the bitter end, failing to come turn off
the monitor alarms or offer my grieving sister a modicum of solace. The egregious
banal errors and communication failures culminating in UNinformed consent around
Dad's MRSA affair at JFK Medical Center in Atlantis FL, a Jayco 100 at the time
(again, the first time since May 2005 I've named the place) directly contributed
to, perhaps caused, his demise. I *had* to take the blinders off. The little words
in our heads matter a lot, because we can't afford to lose days and weeks to
believing what, I must unfortunately label, delusions and lies on and of a systemic
scale.Tonight I find myself angry. The picture of Vicki's dad going unfed, as did
mine 7 years ago; nothing changes. I've grown to almost loathe the use of the word
care. I see it as a usurpation and I really dislike that all of us continue to use
it. Like lambs. Maybe people think I'm silly when I've pushed for us not to use it
anymore. But it's got to be us, because health""care"" won't stop the selfidentification. Wishing won't make it so. Mostly, medicine ought not have a lock on
the notion of care. Most everyone in every endeavor take care in what we do.
Medicine seems, to me, to want to own the notion of care because it'll always come
down to ""well we have good people who really do care"". That may be true. But we
cannot continue allowing that ultimately weepy sentiment to leech our resolve to
redefine and restate our experience. Want to change the playing field even a
miniscule amount? Take ""care"" out of the conversation, and before putting it back
in wait until it manifests itself predominently.""I too experienced the loss of
both my parents within two months of each other from 'treatment' at a rural
hospital in WNC. My father preceded my mother, who most likely passed prematurely.
Thirteen years have not mitigated or brought any resolution. Words do have meaning
and it is particularly gulling to read health""care"", board certified, always
consult your physician, we 'care', excellence in health""care"". Their ineptness is
well known yet nothing changes. Garrick Sitongia, those statistics are my mantra
except they are from the last WHO report done in the year 2000 - someone deemed it
was too 'expensive' to do it anymore(Bu$h adm.). US is most likely closer to 57th
now in care and still number one in cost. We all know here that the figures are not
correct as there is under reporting going on. This is Appalachia at it's worst. mill town attitude I thought - except now it seems it is nation wide. Only those
who have been actively involved - actually lost a loved one under Mengele torture
treatment realize what is going on. Those who are bereaved or damaged themselves
are tasked to blow the whistle along with the pain and sorrow. We are now blessed
with the internet and can share our stories - never to be silent until health'care'
is a reality, as Bert Sebilia said - take ""care"" out of the conversation and
before putting it back in wait until it manifests itself predominantly. Hoping for
peace of mind for all of us in our quest to put humanity, humane medical treatment
back in true care.""Beyond tragic Vicki... Words fail period. As I read all of our
horror stories, I can't help but notice that, more often than not, patients who are
harmed or killed have undergone an 'elective' surgery they most likely didn't need
in the first place. (This s is what happened to me!) I didn't need surgery nor did
I consent to it. Now, I'm disabled. Here's my story
http://www.hysterectomyconsequences.com/my_story And, more often than not, these
surgeries were suggested during a 'checkup' or 'wellness' visit we really didn't
need. Those of us who've been unfortunate enough to experience our 'healthcare'
system up close and personal know that it is not a HEALTHcare system at all for it
has little to do with health and nothing to do with CARE.""I am a nurse with 30
years of hospital experience. I have advocated for my father when he was
hospitalized, only to be told by his surgeon that I was not making any friends
among the staff. I informed him that I would advocate for my father, and was not
there to make friends. I'm deeply sorry that this series of errors happened to your
father, Vicki. I have a few bits of advice for people who think a loved one has
been harmed: 1) Report it all the way to the top. Demand to see the chief medical
officer of the hospital. Do not stop at lower-level administrators who have no
power to change things. 2) If you are too stressed yourself (which happens easily
when a loved one is seriously ill), enlist the help of a friend or family member,
or a qualified professional advocate. Many studies confirm that intensive care is
disruptive to families, as well as patients. You will need help. And one more: 3)
take care of yourself. You simply cannot be there 24/7. If you try to be, you'll
suffer for it. You can be most effective as an advocate if you are rested,
nourished, and cared for yourself.""The statement made to you Teresa about how
you're not making any friends says everything about how patients and their families
are viewed by medical 'professionals'. What kind of thing is that to say? When I
read that, I felt like I had been punched in the stomach. Too many memories I
guess... We are treated with such disrespect. Talk about being kicked when you're
down. And people wonder why we feel the way we do about doctors and hospitals.
Bart's words ring very true 'Thrice bitten, a zillion times shy'. I think he
expressed how many of us feel.""I can't speak from experience going to the top but
during Mom's ICUization (a natural occurrence; she accepted assistance and it led
where it led) we did engage the Director of Nursing. Ultimately I wrote a section
in Notes from the Waiting Room: Managing a Loved One's (End of Life)
Hospitalization that I titled ""Who Not to Complain To and What to Know if You
Do."" You see, it took us two meetings w/the nursing director for me to realize
that (a) she couldn't change the culture in that ICU and (b) she probably was a
primary cause of it. If this sounds like caving, perhaps it is. Yeah, I'd probably
try again at a higher level but that's only because I haven't had the pleasure of
experiencing a hospitalization for some years.Note to Michelin Anderson: in your
entry above you attributed words I wrote to someone named Bert Sebilia..."I read
that chapter in your book Bart. I think your experience is unfortunately typical
and I think your advice can serve to prevent additional heartache in two ways. It
helps families know better how to complain if they choose to do so and it also
helps them to understand from the get-go that things may get worse instead of
better. This is something that most don't expect... Bart's book is a must-read by
the way."Note to everyone: when you *do* have that meeting and the first response
to your presentation is ""That's not who we are""
the thing to say is ""I'm very sorry, but it's exactly who you as an institution
are collectively and if that ends up meaning individually, then so be it. Our
experience here suggests 'who' this facility is.""This is a powerful truth to lay
bear and we cannot back away from it. It is the essence of acting to attempt to
foster accountability.""Teresa Goodell - The peer pressure and family pressure
tactic to ""sit down and shut up"" isn't working anymore.
http://bg2.funformobile.com/blog/blogItem.php?
item=16257860&uid=1snsq2neay&p=1&aid=118713"I got a recommendation from a co-worker
and I went to my first appointment yesterday...it did not go well. Do you just
blindly trust your dentist?"Tina, I ran into a woman who used to work for me
recently and I didn't recognize her. Her face looked completely different. It was
distorted greatly. She was in obvious pain - physically and mentally. I asked her
what was wrong and she began to tell me a horror story that was almost
unbelievable. She had been to a dentist for implants and she was basically tortured
by a very angry dentist. I won't go into the details here... It was bad. Very bad.
He ruined her face on top of the damage he did to her mouth. From what she told me,
it sounds like he's either an alcoholic and drug user/abuser. I don't see any other
way a doctor could do what was done to this woman. She is completely traumatized!
And this is a woman who battled breast cancer for the two years she worked for me.
She is a very strong woman. I can only imagine what this doctor did... Her family
and those she works with don't believe her because they trust doctors. I think
that's perhaps the worst part for her. It's so difficult to survive being violated
by a doctor/doctors anyway. But to have our families not believe us on top of
everything else is too much:("i agree people do not want to hear the truth. they
like to live in their dream world"Robin Karr, I have shivers from reading your
comment. I won't go into the details about the extensive and irreparable damage I
suffer from because my former dentist (on probation) tortured me in 3 surgeries one without anesthesia for 6 hrs. He said I didn't need anesthesia because his
technique was so great but it was because he wasn't permitted due to his probation
and he was hiding that. It's sad when the Dental Board states the dentist is not
negligent and victimize the victim again. Families side with the ""powers that be""
more often than not""When talking about what happened, she kept saying ""He raped
me Robin"". She was sobbing... She said he very angrily put his hands up in her
face and completely pushed her jaws and nose up out of place with no anesthesia! I
could see from looking at her face that he did what she described. Truly
horrifying! I can't stop thinking about her... I'm so sorry for what you've endured
Tina. Honestly, it's only because of your many posts here that I immediately
believed her without question. She needs someone like you to talk to right now. I
fear she's suicidal. She doesn't have internet or I would have told her to join
this group. If she could share her story here and find others who know she's
telling the truth, it would help to validate what she's going through at least..."
"She deserves so much support...it's so sad that non compliant dentists and the
Dental Board members keeping them licensed make victims of dental abuse and neglect
suffer an additional level of pain when seeking assistance to ""correct/address""
the irreparable damage. We pay dearly both physically and financially and damages
that affect our entire health"I truely dont understand why when a dr really causes
someone to code when they over dose them on meds you cant do any thing about it !
Its truely rediculious! I myself died on june 12 th of this yr evens tho they
resesitated me i know i died but because there was no so called long term physical
empediment or long term so called suffering (but what about mental suffering im
scared to ever go into surgery again) so the dr goes scott free no one here will
take my case i think its just crazy an i was done unjustly an lived to tell about
it ! PRAISE MY GOD that i did everyday!"You are here for a reason Patty. Just like
we all are. I too am petrified to ever have surgery again, since I was horrendously
butchered by a group of doctors who needed a guinea pig for experimentation and
training practice."I have the same anxietiesI'm sorry that happened to you Patty. I
hope you are doing OK now. I too am afraid of surgery and yet my body is falling
apart ever since I took Levaquin. I will need surgeries again and again. My life is
so painful now I'm not as worried as I used to be. Death does not seem so bad
anymore.Did the doctor ever apologize?Very sad that you say death does not seem so
bad anymore Mark but I think many of us here feel the same way sometimes:(If i
hadnt been worthy of the LORD wanting me back here id not been here i have to give
him all the praise an glory! Keep your faith an KNOW that GOD is your savior he
loves us all ! I still think about it and i hope it never comes to that again but
if it does i know whose on my side! GOD BLESS YOU MARK!"God gave us free will. I
didn't listen to my will. I let unscrupulous doctors force their will onto me, and
I suffer the appalling damage they inflicted on me every single day. I too pray to
God, but my prayers are for Justice, and it will take a miracle for justice to
prevail in a system geared to protect the perpetrators.""Even with all of Davita's
known problems, legal dilemmas and history of dismissals, our State Commissioner of
DHHS signed the Certificate of Need approval for them to come and run Eastern Maine
Medical Center's clinics. Money/profits over patients is a very frightening thing."
"Agree Kathy, profits over patients is frightening... I think many of us are facing
this reality now."sorryplease call in"Hi everyone,I'm new to this community, and
really grateful to have found it. Does anyone have any personal experience with or
resources about cardiac catheterization-induced heart attacks (from blood clots)?
In solidarity,Laura""Hi Laura, Here is an Informed Consent for cardiac
catheterization with risk potentials:
http://www.southdenver.com/media/pdf/procedures/CardiacCathConsentFormt.pdf""Hi
Doug Hall thanks for the link. yes, a consent form was signed, although it's my
belief that full information was not orally given to the person... i guess i'm
curious to hear if others have had this experience, or know someone who has, and if
so, if they were successful with medical malpractice?""A thorough Informed Consent
is difficult, at best, during an emergency. There are risks to be balanced with the
expected benefit for every procedure. I'm not an attorney but I want to make a
friendly reminder that negative outcomes do not necessarily mean there has been
negligence. Here is a link for the evidence requirements to pursue medical
malpractice: http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/medical-malpractice-basics29855.html""I was bullied, threatened, totally mislead and misinformed into a
unnecessary radical hysterectomy by deceptive and fraudulent practices by
unscrupulous doctors, Laura, but the whole system sided wth the doctors, so I had
no hope in hell of getting any compensation. Most of the injured patients I talked
too, said they would not have had the surgery, if they had been properly informed."
"Very very few harmed patients are successful with medical malpractice because of
tort reform. In my case, there was no emergency and yet my former doctor admitted
he purposely had me sedated so he could purposely obtain consent for my elective
surgery from someone other than me so he could purposely remove healthy organs. He
even stated there were certainly no signs I had cancer! He admitted he castrated me
for no reason other than 'hormonal bloating'; which all women on the earth
experience. The O.R. nurse admitted she knew the consent she obtained was illegal
since there was no emergency. YET, there's NOTHING I can do. I've pursued legal
remedy since 2008. I've been through three lawyers, my case has been dismissed and
re-filed, my trial date has been moved several times and is now set for 2014. I'm
representing myself at this point because no lawyer will take over my case. My
situation is common. Pursuing a malpractice complaint is very draining physically, mentally and even financially... There is little reward even if you're
successful and win due to caps on jury awards. Here's a portion of my former
doctor's testimony. It's quite incredible on many levels...
http://www.hysterectomyconsequences.com/testimony_of_bradley_busacco_and_mercy_hosp
ital_or_nurse""Hi Laura Delano, welcome to the group. We're glad you joined, though
we're always sorry that this is a group that has so many members! I wanted to urge
you to please share the story of the cardiac cath with us here at ProPublica. We're
asking patients or their family members to complete a questionnaire, so we can
gather stories and topics that we should pursue. Here's the link to the
questionnaire: http://www.propublica.org/article/patient-harm-questionnaire""Doug
Hall Thanks for the link on med. malpractice-- yes, i am aware that not all
negative outcomes are malpractice, just very much hoping that this is, because it
has caused complete and total devastation of quality of life for this person, who
was totally healthy before. June Gardner There was definitely pressure from the
doctors to have this procedure done and although a consent form was signed, it
didn't feel like a choice at all for this person. I am so sorry to hear of all
that you've been through. Robin Karr Your experience sounds so horrific, too. I'm
not going to lie-- your legal struggles are not an encouraging sign, but it sounds
like from what I'm learning
here that this is simply the state of affairs in medicine. Thanks to you both for
sharing your personal stories here."Marshall Allen I will definitely take a look at
this questionnaire! I look forward to getting more involved with this community.
These are pretty good... http://www.achd.net/food/literary.html Could be used in
hospital in addition to food service locations.....another reason to have a
Professional or Family Advocate double checking everything 60 minutes per hour:
This story is about a Pediatric Hospital that caught 234 medication errors in 1
month on 1 unit. Also mentioned that the new systems only stopped half of
medication errors that would have caused harm. The emerging role of family member
as Patient Safety Intermediary is well justified. The Advocate and Patient are the
last line of defense to catch errors of commission and omission:
http://stillwatergazette.com/2012/10/31/lakeview-earns-patient-safety-honor/"It
says many of the medication errors would never have been known about. This adds
tremendously to difficulty in diagnosing and prompt treatment, and dangers that the
wrong drug can do. The wrong drug won't fix the problem, but people believe the
right drug was given. The conclusion is the drug didn't work, and so the right drug
will never get a chance.In the other case, the patient might complain about the
strong side effect from an incorrect drug that was administered which nobody knows
about. The mystery about the patient's condition deepens. Then many things have to
be considered. Maybe the side effects of the wrong drug are known and the mistake
recognized. Maybe the patient is diagnosed with a second condition, and given
expensive tests that come out negative. Perhaps even a psychiatrist is called in to
evaluate for psychosomatic situation (and this goes on the record). Psycho active
drugs are then prescribed. Of course, the hospital will profit from any mistake it
makes.""I don't know if this is relevant here, but ""The Medical Error Action
Group"" was started in Australia, by Lorraine Long, whose mother went into hospital
with an asthma attack and died. The hospital said her mother died of natural
causes, but the truth was that she was poisoned by the wrong drugs, given to her at
the hospital, which was then covered up. If her daughter didn't do her own
investigation, she would never have known the truth. We believe what the doctors
tell us.""""Blame is being placed on the building���s outdated backup power
system, which has raised concern that aging infrastructure at U.S. hospitals has
created a risk for similar outages that jeopardize patient care.""""Backup systems
should be designed so that they may be stress tested without disrupting the current
system operation. The backup system was probably inspected, but not tested.""Hello!
Thanks for admission. Unfortunately I belong in your group many times over after an
almost unbelievable chain of iatrogenic events. In April of 2007 I had hardware put
in my broken left ankle. It broke apart and twisted around a bit. During the
surgery to drill out all the pieces I got a hospital acquired infection. They had
to cut away the dead tissue, irrigate, put new stuff in and try to sew it shut.
They also put a PICC line in my arm to inject myself with antibiotics. The first
try popped something in my ear. The next try was too long and coiled inside my
heart. Third try was supposedly OK. I knew I was having an adverse reaction to
something but no one took me seriously; apparently the admitting physician wrote
that I drank 30 beers a day not the 30 beers a week I told him so they were
convinced I was having withdrawals as I pissed myself and shook and sweated and
hallucinated. My blood pressure was all over the place. Still, they sent me home
and I kept injecting the stuff for 17 days as I got progressively worse until my
arm swelled up and turned purple. I had blood clots all along the PICC line from my
heart to where it came in. I spent a few daze in the ICU. Turns out I had been
given contaminated syringes of heparin. I still had lots more damage though,
including ruptured tendons in my ankle, cartilage lesions that required a cartilage
transplant, a broken blood vessel in my foot, giant swollen veins that needed to be
removed, and a whole lot of other problems from head to toe including insane
headaches, intense anxiety, auditory hallucinations ringing in the ears and on and
on and on. I just figured that the dirty needles had done all this damage until one
day I came across an article in Alternet about a class of antibiotics called
fluoroquinolones and the long list of 'symptoms' like ruptured ankle tendons fit me
exactly. I knew immediately I had been floxed, the slang term for victims of these
drugs, in my case Levaquin. Cipro and Avelox are the other big two but there were
plenty more until they were banned, and once these ones are banned they have more,
new ones waiting to be released. These drugs should only be used as a last try
rather than as a first choice as they are now. The executives of Bayer and Johnson
& Johnson know damn well what they are doing to us; not only selling a drug that
might hurt us, rather, they are counting on it to hurt us so we buy more pain
relievers, antidepressants, muscle relaxers, sleeping aids, antibiotics, and so on.
These men and women belong in prison for the rest of their lives and I won't rest
until I see justice. Best wishes to all of you with whatever troubles you are
facing!""right on, Mark""The serial string of errors and incompetence that some of
us experience could be a slapstick script for a Three Stooges show if it wasn't so
sad, immoral and deadly.""Exactly, except for disaster in medical care just isn't
funny. I will write a book about it though. Or am writing one."Thats what I did was
wrote a book about my experience and hopefully it will wake up some people out
there that could use the support. I was cringing reading your chain of events that
you just want to push pause at some point and it just keeps going. Keep spreading
the words! So Sorry that you belong to the same club as I."So sorry at what
happened to you Mark. As I've said over and over again. We put our trust that
doctors have our best interest at heart, and only after we have been harmed by
them, and the revictimization in the aftermath of that harm, do we realize how
broken the system truly is.""Hi Mark A Girard, thanks for sharing your story. I
couldn't help but be reminded of this article by Kerry O'Connell as I read your
account: http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/31/8/1895.full.pdf""Also, Mark A
Girard and others - please share your story with us at ProPublica, so we can better
investigate these various matters: http://www.propublica.org/article/patient-harmquestionnaire"If only we all had known then what we know now.they put me on
leviquin also an i had a bad reaction to it also i just stopped taking it!"I once
had a reaction to geodon? and it made me feel like the flu, body aches, temp,
shakes and so I told him and he said well let's just try it again to make sure. No
offense Doc but let's not and say we did.""Dr Mendelsohn said the same thing
Michelle. Just say you'll obey the doctor, but go home and do what you know is best
for you."I've done that many times Michelle."Thanks everyone. Marshall Allen,
thanks for sharing that story with me; I can see why my story reminded you of this
one. Here's something crazy-one of the surgeons involved in my case was from what
must be the same giant orthopedic outfit in Golden Colorado. I will send him an
email and ask him.""Glad you found the story helpful, Mark A Girard. Incidentally,
Golden, Colorado is my home town. Totally irrelevant, I know."Place this on your
calendar for tomorrow. Send to your friends."Defensive medicine blamed for patient
death... What do you think? I don't buy this excuse because of 'Tort Reform'. It's
nearly impossible to find anyone who is able to successfully pursue a medical
malpractice complaint. So, why are doctors so worried? http://t.co/3chvGGf6"They
are paranoid.I completely agree with both!OMG I can't help but wonder where that
came from."Every exposure to medical treatment poses risks. The reason for overtreatment is not fear of lawsuits, but motivated by fee for service profit. Most
doctors are employees of hospitals or medical centers. I assume that there is an
annual review of employment performance for doctors as there is in any other white
collar industry, which is basically a cost versus expense analysis of the employee.
It is a yearly post-employment job interview which asks the employee, what have you
done for us this past year? Avoidance of profitable tests and surgeries on patients
is not going to make points."Garrick Sitongia - I couldn't agree more! Any fear
they may possibly have about malpractice is so overwhelmed by greed that it is not
measureableI had a hard time getting through the article because again we go off on
a spin of many things yet who still gets hurt? The ones that are the victims.
"Agree with you Garrick and Allen when you say doctors aren't worried about
malpractice nearly so much as they're worried about not making crazy money. The
article attempts to get the reader to feel sorry for the poor doctors who just
can't win and are damned if they do and damned if they don't. Sadly, many people
buy into that. They don't know what we know...""Right Michelle, it's the victims
who, at the end of the day, get hurt!""Doctors know they can get away with whatever
harm the commit. That's why it was so easy to fabricate cancer and mutilate 6
healthy organs from me. They knew they would never be accountable, that the system
would take their side, while the harmed patient is discredited and disgarded.""This
is the most ridiculous article I've read in a long time. Hmmmmmmm
. . . yeah, a medical error is JUST like a baseball slugger's 100 mph swing that
gets thwarted by some fan's flash going off causing good 'ol slugger to blink
{rolling eyes} WTF is Birdstrike, Dr even talking about!?! OH PLEASE -- dude must
not know what a ""non sequitor"" is.
He writes: Case No. 1 "". . . then had a
coronary catheterization which perforated one of the arteries in her heart and
killed her,"" but goes on to blame her death on ""defensive medicine."" Maybe,
just maybe if one of the patient's arteries in her HEART wasn't perforated, she
wouldn't have died. Defensive medicine caused this patient to die? Since when do
""concepts"" and made up crap perform heart caths on a patient? I'm not a doctor,
but I'm going to take a ""stab"" at it and I'm going with the COD as a perforated
artery in her HEART caused by someone who . . . . . what!!?! . . . . . .
blinked!?!?!!! The patient's death was caused by someone who shouldn't have
PERFORATED her artery. I didn't even read the dribble any further -- MY artery was
just about to burst."Defensive medicine has killed and maimed countless patients. I
know of 3 people who died having operations that were totally unnecessary to begin
with."""defensive medicine"" is a concept. The bottom line: the doctor does the
deed. No matter if somone needs the procedure/ operation, or not (which is another
topic, i.e., unnecessary procedures) if it's botched, it's botched. I didn't need
my surgery and my surgry was botched. At least do the procedure without harming,
maiming and killing people, geez! Then . . . we'll talk about being used as
guinea pigs.""Exactly Carla. It's bad enough being tricked into unnecessary
surgeries, but to have it so badly botched is unconscionable, and a reprehensible
miscarriage of justice.""Thursday I will be hosting""LIFE"" Radio show and I will
be talking about the falsifying of medical records, and refusal of medical records.
Please inbox me if you are interested."Please clarify refusal.Some entities are
refusing release of medical records and making it difficult for them to access the
records or investigations relating to their cases. Some entities are charging
enormous fees that people can not afford to get records. In my case I am being
refused the investigations surrounding information found in the medical records.
good question to put to the panel that Blair is bringing together.ok let me knowHer
post is about 11 or 12 down from this one. You need to post in there.I am"Freedom
of Information sent me out my medical records for free (Australia), but the
contents was full of falsehoods and fabrications. No wonder the complaints depts.
didn't believe my story."http://www.cbs42.com/content/localnews/story/The-caseagainst-mercury-in-your-mouth/qpJNJ_tqCkCx0JsPMedd4g.cspx"My husband has had all
the mercury removed from his mouth- when they do that- it can weaken the
surrounding tooth, as they have to drill all of it out...which results in root
canals!""Amalgam fillings split my teeth and then I had these damaged molars over
drilled and gold crowns filled with amalgam - then a few root canals and now last
week had a molar extracted because of infection - had to take amoxicillan but also
am taking probiotics, supplements, chlorella,cilantro etc. and eating well. I am
NOT amused with those health professionals I trusted for too many years!""When I
was 19, a dentist said I needed 21 fillings. I didn't know any better then so I
allowed it. In reality, I only needed 2 fillings. The teeth he didn't touch are
still healthy today, 46 years later. He destroyed my teeth for personal gain."
"Paramedics arrived a short time later, but they couldn't save her. Nor could staff
at the hospital. Katherine, age 27, was brain dead. Nobody said anything to me,
said Patricia Dawkins, who didn't learn her daughter was in trouble until after the
ambulance had pulled away from the back of the building. I asked the girl at the
desk, Is something wrong?'""Despite admitting responsibility, in the words of his
settlement, Choi bargained with the Dental Board and received three years of
probation and remedial education without any restrictions on his practice. Choi
continued seeing patients and administering anesthesia as though nothing had
happened. He still has a license today.""792,012 others like this
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Pass-Tinas-Bill/Please read/sign...THOUSANDS OF
UNSUSPECTING PATIENTS ARE TREATED BY HUNDREDS OF PROBATIONER DENTISTS EVERY DAY."
Signed petition Tina! Please sign mine @
http://www.hysterectomyconsequences.com/petition_to_president_of_acog_the_presidend
_and_lawmakersThank you Robin Karr!http://www.focusonline.ca/?q=node%2F463
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1-K4kh8fcc
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/10/27/medical-errorskill.aspx?e_cid=20121027_DNL_art_2"These errors kill the equivalent of four jumbo
jets' worth of passengers��_ every week, Dr. Makary says, and this is likely a
conservative estimate.""They've tried to kill me over and over again but I'm Tough,
Tough with a capital T!""As a newbie here my first thought is that improved
electronic record management has got to be somewhere near the top of the list of
ideas as to how to reduce these horrible numbers. I would also say that the system
needs to pay far more attention to what the patients are saying and experiencing. A
new level of transparent electronic information management where everyone in the
loop has access to the information would go a long way towards solving these
problems. Instead of trying to convince one doctor after another after another that
all these problems started the same day, the day I took Levaquin, instead I would
go to the Levaquin page and click the boxes for the symptoms I was experiencing,
like spontaneous tendon rupture, cartilage lesions, hematomas, blood clots, bloated
blood vessels, and so on. As a patient I would be able to read what the doctor had
written as I have had very bad experiences due to mistakes into what doctors have
written.I'm sorry but my experience is that the system is horribly broken and
failing miserably at doing anything except extracting money from the people. The
drug companies are beyond immoral and doing far more harm than good. In fact, it is
a reasonable proposition that more people would live longer healthier happier lives
if we closed them all down and stopped giving anyone any drugs for any reason. We
have gone to the side of over medication to the point we are shortening lifespans
and causing tremendous amounts of misery. The executives at the companies
bamboozling doctors into believing their crap as safe all belong behind bars. The
stuff isn't safe. It isn't even close to safe."Hi agian Mark I understand
www.shellybeenz.com"What happened to me was a deliberate racket run by unscrupulous
doctors looking for easy prey to experiment on. The doctor who lied, bullied and
threatened me into this radical mutilations, told me he'd done hundreds of these
types of surgeries, that he could do them with his eyes closed. I recently found an
article about him, and it said that he was completing his training the the hospital
where he harmed me. So, in reality, I was used as part of his training. He lied to
my face about everything."That is terrible June. I think I just ran head-long into
a broken system but not corruption on a face to face level. Avoidable mistakes as
far as I know. I hope things improve for you."No Mark. Things will never improve
for me. For over 7 years I've suffered numerous complications because of severe
internal damage. and to get blacklisted on top of that is unconscionable. Read the
article called ""DEADLY MEDICAL PRACTICES"" by Trudy Newman. Much of what was
written in that article happened to me firsthand. And I had nothing wrong with the
organs and lymph nodes mutilated out of me. The morining after he did the
operation, the doctor who threatened me into immediate surgery by saying I had
cancer, came in with a smug look on his face and said I was as clean as a whistle.
That I had no cancer. All my removed organs were healthy."I'm sorry to hear that
June. I had a long series of iatrogenic events. My doctor got fired and my case
got transferred to another clinic."Thanks Mark. Seems like most of us here, have
had a long series of iatrogenic events, and millions more trusting, unsuspecting
patients will no doubt be added to that list in the future, because nobody stops
these dangerous practices, you can mark my words on that.""Yes yes, did you know my
lawsuit lasted 3 AND HALF YEARS. Then we had to quit because we went broke."
"That's why I didn't, Michelle. The doctors who harmed me covered their tracks too
well, and I had no chance in hell of winning, even though they committed criminal
and negligent malpractice. I tried so hard to get my story out to the public,
because I didn't want this to happen to another woman. But nobody would listen, and
the media took the side of the doctors, so all I could do was say a prayer for any
woman who came into contact with these bad doctors, and hope they listen to their
intuition and run."I hear you! Same here. But there has to be a way!Please visit
http://www.sacbee.com/2011/09/18/3918688/falsified-patient-records-are.htmlStay
tuned for show on Thursday"Deidre, thank you for the opportunity to be on your show
to discuss ALEC and it's impact on health care."you are welcomed anytime join in
the conversation we welcome your thoughts"How Payment and Governance Regulations
are Changing Medicine.An op-ed published in The American College of Surgery���s
'Surgery News'
This article has Free Access"
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blacklisting""One patient created a graph showing
that every time his primary care physician knew about appointments he had with
other physicians, those
appointments did not result in diagnosis or treatment. All those physicians
pretended to be helping, but eventually workers in one physician's office let him
know that his primary care physician called them and told them not to diagnose or
treat his injuries.[15] They were protecting the physician who caused the
injuries.""""I believe this is one reason that the defense demands a list of the
plaintiff's doctors. In my case, the defense even found out about doctors I saw but
didn't disclose to them; like a gynecologist in Kentucky - not Ohio where I live
and where my case is filed. I saw one doctor who was initially nice to me,
listened, performed tests I needed, etc. Then suddenly, he turned into someone I
didn't recognize - throwing my chart at me during one visit. I went to him for
swollen glands in my neck and he told me to quit making appointments for conditions
that don't exist. The swollen glands were beyond obvious. People at work were
commenting on them... Another time, I made an appointment with an endocrinologist
who told his receptionist to tell me he wouldn't see me. She asked me to leave in
front of a waiting room full of people. Until being harmed by unnecessary
hysterectomy, I never experienced anything remotely like this. I know others here
have experienced the same and worse.""I would like to say this doesn't happen, or
doesn't happen often, but I've talked to enough living donors in the past four
years to know that it does - far too often.""I would like to say it doesn't happen
even while it was happening to me. I tried to look for alternative explanations.
But after all that good faith effort, all I am left with is overwhelming evidence
that doctors really do treat me that way because of my medical injury.""This is
what is happening to me. I could make my own graph. No tests or specialist care. I
also heard about the website called ""Doctors know US"". I could not get a
requisition to get an MRI of my spine where I live. A relative helped me get the
MRI of my spine. Last year I was denied a bone scan after I was told by a private
clinic I could get it done. No justification to deny the bone scan because I had a
copy of my MRI spine and X-ray with me showing 10 findings in total.. I was told
by a GP i need to see an endocrinologist but the doctor I had to go to said it was
not needed as he knows all about the thyroid.. I had untreated thyroditiis in my
teens and early 20's..This was a misdiagnosis so they won't send me to the
endocrinologist so I cannot get anything official in writing. Even with test
results to confirm it. I have a distended abdomen and I am in pain..I suspect I
have an enlarged liver but I cannot get any medical tests done.. I have complained
about the pain to a few GP's. It really does not matter to them. I know this and
understand exactly what they are doing!! One doctor looked at his computer and
turned to me and asked me if I was bringing a lawsuit. This is how they warn each
other..Where is the privacy that we patients are suppose to have.. IMO that does
not exist either..I learned a long time ago that my records were being illegally
accessed.."http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=243379"Some of the
comments on the site via the above link are very disturbing... I guess most people
just won't see the truth until they experience what we have. I didn't say in my
other comment but the doctor who threw my chart at me eventually refused to see me
also. Before he told me to find another doctor, he told me that his diagnosis for
me was 'irritable bowel syndrome'. When I asked him how I could have this with no
symptoms, he said 'Since we don't know what's wrong with you, that's going to be
the diagnosis"". He laughed. I should also mention that the reason I was looking
for another doctor in the first place was because the one who unnecessarily and
illegally removed my healthy organs told me to find a another doctor. He told his
nurse to tell me I had too many problems since the surgery... People who have not
gone down this road to hell have no idea what it's like.""if you are sent to the ER
to rule out and diagnose septic knee and then they tell you, your child is fine,
she just has a flu like virus in her knee and then 2 days later on Halloween she
goes suddenly into shock and is dead within hours and you find out the ER did NOT
rule out or do the proper tests and you believe them when they say she is ok! Then
she is gone! What do you do???"@Michelle Septicemia and Meningitis are often
labeled as the flu in the ER and the person is sent home. From what I have read
this is very common..That's so outrageous KariAnn! Wouldn't you think doctors would
know the difference between flu-like symptoms and something as serious and lifethreatening as Septicemia and Meningitis? I do!!yes but if you are diagnosed that
and sent by a pediatrician to the ER doc then should the doctor do the proper tests
to rule it out??The stories of Misdiagnosis are endless.. People who have red or
purple spots do NOT have the flu. No idea how they missed and dismiss these obvious
signs..."Why say you did something when you obviously did not? Why not offer
another solution like say you no this can be serious and I dont think it is that so
you might want a second opinion, or something to alert me that everything is just
fine?"www.thepacket.ca/News/2009-06-04/article-1430760/Family.www.shellybeenz.comI
am sorry but we disagree.So sorry for your loss Michelle.Thank you and I do
understand that these problems we have in our healthcare system are endless and
when you have been on the recieving end of a nightmare it just changes your whole
attitude and emotions for people like me. I just want to make a change!"The link
above by Tee Rhudy is scary. The company tracks patients who ever filed a lawsuit
against a doctor and makes the list available to doctors so they can reject those
patients. They might expand that to compiling lists of patients who filed a
complaint with a state medical board. Although it is not public information,
members from all states could report a patient who filed a complaint with a state
medical board. The patient could move to another state and be blacklisted for
having filed a complaint. Also, there is no reason why a doctor couldn't report
patient complaints from years past, so any of us who filed a complaint could
sometime in the future be blacklisted by some doctors from that.""We put our trust
in doctors, and when they betray that trust the results can be devastating. I know,
because it happened to ne firsthand.""How can treatment of terminal cancer be
worse? Of all of the medical treatments at her disposal, only morphine, a 200-yearold drug, was helpful.""The link only goes to their home page. Do you have the
link to the article? But, yeah . . . morphine is a great for pain. But it doesn't
really cure anything. Link please :-)"So sorry; the precise link is:
http://www.freakonomics.com/2012/10/16/when-a-daughter-dies/comment-page2/#comments"Thanks Claudia Kim Nichols -- this is a MUST READ. A very sad tale and
the frustrations are felt from a father who is also a doctor. If he had a hard
time getting ice chips for this daiughter imagine what the layperson/family can not
even address. Being as pro-active as he could with his daughter's situation, he
was frustrated too. To quote: ""We finally depart the hospital, no doubt with a
well-deserved reputation for being a very difficult family."" Again, my point of
being the ""proactive"" patient,family,friend only brings upon the labling. It
should not be a well-deserved reputation for being a very difficult family. That's
a shame and not deserved at all. Pity.""What we found was a culture so
unresponsive to anything but the worst of bullying, we had to embrace being as
unpleasant as possible to get anything done. Being nice put you on the bottom of
the list, being a terror was the only way to get people to move. We noted this to
everyone we gave ""the treatment"" to, tried being nice and then noted the lack of
result for niceness and that they only had themselves to blame for the bad
treatment. We kept telling people, you have trained us to be ""difficult."" Don't
complain if we have paid attention to your lessons. If I had it to do over again, I
would have been meaner and more awful, I feel guilty that I tried to be decent -because mom was the one who paid the price for an attempt at civility.""Debra Van
Putten - it verifies to me that for the patients, nobody is really in charge. The
doctors and nurses are like free agents wandering around doing some things on time
and correctly, forgetting other things or getting mixed up. The patient's own
advocate must become the boss and supervise direct people, forcibly if necessary,
to get the right actions for their own patient.""But, you can't. Mom's case was
point in fact. We told them how they were going to screw up before they did. The
only time we got them to do something was afterwards and after someone's nether
regions had been chewed. And then someone new would start, we'd give em a chance
and they would make the same mistake. Maybe they would stay long enough to chew on
them, but usually they were clear of the scene before the error was obvious. It
was like ground hog day. And the problem with forcibly is that it could land you
in jail or result in your being kicked out, leaving your loved one completely at
their mercy. We called APS, and got a stupid hospital employee who said that their
colleagues would never do such a thing. Well....they did. I mean, I suppose I could
have purchased a gun but that is not how we do things... anything short of that we
did. And we weren;t paying their salaries and the sociopath who was said starving
people was ""great care.""""The saddest part of the case is that a vibrant 50 year
old
died of a terribly aggressive cancer for which there was essentially nothing but
comfort care to be done. Sadly if ice chips had been given and the woman apsirated
and died, there would be vultures circling to charge negligence. Strongly
adversarial stances do little to advance compassionate and safe care. Only by
working together can we make lasting change to our health care system.""If you are
dealing with a psychopathic doctor, and you question him about his decisions, he is
most likely to deliberately harm you while he is operating on you. I know, because
it happened to me first hand.""Diana Behling, what kind of ""working together"" do
you propose to make lasting improvements to our healthcare system?""Me too June.
All I did was advise the hospital intake nurse that the wrong surgical procedure
was listed on my hospital consent form. Within minutes, I was purposely knocked out
against my will and the wrong surgical surgery was purposely performed on me. Six
healthy organs were removed. I guess NO doesn't mean NO afterall...""I should
clarify my comment above. How do you work together with a system that many victims
have come to learn to be a system which has the priority of professional image and
income over patient care. The system which denies truth necessary for healing to
protect professional egos and prevent litigation? This system which protects
psychopathic doctors because they generate income, too bad and tough luck for the
victims.""Several books on hazardous medicine say that the system will always
protect the doctors, regardless of the harm they do to their patients. And you are
right Garrick, psychopathic doctors do generate income for the hospitals. You only
have to read the book ""Sick to Death"" about Dr. Jayant Patel dubbed ""The Butcher
from Bundaberg"". Even after being struck off in America for killing and maiming a
number of patients, he came to Australia, where he was given the position of
""Director of Surgery"". He killed and maimed a number of patients, and even
though the hospital knew about the harm he inflicted on his patients, they offered
to renew his position for another 2 years at $8,000 a week, because he generated
the most money for the hospital by operating on numerous patients. He was
practicing without a licence and the Medical Board didn't bother to check him out,
even though his incompetence and revoked medical licence was on the web for all to
see.""There are many ways to meaningfully engage patients in the effort toward
improving the delivery system. The portrayal of physicians as psychopaths is
disconcerting. There are bad doc's for sure...and plenty of good, conscientious
health care providers. Many health systems are working with patients to advance
safety science with the consumers perspective included. It's an important step.Many
systems have strong policies for disclosure and transparency. There is no quick fix
to a complex problem, I know in my heart that flame throwing on either side will
never fix anything.""Diana Behling, the doctor intentionally starved my mother for
seven days because she was a paraplegic, and then demanded an unnecessary trach and
got mad when he was fired, what would you call him??? Sociopath seems to be a good
description to me? What about the doctor has overdosed her to the point of
hallcination, refused to tell us what medication she was on, and when he was chewed
out by us and one of the other doctors, thought it was just hi-lar-ious that we
would be unhappy at him nearlykilling her? Do you think we can have a ""meaningful
engagement"" with him??? How about the SIX board certified pulmonologists who lied
to us, lied to mom and lied to her normal doctors as to her medical condition--she
had lung cancer, precluding us from having her transferred to somewhere that would
have treated her. Do you think that hospital has a ""strong disclosure
policy.""We've seen mom's records. they are full of lies -- like the 2by 3 cm stage
II pressure sore, which upon tranfser is documented by an honest hospital at a
stage IV, 10 cm by 10 cm. the problem is the hospitals that would rather lie their
way to compliance than actually be safe. And personally, I wish someone had burnt
the place down before mom went there. It seems to me that your""heart"" needs to be
more on our side that protecting evil people. Because that what the doctors were
who treated mom. Evil. that isn't to say that all doctors are evil. But these
folks sure were. And they only thing they understood was a swift kick in the balls.
And where they need to be in jail. Not in an ""encounter group"" or in
""sensitivity training."" You can't graft a conscience into someone who has none."
"I didn't say all doctors are psychopaths. But the few bad doctors are well
protected even when one crosses state lines to see far away doctors. It is apparent
to any doctor anywhere when there has been medical injury. There seems to be an
unwritten rule to protect professional image first, patent second. I was told that
the threat of slander is taken seriously, even a false threat because it besmirches
the image of the bullied doctor that he is not a trusted team player to the other
doctors in his own local area. So that is how a bad doctor can bully and reach
across far distances to prevent any good doctors from telling the truth to his
victim.I would like to know if there is any idea of how to work with a doctor to
get to truth about one's injury. Being nice and patient gets one a bill for nothing
done except being lied to.""If you don't think its fair, what words would you use
to describe parents who did the same thing to their kid? Would you think that
""constructive engagement"" would be the appropriate solution? How about if I
starved my dog? Would you think that a good talk would be the right response? Why
should patients be treated worse than dogs?""Diana Behling, where'd you go? A
little push back and we get crickets? And by the way, Diana, most of here have
tried to ""engage the system"" regarding errors and have been told to go pound
sand, or worse. if you were to look at this site, you would see that patients feel
that there is NO meaningful way to engage the medical profession, except for legal
action.
That's why we are less than warm and fuzzy crowd.""Hey Debra Van Putten,
let's hold off on calling out other members of the group, please. (And yes, I guess
I'm ""calling you out"" here, but I'm only doing so because it's impossible for me
to message you privately.) I know you're passionate about these topics, and you
bring a lot of knowledge to the comments you make, so please do not misunderstand
me. But I would appreciate it if you would refrain from getting overly aggressive
with other members of the group. It's not the type of thing that's most likely to
lead to the type of constructive give and take dialogue that will be most
beneficial to the group.""The doctor who was struck off in America, came to
Australia and given the position of ""Director of Surgery"" was bringing in loads
of money to the hospital. At one time, he didn't have a bed for a patient he wanted
to operate on, so he went over to a patient on life-support and pulled the plug and
said to the nurses, ""Now we have another bed"".......... I revered doctors. I
trusted them. I put them on top of the list as trustworthy and having our best
interest at heart. My trust was so misplaced, and I paid the most horrendous price
for believing in doctors.""@June - We all have and nobody seems to understand when
you place that kind of TRUST in a doctor, and it is BETRAYED, that itself is a harm
that isn't easily erased. Especially when they are unaccountable and unresponsive."
"Most of the people in this group understand the ultimate betrayal by the very
people who took the oath, FIRST DO NO HARM. I'm so glad that in this group, I don't
feel like I'm screaming in the wind. I feel that we are kindred spirits who have
been devastated by a system that destroyed our health, or the health of someone we
love. And the most unconscionable thing of all, is the doctors who harmed us have
no remorse for the harm they caused.""And weaving this back to the original message
thread, even a doctor -- trying to do what's right and best for his daughter who
was suffering -- has a story to tell."Even doctors aren't immune to this dangerous
system.The fact that even doctors aren't immune should speak volumes... Just
say'n..exactly instead of blaming victims for hikes in rates they should no by now
that they need to look at the insurance and drug industry that spends billions to
keep an outdated law like MICRA on the books. 40 years without one change? huh?I
would love to see the day I can face-to-face ask my doctors why?"I tried that
Georjean, but when I made an appointment to see him, he was nowhere to be found.
Instead, I got another gynaecologist who told me that I cannot see the doctor who
operated on me without a mediator present. I wonder why? Maybe I'm not the only one
he butchered for personal gain."It's obvious. He has had experience with victims
who have decided to confront him about what he did to them. He cannot face you
without a someone to help him debate you. Two against one.Some people get it worse
than others"Hi guys, ProPublica is hosting a series of online discussions
specifically for healthcare providers on the subject of patient safety ��� and
we���d love to present questions from this group. So. If you could ask a doctor,
nurse or other care provider one thing - what would it be? Please keep questions
constructive. We always like to emphasize in this group that one bad doctor
doesn���t represent the entire medical profession. The goal of this new online
discussion series is to see what providers think about various issues related to
patient harm. Their insight, combined with yours, is
key to understanding it persists, and what to do about it. Thanks, and as always,
let me know if you have questions!Thanks! And as always, let me know if you have
questions.""Q: If you harmed a patient, what would you do?""Q: If you knew a
patient was harmed, what would you do? [this is someone else's negligence and/or
malpractice]""Q: If you saw any of your colleagues harming patients, what would you
do?""Q: If a patient asks for another option, and asks for information on the
operation, what would you do?......The reason I would ask these 2 questons is
because the doctors who saw that I was harmed by a colleague, took his side and
went against me. Also, when I begged for another option, the gyn/oncologist yelled
that I had no other option, and bullied and threatened me into immediate, radical
100% unnecessary surgery and botched it beyong repair, after looking me in the eye
and telling me he's done hundreds of these surgeries, that he could do them with
his eyes closed. He also totally mislead and misinformed me. I'm sure the questions
will be answered with lies, because that is exactly what happened with me.""Oh God
I am so sorry! This is more common than you think and I bet no one believes you.
I met this one women and we were there to testify before congress about this very
thing you just told me and this women I met had a breast removed because of cancer
and they took the wrong breast, so they went back and took the other one. Then she
finds out that she did not have cancer at all and her chart was mixed up with the
one who did have cancer. She tried to sue but could not because of how the law is
set up."I am so sorry and I would love to use your story and the details of your
pain and how it has changed your life. Including relationships. You will help
someone with your story!sad but trueYou did nothing wrong IT was done to you"If you
read the letters sent to me by complaints departments, where they believed the lies
of the doctors, and totally discredited the 100% truth that I told them, you would
be shocked. I get so outraged that this could happen. I revered doctors. I trusted
them, and they betrayed my trust to the enth degree, and first did the most
grievous bodily harm for personal gain.""Would you follow up with and treat a
patient who has been harmed by another doctor? If not, why not?"are you asking me?I
would like to know if or how many times have you witnessed these kind of problems
in the past 5 to 10 years ago?I would ask what is being done about the rate of
infection - they keep saying that knee replacement has a very low rate of infection
but it just is a lie. Almost every single person I know who had a knee replacement
ended up with an infection. And I know doctors from overseas who have visited here
and are shocked by how many infections we have with this surgery. Is anything
being done to further disinfect the surgical suites where this surgery is being
done?"The patient is the last line of defense against error. For the patient who is
aware of the potential for error the few minutes for the following is time well
spent. 1. Ask the physician to explain what is the new medication, why is being
ordered, am I listed as allergic to it and is in compatible with my other
medications. 2. You can use a free iPhone apps to look up the same information for
the new medication on the way to the pharmacy. 3. Ask the pharmacist the same
questions as #1. Obtain a complete copy of your medical record and make a list of
your current medications and ask a pharmacist to do a medication reconciliation
with your currently active medications. Take them as ordered and report sideeffects right away. A little research will go a long way to avoid injury.""What
Blair asked: ""So. If you could ask a doctor, nurse or other care provider one
thing - what would it be?""""How can we shift clinician perception that patients
should NOT ask questions? That's the biggest one, IMO. Without the help of those
MDs/RNs/et al who support shifting the culture of medicine from a patriarchal
hierarchy to a collaborative effort that INCLUDES THE PATIENT, all the discussion
in the world is just so much hot air.""Thanks for your responses so far, guys.""My
questions all have to do with the safety of prescribing fluoroquinolone (will refer
to as FQs) antibiotics, as I belong to a handful of people throughout the world
that has been poisoned by FQ antibiotics.1. Why is the current black box warning
regarding tendon damage/rupture, ever discussed with a patient before prescribing
it? Not saying all doctors/nurses don't, but very few do.2. Do any doctors worry
about the safety of patients who encounter FQ toxicity? And if so, the why is no
one taking responsibility to ensure we are taken care of when patients get to the
toxicity level?3. Why are FQs prescribed for both minor & major infections (as if
being handed out like candy), when it is only supposed to be used as a last line of
defense?4. Why is severe joint damage not listed as a possible adverse drug
reaction in a black box warning?I am a victim of FQ toxicity. Multiple doses of
Levaquin and Cipro over a six month period for what I thought was curing my
infection, has ended up ruining my life. I have severe joint pain, nerve pain,
muscle wasting, etc. I just want to know why no one will admit that there are
greater risks with these meds then what is mentioned, and why no one will help us
with it. Thank You,Leslie""profits before people! I know it sounds like impossible
no one would let this stuff happen, but they are callous and do not listen to the
patients when they tell a doctor who already knows everything and there will not be
consequences. SICK!!"What are the obstacles to incorporating continuous
improvement and transparency practices ?"How would you categorize, and systemetize
a solution for, this harm:MRSA-stricken 84yo man needs minor surgery to relieve
MRSA site (wrist). OR only option due to prior infarctions and 2/3-atrophied heart.
He specs: ""no intubation."" Anesthesiologists refuse; he/family admit to hospice,
meds stopped, he dies 4 days later. 18 months later is the first time I learned
that (a) DNRs are suspended during surgery; (b) life support reintroduction is
allowed anywhere from 2-48 hrs post op (via consent form���we'd not been
presented w/one); [c] the existence of the phrase/option ""time-based trial"".So,
our options under Dad's autonomy were foreclosed but due to nondisclosure of
relevant policies and options.""Please find the time to watch this very informative
presentation.The Affordable Care Act - After the Supreme Court Decision
http://vimeo.com/50871983""Medical device maker Medtronic Inc edited health journal
articles and paid doctors millions of dollars for company-sponsored studies of its
Infuse bone-grafting product used in spinal surgery, according to a U.S. Senate
report published on Thursday."Someone once told me to not use a new drug until it
has been on the market for at least 5 years. I'm thinking it's safer to make that
10 years. This is just another example of why.The amount of time a drug has been on
the market is no guarantee if it is used off label (not for its original purpose).
Apparently that is not the case with Medtronic; just gaming the system to it own
advantage."Garrick Sitongia, maybe extend that time way out. There is a group of
antibiotics, been around for over 2 decades, lots of them have been pulled or
banned. Some are still being used, black boxed.....no doctor in my area
'knows'(clueless they say) abut the BB..... if one is given a RX for this - you get
a copy of it from the pharmacy - but a hospital - not so lucky. You won't be
consulted. If things go badly as the manufacturer says can especially if used
concomitant with certain other drugs that intensify the risks of permanent
damages(mega doses). The reporting is done by FDA, the hospital knew I had an
event, it was recorded for two days -but they did not tell me. They released me
crippled telling me I had a bad infection - terrible - painful, quality of life
gone. No watch dog agency will report - long story. Oh, after the lack box was
placed - usage tripled - it can attack every organ in your body and it is not rare.
They just don't report it.""Michelin Anderson, one should always check
prescriptions on the Internet for side effects and lawsuit activity. Just put the
drug name and the word lawsuit into the search engine and see how many hits there
are for the combination.""One can't do that in a hospital, deaf. Also, you don't
get treated like a hearing person - I am late deafened. Night and day change in
attitude. I had no support; half the staff thought I was hoh or retarded since I
did not respond to them talking and I did tell them I was deaf but it throws people
when you speak. Not been on any medication for over a decade and had always checked
prior. Once you take this - it's in your DNA - cascade effect usually but mine was
immediate and they did not listen to me. They refused me my records for a while it was weird - I know my rights. It was a nightmare til I found out the drug that
had been given to me - except the only cure for some is surgery and pain pills.
By the second day I could not walk. All so unnecessary. It is really hard to come
here and other blogs and read about what is happening to people - it's pretty
flagrant and the reason is also flagrant. When I read about the great idea of
putting the onus on the patient to be responsible - I shutter. It is very
important to make people aware but they have been brainwashed and, while I
understand it - I will never shut up. In this area there is a joint venture being
put together - doctors investing in expanding the hospital. Most of us here on this
blog have experienced total push-back from the agencies
charged with patient safety. I want my life back - not a lawsuit. Where did
common sense and decency go?"Michelin Anderson - you put a lot in a nutshell. A
major summary of what a lot of us here have experienced. It can take a newly
injured naive person a couple of years to finally see the big picture. I think the
common sense and decency left when psychopaths were hired to manage hospitals.
Sorry to be so cynical."As I have been known to mention implications of ALEC
sponsorship and involvement by medical corporations to limit liability, I have
found that Meditronic has been a member but dropped out this year."There is no
trust for the medical device companies to lose. They squandered their credibility
to buy market share. Patient harm exposes the evil truth.The evil truth is
available for your viewing pleasure at alecexposed.com$34-Million Dollare Spine
Surgeon http://www.medpagetoday.com/PainManagement/BackPain/35550?
utm_source=twitterfeedThank you for speaking! I was wondering if this group is for
abolishing the MICRA laws in this country? Jessie Geyer/MICRA"I am so glad that I
have found a group that understands just how bad our healthcare has become and the
power of money that backs these horrible nightmares that are one after another, I
have been advocating for so many years and the same stuff is happening except it is
much worse!!!!!"The Spine surgeons are doing much wrong by the way they are
treating patients with devices and instrument (for spine fusions) yet the patients
gain no benefits of it n terms of better quality of life. It has been going on for
20 years now.Exactly right! So glad to hear you speak out!I need people like you
to make a change but it will take all of the ones who know but have not really had
their voice heard!"That's the real tragedy Christer. A lot of these things have
been going on for years and years - even when the truth about adverse side
effects/consequences is 'known'. Thousands upon thousands of innocent and
unsuspecting patients harmed and killed! This is beyond outrageous. Many of the
procedures, surgeries , medical devices, drugs, etc. have KNOWN adverse
consequences and yet, there is 'silence' about it. So, the harm continues...""Its a
sad, sad story that tells a lot about our ways of dealing with life, nature, people
and the planet as a whole. One can only begin where you stand, by showing the
surgeons in a way that they can understand, that is by science. That fusion for Low
Back Pain isnt a good thing to do.""Ohh do I hear you! And since Jessie's death 9
years ago I have been exposed to the most horrific stories of people and little
children killed in such negligent circumstances! OMG! This is my lifes work now
and I need to get the ball rolling somehow and keep it going, and every single
person counts.""I've heard so many horror stories after I was harmed. But most
people who I talked to want to put it behind them, and have no interest in joining
a patient advocate group.""Sadly I have found the same thing however I know by
numbers that there are so many of us out there, it is just a matter of reaching
them in any way we can. When I get my media website I would love to put up your
story and anyone else that would be willing to let me do it for them if they can't.
Why in the heck is this so hard to do?? Because we have to fight the Drug and
Insurance Agencies that have billions at their disposal to make sure we are kept
out of the media.""Thank you so much Michelle. I would really like to have my
horror story told. I'm still in shock at how this can happen in a first world
country, in the 21st century."Oh yes I know! I still shake my head the more I hear
and I still cry for those everytime. If we could talk than I would put your story
on my site and I do have plans with gathering first hand stories that need to be
told and heard from the public. Let me know how we can talk?"My book will be
coming out soon and it is about pain and suffering. It is called Like Shattered
Glass...and it is very rough and a hard read because of the subject, but I want
people to know that I do understand and that we need to help victims instead of
stepping on their necks because of something that we had no idea could or would
happen. MICRA is the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act passed in 1975 going
on 40 years old and it needs to be thrown out. You will not believe that a law
like this exists and in combination with our failed healthcare the combination is
from HELL!"I live in Australia Michelle. I don't know if you are interested in
doing stories on medical malpractice from other countries.It is all the same!And I
would be [email protected]"Thank you Michelle. It's very hard to put
my story together, as so many appalling things happened before and after I was
butchered. I'd have to leave a lot out as it would fill a book. But I am not very
good at expressing what I really want to say, and I've been vilified by the medical
establishment, so no-one wants to help me. I've only learnt to use a computer 6
months ago, and am only familiar with facebook at the moment, but I will get their
slowly. Thanks again, Michelle.""Could it be that the problem is in large part, how
physicians are trained, mentored, and acculturated to the profession?""You hit the
nail on the head, Terri. In one of the books I read on hazardous medicine there is
a chapter called, ""NEANDERTHAL MEDICINE MEN"" The first 2 pages is an eye opener
and gives you a glimpse into the mentality of the profession. I will write it on
my Timeline if anyone is interested."I do think this is a VERY big part of it. The
younger ones who speak out against senior medical staff don't make it very
far...and nurses who stand up to doctors seldom get commended for it...EVEN when
the doctor is wrong and knows that he is wrong.HCA recently fired a nurse who blew
the whistle on unneccessary heart procedures in Florida - kept the physician"Read
about what happened to ICU nurse Toni Hoffman, when she blew the whistle on Jayant
Patel, who was struck of in America, and did so much harm in Australia that he was
dubbed 'The Butcher from Bundaberg."" Patients aren't safe when the Medical Board
allows dangerous doctors to continue doing harm to numerous unsuspecting patients.
Even after thousands of patient complaints about one dangerous doctor, nobody
listened to the patients, and the doctor was allowed to continue practicing for
another 12 years before a group of women marched into parliament and demanded
action. It was found that he'd been struck off well over a decade ago."That is so
true! After my daughter died in 2003 is when I became aware of these ugly little
secrets that goes on behind the scenes. Dr. Slomoff is responsible for Jessie not
getting an antibiotic and she died two days later from septic shock which was what
she was sent to him for....anyway he lied about the care that he gave Jess and
finally when we were in depositions I found out that he had 2 previous malpractice
claims before Jess but I was not allowed to know what for! About 2 months ago I
called the medical board to check him out and he was like doctor of the year! NO
Malpractice in history!"What many people don't realize is that medical boards may
know a certain doctor is dangerous and yet work to protect that doctor. Many
'assume' they don't know but sometimes they do... Even though my former doctor
admitted via sworn testimony that he purposely had me sedated before he arrived
surgery so he could purposely obtain surgical consent from someone other than me so
he could purposely remove healthy organs, the medical board does not see an issue.
A representative from the board recently told me that my doctor probably just gave
false testimony. Unbelievable comment on many levels. When a medical board is
willing to protect a doctor to that extent, well I don't know what to say... I
really don't.""same here, that is why the law MICRA has been in place for 40 years
without one change made. Not one! The money backing this horrible law that
prevents you from holding a doctor or hospital responsible for their negligence is
from the Drug and Insurance Industry is just to powerful! We must keep talking and
sharing...I guess."medical boards are a joke! They are made up of all doctors and
for some reason doctors are looked upon as the al mighty!makes me sickThe feed back
that I have gotten from you very smart and informed gals has given me a great push
for today and I want to thank you all! The counrty needs to listen to you!I would
like to help in any way I can!"Such a Fresh Idea I had to share, we do have hope.
http://engagingthepatient.com/""The original article is
http://www.thenaturalrecoveryplan.com/articles/research-modern-medicine.htmland
this was based on a 10 year old study by Dr. Barbara Starfield���s study in the
Journal of the American Medical Association. The following is an interview of Dr.
Starfield, and she really describes what is wrong with the medical system.
http://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2009/12/09/an-exclusive-interview-with-drbarbara-starfield-medically-caused-death-in-america/"
http://www.drugwatch.com/2012/01/18/orthopedic-surgeons-and-medical-devicecompanies-cosey-bed-fellows/The orthopedic community is one of the worst offenders.
Thanks for the link Robin.
http://www.medpagetoday.com/PainManagement/BackPain/35550?utm_source=twitterfeed
"Tort reform harms. It makes for a very dangerous medical environment. Since
pursuing legal remedy has become nearly impossible for most harmed patients,
doctors and hospitals know they won't be held accountable. This is not in anyone's
best interest."Here is a far better document than a line on wikepedia...
http://www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/363/prp2007-1.pdf"CNN ran an op-ed
online this morning by American Association
for Justice (AAJ) President Mary Alice McLarty on medical errors and patient
safety. In the piece she challenges the talking points used by people trying to
limit patients��� rights and highlights the importance of the civil justice
system:The civil justice system gives families of patients who have died or have
been injured by medical negligence an avenue to seek accountability. It also
provides an incentive to health care providers to improve patient care. Removing
that accountability and incentive leaves people at risk for more injures from
negligent care.The calls for medical malpractice reform are misguided because they
center on stripping away patients' rights when they should be focused on preventing
the deaths and injuries from occurring in the first place.She also draws on the
Texas example to show how so-called ���tort reform��� will not lower health
care costs, improve quality, or protect patients.""In comment to ""More-studentswant-to-be-doctors.....The more doctors, the more unnecessary surgeries. Dr
Mendelsohn said that if only necessary surgeries were performed, then 90% of
doctors would have to look for another line of work.""Okay, so the stats are
195,000-200,000 (depending on which report is read) patients die from hospital
errors per year. Then, toss into the mix, the surgerical errors where the patients
survive. That's a lot of errors. The number of medical medical malpractice suits
filed per year on average: 15,000 - 19,000, something like that. Hmmmmmmmmm, I'm
not a math whiz, but GEEZ that doesn't seem like patients/plaintiffs are flooding
the court with law suits. Seems like 10% of those patients harmed actually file a
malpractice suit . . . or . . . alternatively 90% DO NOT! And from the Kirpal's
link from Wikipedia I read this: ""Physician advocacy groups say 60% of liability
claims against doctors are dropped, withdrawn, or dismissed without payment."" So,
of the +/- 10% of patients harmed that actually file a med mal lawsuit -- 60% don't
go anywhere. Yeah, the whopping 7,000 cases are really flooding the system. We
need MORE tort reform?!? {rolling eyes} I'm sure the medical community [read:
insurance companies] would be THRILLED with even LESS. Haven't patients' rights
been blocked enough?!?"You're right. Check this out in Colorado where I am from
Contract cases take up 77% of the docket while tort cases including medical
negligence only make up 6%. http://www.courtstatistics.org/Civil.aspx"Yay someone
does know the facts and you are correct even being slightly generous to the
numbers. I have been fighting the MICRA law since my daughter was killed and how
can it be that the numbers that the insurance industry throws out like oh 98,000
die every year....I still see that number in print more than the correct number of
200,000- 225,000 which was from the CDC back in 2004.""I'm new to the group,
Marshall Allen invited me. Here's my thought for the day: Something is quite
wrong when consumers have better protections on the books when they buy a defective
car (Lemon Law) then when a doctor botches their surgery.""And if your car gets
busted, they gotta give you an estimate, you can insist on manufacturer parts (or
no-name brand if you have a budget) and if you are in an accident, the insurance
company for the insured has to compensate you promptly for your damages or risk a
susbtantial penalty for failure to negotiate in good faith. (in Virginia I think
its like 3-5X the amount of the damages.) They are not allowed to bait and switch,
and you normally have the right to the parts they replaced, so you have proof that
they fixed the right thing.""Welcome, Carla E. Muss-Jacobs! I'm glad you joined and
hope you find the group helpful!""Or the medical device industry gets federal
judicial entitlements that interfere with patient protections from failed implants.
No warranty, no clinical testing, no UDI, no post market research. You are on your
own. With no honest feedback, the harm multiplies. Poor federal public policy
assures more ""lemons""."check out this law MICRA and the death of my 7 yearold
www.shellybeenz.com"Hi Michelle Massey, so sorry to hear about the death of your
little girl. Will you please complete ProPublica's Patient Harm Questionnaire, so
we can understand the details of your story? Your website is quite good, but
completing the questionnaire helps us organize these stories so we can identify
things on a broader scale and share stories with other media outlets. Here's the
link: http://www.propublica.org/article/patient-harm-questionnaire"Veronica you are
being sucked into a complete false hood of made up facts and facts that have been
thrown around since I first met up with MICRA coming up on 9 years ago. If only
you really knew the truth..www.shellybeenz.com. Please read and listen. Thanks so
much. In loving memory of Jessie Geyer."FDA is making available two lists of
customers (consignees) who received products that were shipped on or after May 21,
2012 from New England Compounding Center���s Framingham, MA facility. The first
list includes customer names and addresses, organized by state. The second list
contains the same basic information as the first list, but is organized
alphabetically by customer name and also includes the specific products shipped,
the quantities of product shipped, and the shipping date. The lists were prepared
based on information provided by NECC, and FDA cannot vouch for the completeness or
accuracy of the lists. Products shipped by NECC may be missing from the list and
facility information may be incomplete. Nevertheless, this is the best information
we have available, at this time, to help inform facilities and healthcare providers
of NECC products shipped to their facilities since May 21, 2012.""Really
interesting results from a new study, presented via a short video. I wasn't at
this conference... THIS IS NOT A PRODUCT ENDORSEMENT. But it shows that the way to
make things better isn't just for people to be smarter or more conscientious. New
and better tools can potentially make a big difference too...
http://www.excelsiormedical.com/video_Marc_Oliver-Wright.php"So Thankful for Dr.
Pettit and Vanderbilt !It's great to celebrate someone who really went the extra
mile and kept at it to find the answer."How state officials let hospitals hide
deadly medical errors.www.answersforlisa.blogspot.com""It's no different in VA,
sadly."and no different in OH:("I'm sorry to hear about Lisa's case. This is
another example of why hospitalization of a loved-one needs a new approach by
friends and family. Someone take charge and assign tasks to those who say they want
to help. 1. Get thorough information about the disease or injury. 2. Have someone
with the patient 60 minutes per hour and Speak-Up when anything isn't right. 3.
Research the physician(s) and facility. 4. Make a record of everything and compare
it to the medical record every hour or at least once a day. Yes, it's inconvenient,
but now essential."http://csn.cancer.org/node/248383
This site worries me and
seems to encourage kidney removal vs second opinion from a doctor. How do people
sleep at night???Isn't it a forum of patient survivors sharing their experiences
and support?Current medical literature (and there is quite a bit of it) advocates
removing as little of the kidney as possible to preserve nephrons and maintain
kidney function. This position is incredibly ironic considering the same faction of
the medical industry keeps pushing for more people to be living kidney donors.
http://www.gao.gov/assets/600/592406.pdf GAO report on unsafe injection practices.
"am thinkin' I am just going to avoid treatment entirely at this point. seems like
the medical community is really struggling with the concept of ""do no harm."" I
have never really been a gambling kind of girl...I don't even buy lottery tickets.
Seems like every time we allow ANY type of medical intervention we must do it with
the mind-set of, ""OK...bring on the consequences...this is worth the risk...of
WHATEVER HAPPENS."" I just cannot seem to get on board with that mentality. Thanks
for posting Terri.""there are no guarantees in medicine, other than that there are
no guarantees in medicine. what's necessary is open communication and collaboration
of both clinician and patient toward the best possible outcome. this requires a
biiiig culture and mindset shift, again on both sides of the equation. patients
must understand that docs are human, and therefore as fallible as all of us are.
docs must recognize their own humanity, and that of their patients. it's slow
going, but the change is a-comin' ...""Collaboration, cooperation, coordination,
continuous improvement."What Terri said!"In my personal experience of over 14
specialists and 9 general practitioners I have had 2 who were willing to listen and
learn more. These 2 took extra measures, expressed sincere concern and recognition
of the problems. They did research and conveyed a desire to learn more about what
was going on...They were willing to be REAL about the limitations of our knowledge
and willing to acknowledge my own personal awareness and intelligence. Although I
am extremely thankful for those two, I cannot help asking myself, ""What happened
to make the rest the way the are???"" and ""How can patients re-train or avoid
these types of practitioners???"" (Won't mention my thoughts about the need for the
PATIENT to train the medical professional.) I think Dr. Marty Makary is really on
to something with his ideas about transparency. This will make it easier for
patients to find the doctors and facilities which have a professional protocol in
place that does not dismiss the value of patient input.""Patients most definitely
should train clinicians. The Society for Participatory Medicine is one
org that's working on doing that. All of us who have experience with what I call
the healthcare car wash need to help other stay inside the car, not get strapped to
the hood ...""Sheila Kalkbrenner - to answer your question about what happened to
make them the way they are. Google: moral decline medical school. For example:
http://student.bmj.com/student/view-article.html?id=sbmj0305135a
http://www.healthbeatblog.com/2011/05/medical-school-how-the-hidden-curriculumsnuffs-out-compassion/And especially this one: ""Vicarious empathy significantly
decreasedduring medical education (P # .001), especially after the first and third
years.""http://casemed.case.edu/caml/pages/JournalClub08/March-DWolpaw.pdf"I
apologize if this is a duplicate post. http://ethicalnag.org/2012/10/16/industryco-opted-patient-engagement/"thanks for posting this. The patient groups I have
been in have been very sensitive to who is invited due to the sensitivities of data
mining. It is also true that many ""patient"" groups have nothing to do with
patients and have everything to do with corporate agendas. Its a wild world out
there.""Nursing-Sensitive Value-Based Purchasing
Nursing-sensitive value-based
purchasing has been proposed as an initiative that would help to promote optimal
staffing and practice environment through financial rewards and transparency of
structure, process, and patient outcome measures.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1547-5069.2012.01469.x/full"Thanks for
adding me. My dad was in Clara Maass Hospital and developed Stage 4 bed sores. It
was a contributing factor in his death."Hi Jennifer Giuliano-Dahn, welcome to the
group. I'm sorry to hear about the harm your dad suffered. Will you please tell us
about it by completing our ProPublica Patient Harm Questionnaire? We use these
questionnaires to track issues and stories that we need to pursue as we write about
these topics. Thanks to you, and others, for completing it:
http://www.propublica.org/article/patient-harm-questionnaire"I'm sorry Veronica.
It's a disgrace."Thank you Marshall. Yes, I will do that.""The book
""Unaccountable: What Hospitals Won't Tell You and How Tranparency Can
Revolutionize HealthCare"" by Marty Makary, MD (Bloomsbury Press) is now at number
10 on the Washington Post hardcover, non-fiction bestseller list.
http://www.unaccountablebook.com/"We saw Dr. Makary on his book tour and he is a
really nice guy.New study puts the cost of medical errors at a trillion dollars a
year. Extraordinary. http://www.mediregs.com/economics_of_quality_careWhat does
it take for health care consumers to demand change?"Holy Double-Down, Batman! The
last time I read an article it was 100,000 patient deaths/year. This recent
article suggests 200,000/year. While these are very thorough in-depth studies,
once again, the costs to PATIENTS who have been harmed, and/or what happens to
PATIENTS after they have been harmed is not mentioned. For each gazillion
dollars/year spent, there is a patient behind the $ Dollar Sign but nary a mention
of the financial impact on them, the emotional toll, the aftermath of these
""errors."" Again, we get that there are medical errors, the stats are in. And
after 3 decades -- THIRTY YEARS -- PATIENTS are the ones getting harmed and still
no mention on how this all impacts them?!?!?!?!?!? It costs the U.S. $19.5
Billion/year to deal with these errors . . . but what is the cost to the
PATIENTS?!? Medical procedure: $10,000. Medical procedure gone wrong: $50,000.
Cost of harm to the patient: PRICELESS""Of the people I know who have died, over
half have died because of medical error.""Who would have ever thought that the day
would come when any of us could say what Debra said??? Unfortunately, I think many
of us could say this... Carla, you are so right.. The cost of medical harm to the
patient is indeed *PRICELESS*""All the money in the world can't bring your health
back, once it has been destroyed by doctors.""You'r right June... Once your health
is gone, life takes on a whole new meaning. Sickness and pain become a 'new
normal':("Death due to medical error is the number 3 cause of death in this
country. Third. More than Aids. More than breast cancer. but the medical
industry somehow make it stigmatized. And that is a second source of trauma."and
its even larger than that.....for every person reported there are two that have not
been reported or being blocked in every way to stay silent so their costs of their
error are not calculated....i pray for the day when help is more available and
action is truly implemented. It does seem like there are strides but we are so far
off. its been nine years for me and the closer i got to finding out what happened
to me the more obstacles I got and even recently i found out many are still lying
so that I couldnt get help, luckily for me there are a few that didnt fully shut
the door and hopefully within the next month or so my story will get told....the
more ""people"" ""the public"" hear our stories and learn about the lengths that
were taken not to help medically, financially, emotionally many of us and the
amount of deception and malice involved...... I think we will see some major
changes. A few stories here and there or an error and a fix within a week or so
does impact people but on a smaller scale but people like us that have been harmed
and then lied to or manipulated for YEARS, those of us who we find out even the
people who knew the truth or were on our sides were behind the scenes setting us up
or telling different stories I think this will force major action. Money controls
everything and for those of us that have been involved in these injuries where the
damage and costs involved are in the millions and didnt need to be......people will
start to see how drastic it needs to change. Call me gullible, call me naive but i
do believe its possible. They got the best of me for the longest time and truly
had me beat, every corner I turned there was a stronger oponent more
powerful .....now is our time to matter, i think when we group together the way a
few of us have and propose our stories they are starting to listen.....a package
deal approach is working and hopefully we can stop one or many from having to
endure what we have.......i fear for my daughter (our children) with our healthcare
system the way it is and I pray we can change that before our children have to
endure our corrupt system.""Mentions in particular Michigan's drug immunity law, as
well as the WIand NC bills. And ALEC.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joannedoroshow/meningitis-fda_b_1990305.html"I mentioned this exact scenario occuring on
Deidre's show last week."It's every patient's nightmare. You go through a high-risk
diagnostic test or even surgery -- sometimes with pain, side effects or even
serious problems -- and find out later you didn't need it. Someone you trusted,
your physician, put financial gain ahead of your best interest. It's tough to
fathom, but this week's news shows it really can happen."This happens far too
often. And it's getting worse instead of better! I talk to people everyday who tell
me they were operated on only to find out later they didn't need surgery.the use of
cat scans is a exaple of this overuse.The doctors actualy are the ones who own the
equipment here I heard awhile ago.Anyone who has adominal pain gets one even though
a any confident doctor can diagnosis with out just as good"I can not stand articles
like this. It shifts the burden to the patient. A cardiac condition and the
layperson is supposed to get online and find out all they can?!? A CARDIAC
CONDITION?????
Or any condition that is making a patient S-I-C-K. People are
SICK when they go to a doctor. I don't want to know what a doctor knows. I'm
sick. I want quality care. That's why I go see a doctor -- to make me feel
better. When the doctor screws me up, don't place the burden on ME becasue I
didn't do the crap in this article. How cruel to even suggest that patients must
do their own ""quality control"" review.
""Make sure you ask the right questions
boys and girls."" OH COME ON! GIVE ME A BREAK!
How can a sick person even
muster the focus?? So, let me get this straight, on the one hand a patient is
supposed to take so much control over their health care and ""play doctor"" and do
all this exhaustive research about their care and treatment . . . but on the other
hand, if something screws up by the health care provider all of a sudden the
patient doesn't know a damn thing becasue they're not a ""medical expert""?!?!?!?!?
Oh laughter in, indeed, the best medicine. I'm LMFAO on this one. There are TEN
bullet points in the article for patients -- TEN. I'm sick. I don't have the
strength or the energy to do this crap. I go to a doctor because I'm sick. If the
doctor can't do their job, if they lie to patients and bilk insurance, then get rid
of them and stop protecting them. If they are so ""human"" then FIRE THEM when
they screw up. If they play the insurance system and order tests that don't need
to be ordered and do procedures that aren't medically necessary -- AUDIT THEM and
be punitive. But for the love of all that is Holy . . . don't -- DO NOT -- make it
the patients' burden and responsibility to get health care providers to perform
their jobs honestly, with integrity and with care/compassion. It is NOT the
patients' job to make sure the health care providers are doing theirs.""The sad
thing is that doctors say, ""TRUST ME. I'M A DOCTOR. YOU MUST OBEY MY ORDERS. I'M
IN AUTHORITY HERE"" And because we are honest ourselves, we take what they say at
face value. How misplaced our trust is when we are mislead, misinformed and harmed
by the very people who said, TRUST ME. I'M A DOCTOR........""Carla E. Muss-Jacobs's
concern is important. While patients do have to practice the real ""defensive
medicine"" in today's health system, strong pressure must be kept on the culture in
medicine that tolerates and even covers up neglectful, incompetent and at times
unethical actions by medical practitioners. It is not a solution to have all
patients become their own doctors."Let's be crystal clear on this... *Unnecessary
surgery is intentional harm*Exactly well said Robin Karr"Cutting you open and
chopping out healthy organs is barbaric, archaic and the ultimate violence against
your body."Anyone want to comment? http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2012/10/nationalreporting-answer-reduce-medical-errors.html"For 13 years the IOM has made the
numbers known. We got it. The problem is ubiquitous. Now, how does healthcare
become as safe as airline travel?""Comment on his post, on his site. It's well
read. He seems to think M&Ms are gonna fix the problem, and that it isn't that big
of a problem. It's just patients making mountains out of molehills.""Yeah but he
seems to think that hospital oversight is just peachy -- people just have to pay
attention. it's not the most clearly written article, but he makes it sound like of
the complaints that he had heard on hospital boards, most of them are bogus. And
that patients are not reliable in understanding when an error has occurred. I think
he is arguing that physicians should be accountable to the hospital, not third
parties."I agree Debra... I read this article on Twitter today and I thought he
seemed double-mined - not real clear about what he was saying..."OMIGOSH -- Jerry
Sandusky was ""well respected and well-funded"" too and look at what that guy got
away with. WE HAVE GOT TO STOP THE JERRY SANDUSKY MINDSET IN PATIENT CARE!
Patient error is two-fold: 1) the prevention, 2) the ""cure"" for those patients
who have been injured/harmed. On the prevention, that's up to the hospitals, audit
boards, etc.
As a patient I know there are risks involved to any medical
procedure. But when it jumps into NEGLIGENCE and MALPRACTICE stop covering up for
Dr. Sandusky. There is so much talk about prevention, and nothing, absolutely
nothing available for patients who have been harmed. Why isn't that issue
addressed? It never is. What about the errors made, the negligence, the
malpractice. Why is the medical community NOT addressing ""WHAT TO DO WITH THE
HARMED PATIENT?"" Why do I have to suffer years of fighting when I was grossly
injured by the orthopedic surgeon. Where are any of those doctors speaking up for
me? Or, for you! There wouldn't be such focus on ""prevention of errors"" if the
reality of those errors aren't made.
""Errors"" ARE made by medical providers.
And those who suffers from the errors -- patients! And yet, crickets chirping when
it comes to addressing the patient in this equation."AMEN Carla!"I agree with both
Robin and Debra that the point he was making wasn't very clear. The general
direction seems to be ""we don't need no oversight, because things are working fine
as they are.""The danger with a complaint system is it can be used for ulterior
motives such as to punish a snitch or whistle-blower. Their solution seems to be to
not have a complaint system. The priority shifts from protecting the physical
patient to controlling their own bully culture.He did not provide much evidence for
not having a complaint system. A meandering writing style can mean the writer
doesn't have facts to back up the core claim and wants to get from point A to point
B without explaining himself.""""Dr. Sandusky"" the new Dr. Hodad...""Carla - The
prevention can't be left to the hospitals and audit boards. If they took prevention
seriously there would be far fewer preventable errors. The patient and friends and
family of the patient have a responsibility to become well informed about the
physician, the diagnosis, the treatment plan, the evidence supporting the treatment
plan and to to have someone with the inpatient 60 minutes per hour to monitor for
best-practices care. Yes, it's inconvenient, but now it's essential.""Doug Hall I
made my opinion known about shifting the burden to the patient in another posted
topic. I'm not going to reiterate and I don't know how to link it here. Bottom
line, I'm sick and my family/friends are not doctors . . . I don't have the energy
to perform ""due diligence."" I resent that you're suggesting the burden should be
equally placed on patients. Not only are they ill, but you actually belive it's
fair to the patient to put a new burden of responsibility on them? Last time I
checked, patients aren't going to the doctor/seeking medical care and treatment
because they feel good. So you're saying that patients who are ill need to muster
up strength to prevent a medical error from occuring?!? Seriously?""I'm sorry to
know you're sick and that you resent my opinion. Not everyone has the family,
friends or professional Patient Safety Advocates available to help with their care.
Yes, I'm suggesting that the patient, as much as they are able, and their close
network get involved, a lot. The statistics have shown for years that the average
patient has a 25% chance of being injured by their healthcare and that each
inpatient incurs one or more medication errors per day. A family Advocate need not
be a physician to be effective as your safety proxy.""I wasn't sick Carlo. I was
easy prey for uncrupulous doctors running a surgical racket. They destroyed my
health and my quality of life and disgarded me like a piece of trash. Some doctors
make us sick. I reported it to a number or departments, but they just revictimized
and retraumatized me, so I gave up.""doug, let me remind you that sometimes you
can be hauled by ambulance to whatever third world hell-hole is nearest. and they
may refuse to transfer you. Investigating and all those patient responsibilities
mean nothing when you are taken by ambulance to a hospitall. I think all level I
trauma centers should have a complete colonoscopy level audit by a reputable third
party every year, if not every six months. And even if you are not a critical
patient (1) it is nearly impossible to get honest and specific info. especially
that a doc is ""bad"" (2) if you are sick you likely don't have the time and
energy. I would also note that often docs don't give a hoot about ""input"" and so
you can do all the defensive learning in the world, you still don't have a
prescription pad or order sheet. We told the doctors and hospital what the correct
course of action was for my mom with respect to almost every error they made. They
did them anyway, many of them multiple times, and sometimes pretty much spitting in
our face. We are not going to get anywhere until we get rid of the 10% who are
drunks and sociopaths.""And i will second a comment by Noel Eldridge in one of his
presentations: sick people who are trying to be the safety cop tend to get pretty
emotional when doing so in critical situations, When someone is doing something
that you know and your mom knows is going to kill her, and the other person is
refusing to fix the problem and being a jerk to you to your face, or going behind
your back, it is really pretty difficult on day 10 to treat that person coolly and
dispassionately. The gut response is more akin to something that will draw blood
and hurt-alot. People in that circumstance should not be required to be a bloodless
litigator when dealing the staff -- the staff should be dealing with the problem
because the job of the family is to support the sick person, not be Marcus Welby
Jr.
I would give anything to have been able to spend with my mother the weeks I
spent busting heads at Inova, to no avail.""We start with a two pronged approach: a
commitment to continuously improve our practices, and a commitment to strip away
our blinders by measuring what we do through the eyes of our customers. Period.
And we work both objectives synchronously. Bad reporting will take care of itself
as practices improve. You can bet the ranch on that."And we will LEARN.
http://bit.ly/XCaaEW"I thought the same thing Veronica... Then, I thought that this
girl's family probably doesn't see it that way because they have no idea how much
more horrific their whole nightmare would be if, on top of everything else, the
white wall of silence that so many of us are familiar with went up."Doug's comment
disappeared..."Like you Veronica, I agreed with Doug also."http://sco.lt/6SXx2nThis
is scary! Never really thought a lot about how viruses could effect medical
equipment..."Times Square NYC Reuters Billboard on Oct. 9, 2012 for World MRSA
Awareness Month, October. MRSA Survivors Network, the global leader in the fight
against MRSA and HAI's -raising awareness to the MRSA epidemic."It seems as if
October is the month for everything I care about."Oct.2, 1961 was the first time a
UK microbiologist saw MRSA under a microscope, so Oct. 2 is World MRSA Day and
October, World MRSA Awareness Month.""Yes! Staten Island University Hospital is
making its visiting hours more flexible. Article quotes/cites the report by New
Yorkers for Patient & Family Empowerment, done with assistance from NYPIRG.
Excerpt: ""Advocates, such as New Yorkers for Patient & Family Empowerment,
maintain that family-centered visiting policies promote quality of care, healthcare
efficiency and more positive patient outcomes.""
http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2012/10/staten_islands_hospitals_move.html""I
LOVE this example of patient centeredness. I proposed a similar thing....the right
for every patient to have a bedside advocate during their entire hospital stay, in
2011 in Maine. It was knocked down along with the rest of the proposal that was
for improved MRSA prevention in our State. Maybe it is time to bring this up
again!
Great work!"http://bit.ly/Qtcj2L"'The solution, the IOM suggested, was not to
punish ���bad apples��� who miscalculated a drug dose. Rather, it was to learn
from those errors to build a safer heath care system.'..............I guess that is
why when a doctor is asked what they do - they say 'I practice medicine"". On the
surface that can almost sound humble. The doctor I was seeing certainly meant it to
be. But, the truth is far different - common sense and history tells you when
there is no accountability - there is no impetus to be mindful. Our elderly,
handicapped are treated with disrespect and disregard. The best measure of a person
or country's humanity is how they treat their most vulnerable. The dignity of a
sick patient is just as important as their illness. I feel foolish making that
statement - it is a given. Yet, it is ignored. Personally, I know you cannot
legislate to make a person respect another no matter what the profession is. The
fact that one puts one's health - life - in another's hands seems to make no
difference. It also seems the more a patient educates themselves - the less likely
their input/questions will be listened to or answered - healthcare givers seem to
take it as a challenge to them personally. Wonder what would happen if the rules
and regulations were enforced?""I agree with what you said Michelin. Respect for
the individual should be 'a given'... Sadly, it's not. I'm not sure how we got to
the place we are today with regard to seeing so much harm via medicine but I
suspect the root of the problem is money more than anything. The article I posted
above doesn't really address it but i believe it's a huge factor. Doctors and
hospitals are under huge financial pressure today like never before in our history.
And, we all know what can and does happen when money's involved with anything. Just
think about how fighting over money divides families like nothing else can. I've
seen it many times... It's as if otherwise nice, loving, caring, ethical and moral
people go 'crazy'... Medicine has become nothing more than BIG BUSINESS! The drive
is clearly to make money. Most of us here know that but there are many who don't.
Until I was intentionally harmed via an unnecessary hysterectomy, I didn't realize
this - at least not to the extent I do now. Now, I'm WIDE AWAKE!!! In your last
sentence, you asked a very good question. I too wonder what would happen if rules
and regulations already established were merely enforced... What would happen if we
quit trying to figure out ways around 'enforcement'? I strongly suspect, as I've
said many times before, that we'd see a noticeable reduction in medical malpractice
- via negligence and on purpose via unnecessary procedures/surgeries."...perhaps an
occasional reminder of who works for whom.Good point Doug!"""Practice"" is what
students and apprentices do. They are expected to make mistakes and the worst that
can happen to them is a bad grade. Should patients assume the surgeon is using them
for ""practice?"" Is a bad mark on a sheet of paper what patients should anticipate
what will happen if they become the victim of a medical error?Are doctors steering
us into accepting an attitude that by having surgery we are volunteering for their
lab experiment?"Feds say they want to roll out a prototype system that makes it
easier for patients to complain about healthcare errors and harm. Look for it to
start next year somewhere in Pennsylvania. My column today."I think this is a good
step. My concern is a legal one. When a patient reports, are they aware of the
consequences in doing so? Do most people know about the statute of limitations?
They could report something and not realize that they have now documented their own
""time stamp"" with regard to when a prudent person realizes. What they might not
know is the legal element of the statute of liminations will, then, start to toll."
"Supposedly this would be confidential and protected from discovery. there's a
possibility that it would be done under the auspices of the Patient Safety Act of
2005, which created Patient Safety Organizations and protections, to allow
confidential information about harm and error to be shared without fear of
discovery or litigation.""this is completely stupid. AHRQ has nothing to do with
any effective enforcement mechanism. This is a complete blind alley masquerading as
a solution. We need enforcement, not studies.""First of all, I am not in favor of
more 'confidential"" complaining, as the beneficiaries of that appear to be
hospitals, not patients. I want every person whose toe crosses the threshold of
Inova to know that the place starved my mother, on purpose. If I could, I would
spray paint the entrances with abandon hope anyone who comes here. Flee flee! I
wish that every single complaint against Inova had been public and seachable on the
internet because we would have made sure mom went elsewhere on the first visit. I
want the people who work there to be ashamed of their jobs, to be embarrassed to
answer where they work. I want the administrators be questioned on what went wrong
when they try to find a job elsewhere. I have nothing to be ashamed of. Inova does.
Number two our problem is not a lack of places to complain to; there is a surfeit.
the problem is that they don't talk to each other and nobody wants to actually hold
providers accountable, to impose sanctions, to impose serious penalties and to
generally kick butt. Which, I would hope honest doctors and honest administrators
would want to have happen to the bad guys. Cheryl Clark patients are not afraid of
""discovery or litigation."" That;s the HOSPITALS. so if it is being written to
prevent discovery and litigation, it is being written to favor HOSPITALS, not
patients. If you look at the British system, if there is a patient complaint, it
is investigated, the patients can be compensated through the complaint process and
the fruits of that investigation can be used by plaintiffs in suing. They have in
fact reformed the system to make sure that can be. And that information is cycled
back into the process to prevent errors. I am not in favor of much of the British
system, but this makes a whole lot more sense than fifteen complaint processes that
remind one of the song, 'we're on a road to nowhere."" With everything hush hush so
there is no accountability, no public awareness, no useful information and just a
distraction to pretend that we are doing something when we are not.""As i
understand it, the patient or his or her loved ones, would be free to litigate the
incident. The protection for the hospital might come in case, months or years
later, an attorney wants to find out what these hospital folks were told about
prior incidents. The hospital would agree to set up this system under the patient
safety act which established psos in 2005. I'm sorry if that wasn't clear in my
column or prior post. The other piece of this that needs emphasis is that i think
the idea is to get patients to report less egregious types of incidents and/or
harm, or near misses. ( the egregious ones are more likely to be discovered). For
example -- My nurse brought up the wrong medication, she realized this and went
back to get the right medication. I had to wait, but i got the right medication an
hour later. From a hospital perspective this might be helpful in shedding light on
a process flaw that resulted in the nurse bringing the wrong medication in the
first place. Also this is not a study. It's a pilot project. I think it's worth a
shot. A pilot project.""I agree with Debra Van Putten. We KNOW THE STATISTICS
ALREADY!!! The studies are out there and there is enough evidence that patients
are harmed. We get that. There needs to be a system in place to ADDRESS THE
PATIENTS WHO ARE HARMED! It needs to be fair, and compensation should be directed
to the victims of medical error in a timely manner. That's why doctors/health care
providers have insurance. And if the insurance lobby, and the institutional
investors aren't happy with their dividends that year, blame the doctors / health
care providers for screwing up the patients! In clear cases of gross negligence,
STOP CREATING LIFE IN HELL for the patients who have been harmed. Talk about
adding insult to injury. When I was injured I was under anesthesia and had nothing
to do with it. And yet, as a patient the wall of silence goes up. You know who
profited from my pain and suffering -- the defense law firm. My total knee
replacement was so botched by the orthopedic surgeon that another orthpedic had to
grind out my femur and tibia and implant metal rods to correct the misalignment. I
couldn't walk. The diagnosis AFTER my TKA ""malpositioned prosthetic components.""
I didn't do that to myself. Let me know if you want to see the ""before"" /
""after"" x-rays. My leg was so curved it doesn't take a radiologist to see it.
It's plain as the nose on my face. They didn't want my case to go to the jury and
the judge tossed my case out on a technicality.
I received NOTHING . . . the
second surgery was $50,000, took over 6 hours, I suffered and continue on various
levels. I received nothing. Zip, zero, nada. I imagine the defense law firm
racked in over $150,000 in their brilliant {rolling eyes} defense. The AMA and
ABA are the biggest cartels in the Nation. Who drives up the costs? Look at the
defense law firms (huge lobby) and the AMA. The medical malpractice insurance
companies don't care about patients. They care about their investors. They'd
rather pay the defense law firms rather then compensate the patients adn they'll
fight dirty to keep a patient from their basic cvil right -- a jury of peers. Do a
study on the costs of defense firms and the profit they earn off the pain and
suffering of patients.
I was under anesthesia
when my leg was butchered. I woke up in hell. Thank you AMA and ABA for all the
good work you do in protecting patients.
We have no rights, we have no voice.
Pathetic. My dog would have had better care and treatment at the vet. My
orthopedic surgeon, who butchered my leg, made the cuts wrong and inserted the
prosthetic device and then, pretended the surgery was successful. I couldn't walk.
I healed with a disjointed leg and was on a walker, then a cane until the second
surgery -- six month later. I have serious injuries. I should have gone to the
vet for care and treatment. PLUS the procedure wasn't medically necessary (I only
needed a partial ""unicompartamental"". PLUS the orthopedic surgeon used a new
procedure that was experimental, unscientifically proven, non-peer reviewed and not
FDA approved. Yup, the vet would have been kinder had I been a dog.""1) I still
don't understand the utility. I have yet to get coherent information about what
will be done with the information or why we can't make the current reporting system
hand over the data to AHRQ. QIOs receive complaints, state licensing agencies
receive complaints, HHS OIG gets complaints, 1800-medicare gets complaints. Why
have another complaint process?2) I don't why on earth as a public policy approach
we would not want to do everything in our power to absolutely crucify someone who
knows of a problem and chooses not to fix it? What good does it do to let hospitals
know they have problems and have them use that information to further their
interests and not patients?3) What is the point about collecting more data about
piddly problems when Medicare flat REFUSES to address serious problems, like a
hospital that intentionally STARVES a patient. If that is a problem that Medicare
won't/can't address, why bother with ""my aspirin was 20 minutes late.4) Figuring
out what wrong with aspirin 20 minutes late is the hospital's job. Why should we
pay public money to do that?5) It seems to me that the most pressing issue it to
STOP PAYING the Hospitals for errors. And the Obamacare changes are poorly done and
counter productive. All of this needs to be dealt with as a matter of contract
compliance and Hospitals should not be treated one iota better than any other
federal contractor. What folks don't seem to understand is that Hospitals dont
vote. Patients vote. Got it?""Why do we need hospitals to agree? where did they
get a veto. They are contractors. Does Lockheed Martin get a veto on what contract
oversight happens to them? I think not. Do we rely on whispering sweet nothings to
the management at Lockheed in the hopes that they have a conscience that bad
equipment will unnecessarily hurt our troops, because after all, it would offend
their sense of dignity and professionalism to double check what they are doing?
Not likely, that's how we got $2000 toilet seats. I think that that a much better
use of time and money is to FIX the current oversight process. Nothing is going to
work without that. and, if you look at the medicare regulations, hospitals are
already required to do that fault analysis. We are paying them already to do it.
It's current policy. So why the pilot?""Cheryl Clark, when mom was at Inova, she
was supposed to get dilaudid, a scheduled narcotic with serious street value, the
meds were always late, usually by an hour to two hours. When we got mom's medical
records, the nurses recorded the narcotic as having been administered up to several
hours after the time of the chart entry (psychic nurses), We had doses entered in
the chart up to sixteen hours after the state time of the dose -- i e, a med given
at 8 pm on tuesday is actually accounted for on Wednesday when the nurse comes in
for the next shift, Either the pharmacy was playing games or the nurses had a side
job dealing, because the number of doses recorded in the charts did not square with
what mom actually got--mom was constantly shorted, yet restrained for 20 days due
to inadequate medication. The paperwork was more than hinky. It was replete with
red flags. Medicare did not care. DEA did not care. The state of Virginia did not
care. So, in the scale of things that call for government spending, the sorts of
things you are talking about aren't a priority. There are much bigger fish to fry.
And if a place like inova doesn;t care about someone not accounting for scheduled
narcotics, they most certainly aren't going to care about figuring out why noncritical meds aren't on time. And by the way, an hour delay is not considered, in
general, a medical error.""In my findings I have found that the information is not
being reported. According to the Joint Commission adverse incidents are supposed
to be reported if the hospital gives the doctors 30 days, well there is where the
manipulation begins. The hospitals starting giving 29 or less days which means
they don't have to report it. The Joint commission claims on their website that it
is urged but not necessary for them to report it and if someone else reports it
they will investigate but the information is confidential, and this is the real
problem I had, they claimed they destroy the evidence."Oh this just makes me so
upset and angry these doctors and hospitals are not held accountable for the
horrible things they do. They bankrupt us patients ruin our lives and the lives of
our families and yet they still get paid. They gave it made. You can complain to
the doctors the hospitals the board of medicine contact lawyer after lawyer just to
be told there's nothing we can do. These doctors and hospitals get away with it and
they know that they have messed up not even an apology. Then you hear the cost of
healthcare is so much because of the malpractice insurance they have to pay....what
they cannot be sued. It's like all these doctors and hospitals the board of
medicine these lawyers the insurance the drug companies they all work together the
system is fixed so that these doctors know they will not e held accountable and
they can give you whatever crappy treatment they want and guess what you still got
to pay or it even though you have lost everything you job your insurance savings
family your home and cars but the docs still got their money they still have their
fancy house cars families vacations and most of all their life. Something has to
change these bad doctors and hospitals have to e held accountable."Amy Houck, you
see the picture. They get paid when they do it right, and they extract several
times more from the victim when they do it wrong. I can't think of any other
business that has created as part of it's business model such a wicked advantage."
"I was tricked by a group of corrupt doctors running a racket, because they needed
guinea pigs for surgeons-in-training to practice on. They botched it which cost me
and the taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars and destoyed my life. I wrote to a
number of complaints depts., including the government Minister of Health and my
local member or parliament, etc. They all sided with the corrupt doctors, who lied
through their teeth, and falsified my medical records, etc. We, in Australia,
haven't got a hope in hell of getting redress, let alone justice. The system sides
with the doctors and does everything to shut the patients up, including
blacklisting them, and spreading rumours about them. It will be a cold day in hell
before the patients are heard and validated.""June Gardner, it's an international
problem. I wonder if there is any country one can go to relative to your home
country, where those doctors would tell you the truth and not first be loyal to the
cover-up.""Australian health minister shocked to find out he was kept in the dark
about a fatal medical malpractice investigation, forces disclosure with a
ministerial directive.http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/national/15105974/qldgovt-in-dark-on-medical-malpractice/"The group of doctors running this hysterectomy
racket have it honed down to a fine art. They have got away with it for decades and
have covered their tracks with lie after lie after lie. That is probably why the
complaints depts. said the doctors did nothing wrong.the topic of this group is
patient safety. Not Obama spin.Health care fraud has a human face too. Individual
victims of health care fraud are sadly easy to find. These are people who are
exploited and subjected to unnecessary or unsafe medical procedures."Healthcare
fraud? Interesting, isn't it, that what's measured is dollars - not the cost to
human lives. Notice that NHCAA is an organization of insurers & government. It's
not surprising that insurance companies focus only on the money. But it says far
too much that it's the government's primary interest. Ever notice that not one
penny goes to the people who were harmed? When that changes, I'll be interested in
these fraud reports.""Being a victim of the hysterectomy racket, where doctors in
cahoots with each other, look for easy prey for a teaching hospital by tricking
unsuspecting women into unnecessary radical hysterectomies, by fabricating cancer
is fraud. Healthcare fraud seems to be more important than human life.""And if it
were a corporation and the issue was securities fraud, destroying the documents
would be the fastest route to jail"http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/45overused-medical-procedures-costing-americans-billions-study-212121533.html"I think
there are three sides to this story ...1 the practitioner who may in fact
overprescribe, 2 the patient who at times demands unnecessary tests, treatments
and antibiotics, 3 the lawyer ready to cash in on the situation. It isn't useful
to vilify one without examining the contribution of all to the problem in order to
achieve lasting solution and true health care reform."
http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/early/2012/10/12/hlthaff.2011.0605.full.ht
ml"I
have been a hospital nurse for many years, and for most of that time I have been
concerned with a patient-safety issue that has slowly been acknowledged over the
years but still has not been effectively addressed. That issue is delayed inhospital defibrillation in cases of cardiac arrest. It fits in the ""failure to
rescue"" category in the patient-safety lexicon. I'm convinced that these 'failures
to rescue"" cause thousands of deaths each year in the US alone. The American Heart
Association has recognized the problem for over a decade but has not come up with
an effective approach to address the problem. I believe this failure has been due
to problems of politics, institutional culture, and device industry influence. The
fix the AHA offered--in-hospital AEDs--has recently been shown to decrease overall
survival (see ""Bad Shock: Automated Devices for Jolting Hearts May Save Fewer
Lives in Hospitals,"" by Lilly Fowler, at Fairwarning.org).I think a simple, cost
effective remedy can be found.""Hi John Stewart, thanks for your comment, and for
your participation in our group. I have a couple of questions. First, will you
please complete our Provider Questionnaire? ProPublica is building a pool of
nurses, doctors and other providers who can help us with our stories and offer us
ideas. Here's the link: http://www.propublica.org/article/providers-share-yourobservations-on-patient-safety Second, I'm wondering if you can be more specific
about your post. How do politics, institutional culture and device industry
influence come into play? And what's the simple, cost effective remedy that you see
as possible?""I thought I had submitted the Provider Questionnaire early this past
week--unless I hit the wrong button when I tried to submit. Please let me know if
you can't find it, and I'll submit again."Thanks for joining us. It is very nice
to see a provider here."The comments at the end of the article are interesting.
The quality of manufacturing and adequate, recurring training can address issues
raised. Yes, inexperienced staff need extra training as they do for everything. The
reason for the slow response is no mystery: Fewer healthcare professionals caring
for more and sicker patients result in delays in all areas of care. Link to
article: http://www.fairwarning.org/2011/11/bad-shock-automated-devices-forfailing-hearts-may-save-fewer-lives-in-hospitals/""Financial conflicts of interest
pressure the premature fielding of new medical devices. Devices to market, followed
by a general denial of a need to keep track of the results at the outset. Financial
conflicts of interest likely are also to blame for the lethargic delay in the
testing and followup analysis of new devices, procedures and prosthetic implants
after they are put into the field."This is something that some people have been
trying to address for a while. I don't know the details but remembered a colleague
doing some work on the topic. This presentation from 2006 by Dr. John Gosbee (my
former colleague when we both worked for the Dept of VA National Center for Patient
Safety) touches on the topic on slides 32-34. There is probably more info out
there by now...
http://patientsafety.im.wustl.edu/content/documents/Gosbee_MedicalDeviceDesign.pdf
"The AHA should encourage objective evaluation of innovative approaches to
treatment-particularly those that involve new technologies, before they gain
widespread acceptance.
In the emotionally charged atmosphere of medical care,
the momentum of a new technology too often puts the burden of proof on those who
question the evidence for it, rather than on those who propose it. The result is
that the technology quickly becomes the accepted thing to do [and] further attempts
to test it are subject to the charge of being unethical.... [6] AED manufacturers
will keep the AED option in the forefront of discussions about delayed in-hospital
defibrillation; as a public service organization, the AHA should actively encourage
consideration of a broad range of alternatives. There may be ways to achieve the
goal of rapid in-hospital defibrillation less expensively--and much sooner--than by
making progress contingent on the successful marketing of AEDs to hospitals."Oops-I accidentally posted the previous post prematurely. It's a response to Garrick
from something I wrote in 1996: Stewart JA. Delayed in-hospital defibrillation.
Annals of Emergency Medicine 1996; 27(1): 5-6. The paragraph with the [6] reference
is from a Brookings Institute publication."The paragraph with the [6] reference
describes an inverted ethical attitude toward more testing. It would seem more
testing could be a threat, and that the defense mechanism is to reverse the
perception of who is unethical by calling the charge to test unethical, rather than
the unwillingness to test as unethical. There are two possibilities, 1) that the
device is considered ""good enough"" and testing will delay widespread deployment,
or 2) further testing will delay profits.""I thought there was a reply from
Marshall Allen asking what ""simple, cost effective remedy I"" I advocate. I can't
see the reply now, but I would like to respond. An answer to the question can be
found at http://www.sjtrem.com/content/18/1/42. The link leads to my open-access
article. I'll point out that after all the editing and proofreading, a clause was
omitted. After the colon in the first paragraph of the Discussion section, there
should have appeared ""clinicians trained and authorized to use the defibrillators
were typically intensive-care physicians and nurses who were often far from the
scene of the arrest."""Listen inInteresting article and interesting comments after
the article - pertains more to opinions about how to improve safety and quality
than the Presidential candidates.Interesting comparison to the airline industry. I
think I actually agree with Dr. Johnson on this."On the topic of patients reporting
adverse events there was another item published today, this one sort of on the
skeptical side. http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/opinion/perspectives/dont-putthis-on-patients-sick-people-are-supposed-to-monitor-medical-errors-really-657941/"
"Wow, this is a really good article. this is one of the best things I have seen
written in a long time"Who sent the information about ALEC with the information
about a state legislator who went to the strip club. If you sent that can you put
it out again for me."In recent years research has confirmed that a high
proportionof unnecessary surgery is still being performed, even by reputable
surgeons. This practice needs to be considered in its social perspective.If a nonsurgeon were to cut someone open with a knife, remove a perfectly healthy organ and
simultaneously rob the same person of $1,ooo, he would be charged with assault with
a deadly weapon, attempted murder, robbery, and numerous other offences. If he said
in his defence that he did it for the victim's own good, a jury could justifiably
find him criminally insane.On the other hand, this same procedure ceases to be a
crime when performed by a suitably qualified medical practitioner, who has judged
in his professional opinion the operation is required or 'indicated'.Many surgical
procedures still have no demonstrated proof of their effectiveness or of their
value to the patient.""Good analogy June.. This is the exact same thing I told the
police in regard to what my former doctor did to me. They told me if what happened
to me at Mercy Hospital had happened in an alley somewhere, they could file
charges. They said that when a doctor is involved, it's considered 'civil'.
Outrageous!""After I was butchered, I felt as though a criminal held a gun to my
head, took me down a dark alley, knocked me unconsious, mutilated 6 healthy organs
from my body, sewed me up and left me to fend for myself. So when I found a book
titled ""Bad Medicine: Is the health care system letting you down."" and read what
I wrote above, I realized that what he wrote is exactly how I felt. Like I was
harmed by violent criminals.""The issue you raise here June is indeed one that
needs attention. It's difficult to face the aftermath of medical 'negligence'. It's
beyond difficult to face the aftermath of 'intentional' medical harm. When a person
is intentionally harmed via an unnecessary surgery, the trauma is huge! Unspeakable
really...""I thought of the same thing a few years ago . . . why was the orthopedic
surgeon that butchered my leg able to get away with it? Oh, yeah, he was
licensed.""I've said this over and over I know but I'll say it again here. Until
doctors are charged with 'crimes' and prosecuted like anybody else, we will
continue to see unnecessary surgeries performed and we will continue to see harmed
patients. It's really that simple. Doctors have always had a 'license to kill'.
That's nothing new. Doctors have always had the freedom to heal or harm. What's
different is this... Today, what we see is too large a number of doctors giving
into financial pressure and performing unnecessary procedures and surgeries,
prescribing dangerous drugs, etc. when there are alternatives - including the
alternative to do nothing.""There is also the sad truth that other doctors who know
that a procedure was botched are allowed to remain silent. There is no mandated
reporting laws that require doctors to report sub-standard care, negligence,
malpractice, etc. So they remain silent. It's almost as if they are aiding and
abetting the wrong-doer. There are a lot of co-dependents in the medical arena,
the silence of doctors not wanting to get involved is deafening."You bring up
another good point Carla. The problem is surely compounded by the wall of silence!I
agree with everything said here. I tried to file complaints with police and
attorney general and both said they couldn't
help. And I know there a other that were involved in my care that repeatedly told
my family of the rogue behavior in the urology dept. It is criminal and should not
have statue of limitations. And yes ALL parties knowing and covering up the horror
are just as guilty in allowing these doctor to achieve their dirty deeds"All of you
have just told my story. The medical system do not screen medical students for
personality disorders, so at least 30% of doctors have disturbed personalities
(that last sentence was written in a book about bad medicine). In other words these
doctors have psychopathic traits and you'll recognize them. They lie to you face,
they lie to everyone around them. They fabricate all sorts of non-existent medical
problems. They deceive people. They manipulate people. they have no remorse. They
abuse their power. They violated your trust. They violate your health rights. They
violate their duty of care. They one zillion percent violate the Hippocratic Oath
and FIRST DO HARM.""Welcome to our new members! I just wanted to re-post our
guidelines, so everyone is on the same page. We do moderate this group, and delete
things that are offensive or not directly related to patient harm. Let us know if
you have questions, and thanks for joining. Click here for the guidelines:
http://www.facebook.com/groups/patientharm/doc/218667131585176/""If you ever need
to send messages to state or federal legislators or media use Congress.org (luv
that URL; no connection to .gov). The site provides information on who to send to
as well as reasonably automated mechanisms for sending out messages en masse.
Using the link provided, the media wizard will show you all the media outlets for
your state, let you pick up to five and send the message to those five adding in
previously entered information (who you are, etc) as it sends it out. I put the
message in Word and copied it into successive groups of five until I was finished.
Using this service, I was able to send a message urging 45 newspapers in Virginia
to watch the Bill Moyers presentatation on ALEC and to use journalistic
investigation to inform the public. Total time involved (including interruptions!)
about 1 hr.While you could use this to send any message to any newspaper in any
state, it is probably better to focus on those in your state.In addition to this
wonderful service, Congress.org has a lot of other great information and other
services available."Thanks for posting this Cary!"Something to think
about....""when no one is accountable, no one is safe.""""Agree Kirpal... That's
what I've been saying for years. I wrote a very long letter to a local reporter
regarding this very issue. I sent him the testimony from my medical malpractice
case wherein my former doctor admitted he altered my record and obtained illegal
consent for surgery. I also sent him the testimony of the O.R. nurse who admitted
she 'knew' she obtained illegal consent and further stated surgeons at Mercy
hospital don't ask to see surgical consent since they can 'assume' there's consent
when the patient is in the O.R. afterall. What happened to me and what's happened
to so many of us who belong to this group MATTERS to EVERYONE - whether they know
it or not. The kind of testimony I have revealed to reporters substantiates just
how serious a problem we have here. It's nearly incomprehensible that a doctor and
nurse would make such admissions! And, on the record no less! The reason they can
and did is because they know it won't matter. Tort reform has effectively put an
end to filing and pursuing medical malpractice cases in this country. And, you sure
can't pursue criminal charges... Oversight agencies look the other way.. This makes
for a very DANGEROUS medical environment for everyone! When doctors and nurses are
never held accountable, we all have reason to worry.. and worry a lot."
https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2012/09/10/2012-22028/agency-informationcollection-activities-proposed-collection-comment-requestSubmit your comments
regarding adverse event reporting by November 9"October 13, 2012TO: Doris
Lefkowitz, Reports Clearance Officer, AHRQ,
[email protected]:
Request for Comment ���A Prototype Consumer Reporting System for Patient Safety
Events.���I completely support the goals of this project and believe it is
necessary to improve the performance of oversight of consumer health care
practices.1. Safety event intake form and follow up. I cannot express strongly
enough the need for adverse event reporting. We cannot understand our successes if
we do not understand our medical errors, i.e, mistakes, harm or injury, and near
misses. This procedure should allow any patient who is subject to an error to
voluntarily report safety events through a Web site or by telephone. The questions
ask what happened, details of the event, when, where, whether there was harm, the
type of harm, contributing factors, informed consent and disclosure, whether the
treatment was coerced or other options denied, and whether the patient reported the
event and to whom. Information should be collected regarding whether the respondent
is willing to have CRSPS staff follow up to clarify information. If a respondent
consents, CRSPS staff should be able to follow up by phone, or a field visit, and
ask questions about any information that was not clear in the initial report and
annotate the report with this information. Reports and findings should be posted
to the state regulatory board that governs the practitioner���s license. 2.
Health care provider follow up. For the subset of consumers that consent, patient
safety officers at health care provider organizations who maintain the adverse
event reporting system will contribute supplemental information about the consumerreported incident which occurred at their facility. CRSPS staff will contact the
health care organization to share the consumer report with the patient safety
officer or other appointed liaison. The liaison will determine if the consumerreported incident matches an event in the provider's Incident Reporting System, and
if so, provide additional information. Providers should provide written protocols
for management of the procedures that are reported as adverse events and where
negative outcomes are confirmed, a plan of corrective action shall be filed for
review along with evidence of implementation.Collected data collected should be
analyzed to produce estimates and basic descriptive statistics on the quantity and
type of consumer-reported patient safety events, examine the variability of
responses to questions, examine the mode of data collection by event types, and
conduct correlations, cross tabulations of responses and other statistical
analysis.The proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper
performance of AHRQ health care research and health care information dissemination
functions, and makes a practical contribution to understanding health care costs,
services, opportunities for improvement, and regulatory maintenance. This
information has practical utility for consumers, providers and regulators. The
accuracy of AHRQ's estimate of burden (including hours and costs) of the proposed
collection(s) of information appears to be sound. This should integrated as a
component to Electronic Health Records Systems in order to enhance the quality,
utility, and clarity of the information to be collected and to minimize the burden
of the collection of information upon the respondents, including the use of
automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology.
Submitted reports and their resolution should be maintained in patient files for
examination and confirmation and should require that patient���s receive a copy
and confirm with their signature.Very Respectfully,Terri A LewisHealthCare
advocate""So glad to have found this board of like-minded individuals and that
MaryAlice McClarty's OpEd was posted. I caught up on a lot of your posts and I am
truly sorry and sickened. You are an inspiring group. Keep up the good work of
getting out information about the horrendous effects tort reform has on injured
people and their families. I will point out that I hesitated to join this board as
I will likely be accused of having an ""agenda,"" I am a plaintiffs lawyer that
regularly sues profit seeking companies that harm individuals - I am completely
biased because I see the injuries, many of which could and should have been
prevented, and I am not in the least bit embarassed about this bias. I am proud of
my work and I am so glad to see others working hard toward the same goal - justice
for those harmed.""Yes Jessica, we are all seeking justice for harmed patients!
Glad you joined...""Hospitals' lawsuit settlement exposed unhealthy deal.
http://www.answersforlisa.blogspot.com""Hey guys, noticed a lot of you posting
about the meningitis outbreak. Marshall Allen wrote a column last week that
provides some good context for the news; it explains compounding pharmacies, like
The New England Compounding Center, which made the steroid shots linked to the
outbreak. Check it out, and let us know if you have any questions.""Thank You New
York Times. Maybe you can find out why physicians use drugs for spinal procedures
when the package insert clearly states that they are not intended for epidural or
spinal use. Maybe you can tell us why those physicians are not held accountable for
ignoring FDA guidelines and why this is an ""acceptable standard"" of practice in
our current medical system.http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/16/health/tracingcrucial-components-of-meningitis-outbreak.html?smid=fb-share""Hello friends, I need
your help. I am in discussion with some senators on changing the bill with Tort
Reform, but I need you to send me your personal
letters of your trials and issues you suffered or family members suffered. I need
you to reach out across the country to friends, family and anyone you know who is
fighting this battle. My email is [email protected] or fax is (877) 2073288. I also need you to send a letter to your state representative and the
senator of your state"When do u need this by?as soon as you canWhich bill and which
senators?God I pray we find justice since these representative and senator are
corrupt! God help us find honest powerful people to help us. It is our prayer <3
May God continue to bless you and hold them accountable for the death of your
daughter"thank you, Proposition 12 is what we voted for , but then they came up
with HB 4 that protects doctors. Now each state may have their representatives and
some senators working in the background with ALEC. Go to www.billmoyers.com and
read how this work. The documentary will discuss the very reason why we do not
have a voice. I found that many representatives in Texas have backed out of ALEC
because the heat is heading their way. Our Governor and State Representative John
Zerwas however refuses to withdraw membership."So this pertains to Texas. Thanks!SO
true money blocks all morals and ethics yet I believe in time like all issues
justices wins and crooks go to jail. I rejoice EVERY time I see them go to jail <3
Thank God for the internet because it shows us their deeds if we look hard enough.
ALEC Full episode United States of ALEC---------http://billmoyers.com/episode/fullshow-united-states-of-alec/"You can go to alecexposed.com and see where your state
stands. If you are not from Texas your endorsement on Texas would not exists.
However, whatever state you live in, please take a look at the site and see if they
are rewriting bills under your noses. If you find that they are then speak out.
This issue referenced is hard for me to explain, but if you view the documentary it
will give you some background on what is happening and what needs to be done.""This
is not a singular state issue. It is nationwide effort by ALEC, corporations and
legislators to change the fabric of everyone's life and will Deidre speaks above to
a statewide proposition to be voted on by the public most of bills pushed by ALEC
are put in place w/o a public vote. An example of efforts in other states from the
Moyers show was ALEC effort sponsored by Glaxo in NC to limit corporate
liability/tort reform. Didn't make it. This year.Takes a while to dig through
alecexposed but you can be sure that efforts in your state based on ALEC models are
being put forward. The success of those bills are usually predicated on how many
state legislators are members of ALEC.A very sad component of this is that
corporate financial sponsorship (some of which can be substantial) is currently tax
deductible for the corporations as ALEC portrays the organization as a educational
organization; not a lobby."God help Oregon:
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Oregon_ALEC_PoliticiansTo stay germane with
this particular FB group: here is where ALEC focuses their current interests on
healthcare issues http://alecexposed.org/w/images/f/f2/ALEC_on_Health_Care.pdf
thanks for the pdf up above. I urge you all to send this information to your news
media in your state. let them see what they are doing behind our backs. keep
sending it daily until someone takes notice"I am in California. My daughter was
killed from 100% preventable medical error, I had a trial. The hospitals here are
so well protected. The MICRA law, the $250,000 cap, since 1975, that makes it
almost useless to go to trial, all add up to the conclusion, as a patient in a
hospital, if something goes wrong, you really have no recourse. The ripple effect
on my family is unimaginable, and I am not alone. I would be thrilled with an
apology at this point."I am so sorry Lenore to hear about your loss ; apology
probably will not happen because they do not want anyone to know. How long ago has
it been since your daughter passed away?Today would be her 21st birthday. she died
december 15 2002"I am so sorry; my daughter passed away February 14, 2011 due to
medical negligence. You are right the system has created a manipulative tactic in
getting away with negligence. I am fighting hard and I am working on something
that I hope will bring justice for all that have been hurt by this. Keep me up in
prayer that God will open the doors that I need to get this out. I am praying for
you today in hope that God can give you peace. I had a rough day today myself but
I'm pushing through. Please send me your story to [email protected]."
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20121017/NEWS03/121017013/1/NLETTER04/Meningitis-outbreak--TN-deaths-rise-to-8"The US has no long-term living
kidney donor data - but the Swiss do, and it isn't great."Wow.Wow is right.
http://www.alternet.org/speakeasy/martharosenberg/shameless-drug-company-stillcashes-bone-marketSo many women have fallen prey to this... especially the millions
of women who have lost bone health via hysterectomy!I need you to call in tonight
and ask questions."Diedre, at some point I wish you would do a show on the impact
of ALEC and corporate sponsorship of state legislation. While ALEC's tenecles
reach far and wide, there are direct implecations for health care such as
limitations on deregulation of health, Pharma and Insurance industries, weaking
public health, limiting accountability oif companies for liability, privitizing
medicaid/medicare and opposing health care reform.There is a lot of information on
ALEC in previous posts in this forum and if you need any other information just ask
and there are several of us who can help you."that sounds great Robin will be on
next Thursday so lets do the 18th will that be OK. If so send me your email address
to [email protected]"Deirdre, is your show tonight at 5 central time instead
of 7? Want to be sure and listen!""Will do. If you haven't already seen the Bill
Moyers special this last weekend, here is the link.
http://billmoyers.com/episode/full-show-united-states-of-alec/There are documents
and other information on the earlier post for your reference but view the show. It
specifically discusses the trail of Glaxo's support of ALEC which influence
legislation limitiing liability in the state of NC.""Hi Robin-Yes the time changed
due to conflicts, so we will remain at 5:00 PM (CST). To Cary thanks I briefly
looked at it for it was only a snippet but I am going to click on link now."Thanks
Deirdre!Cary how can I get in contact with the attorney in the docDidn't come from
an attorney. Came from Center for Media and Democracy at Alecexposed.com I'm sure
that someone from CMD would be glad to be on your show.thank you"Deirdre, were you
able to get in touch with anyone from CMD and ALECexposed?""Cary I talked with
alecexposed, do you know any information about ALEC- I want someone to talk on the
show Thursday""Who did you talk to at ALEC? They are extremely busy right now. It
tends to get lost in the national politics but there are many ALEC influenced bills
up for voting that need their attention.If you are not able to get any of them for
your show, I will discuss. Maybe Marshall can join.""Ok Cary I will love to have
you on to talk about it. I spoke with Matt Glazer with Progress Texas out of
Austin who is working on ALEC as well. Can you check with Marshall and see if he
would be interested in being on the show to discuss it. Please send me your e-mail
so I can send you the request to be a guest form. It is for documentation. Thank
you,""Marshall, please join this call. I can speak to this subject but I would
like someone from Propublica on board for moral support."Hi Cary I have Phillip
Martin from Progress Texas who said he will call in and talk about ALEC so just
join in on the conversation.Cary you will be able to talk and ask questions
too......"Excellent. I can tie in liability limitation within ALEC to my brother's
death. In his case, liability worked as it should but ALEC seeks to change that in
the name of protecting business interests. It is the real-life impact of ALEC
crafted bills that are missing in the shadows of state government; until it is too
late."Great we need the transparency. This is what is needed."Deirdre, please PM
me.""Deirdre, need you to message me in FB about calling in.""It's International
Infection Prevention Week. The CDC is circulating this - a nurse who saw it from
the other side when her own husband suffered a preventable infection: ""In
healthcare, we often think of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) in terms of
what they mean for our healthcare organization. As an infection preventionist, I
know I did��� until an HAI affected my family. I wonder: Do we really stop and
think about the impact of HAIs on patients and their families? Are we putting
enough emphasis on the most important aspect of preventing HAIs���the patients
and families?"""Thanks for reposting!
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20121016/NEWS07/310160027/Meningitis-outbreak-TNrevokes-compounding-pharmacist-s-license?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|
FRONTPAGE&nclick_check=1"I am observing that the patient is almost never a factor
in outcome planning for delivery of health care services. We really need to begin
with the patient and attack a plan for outcomes, working back from there. NOT
rocket science."http://www.tennessean.com/article/20121006/NEWS07/310050133/Asmeningitis-outbreak-spreads-epidural-steroid-shots-come-under-attack"Could it be
that we get what we PAY for ? We do not pay for outcomes, we pay for activities.
First rule of continuous improvement - never, never confuse activity with
productivity."http://www.tennessean.com/article/20121006/NEWS07/310050133/Asmeningitis-outbreak-spreads-epidural-steroid-shots-come-under-attack"Hospital's
non-response shows the real intent of its lawsuit against web page.
http://www.answersforlisa.blogspot.com"There's precedent case law federal and state
First Amendment - refer to EFF ( Electronic Frontier Foundation ) there will be
other sources - should not have to reinvent wheel in the local court - who's the
firm's legal handlers?"Also New York's Civil Rights Law, section 74. Thanks!"
"California refers to the SLAPP and anti-SLAPP [Strategic Lawsuit Against Public
Participation] We have a local litigious CEO Tri-City Healthcare (Hospital)
District who time after time continues to fail in courts will pursue because ""the
board said I could ! "" - Run you down, if not run you out!!!"""New York also has
anti-SLAPP law. But it only applies to government entities."Good information here,
What about Az"Oops can a person use the hospital name in a website nameI think so.
The words are proper words - not a made up name. And I took it first. I also made
the hospital admit that it had not registered any of the variations of its name.
"Read the description of this book. It describes the sadistic doctor who took great
pleasure in causing me so much pain and suffering, after tricking me into
unnecessary radical hysterectomy for training practice.""Alabama mothers who have
had a poor experience in a hospital should be allowed to birth with a midwife,
without fearing their midwife will risk prosecution.
http://www.alabamabirthcoalition.org/""This is the book where Dr Phil Hammond said,
""The system is still geared to protecting doctors' reputations rather than
protecting patients from unnecessary harm."" His first book called, ""Trust Me I'm
a Doctor"" was written 20 years before this one, and you will be shocked at the
disgusting things they got up to in medical school. It made me sick."This article
is a reminder that this election matters - for reasons including the prevention of
preventable bad outcomes for people who are ill (including those who might
otherwise find out too late that they are ill). And it's not just the Presidential
election that matters but the House and Senate too.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/14/opinion/sunday/kristof-a-possibly-fatalmistake.html?ref=opinionThank you for sharing this Noel! Please read...
http://getoutdemvotes.com/disabled-in-ohio"1) We don't need the giant sell out to
the insurance companies and the medical industrial complex called Obama care to
address risk pooling and pre-existing conditions2) Obamacare does nothing to reduce
the cost curve, which is why this guy did not have insurance and is why he probably
would not have insurance under Obamacare, but would choose to pay the fine. What
we need is to be able to have low cost, high deductible catastrophic plans for
people like this, and Obamacare is wholesale eliminating those kinds of plans. 3)
If Obama had really cared about people dying without insurance, he would have
addressed the ""gap"" ie the 29 months people who have been approved for disability
have to wait for Medicare to kick in. That is the #1 population dying without
health care -- the rules are very tricky and its easy for COBRA to run out, it is
very expensive and these are people who can't work. But Obama did nothing for this
very vulnerable population. Nothing. To me it says volumes about what the program
was and was not about. 4) As for preventing medical errors, the ""reforms"" Obama
put in place are a ptomkin village that is easily gamed and IMO will cause many
deaths as medical providers game the rules. 5) While I appreciate the shout out
on Swedish (they literally saved my life) I have seen the same hospital system be
quite unforgiving about finances towards patients with less well ""connected"" but
equally fatal diseases. And to me that is the most scary thing about Obamacare is
that what treatment you get will not be determined by medical necessity -- but
rather the decisions of a political organization making political decisions based
on who has the best lobbyist. If you have breast cancer and Susan G. Komen and
$100k a dose drug manufacturers behind you, you will have Cadillac care. If you
have a kid with a mitochondrial disorder with parents too poor and busy to organize
and no big name drug, you will be out in the cold. If you have a disease where the
choice is a cheap generic or an expensive designer drug where you get stuck paying
10% of the designer drug, the committee is going to give coverage for the designer
drug, you'll be bearing the 10% cost and you will have ZERO coverage for the nice
workable generic. that is the outcome the structure that has been set up is
designed to make. And unlike current insurance, there is NO appeal, by design. It
is a 100% political process and geared towards people with well known, well
studied, well-financed and sympathetic diseases. It is death for those who have
rare diseases, unsypathetic diseases or diseases for which there is not an
expensive drug and therefore drug manufacturer lobbying. And it is designed to
create a two tier medical system. Those who can afford to opt out and those who
can't. So, I will be voting for honest reform, based on caring about patients, not
lobbyists. And that means NOT Obama,""And if you want me to cry for someone who
didn't buy a catastrophic policy because he wanted to spend his life reading and
playing poker instead of working... I can think of many more compelling people in
need of free medical care -- like the lady I posted about last week with the huge
brain tumor who can't get treatment in Canada. Swedish actually specializes in the
care she needs and they do not provide it for free to people like her. They will
make her take out a mortgage on her house and have $100k upfront and if she doesn't
have $100k, it's tough luck, go die. But since brain tumors don;t have the
lobbying groups that breast and prostate cancer have.....""My point isn't that
people should get good care for free. It's that everyone should be insured,
especially for such predictable problems as prostate cancer in a 50-60 year old
man. We don't give the people the option not to wear seat belts anymore or to
drive cars uninsured. It's just my opinion, but I don't think we should be having
uninsured people anymore in this country. And we should be moving the society in
that direction - everyone insured. We can afford it. Taxing capital gains at the
regular rate would probably cover it. So would raising the cap on Social Security
- income over $110,000 isn't subject to the SSI deduction and this makes no sense.
I say this even though it would hit me. (My salary is a matter of public record
and is Google-able somewhere.)I don't want you to cry for anyone you don't want to
cry for. I spent 3 hours today with fellow members of Metro Maryland Ostomy
Association, all of whom have plastic bags stuck to their bellies to collect feces
or urine (myself included). None of us were crying - some might cry for us though
at this point we don't need it. Re #3 ""If Obama had really cared about people
dying without insurance..."" This is unfair - everything in the ACA was negotiated
and the thing just barely passed as it was. If he could have sat in a room and
designed the whole thing himself who knows what would be included. It would
certainly be different than it is.Re #4 I can tell you straight up from first hand
knowledge that you are 100% wrong. I am one of the people who has set up the way
we're measuring patient safety at the national level for the Partnership for
Patients program. The data will not be gamed. (Most of it comes from random chart
review, and the charts are abstracted by people that have no connection to the
hospitals or to the success of the program.) The measures set up earlier (pre
2009) to have Medicare not pay for care after adverse events are producing puny
results, but those are another story and they are unconnected to the Affordable
Care Act (Obamacare). You can see what I'm talking about from the slightly-out-ofdate info on-line at
http://www.qualityforum.org/Setting_Priorities/NPP/Partnership_for_Patients/Quarter
ly_PFP-NPP_Meetings.aspx - download the slides for the Jan 19, 2012 meeting and
see slides 125-136... The bottom-line number for 2010 was calculated as 145 (not
137) and this was sent to Congress."I have a lot to say about that issue at the
moment. Hope to be able to share what we are learning about consumer safety from
the meningitis outbreak. System failure on every level and catastrophic
incompetence in responding."Noel, ""it will not be gamed."" Pardon me but Baloney
sausage. Take a look at my mother's medical records. Fake diagnosis codes to avoid
bounce back penalties. Which later resulted in misdiagnosis and mistreatment.
Stage IV pressure ulcers misreported to avoid never event repporting. Drug
overdoses papered over to avoid never event reporting. Falsifification and
alteration of medical records to hide EMTALA violations. And yes that is plural.
Miscoding of a half-dozen HACs. Medicare Regional Office personnel engaging in
falsification of records -- I'll give you names- with the stated purpose of
refusing to implement patient safety regulations. Starved on PURPOSE because she
was disabled and left, on purpose, in that situation by Medicare paid personnel,
without treatment for known lung cancer, and the main response from Medicare is how
annoying we are to expect justice. Mom died because of people gaming the rules,
with impunity. This is Kathleen Sebellius, not ""some other administration."" The
Obama administration does not give a ___ about patients. That is clear to us in
spades. Power point slides mean nothing. chart reviews mean nothing. Do you really,
really think that these people are honest when they chart?????? How do you intend
to defeat those who lie. Because
nurses are taught in nursing school now how to jigger the charts. I'd love to
show you where Inova charted mom as having a 2 cm by cm stage II pressure ulcer,
with pictures taken, mere hours later, by National Rehab showing a stage IV, with a
sore at stage II to a diameter of a dinner plate covering her entire buttocks.
Unless the ambulance crew took a flame thrower to her rear end in transit, its
pretty obvious that Inova lied. Period. And since you are a disabled person, let
me warn you that Medicare, the state of Virginia, and Inova believe they have every
right to starve you to death if you get taken there by ambulance. I'd suggest not
traveling across the border, because euthanasia of the disabled is legal here. Our
family has that in writing. Obamacare does not require people to have insurance. It
just taxes them if they don't and it defines as insurance a very expensive bells
and whistles definition that many people will not be able to afford without real
efforts to move the cost curve -- which Obamacare worsens. It crowds out/bans
lower cost solutions that have provided minimal coverage. There is a very good
chance that, post-supreme court decision on state mandates - Obamacare will result
in fewer people being unisured as corporations dump their lower cost plans and
people can't afford the full monte insurance that the state exchanges will be
mandated to offer. I have a question for you Noel Eldridge. You think that
government should mandate insurance coverage -- an essentially coercive
requirement. Yet, everyone seems to think it anathema to institute anything
approaching a coercive approach with respect to medical providers, even though we
are the ones paying them. Because let me tell you, if we videotaped everyone and
anyone who didn't wash their hands lost their license, we would eliminate HACs. If
doctors were not allowed to side step medical license rules that do not allow them
to behave as pharamcists, we wouldnt have the fungal infections. Why should
individuals be subject to government coercion and commercial enterprises not? Isn't
that backwards? You all in the kumbaya quailty movement just do not understand
that there is a substantial portion of institutions that would rather use patients
as billing fodder and care not a whit about safety because they can lie their way
out of trouble. There seems to be an unreasonable belief in the medical industrial
complex as good an honest. How many people have been killed by unethical medicine
vs. big oil. Why not sic IRS level enforcement on them, not us. And as for not
second guessing the deal -- it seems to me that if he had bothered to show any
leadership, Obama could have gotten gap coverage. To me, that is the most awful
disgrace. Maybe if we had a Repub. working health care reform, it would have been a
priority:
http://medicareadvocacy.org/InfoByTopic/Reform/Reform_BilltoEnd24moWaitingPeriod.ht
m. Why give Obama a pass on this??? This was done with a 100% democrat control of
government.""I don't mean to be unkind Noel, but do you really believe that people
in the medical profession are honest and that doing chart reviews is the answer or
a rational tool for accountability? Two of the ER doctors claimed that he had done
a full neuro exam on her and that it was fully normal. She had just had a failed
surgery to repair torn extensor tendons in her fingers. She had a fused wrist. She
had a permanently torn rotator cuff. And the CT was obvious for a spinal cord
impingement. One sent her for a head CT for hallucinations. Obviously lying.
Through their teeth. Mom had a history and physical about six times at these
hospitals. All of the doctors listed a history of having had a Coronary Arterial
Bypass Graft surgery. Which was obvious from the skin on her chest she had never
had. But of course, the medical profession is filled with people with integrity who
would never lie in the charts. but I have no doubt up the complexity of the patient
and up the DRG. it's one of the problems I have with EHR. One doctor who is a
jerk or stupid or corrupt could screw you up for life with misleading notes that
gullible doctors will believe hook line and sinker and it won't matter what the
patient says.""I should be clear about what I'm saying and what I'm not saying.
What I'm saying is that I don't think that when we pull about 30,000 to 40,000
random charts out of about 32,000,000 or 33,000,000, and have people review them to
find certain types of infections, adverse drug events, specific bad outcomes from
procedures, etc., that it can't be gamed. It would require a massive and new
conspiracy to be perpetrated with no one finding out about it.I am not saying that
everything that occurs during a patient's inpatient stay always ends up in their
chart (medical record). To say that would be idiotic.What I am saying, going back
to that, is that if we review random charts from 2011, 2012, and 2013 the same way
did for 2010 charts, that we should be able to tell if, overall, things are
actually getting better or not for the whole nation.This is unrelated to
accountability of specific doctors, hospitals, etc., with respect to specific
instances of adverse events.""The only way to make it meaningful is to compare the
data that is there to data that is not there, and with other data bases that will
demonstrate the presence or absence of adverse events - medical accidents to
disability applications, Wage and earning reports, applications for other public
benefits. Follow the yellow brick road.""Getting back to my original point, which
I admit is peripheral to the point of this Facebook group: The United States would
be a better place for its citizens if all or almost all citizens (and legal
permanent resident aliens) had health insurance. This is a nice summary of what
the other option is... http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/15/opinion/krugman-death-byideology.html?ref=opinion""First, the Obamacare ""quality incentives"" upped the
ante on incentives to lie. Second, it doesn't have to be a conspiracy. All that
has to happen is that the wound care nurse decided she doesn't want to get into
trouble, so she just downgrades the pressure ulcer from a IV to a II. Because the
hospital is going to get penalized for a IV and if its a bad hospital
administration, they will 'solve' the problem by having the nurse lie. I went to
Marty Makary's book signing not that long ago and a nursing student made the point
that they are being taught how to ""shave"" patient records to limit hospital
liability when things go wrong. It's part of the curriculum. It's part of the
culture. Second, while 30-40k files sound impressive, with about 5000 hospitals
accepting medicare, that is about 6-8 files per hospital. That is not enough for a
statistically valid sampling at the hospital level and allocating files on a per
hospital basis gets pretty messy pretty fast. I used to do federal agency contract
compliance. That would not be a methodology that would fly in other agencies,
including VA. That's why I think direct surveys to patients, validating data and
identifying issues, based on dx codes is a much more powerful method. Makary made
the point that most specialties have developed internal measuring methods that are
harder to game. Ask those questions of patients, and when you get a red flag, see
if the institution is telling the truth -- that is a much more powerful tool. The
medical records are 100% self-serving.third, even if you are going to go to all of
the work of gathering all of this data, what are you going to do with it? Because
if you are not taking enforcement action, its just a whole lot of hot air. that's
what bureaucrats do with problems they don't want to address. they have studies and
form working groups who have conferences and symposia and that keeps all of the
eager beaver people who they want to not bug them busy bugging each other and
making up power points and giving talks and feeling like they are accomplishing
something. They give them awards. And then they ignore them and go make policy
while the other folks are power pointing. So, if this is a giant power point
effort, which takes the heat off of a real effort, tied to real performance
measures, I think it actually gets in the way of real change. Because it acts as a
fig leaf.it makes people think a problem is being solved when it isn't.""What are
the new incentives to lie? I truly don't know. Maybe I should.The sample I
referred to comes from 800 of the approx 3400 hospitals in the medicare sample each
year on a rotating basis. It's the Inpatient Quality Review sample that CMS
collects. I'm not a statistician, but people who are tell the same size is pretty
good. The 95% confidence intervals are pretty tight.I worked for VA for almost 10
years. They've done some great work, like developing NSQIP before ACS took it
national with AHRQ funding. But VA can't measure patient safety (they can measure
quality) any better than anyone else can. That's the huge challenge we're trying
to address.ACS's NSQIP is unconnected to accountability but it still seems to make
rates of quality problems go down, which seems to indicate that increasing
accountability is not the only way to improve outcomes.Which real patient safety
performance measures are you referring to that might be getting ""in the way of
real change?""Is someone in the government thwarting real change? If so, who and
what? How does any bureaucrat benefit from thwarting real improvements in patient
safety? What bad things would happen to bureaucrats if patient safety was shown to
have improved markedly?""Um, the penalties imposed by Obamacare. I used to do
contract compliance oversight and audit of federal agencies. Also not a
statistician, but we had statisticians set
up the sampling for each agency we did. I don't think you have a deep enough
sample. And I when I am talk about VA, I am talking about their contract
compliance. I don't see why we should be more careful about contracts to supply
toilet paper than we are about contracts to provide health care. But it is very
obvious to me that our government cares more about conforming TP. And given the
amount of money needed to do a proper sample and proper analysis, I think it would
be a huge waste of money if it were unconnected to actual enforcement.I look at HHS
and I see the Department of Defense in the era of $700 toilet seats. So we have an
organization dedicated to jawboning quality and reducing government waste.
Wonderful, but that is not going to touch the people who are dedicated abusers of
the system. Because they are unconnected to audited, real, data, I suspect that
the Obamacare 'penalties"" really function as penalties for telling the truth about
performance,and are not actual performance penalties. For example, Inova received
very little in the way of penalty. We know that they are poor performing on
multiple measures from Mom's case and the staff's reaction. We know the records
are garbage -- they are only ""performing' because they are lying. And it is
cheaper to lie than to perform. So, when all is done, hospitals that are succeeding
honestly will get less than those that lie. It is a poorly designed program. And
because we have a poorly designed program that people *think* is doing something,
they will not push for a program that really does something. Having a well designed
quality system is not cheap. Having accountability for quality is not a high
priority for the current administration and it is in competition with various pet
projects of the administration (such as the huge bureacracy that obamacare is
requiring). If you don't know the bureaucratic maneuver of pretending to do
something so you don't really have to do something, well..... You still haven't
answered my question -- why should we not have coercive enforcement for government
funded health care. Why the squeamishness. We do it everywhere else in
government, and with people who are doing very complicated things -- in many
cases, activities that are far more complicated than the delivery of health care
(ever build a ship? a fighter jet? a rocket?) Why the disdain for requiring
honesty, penalizing dishonesty and having standards that are mandatory. Are doctors
really of a higher realm than say, nuclear scientists, who live with all sorts of
requirements? Because the mindset of ""these are untouchables"" is the same as how
we treated defense contractors in the 1970s. With the same result of runaway costs
and non-existent accountability that things actually worked. There are models for
how to manage acquisitions and HHS is nowhere on the same planet as any other
federal agency, much less the private sector, in this area. And addressing this
will push the cost curve down. Which will make insurance affordable.""Let me put it
another way. The data that you are using is like using contractor test data to
validate system development. You can't do that. You have to have independent V&V
for quality measures. No IV&V, no pay. That is how things work in the defense
world. And you were there. There is a statute -- contractors cannot validate the
workability of their own products. In addition, we have DCAA auditing the numbers
and making sure that the books reflect the program realities. Two things audited.
With Medicare, we just validate that the charge matches the billing code, with
almost nothing to look back behind the actual records. That is why 40% of the
money is wasted. If you are the third organization or fourth or whatever that is
reviewing performance based on unaudited data (as the term audited means elsewhere
-- ie traced back to make sure it meets reality) it's not adding to the discussion.
You don't know if your numbers are improving because people are lying better or if
they are performing better. For example. Mom, after her spine surgery, had a
visible pocket of fluid in the surgical area. She also had signs of sepsis. The
hospital chose to ignore that fluid pocket -- even though in a previous instance of
that happening, mom was lifeflighted across the state of florida for immediate
evaluation and surgery. The numbers look better for the more recent hospital, but
in fact the previous one had the better care because they actually took care of the
problem. The second problem is that anything that is voluntary is, well, voluntary.
So, if you are in mom's situation and are taken by ambulance to a hospital that
believes it is acceptable to abuse patients to death and you have no choice because
it is the level 1 trauma center for the area, you are screwed. Patients should have
the right to have appropriate treatment anywhere they might be taken-- especially
when it's a life-threatening situation. Deciding to let hospitals decide if they
want to participate does not protect the most vulnerable. As I said, Inova believes
it is allowed to kill you because you are disabled and apparently the state of
Virginia won't quibble with them on that. I have it in writing. So if you are in a
car accident in Northern Virginia, you might very well be toast in a very drawn out
and painful way. Don't you think it's more important to deal with the lying,
abusive Inova's than getting marginal improvements at the honest, decent, and
trying hard Johns Hopkins. Or do you think that there should be a sign on the
bridge to Virginia -- we reserve the right to withhold medical treatment for
disabled people in this state??? Should we just require a disclaimer on the
Virginia tourism ads -- visit only if you are 100% healthy and have evacuation
insurance??? Cause I can tell you that places like Inova are not going to change
except at the pointy end of a sharp stick and even then, they are going to fight it
tooth and nail. The only thing they are going to do voluntarily is window
dressing. And do you think its fair for Hopkins to compete for funding with Inova
when one is lying its way to ""excellence"" and the other is actually doing the
hard work?""Noel, let me make a modest proposal. Pull my mom's medical records from
Inova for a review by your office. Her name was Sharon Van Putten. She was at Inova
Fair Oaks on June 27 and June 30 of 2011. She was at Inova Fairfax on July 1-21,
August 17-18, and August 29-September 27. We have all of mom's records. We have a
detailed analysis of every single one of Inova's errors. We have the inspection
reports which demonstrate how completely incompetent and/or corrupt the program
management side is on Medicare, at least in Region 3. And then you make an opinion
as to the validity of random record reviews and whether medicare's processes make
any sense whatsoever. There are over 100 medication errors alone. She was starved
for seven-eight days. She had six rounds of hosptial acquired sepsis, including
two with a multi-drug resistant Klebsellia while the hospital was sharing equipment
among patients -- including a chair that I used at night while managing mom's
breathing equipment and then used by other patients during the day, without so much
as an alcohol wipe to clean it. With inova doing advanced imaging to figure out if
my 67 year old mother, who had never had a UTI in her life, had a deformity causing
the constant UTI's -- while not noticing that its nursing staff did not know how to
do a cath and that a stage IV pressure ulcer is close proximity was left undressed.
we can look at the coding for the August 17 visit, which was deliverately miscoded
as a cardiac event to preclude a bounce-back penalty from the July 21 visit. And
the Mis-coding of the August 29 visit -- also to avoid bounce-back -- which
prevented us from getting mom transferred to a competent hospital. Mom quite
literally died from people gaming the system. So, before you express confidence in
hospital record keeping, take an opportunity to see the reality.""and to put a
finer point on it, the Joint Commission had no problem with the abuse of my mother,
either. So to our family, this looks like nothing but a bunch of blah, blah, blah."
independent evaluations are always best by third party examiners"If you look at
this article, Australia has Price Waterhouse do forensic audits on hospital data
and surprise, there is ""fudging"". We don't have anyone audit hospital data, much
less some like PWC. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-07-03/canberra-hospital-datareport-findings/4107462""I don't have any authority to pull anyone's charts. The
strange/spooky thing for me is that I was a patient at that same hospital in 1999,
where I had my colon removed due to ulcerative colitis. They saved my life - I was
in the process of slowly bleeding to death thru my colon, which is not a good way
to go...Again... I'm not saying that all medical records/charts are accurate, just
that on-average there's no reason to think that they will be more wrong in 2013
than they were in 2010, and if that's the case looking at about 1/1000 charts at
random and looking for adverse events, such as pressure ulcers, adverse drug
events, infections, etc. We will be able to have some idea if, on average, things
are getting better or not."Veronica - I did read your write up of what happened to
your mother. Sad and outrageous.Need a malpractice lawyer the hospital was located
in VA any help would be great so far VA seems to be really tough and lawyers are
all too busy or have conflicts with UVA seems to me that all the laws protect the
hospital and it's doctors.That seems to be the norm in many states.Just in case you
haven't seen this: http://www.ehow.com/about_5101195_requirements-medicalmalpractice-suit.htmlThe main problem
is most injured patient don't find out what really happened until they finally
after many requests get all their medical records and in my case it takes a long
while to read through 40 lbs of paper then when you find out all the neglect and
harm lawyers tell you it is too late. I find this fustrating as part of tje staute
of limitations states from the time of finding out what really happened but lawyers
won't help"The bottom line is tort reform has effectively stopped most harmed
patients from filing medical malpractice complaints - regardless of evidence. Tort
reform is a huge huge problem! And it effects EVERYONE - whether they've been
harmed yet or not. The white wall of silence stands stronger than ever via tort
reform. Until we get rid of tort reform, doctors, nurses and hospitals will
continue to harm via neglect and even on purpose because they have no fear of being
sued or exposed. I took the following quote from the CNN article you posted
Georjean... ""Tort reform violates the Constitution and is an infringement on
patients' rights but, more important, because when no one is accountable, no one is
safe."""thanks everyone its so messed up these doctors just go on hurting others
and think they are above the law and worst of all they get paid even though they
screwed up big time they get paid alot of money."One doctor in a book I read said
that if a patient annoyed him, he deliberately harmed them. The patient only has to
disagree with a decision these types of doctor makes, and they could be at risk of
deliberate harm."thats horrifying unbelievable that they get paid no matter how
badly they mess us up...its just wrongWhat is the nature of the injury?Debra Van
Putten it's very long and complicated but I've been told by many other Drs what
they did was completely wrong and they also refused to treat me after I lost health
insurance while I still had a stent in my pancreas and a drain in my stomach and
continued complications from they first surgery they did"Amy, sounds like my horror
story,"Sorry Georjean Parrish :("Sorry for you too,Amy Houck. We r blessed by God
to be alive""I would look at a couple places -- superlawers.com, the washingtonian
top lawyers list. It looks to me thatboth the southern (Richmond) and NoVa lawyers
cover UVA. Look at the attorneys sites to see if they are plaintiff or defense
side attorneys. If you are finding folks with conflicts, you are contacting defense
attorneys""Here is the Virginia Trial Lawyer's find a lawyer directory. Search
under ""malpractice."" https://www.vtla.com/index.cfm?pg=FindALawyer""We are alive
for a reason, and that is to inform as many people as we can about how dangerous
doctors and hospitals are to patients. As Dr Hammonds says in his book, 'The system
is still geared to protect the doctors' reputations, rather than protecting
patients from unnecessary harm.' It's a shame we had to learn that through our bad
experiences with the medical establishment."did you all see this"Attachment
UnavailableThis attachment may have been removed or the person who shared it may
not have permission to share it with you.""I sent it the attachment, I thought it
was my flyer""well I sent it again, let's see what happens""If it is in your
file/picture gallery, you may need to set the share to public.""""That said, it is
important to note the following. Had the contaminated steroid been regulated by the
FDA and you happen to live in Michigan, no lawsuit would be possible ��� at all.
Had the case involved a misleading label on a generic drug, and the brand name
version has been approved by the FDA, no lawsuit would be possible ��� at all.
Had the case involved a Class III medical device approved by the FDA (as opposed to
an injected steroid), no lawsuit would be possible ��� at all."""Watch this
video! Australian women harmed by J&J surgical mesh sue for justice and to expose
the corruption of the medical device approval system.Drugwatch.com sent me the
following to post on my web site about transvaginal mesh - labeled a risky medical
device by the FDA.
http://www.hysterectomyconsequences.com/developing_organ_prolapse_after_a_hysterect
omy"RIP Senator Specter, and thank YOU for recognizing those who suffered medical
harm before Any other lawmaker. We will always remember you and thank you.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/14/politics/obit-specter/index.html?hpt=hp_t1"Spector
sat in on the congressional hearings about my brother's radiation overdose.
sometimes we confuse the concept of smaller government with stupid government
"Valsartan is the generic for Diovan, which just became allowed for sale in the US.
My questionis how does a hospital have access to this back in 12/2008-early 2009.
My medical records show I was given this when I was in the hospital."That's a good
question Georjean..."In my latest story for ProPublica, I look at the link between
the deadly meningitis outbreak and the evolution of the compounding pharmacy
industry, which has also led to patient harm elsewhere. I'd love to hear your
thoughts about it, and please pass the link along to others who care about these
problems."Marshall - i'm writing my column on the issue of c.p. but where did you
get 12 deaths? cdc site says 11. is there another?"It does say 12 now:
http://www.cdc.gov/hai/outbreaks/meningitis-map.html They had done their math wrong
on that spreadsheet just after 2 p.m. EST, when it posted. The state breakdown
totaled 12, but in the bottom of the total column it still said 11. But they fixed
it now."wow. thanks. i just saw that. ZIP."Marshall, I wish I had known you were
working on this particular story. I read this with great interest. My post is long
but I hope you'll read it. After my hormone-producing sex organs were removed in
2007, I became very familiar with compounding pharmacies and compounded hormones. I
could write a book about what I've learned. I take compounded progesterone orally
but i receive estrogen and testosterone via pellets. I have had major side effects
from the pellets - much like you describe in your article. However, of all the many
things i've endured via just trying to 'replace' my hormones I can't produce now, I
would have to say that being 'scammed' by a HRT (hormone replacement therapy)
center/doctor/pharmacy is at the top of my list. I changed to a new HRT center a
couple of years ago and they had me do my own at-home testing via blood and saliva.
Although this is not uncommon, it is a pain and it's expensive. After testing, I
had to see a particular gynecologist (recommended by the center) in order to obtain
a prescription for my HRT. I spent a small fortune by the time I met with the
representative at the HRT Center (who knew next to nothing about HRT), paid for
their lab (this place worked with exclusively) to read my blood and saliva test
result and met with the gynecologist (who didn't seem to have a clue...). This HRT
was all in cream form that had to be rubbed into the skin. It was a nightmare!
Something was wrong and I knew it. I became really sick, depressed, etc. So I wrote
to the owner of the HRT center. By the way, her husband owns the pharmacy which
compounds the hormone creams. This should have been a red flag for me! The woman I
wrote to forwarded my e-mail to her pharmacist-husband telling him that my HRT
wasn't working and that I was a nightmare customer. She copied me on her e-mail to
him by mistake. She said a lot of other things I won't go into here... Anyway,
after I saw the e-mail exchange between the woman who owns the HRT center and her
pharmacist husband, I knew I had been scammed and I set out to prove it. At the
very least, I wanted my money back. I needed my money back in order to find another
HRT center so as to obtain hormones. After reading the e-mails, I realized that the
pharmacist was 'using' the gynecologist as a 'front'. He was the one who was really
prescribing the hormones and that's why they weren't working for me. He was merely
using the doctor to hide behind for legal reasons. I telephoned the doctor and told
her that I wanted to change to a different pharmacist. I figured that if she was
not in on the scam, she should have no problem with me changing... If she was the
one who truly prescribed my HRT, then she should have been fine with me changing to
a different pharmacy. I'd done this in the past with other doctors and there was
never a problem. As I suspected, she didn't know how to deal with my request. She
panicked and told me she would have to make a phone call and get back with me. I
knew then that I was right. I should say here that I recorded my conversations with
this doctor. She called me back and told me that I could not change to a different
pharmacy. I knew I had been scammed and that she was in on it. I immediately emailed the pharmacist and told him what i had figured out. I told him that I knew
he was illegally prescribing hormones and filling them and I told him how I knew
and about recording my telephone conversations with the doctor. I asked for all of
my money back and told him I would report him if he didn't make things right with
me. He wrote me back and admitted I was right, gave me all of my money back and he
thanked me for not turning him in. Following is what he wrote in his last e-mail to
me (thanks for the grace.. Shawn will send out a check to you on monday certified
mailjeff). If I had the energy to turn him in, I would. But I don't. This is but
one example of the scams going on with regard to the many HRT centers that have
popped up all over the country. Doctors remove women's organs thereby victimizing
them and then HRT centers/compounding pharmacies victimize them even further. It's
victimization upon victimization... It does not end.""I have some unsatisfied
questions from this story? First, who is writing the prescriptions for these
prescriptions
and why do they still have licenses? Surely, the doctors had some incentive to
have this go through this pharmacy. With the spine injections, the drug in
question is commercially produced and is available at low cost from Walgreens.
Viagra and valium are also available at Walgreens. On the hormones, were the
patients choosing to take these hormone based on the advice of a TV celebrity or
based on the advice of a board certified endocrinologist (and believe me, I am
generally not a fan of endos, but, if you are going to play with hormones, you
better know one)? If there was a doctors prescribing outside of his/her scope of
knowledge, what has happened to his/her license?
Because I guarantee that in 90%
of these problems, the underlying issue is a doctor who is a quack. Even with the
meningitis -- steroids are no better than saline in results for most people -- why
were these people getting the injections in the first place is a better question.
These are also situations where patients would benefit going into the appointment
or the pharmacy with a clear idea of what the standard of practice is-- and for all
of the docs who don't like getting questions, this is why some us ask so many. The
reason I ask is this. there are many compounders who are very reputable. They are
a life saver for patients with rare diseases. if you have a rare disease, it can
be nearly impossible for drugs to get approved through the FDA process, and if they
are, they will have orphan designation and not be affordable. 5% of a $10k a month
drug = not in my budget. often, medications for other illnesses can be used, but
at differing doses. Compounders are critical for specialists in these sorts of
diseases to have any access to medicine. The trade offs are different with rare
diseases -- and nearly one in ten people have a rare disease - so its not all that
unusual.The easy policy response is to say that compounders are bad. but the real
problem is the doctors and nobody will go after them. The risk is that if you go
after compounders in general, you will cause serious access issues for some
patients.""Debrah, I agree with you when you say compounders are necessary. There
are certainly good ones out there. I use one now that I've been using for several
years. They have been a God-send for me. But, there are many out there (just like
with anything else) who are taking advantage of so many women and men needing and
wanting hormone replacement. There's a huge amount of money being made off of the
desire to remain young. Suzanne Sommers has touted bioidentical hormones for years
and sold many many books about them. She helped to create the hormone 'frenzy' we
see today. There are as many men at the hormone center I go to as there are women.
Why? Because they are trying to hold onto and/or recapture their youth... Every
time I go, it's $300 just for the estrogen and testosterone pellets. They are
making crazy money."http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/10/14345111compounding-pharmacies-heroes-or-outlaws#.UHXAxheU1GQ.twitter"My bet is that 95% of
the people who got the spine injections had absolutely zero medical need for them.
And I bet that half of them were told no by some other doctor and found someone who
would do it anyway. And I bet that the places that did them were cut rate places -the drug is available and cheap -- the only reason I see to have it compounded is
that its even cheaper or you don't want to hit someone's radar from doing so many
injections and therefore ordering so much product. Only someone who is doing
serious volume would bother to have it compounded. To me, the real culprit is the
doctors. And likely more than a few patients who did not care. The compounders have
no customers without someone with an MD writing a scrip.And I think the system
should come down on the doctors who are really drug dealers with no more scruples,
than punish patients across the board -- including those who really need treatment.
but that is how we always handle problems with the medical system. We do not have
consequences tailored to the mal-feasors.""And if I might add, if we had searchable
Medicare data on places in real time, I bet that someone would have identified
these shot mills for what they are, and may cut this off earlier. No reputable
hospital or orthopedist is going to be buying special brew when FDA supervised
stuff is freely available.
and if there is some place of repute, they should be
outed for cutting corners that shouldn't be cut."
http://americannewsreport.com/meningitis-outbreak-raises-more-questions-aboutspinal-injections-8816044"How do the 12 deaths compare to the 88,000 a year due to
medical errors (mostly RX)?""Try 180,000+ due to medical errors. \"Robin Karr
Thanks for sharing your story"This was predictable, preventable. I collaborate
world wide with a group of folks injured by spinal procedures including ESIs. This
is simply system failure on every level. Our entire medical model needs a big wake
up call."Huge problems with informed consent and the 'theory of the problem.' When
we theorize the problem in terms without understanding the potential impact of an
off the shelf solution we are in big big trouble."The National Disaster Medical
System Federal Partners Memorandum of Agreement defines a public health emergency
as ""an emergency need for health care [medical] services to respond to a disaster,
significant outbreak of an infectious disease, bio terrorist attack or other
significant or catastrophic event. For purposes of NDMS activation, a public health
emergency may include but is not limited to, public health emergencies declared by
the Secretary of HHS [Health and Human Services] under 42 U.S.C. 247d, or a
declaration of a major disaster or emergency under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster
Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (Stafford Act), 42 U.S.C. 5121-5206)."" The Act
appears to have provisions for infectious diseases that have the potential to
threaten national security by incapacitation public employees, the military, etc.
It does not have a provision for multi-state iatragenic events such as the fungal
meningitis outbreak. Covered events trip the coordination of specific public
responses. Noncovered events reply on individual states to determine their own
response systems and transfer the risk of the event to the individual, affording
them little or no protection beyond existing regulation. The BP oil spill is the
closest recent event that parallels this man made disaster, followed by the
multistate salmonellla outbreak of 3 years ago. Public officials need to evaluate
whether the multistate coordination of public resources large multistate adverse
events should be coordinated through the Stafford Act and VOAD agreements.Among the
observed problems with the current event management system - inconsistent local
hospital responding to presenting affected individuals; potential loss of
employment with loss of insurance coverage for the event; crossover of workman's
compensation cases (prior injuries) complicated by secondary insults; physicians
who refuse to treat due to fear of personal litigation; inconsistent response to
information requirements at the state public health level; cross state address for
affected individuals who received treatment across state borders which has the
potential to result in refusal of coverage at many levels; lack of coordination of
legal claims; resultant bankruptcy filings due to personal and unanticipated
medical bills while claims are litigated nationwide...a national declaration would
pave the way to cut through the morass of problems and deliver necessary support
and information much faster. Why is this important? Most of the affected are
already affected by disabling levels of chronic pain which already limits personal
resources for response.Worse yet, reports are emerging that treating physicians
require a waiver of liability and waiving of patient rights through coerced signing
of 'informed consent' forms in order to receive treatment.""Terri Lewis, your last
sentence says a lot!.... Informed consent has become nothing more than a legal
document many doctors hide behind. Often, consent is coerced. And when it isn't,
it's often not 'informed'. Huge issue!"HUGE issue."Because statistics and studies
are often biased or simply inaccurate due to the nature of the study...If even only
one person suffers an adverse event, that adverse event should be described in the
informed consent form and patient education process PRIOR to performing the
procedure...otherwise it is not *informed* consent it is just an excuse for the
physician to avoid taking the time to know what he is selling. This takes more time
and may result in the patient choosing NOT to have the procedure affecting the
wallet of the pain management industry but it will affect their wallets more if the
lack of genuine *informed* consent becomes grounds for malpractice. It isn't right
now."Perhaps this information process should be part of the pre-op protocol and
handled by a patient advocate instead of leaving it up to the physician who is
going to benefit from selling the product/procedure."Marshall,Saw report on current
compounding lab problem last night on CNN. While there are specific problems with
these labs regarding the meningitus outbreak, there certainly does appear to be a
gap in oversight of these labs. Thanks for addressing this subject in your
article."I would be remiss in my personal campaign to spread the evils of ALEC if I
did not note that ALEC's influence on state legislatures in the area of liability
limitations may have direct bearing in this case. I did look at the ALEC Exposed
corporate database and did not find the two compounding labs in the list. It will
remain to be seen if corporate liability limitation has already taken
root in Mass and if the national scope of the outbreak would be subject to state
limitations.These are LLCs. The only way to know what is going on may be through
SEC filings? Personal tax returns? HCA's filings?"Geez, Terri. I dunno. I'm just
looking at similar issues where Glaxo worked with ALEC and legislators in NC to
push liability limitations. Tabled for now. Not sure if limitations would apply
to mega corps, LLC's, doc in the box, etc. but it is clear that ALEC's bill mill
laws are designed to limit the ability of those who are injured by businesses to
seek full redress in a court of law.""I'm working through the Nashville media
resources to follow individuals, so my comments reflect the variation in
experience. This will break new ground in law as it breaks individuals and
families who cannot wait for the law to follow. It's coming like a freight train."
"Terri, please make sure you are taking care of you in the midst of all of this.
Thanks for fighting.""somewhere tonite, it is approaching beer:thirty""""when no
one is accountable, no one is safe"" Patients are unfairly the only accountable
'stakeholder' for failed implanted medical devices.""Huh?? ""The civil justice
system gives families of patients who have died or have been injured by medical
negligence an avenue to seek accountability. It also provides an incentive to
health care providers to improve patient care. Removing that accountability and
incentive leaves people at risk for more injures from negligent care."" -- I'm not
sure what that paragraph even means. The civil justice system is on life-support
itself when it comes to families of patients AND patients who have died or have
been injured. Where was my avenue?!? Where was yours?!?
Oh sure, in ""theory""
the civil justice system is there to give patients an avenue. Don't know about
you, but Civil Justice Avenue was a one-way street for me with the defense attorney
deliberately putting up road blocks every step of the way and the court being the
gatekeepers to access. The plane crash stat I've read before. Think about this,
each day, according to MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Drivers) 28 deaths occur due to
alcohol related crashes. That's about 10,220 souls who tragically die a year. And
yet . . . we know more about MADD (a worthy cause) and their efforts against drunk
drivers, victim compensation, etc. . . . But when nearly 10 times more souls are
lost with ""preventable medical errors"" Civil Justice Avenue is spewn with bodies
and no one does a thing other them attempt to put in MORE roadblocks.
And we
aren't even tallying the number of patients who are among the walking wounded on
Civil Justice Avenue due to medical/doctor/hospital error who obtained nothing
civil, and certainly no justice.
Pity.""The fifth annual Global Handwashing Day
will be observed on October 15, 2012. This observance increases awareness and
understanding of handwashing with soap as an effective and affordable method of
preventing disease around the world. Handwashing with soap has an important role to
play in child survival and health. About 2.2 million children aged <5 years die
each year from diarrheal diseases or pneumonia, the top two killers of young
children worldwide (1). Handwashing is not only simple and inexpensive, but
handwashing with soap can reduce the incidence of diarrhea by 30% (2) and
respiratory infections by 21% (3) among children aged <5 years. Although persons
around the world clean their hands with water, very few use soap to wash their
hands. Washing hands with soap removes bacteria much more effectively (4).
Additional information on Global Handwashing Day is available from CDC at
http://www.cdc.gov/features/globalhandwashing. General handwashing information is
available at http://www.cdc.gov/handwashing. Information on water-related hygiene
is available at http://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/hygiene/index.html."Please listen
to Deirdre's radio show at 6:00 EST tonight. I will be talking about unnecessary
hysterectomy and lack of informed consent. You can listen afterward as well. Here's
the link for the show...
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/deirdregilbert/2012/10/11/life-radioshow#.UHbMWxbqFGQ.facebookGood job Robin!you can still listen veronica...
Interesting summary of how patient safety programs may be in the same boat as Big
Bird. And how it may play out after the elections.Interesting analysis.Listen to
Robin Karr"The meningitis fungus horror continues. Turns out, not only has this
happened before, almost the exact same thing in the Carolinas 10 years ago, but
your local friendly hospital or clinic, or physician, may be relying on products
from these compounding pharmacies for your care. And those providers may not even
know, and never cared before now, where these medicines were coming from. Hospitals
and infusion clinics, nervous anyone? My column today."What are we doing locally
about this situation ? ? ?"I hope, going after the doctors who were apparently
selling unlicensed meds -- this was mass manufacture with distribution by those
docs without a prescrip. Likely in support of injection mills -- the new profit
center for pain clinics as there has been a crackdown on narcotics.""All the
hospitals have to do is incorrectly stage the pressure ulcer by totally ignoring
objective standards like the Braden Scale and then they still get paid.
http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/medicare-penalty-doesnt-curb-hospitalacquired-infections/2012-10-11?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal""You mean like the
2 cm by 3 cm stage 2, that turned into a 9 cm by 9 cm with a stage IV center in
the 30 minutes mom was in transport? No, that would never happen. Those top
hospitals are top because they are good, not because they are better liars!"A close
up photo with cm measure on admission and daily. It seems this would be easy to add
to an electronic medical record. Another reason to enlist a professional or family
Patient Safety Advocate to monitor decubitii."Yeah, we asked the hospital that
caused the sore to take pictures -- $2 bi in cash on hand and the place claimed it
couldn't afford a digital camera.""Hospital company fights lawsuits even after the
state finds its care lacking.http://www.answersforlisa.blogspot.com"of course
they're fighting it... thanks for posting davidHospital inspections: You guys have
been so helpful in filling out our map of how states handle hospital inspection
reports. We only have about a dozen states left. Would you mind contacting a state
(or another if you have already done one?) It would be very much appreciated:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?
key=0Aq4RTfI9gHGudEF4QkIwZVp1VTc4V2xMNjhlalhsS3c"And if they have no scruples on
billling, why would we think they have scruples without our lives??"this is beyond
alarming! where's the outrage here? seriously! and the only reason hospitals are
the least investigated regarding criminal cases is because criminal charges aren't
filed. we know that...http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2010/mar/08/roboticmedical-arms-race/I thought about you when i posted this Georjean...My God....
http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20091218/PC1602/312189922"That's what I say
Krissy... ""MY GOD'"http://highbrowmagazine.com/1634-escape-fire-documentary-shedslight-american-healthcare-crisisGreat Point Veronica!The United States ranks 1st in
cost of healthcare."The medical device industry is producing implanted devices that
are traded worldwide though they fail at a high rate-(m-o-m hips, surgical mesh,
ICD leads). Patient harm is an unacknowledged by-product of 'innovation'. Torture
is too kind a word! Researchers must follow the money trail to see how profit is
privatized and costs are spread to taxpayers.""I couldn't agree more Joleen!
Torture is too kind a word. Drugwatch.com recently asked me if they could post
information on my web site and blog about health problems caused by transvaginal
mesh. Of course, I agreed to post information for them and I've done so. There are
many dirty little secrets out there with regard to medical devices and they need to
be EXPOSED! As I always say, yesterday would be too late! Here's the post from my
web site...
http://www.hysterectomyconsequences.com/developing_organ_prolapse_after_a_hysterect
omy""Interesting case of an unregulated drug. I can kind of see it for topical
drugs and maybe drugs taken by mouth, but drugs that will be injected or infused...
seems like not such a great idea."Thanks for joining in the conversation.
compounders are a life-saver for a lot of folks with rare diseases."I had a
compounded drug I was taking by enema. Long story. Suffice to say it was related
to Ulcerative Colitis. One day I noticed tiny black spots floating around in one
of the containers. I called the pharmacy and they told me to throw out the batch
and they'd send me another one, which they did. The idea of IV or spinal drugs
coming from unregulated or lightly regulated facilities gives me the heebiejeebies.""The tough thing is what do you do? If you have celiac, you can't take
alot of meds due to the fillers. If you are taking something for an off label use,
you may not be able to get the right dose - I've had meds I have had to cut in
eighths. And as has been seen in some diseases, the FDA steps in, ""regularized""
things and the med goes from $20 to$20,000 cause now its an orphan drug. And
people can't afford it so they either go without or they go overseas to some place
that might be dicey.And the spinal injections are overused and the sourcing is the
least of the worries for the steroid junky docs in many instances. Corticosteroids
kill muscles. So about the last thing you want to do with someone with spine pain
is to inject a steroid and weaken their spine muscles. They will have more pain
due to weaker muscles.
And then need more injections. Its just like a drug dealer. To me, its like
people getting sick from contaminated rat poison injections. Sure, its bad that the
stuff is contaminated, but what the heck are you doing putting that in your body
instead of doing PT? Getting off of soap box now.""Where I currently work (AHRQ)
is on the same legislative chopping block as Big Bird. I read the bill that planned
to eliminate us, but I didn't know it was the same bill as went after PBS.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelmillenson/2012/10/05/should-patient-safetyagency-move-to-sesame-street/"I am a global mental health humanitarian advocate. If
I am allow my I post my global cause group?Thank you <3"World MRSA Awareness Month
- October. Today's press release received 289 pick ups the first hour. The media is
interested in this topic and more stories about the truth of the MRSA epidemic and
HAI's needs to be told.http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/stop-mrsa---worldmrsa-awareness-month-october-173275281.html""Thank you for giving it a place in our
hearts and mind- Happy World MRSA Awareness Month to you, Jeanine and all others
whom feel heard today. This including cancer and mental health that share October
awareness limelight <3""http://theconversationproject.org/news/Don't miss this
discussion tonight at 6:30 with Diane Sawyer.""More than 200 people, including many
of you, have completed our Patient Harm Questionnaire. Thank you! We've been going
through these stories and identifying leads and important stories to follow-up.
This is an important tool for us as we tackle the complexity of patient harm that
happens all too often throughout the country. If you have not yet done so, will you
please complete the questionnaire? Also, please pass it along to others you know
who have also been victims of patient harm.""Two more patient stories submitted to
the questionnaire today, since I made my request. Thank you! Please keep them
coming and I'll post updates when more arrive."btw Marshall I've not completed the
questionnaire because the harm occurred long enough ago that I can't provide the
provenance or documentation it asks for."Hi Bart Windrum, if you don't have the
documentation, that's OK. Please complete the questionnaire anyway. There is still
value for us in finding out what happened to patients and whether it was
acknowledged, whether there was an apology, whether they complained, the outcome of
complaints, etc. The idea is to get enough aggregate data that it reveals important
trends in the way patients who are harmed have been treated."Marshall what is the
best way to provide the documentation and letters sent basically stating this is
our answers to your questions and you will not be allowed to ask more you just need
to be greatful you are cancer free and alive. Then letters asking me to find new
dr."The questionnaire can just include an overview of what happened, and then we
will follow up from there. We don't need all the documentation right now. We
unfortunately are not able to follow up with every patient. There are just too many
people being harmed, as you all know. But we also collaborate with other reporters,
so we can share the patient stories with other journalists (with the permission of
the patient, of course). In addition, we're compiling quite a body of data that
could be useful for other research, or for stories that use aggregate numbers to
highlight trends."done"Great. Thanks much, Bart!""Marshall, I filled out the
questionnaire. Did you get it? I did so about a month ago.\""Hi Cynthia, we do
have your completed questionnaire. Thank you! And looking in my Inbox it appears I
sent you a confirmation and thank you on Aug. 17. If you did not get it I will
resend.""Thanks, Marshall. Please resend. No, I did not get the confirmation.
Want you to know that it is a pattern because my email account is compromised and I
have been trying to get Microsoft to help me with it which they have quite a bit.
I am telling you this ahead of time because if you do not get a reply from me it is
because of interference in my account. I always reply to people - always.""No
worries, Cynthia. I resent it. It's more of a form email at this point, just to
acknowledge to people that we received their info. So no need to worry about not
replying."Do you see my post Marshall Allen re: Brucellosis: Is the Devil in Your
House?I have not received it yet"I cannot get on this site and share. I am being
prevented from sharing my articles, the ones that are most incriminating cannot be
seen. Please tell me if you see my posts. I cannot see them.""Yes, your posts are
showing up."Marshall Allen I filled out the survey a few days ago and havent
received a confirmation. would like to get one if possible. ThanksI checked and we
did receive yours Amy Houck. We don't send those emails out daily or anything so
that's why you hadn't received a confirmation yet.We've had six more questionnaires
completed since I put out the request yesterday. Thanks everyone! I'm hoping that
more of you will be able to get to it this weekend. Please also pass it on to
others.great thanksAm I allowed to name a mental health treatment center for son on
the questionnaire?"Jake Sims: Yes, please do.""Marshall, I was just on the
ProPublica site. It is now 1:35 on Saturday, October 6. The first post I see on
that site is one from Wednesday and it is from Deirdre Gilbert , This shows
Marshall that what I am all about is a threat to those hacking my computer. I
called Microsoft and an engineer told me I was hacked."I tried to fill it twice but
stopped every time because I feel we have a long ways to go before the stigma of
mental health- birth brain injury is met with compassion and understanding. I am
grateful you might consider. We just now seeing the lawsuits/ settlements against
big pharma. I know that it is up to me and not placing my hope on my son lack of
care. I finally realizing this. The battle is mine alone.See if you can spot Olga
Pierce Well I finally finished the painting entitled #Cinderblocks inspired by
Partnership with Patients in KC...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/45128746@N04/8069379601/in/photostream I could not fit
everybody in but I love all of you.She's been immortalized by your hand - nice!She
was a powerful addition to the day."Very happy to be there, and I have to say I've
never been subject of portrait before.""I received a phone call last night from C H
I N A! Lady from some hospital there saw this site and wanted more information
about my situation because she was certain they would be able to help me reverse my
kidney disease and my need for dialysis. REALLY? And exactly how much is that going
to cost me to fly there go through your diagnostic testing and then be told ""oh
you have no kidneys at all we can't help you."" ? Seriously scary especially in
that the only place I have ever listed my personal cellphone number is when I
placed a pic of a sign I put up in front of our house. This means this person or
group of people have been scanning through this page and my personal one for
personal, private information to try and contact me. So, if any of you get an email
from Lina at Shijiazhuang Kidney Disease Hospital, China --phone number was (00)86
311 89262796 and email addy was [email protected] PLEASE do *NOT*
respond. She claimed I had left her a message on her website requesting their help
with my kidney failure. I don't even know of their website. Unless they can grow me
new kidneys there really is nothing they can do. I truly believe this place is
nothing but a scam to try and give people hope and then bilk every penny they can
from them. If you choose to proceed with them do so with all due diligence.
Blessings & Peace. Amy"http://cynthtggt.hubpages.com/hub/On-Brucellosis-Is-theDevil-in-Your-House"This is the storyhttp://cynthtggt.hubpages.com/hub/OnBrucellosis-Is-the-Devil-in-Your-House""I need to post this story again that I
wrote about my family because I think it is important to know about a disease that
I was refused a test for, let alone a diagnosis. My family's exploitation is a
SECRET exploitation that my government is retaliating against me for writing about
on my blog http://targetedpatient.blogspot.com.
http://cynthtggt.hubpages.com/hub/On-Brucellosis-Is-the-Devil-in-Your-House"
http://bioethicsdiscussion.blogspot.com/2012/09/medical-mistakes-patient-as.html
"CALLING ALL PATIENTS ON BLOOD THINNERS: There's a Stanford researcher who is
interested in talking to patients about issues relating to blood coagulation.
Particular topics are use/management of blood thinners; hemodialysis; and
experience with real-time and/or continuous monitoring systems. If you're
interested in talking with the researcher, please send an email to
[email protected] expressing your interest and I will provide contact information.
I need not know specifically how you meet the criteria, only that you wish to make
contact with the researcher. Thank you in advance!"
http://cynthtggt.hubpages.com/hub/The-Silence-About-Brucellosis-And-ItsConsequences-for-Me-And-For-Us-All"We were never told any of my doctors where
consultants, not even noted on their medical records, business cards or websites
and NEVER disclosed by the hospital. The only place I found the reference was on
the Intraoperative Patient care report: there is a specific section that has
Consultant(s) and guess who's name I found E.Castle.""What this practice is in
reality, however, is the result of a horrendous medical system that has engulfed
the United States.""Shannon Koob I couldn't agree with you more. The cancer
industrial complex does not want to cure cancer. If they did they would but there
is no profit in curing cancer so they poison us ensuring we can���t get away
from them until
we die. They want to control us from cradle to grave literally and our
politicians and the FDA work on behalf of their paymasters the medical industrial
complex.
Proteomics and Ovacheck could detect cancer early but that technology
(available since 2002) is being suppressed. It is corruption plain and simple and
why we will continue to be harmed by our healthcare system. By and large our
healthcare system is worse than worthless. Doctors feel they have a right to
extraordinary profits at our expense and pharmaceutical companies always, always
put profits before patient safety. The treatment recommendation for me a carrier
of the BRCA gene mutation is to hack my breasts off with a kitchen knife, cut out
my ovaries and uterus and pump me full of Tamoxifen, a known carcinogen. Because I
opted out I allowed myself to be fear mongered into getting injected with the
highly toxic gadolinium based contrasting agents and received about a dozen
injections. This is why I am now totally disabled and still they are injecting
people with this highly toxic metal of which at least 1% stays is retained.""In one
single disease affecting people with diabetes, I found Exhibit A of what's wrong
with the healthcare system. My column today.""Our story has made it to finland and
the Arab Times.http://suomenkuvalehti.fi/kuvat/2012/10/02/hospital-investigationq02183swhttp://www.arabtimesonline.com/Portals/0/PDF_Files/pdf12/oct/04/16.pdf"
"Thanks for sharing this - in today's world, Americans get better news coverage in
foreign press. Wonder why?/s"http://cynthtggt.hubpages.com/hub/Part-II-The-DevilAnd-The-Medical-Corporations-Exploitation-of-Human-Sexuality
http://cynthtggt.hubpages.com/hub/On-Brucellosis-Is-the-Devil-in-Your-House True
story of my life."Yes, after much debate (!), the film went live a few hours ago.
You can see the film at the BMJ���s YouTube link below where, if you have good
bandwidth, you can see it at high quality and full screen:
http://www.youtube.com/user/BMJmedia/videos"Patty if you can listen to the show
tonight and if you could call in would be greatly appreciated. See the post.
Anyone you know tell them to call in and listen."I need you to all call in tonight
at 5:00 PM (CST) and ask questions on the show or make some comments. check the
post on ""LIFE Radio Show""""I am bothered by the refusal to treat you as well. It
is sad to me that as soon as you apparently began to receive Medicaid, the
willingness to treat you stopped. "" reply to complaint....UVA refused to treat me
once I lost my job and health insurance while still having a drain and stent left
inside me that was placed by their GI Dr Wang...bad medicine, bad doctors, bad
hospital"bad state regulators...Yep but hospital and doctors take no blame for the
harm they have caused...what can a person do?"That's because the Virginia
regulators generally cover for hospital. I would look further south -- the lawyers
there are a little less goosey.
Allen,Allen, Allen, and Allen is well respected.
There are others. Have all of your records before you go. if you don't have alot of
damages , they are not going to be too interested."I know it's wrong how they cover
it up...any ideas besides the allens?"Sandy waterman has a good site.
www.superlawyers is a good place to look. I used to have access to verdict
information, but I cut that off; I would google for verdict malpractice virginia
and see who has been getting good ones."Thanks so much will look into that"""Too
often healthcare is driven first by the needs of the hospital, insurers,
physicians, nurses, and departments than by the patient and family
experience.""http://www.hospitalimpact.org/index.php/2012/10/03/how_hospitals_can_s
urvive_the_age_of_the?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal"this is alarming!
especially the findings about radiologists...Two words: Second OpinionThey should
give the same survey to used car salesmen just to see if there is any difference
between them regarding truth telling."This week���s show explores a scheme
involving state politicians and powerful corporations to remake America, one state
house at a time. To learn more, visit: http://billmoyers.com/episode/preview-theunited-states-of-alec/"I think there should be a NEW debate question - How will you
deal with the Healthcare Patient Harm outbreak that has/will cost Billions of
dollars now and in the future?http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/PomonaHospital-Accused-of-Experimenting-on-Patients-163818006.html"What do patients do
that find out they were probably part of a doctor's RESEARCH project, that was not
in the best interest of the patient or consented to?"that is honestly a terrifying
situation. i got a pacemaker implanted in june and i would be outraged to find that
out.This page appears to be not moving on my view of it. Was the last post an hour
ago? What I see on the top of my page is the post from Georgean Parrish. Just
want to be sure I'm not frozen on my page. Thanks anyone who can reply.you're
fine. georjean's post is the last one posted..."yes, the last post was an hour ago"
Thanks. Not kidding when I tell you I have a hacker on my computer. They watch
and listen."I am trying a crowdsourcing experiment. Are you willing to call your
state health department and ask if they post hospital inspection reports online? If
so, please enter the results here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?
key=0Aq4RTfI9gHGudEF4QkIwZVp1VTc4V2xMNjhlalhsS3c"Cool idea!Charles Ornstein is a
great reporter - I promise if you work on his project it will be worth it!
"Arguably, CMS should have all of the inspection reports it reviews online as well:
http://www.justice.gov/oip/readingroom.htm""Debra Van Putten, The Association of
Health Care Journalists (of which I am president) is pushing hard to get those
reports online ASAP. Stay tuned."Thanks!!!Hear hear!!!!See:
http://hospitals.nyhealth.gov/about_inspections.php"It would be interesting if any
investigation was done related to either of these poor souls:
http://www.fairfaxunderground.com/forum/read/2/895689.html;
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/fairfax-man-hit-by-car-dies-5-days-afterhospital-sends-him-home-autopsy-points-to-liverlaceration/2011/12/30/gIQAZE6LRP_story.html; We would note that we complained
about Inova's ability to properly address delirium in the ER and poor practices in
radiology. Who knows. if our complaints had been publicly addressed, these people
might still be here. Or if Inova settled with them on the cheap, it really wasn't
fair."it also might have protected the current bond holders on this issuance who
invested thinking that Inova had a clean regulatory history:
http://www.moodys.com/research/Moodys-assigns-Aa2-and-Aa2P-1-ratings-respectivelyto-Inova--PR_251423"You don't think that the fact this bond issue, done under
Virginia's tax exempt status with certification by the State of Virginia that Inova
was not subject to any regulatory action or investigation - you surely wouldn't
think that might have anything to do with Virginia's state inspection/regulatory
report being altered? Ethics wouldn't sink that low, ya think?""No, I am sure that
the attorney general had no idea that the state was doing the bond issuance. And
that Erik Bodin's request for a huge data dump ""because he was concerned about
what had happened"" in late June went nowhere near the lawyers who did the
disclosures for this deal. I'm sure they kept all of mom's information private and
it was all an oversight."And that call from Mark Zehner was a complete accident on
his part...I bet he can't confirm if there is an investigation either....The call
from this Mark Zehner????
http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2010/2010-5.htm"Yep, that
guy. He called me at home personally...""You're sure it was this guy?? >>>>The
Municipal Securities and Public Pensions Unit Deputy Chief is Mark R. Zehner. Mr.
Zehner has served as Regional Municipal Securities Counsel in the SEC's
Philadelphia Regional Office and as Co-Chair of the Municipal Securities Working
Group. Previously, he was an Attorney-Fellow in the Office of Municipal Securities
in the SEC's Washington, D.C. office. Earlier, Mr. Zehner was a Partner with Saul,
Ewing, Remick, & Saul LLP in Philadelphia. He received his J.D. from the University
of Pennsylvania Law School, and his B.A. in Government from Dartmouth College.<<<<
Why would he have an interest?"Charles Ornstein - I was going to respond with
result for Florida but see that FL is already handled on your chart. Should have
looked there first : )"I wonder if there has ever been an executive of a publicly
traded health care company, which, in advance of an adverse decision, has chosen to
short the stock. The current system certainly lends itself to insider trading."
"Charles Ornstein - in my state, NC, the health department only does sanitation
inspections - only available by calling your county division and they will mail or
fax it. The Joint Commission supposedly does the 'real'(cough, cough) medical
inspections.""It is Mr. Ornstein's organization who alerted the public that data
regarding physicians and I believe healthcare facilities was going to be scrubbed
from online. It was done last Sept, 2011 if my memory is correct. AHCJ captured
the info. AHCJ did get and publish a contact list of senior HHS media officials in
June of 2011. I just reviewed my letter from TJC regarding my complaints against
the hospital - it states TJC was satisfied, case closed and - Please be aware our
current Public Information Policy precludes us from providing you with the specific
results of any complaint investigation.
Is this how it is done in other states?"
VJ - Those letters are really creative aren't they. I was asking if other states
really do publish complaints or any notice of number of complaints. I
am zero for 4 or 5 agencies taking a report.It looks like someone has already
checked on AZ. Correct?What is the difference with this and the AZ medical Board ?
http://www.azmd.gov/http://www.azmd.gov/GLSPages/RecentActions.aspx"I see the
comment in place for NYS. My experience is that you have to file a Freedom of
Information Law petition to obtain a copy of the inspection report. It takes
persistence, but I was successful in obtaining the survey. By contrast, nursing
home inspection reports were available on the public website the last time I
checked (several months ago)."
http://health.yahoo.net/experts/dayinhealth/surprising-things-surgeons-dont-tellyou
http://newamerica.net/publications/articles/2012/the_cost_of_assuming_doctors_know_
best_72049"Following is why doctors often don't tell patients about surgical
alternatives and/or less invasive ones... ""Here's the icing on the cake in terms
of health care spending: Patients also tend to choose less invasive (and therefore
less expensive) treatment options.""""Veronica James you are so right. I found
myself being told I had a cyst/tumor on my pancreas I had never really had any
health problems never a surgery and was sent to a specialist he really made me feel
like he knew what he was doing that he was an expert and that he seen this all the
time it was no big deal just a simple surgery and I'd be back to normal no
lifestyle changes at all in abou 6 to 8 wks max. I thought is was no big deal went
ahead with the surgery no 2nd opinion woke up with the worst pain I could have ever
imagined he had removed about a third of the tail of my pancreas along with my
spleen I was sent home 5 days later a very horrible 3 hr drive home. I could not
get to the bathroom shower out of bed without help a few weeks later even worse
pain complications started that was in November of 2010 I've been in and out of the
hospital every month since then lots and lots of procedures drains stents surgeries
infections and the worst part the surgeon acted Upset with me because I kept being
sent back to him no other dr wanted to fix me he had been the one that did the
surgery he said he had never had to go back and fix anything he had done. He ended
up putting me off on a GI dr in may of 2011 this gi dr found right away I had
pancreas divisum he treated me by placing drains inside of me to drain the abscess
that I kept getting into my stomach and placing a stent in my pancreas I seen him
in june and again July of 2011 he removed the stent and changed it out and p,aced a
new drain the I lost my job because of being off sick for so long so I lost my
health insurance that's when the gi dr stopped seeing me even though he had placed
the drain and stent inside me he reused to remove them wouldn't even refer me to
another dr locally I did get state Medicaid but the hospital and gi dr refused to
treat me I was at my local ER I. Sept and oct of 2011 where they tried to transfer
me back to UVA hospital and they refused me both times I ended up being sent to a
gi dr in Morgantown WV I was referee by my local gi this dr in Morgantown told me
what a train wreck I was how everything UVAs Drs had done everything backwards that
I should have never had surgery on my pancreas everything was caused by the
pancreas divisum why the surgeon didnt know he had no clue he removed the drain and
stent and got me to John Hopkins were I met an amazing Dr he helped me as best he
can he didn't worry about the money he just helped me to get better him and his
team paid for my home healthcare since I would have to be on iv antibotics for many
weeks they said I didn't need to worry about the money I just needed to focus on
getting well. How amazing they helped to try to fix a mess that another hospitals
Drs had made and they didn't even care about the money. They did have to open me
back up and found stitches that were in my abdomen that were causing the infection
and abscess he cleaned everything up and restitched my pancreas. Now I'm still not
normal like I was before surgery but they did their best and they are still there
if I need them in the future. I have missed most of the last 2 yrs of my life being
sick and I now have chronic pancreatitis suffer with pain and nausea every day is a
struggle I am unable to work and the Drs from UVA have not even tried to check on
me last time I heard from the surgeon was may of 2011 and the gi dr in July of 2011
they chose money over my health. Of course this has caused a huge financial burden
as well as all of the pain and suffering myself and my family has had. So many
hours of missed work by my loved ones and then my family lost their health
insurance as well. I am no longer able to provide for my son like I once used to be
all of our savings are gone no hope of helping him with his college plus we are in
debt with all the medical bills. All because of a greedy hospital with a surgeon
that was to happy to cut and a gi dr that wanted money over my health. It's so sad
and the worst is that it will continue to happen to others. I have filed complaints
but no one has taken it seriously and the laws are made to protect the doctors and
hospitals. These Drs get to continue on with their lives after they have ruined
mine and families.""veronica, i am so sorry for all that you have been thru. its
sad that we put are trust in these doctors to care for ourselves and our loved ones
never thinking that they are going to do harm. Truth i that medicinie is now a
business and unfortunately we are the ones that pay the price. Prayers for you"
"http://cynthtggt.hubpages.com/hub/Part-II-Aspects-of-the-DevilI was directed to
this site by a journalist from Consumer Reports. I am glad to find this site and
be able to share my experiences, as well as look at everyone else's experiences.
The topic of medical abuse consumes me because of what happened to me. My hope is
that we can somehow find a way to empower the patient and empower ourselves. Some
way. I look forward to sharing and listening. Thank you FB for this site!""Thank
you Veronica! I have so much more to say, and so glad I am being responded to on
FB. I finally found a group who understands where I am coming from!""Hi, Veronica,
yes I did already fill out the questionnaire on ProPublica."Another unbelievable
travestyHow completely disgustingI don't have the strength to read this; it sounds
so unbearable involving a precious new born and an other family suffering the
ultimate loss. I do pray those who caused this nightmare are held accountable and
never able to harm anyone else. Unthinkable.What the fuck? Everyone involved in
that travesty needs to have their licenses revoked.They truly are animals.The
doctor and everyone ought to go to jail.this is so horribly wrong....prayers for
justice for the familyridiculous law"it is not only ridiculous, it's
unconstitutional!"How do I show I am a member of this group on my timeline? I am
new to FB and do not really understand it all."Hi Taggart Cynthia - what you post
and do in this group won't automatically show up on your timeline. but if you want
people to know you're a member (which we would love!), you can post a status update
saying you joined, and paste a link to the group. This is it!
http://www.facebook.com/groups/209024949216061/"Please share this with anyone you
feel may be interested.Targeted: FALSELY ACCUSED TO COVER THEMSELVES
http://targetedpatient.blogspot.com/2012/09/falsely-accused.htmlIts a sad day in
healthcare when a doctor can dictate erroneous information about their patients
with no fear of discipline."You are certainly not the only one who feels that
way...its disgusting and despicable...unfortunately they can do it, they do do it
and in some cases quite often.....it has been done to me countless times and until
someone in a position to publishes or speaks on patients behalf enough to implement
a change it will continue to happen.....we are trying but people in position to
change aren't listening we need a more known voice. Just today I got my records
from one doctor things were specifically omitted so there would be no record that
there wad ever a surgery scheduled then cancelled records were changed....the
person in medical records said she had never had a doctor make records disappear
where on her system they were there but yet missing from the file.....i am not sure
about that but either way once again ot happened and who do we go to for
help.......""I feel you Melissa, we just have to keep SCREAMING our stories..The
only way change can take place is awareness..""I have questioned whether an ER
doctor who performed an LP on me had concealed that fact as it looks like an
addition on the bottom of the chart. When I was returned back to that hospital I
also question why nothing was done or looked into regarding the LP. Complications
from an LP I have learned are life threatening and are dealt with by a neurologist.
I do know that the ER doctor lied about the real condition I was in and back dated
the timing of when I get the stiff neck and legs to 4 weeks instead of 2 hours
earlier. Also, lied on the glasgow coma scale. When my spouse returned home from
overseas and asked why I was not walking, talking or eating no one would tell him
anything. I was returned back to ER's over 40 times. All involved avoided any
accountability and responsibility for the condition i was left in by denying
medical help, concealing what was medically wrong with me, and withholding
information from my family who never knew anything. I did not sign a consent form
to have an LP done either. From briefly having an infectious disease expert look at
my records he told me that my records have been stripped of all the things he would
have expected to find. I did find a printed copy showing necessary tests got
cancelled because the spinal fluid was hemolyzed
and no repeat was done. After having a CT of my head confirm an infection and then
having a full vial of spinal fluid taken I was gotten rid of out of the ER 2.5
hours later without the tests for the infectious disease done. Tests take 2 days to
confirm. When I was returned back to an ER shortly after the LP drowsy, photo
phobic and I could not feel my limbs I was denied medical help. Then a cover up
ensued. Their is so much cover up still going on. Now I am dealing with concealment
of damage issues. This is when they stop you from having medical tests to find out
how much damage you are dealing with to stop a person from suing or exposing
them . I got 2 tests done at first but had to question the radiology reports as
being fraudulent. Once I raised those questions about the validity of the radiology
reports I have been stopped from having any diagnostics tests. It was not very hard
to see what they were doing because they changed 4 past radiology reports and got
rid of the original reports out of hospital and GP records. Did they not think I
would not notice the difference in how my body looks now.""You are certainly not
alone. It took me a long time to get the hospital PA to release mine(I did sign the
required forms), telling me they don't release all records and I now find I don't
have all of them. They only gave me three pages originally - admitting - full of
errors. Then when I called about those errors - they complained ""I was just not
happy about anything"" - now that I do have what they say are full records - they
will not change anything per the hospital COO. In reading info provided by Debra
and Virginia - there are CMS statutes saying they have to make these corrections."
Its also a good idea to go to the hospital and request to view the records. I found
a lot of stuff not given to me in the hospital records. I did this twice and
brought my camera with me and photoed them. Also found a long strip of EEG paper.
If a radiology report is amended the original report should exist so look to see if
its in hospital or GP records.Looking for a lawyer that would be able to go up
against UVA hospital in Charlottesville VA"If you have had a prednisone injection
lately: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/03/health/meningitis-cases-are-linked-tosteroid-injections.html?hp"Dr. Nelson asked for a more firm reading. Radiology
delivered that addendum stating there was nothing wrong with my heart 2 hours
before I was prepped for surgery."Here's a link to a breaking story in Oneonta, NY.
http://thedailystar.com/breakingnews/x354173457/Fox-Hospital-sued-for-126-million"
"Unfortunately this kind of judgement is bad in two ways.1) It reinforces that
people who sue for malpractice are out to win the lottery.2) It implies that
medical malpractice is so rare, that when it happens it is a huge judgement in all
the news."The circumstances of the case warranted a high verdict. The hospital
destroyed this woman's heart. She is going to need a heart transplant. The
suffering she has experienced and will continue to experience is immeasurable. Her
medical costs will be astronomical."100,000 people are killed every year in
hospitals. This woman's medical injury severity was not an unusual occurrence. For
some combination of the right reasons, this became a show case."Dr. Jenkins noted
that the history and physical examination was dictated with erroneous information
regarding the patient���s blood pressure.http://www.knoxsblog.org/2012/09/iheard-it-through-the-grapevine/#comment-2060See the comment."Did you hear this
through the grapevine yet:http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/investigation-ofwomans-care-at-va-hospital-mired-in-bureaucracy-confusingreports/2012/10/01/7b433d4e-0bd5-11e2-97a7-45c05ef136b2_story.htmlPat
Christiansen���s response, in writing to our concerns, on 9/21/2011���
���your mother is getting great care.���Just in case the grapevine wasn���t
working too well over there."Well the young lady would seem to better qualified as
COO/interim CEO of Inova Fairfax and she probably wouldn't have an idiotic smirk on
her face should she screw up either. Wouldn't take much improvement to the current
situation. http://m.washingtonpost.com/local/investigation-of-womans-care-at-vahospital-mired-in-bureaucracy-confusing-reports/2012/10/01/7b433d4e-0bd5-11e2-97a745c05ef136b2_story.htmlLeft a link to your story - made a good comment on Silvia it will take them a few minutes to view the link before pulling.Thanks."I've been
reading prior entries in Knox's (CEO of the Inova System) blog and found this to be
ironic. On August 31, 2011 his blog was about weight loss and how to accomplish
same. On Aug 31, 2011, my wife was in his hospital in her second day of zero
calorie intake which was to last a week. I posted the following as a comment to
that blog (it is a moderated blog so I doubt it will pass through the self serving
screening process) which is why I'm also copying it here:
Interesting post
about losing weight. Let me give you another route. On the day of your post, my
wife was a patient of your Fairfax Hospital. She was admitted on the 30th. From
her admission through September 5th, she received no nutrition - not a calorie
either by mouth, by IV or by feeding tube. Your nurses faithfully recorded in her
records, every 2 hours, that she was not receiving nutrition but no one did
anything, no one contacted the doctor to have him change is orders nor did anyone
fulfill their obligation as a mandatory reporter and contact elder abuse
authorities. Nor did anyone inform the family that this was happening. My wife
did not have a DNR and she wanted to live. When we found out, we complained and
Patrick Christianson in his email to us, stated that he investigated our claim that
my wife was being abused and reported that upon talking to his staff, he found my
wife was ""gettng great care.""We complained to CMS and they sent a state
investigator for an onsite investigation. In the state report about the failure to
feed complaint, the investigator states that they spoke with the doctor involved to
get a reason for the starvation and quoted him as stating ""she was very sick and
she was paralyzed..."" Not an acceptable reason for involuntary euthanasia, I
believe. But your blog was successful in its message as under your direction, my
wife lost one third of her body weight in 7 days. Maybe you could market that
approach and write a book - ""The Inova Diet.""""This is the best Video about a
doctor talking openly about a mistake. ""Awareness is the greatest agent for
change""""I think you might find this movie interesting. It's about doctors and
patients who care about making the health care system more caring.
http://youtu.be/qX-EkeKXA4U"MRSA Survivors Rally for World MRSA Day
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mrsa-survivors-rally-for-world-mrsa-day172265091.htmlToday is World MRSA Day - rememebering all of those who have lost
their life and suffered with this preventable disease - join the fight against MRSA
and HAI's! http://www.MRSAsurvivors.org"Hello everyone! I just joined after
receiving an e-mail from Kelly, Assistant to Dr. Marty Makary. I wanted to share
this short documentary with you about my family. It's a measurable piece about the
long-lasting affects of a medical error. Feedback is welcomed and encouraged! :)
https://vimeo.com/46597387""Hi Tim Gort, welcome to the group. So sorry to hear
about the medical mistake your daughter and your family suffered, but thank you for
sharing your story. The video is really touching and I hope others watch it.""Hi
Tim Gort, you have a beautiful family and such sweet daughters. I really sensed the
love you all share. Thank you for the courage to open your home and hearts to
everyone."I am so sorry for your loss. The loss of hopes and expectations and a
certain future.Thanks all. Looking forward to learning and sharing with you."Query
for doctors/researchers: I have new original work which I'm considering submitting
for peer review publishing, which I've never done before. I don't know if an entity
like NEJM or JAMA would even run a piece by a lay person through a peer review
process; in the NEJM world it seems that the categories under which I might submit
are perspective, special report, sounding board, occasional note. The piece would
include 1 figure, 2 if possible.I'm concerned about future use. I see that NEJM
says it'll own the copyright to the work. I cannot put myself in a position to be
locked out of future use, development, and presentation of this work, and this is
the crux of my question. What are medical industry norms around publishing? You
guys publish studies all the time. How do you manage intellectual property rights
and ongoing refinement and presentation of work published in these journals?"Is it
something that would work for the Journal on participatory medicine?Thx D I'll
check it out.http://triblive.com/home/2661285-74/transplant-kidney-dialysispatients-waiting-organ-policy-transplantation-age-proposed?goback=
%2Egde_154079_member_170659515#axzz27yiFTHZKhttp://www.ti.ubc.ca/news/what-doctorsdont-know-about-drugs-they-prescribe#NAME?"Somewhat helpful are sites that report
consumer reviews of doctors such as RateMDs.com. However, in my experience, finding
a doctor with five stars won't help if you are looking for a doctor to tell you the
truth about your medical injury. Highly rated doctors demonstrate ethical amnesia
along with the rest.http://www.ratemds.com"
http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20121001/INFO/310019976/va-hospital-caseshows-confusing-bureaucracy"As often happens, I thought that link was about VA
hospitals as in the Dept of Veterans Affairs. It should be noted that Va in this
instance is Virginia."We were just glad to get a story
out.Here's the post version. It appears to be going
national:http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/investigation-of-womans-care-at-vahospital-mired-in-bureaucracy-confusing-reports/2012/10/01/7b433d4e-0bd5-11e2-97a745c05ef136b2_story.htmlHigh five and hugs Debra and DH - brava!! Going to read at
both links.I have been posting it on Ken Cuccinelli's site and he keeps removing
it!
To bad amanda joint commission isn't still here. Joint Commission had no
problem too.It's great this story was finally published! Thanks for sharing Debra.
Hope some good comes from it.... Your family has suffered more than enough."Yeah, I
think that the Joint Commission should explain why they had no problem with this."
"Veronica, according to Linkedin, Amanda's job/position includes ""Monitoring
*social media outlets*, while *creating*/pushing out engaging campaigns or
messaging that promotes a* positive reputation for TJC*."" Tells us a lot I think!
Could say a whole lot here but I won't....""We talk, you listen. Can't put lipstick
on a pig.""No one with TJC will answer a true complaint - not in their policy
manual. Other wise, the US would be overtaken by herds of pigs wearing lipstick."We
keep posting it on Ken Cuccinelli's site and he keeps pulling it off.Cuccinelli is
outspoken on pro-life issues... makes me wonder why he's not concerned about your
mother being starved to death in a Virginia hospital. I guess he's pro-'birth'
rather than pro-'life'."I am preparing to post the link with a question over
there(KC) myself. You have to have certain zips and area codes. I shall get it
done, maybe not tonite tho.This published article is very encouraging and solid
proof that dedicated people with a ton of wherewithal (knowledge, equilibrium)
can accomplish media support -I salute all here who do take up the mantle, even
though in many cases their loved one is gone. What you do may save many others."
The reason he does not care is that Virginia sponsored a $350 million bond issuance
in favor of Inova while Virginia was 'investigating'. Jobs are clearly a higher
priority over involuntary euthanasia."I'm just making the point that politicians
like him say they are pro-life but aren't. If he were truly pro-life, he would care
deeply about what happened to your mother - all of it! I don't understand why
people can't see through this...""The 4th Annual Conference of the Natl Assoc of
Healthcare Advocates will be held Nov. 1-3 at the Hyatt Regency in Boston, MA.
Please share or retweet with anyone who might be interested.""Robin sent me this i
have since commented on there several times,, its sad this is still happening, i
just dont understand for those of us who are living through the hell there is no
help, where are all the experienced doctors????""when a mistake happens or someone
screws up, the solution is to look the other way rather than to acknowledge the
problem and try to fix it."Find out what patient safety advocates are saying about
the CDC healthcare-acquired infections meeting last week!"Several years ago; I
spoke to one of the big wigs at CDC in Atlanta, about MRSA; his answer to my
questions (4of them) was this, 1) there is NO LAW that states we are required to
report staph infections; 2) we will NOT report them until there is one on the books
- 3) WE will decide what to report and what not to report - do I trust the CDC - NO!!!! Will I ever trust the CDC - - - NOT NO--- HECK NO!!! They are nothing more
than pencil pushing bureaucrats that sit in an office all day to collect their
above average government pay checks - Their attitude is you have to loose so many
lives before they take interest - I guess 100,000 plus annual loss of life from
Hospital Acquired Staph Infections is not a large enough number.""In January 2013,
acute care hospitals will have to start reporting MRSA and C.diff hospital-acquired
infections (confirmed by lab tests) to CDC's National Healthcare Safety Network. A
year later we should start seeing information about these infections posted on the
Medicare Hospital Compare site."Dianne - The CDC is far from perfect but the
reality is that they are not a regulatory or enforcement agency. My experience having been at the Consumers Union/CDC meeting is that the staff members we met
with are as frustrated and dissatisfied with the pace of progress as we are but are
dealing with the constraints of their mandate (e.g. cannot force change on states
only advise). I agree that we cannot simply leave this work to any government
agency but I also think we can work with them where appropriate while ensuring
public pressure exists to speed change. We need a variety of inside/outside
strategies to make a real difference."Dr. Marty Makary's book ""Unaccountable: What
Hospitals Won't Tell You and How Transparency Can Revolutionize Health Care"" is on
the New York Times best seller lists! http://unaccountablebook.com""Dr. Marty
Makary's book ""Unaccountable: What Hospitals Won't Tell You and How Transparency
Can Revolutionize Health Care"" is on the New York Times best seller lists!
http://unaccountablebook.com"Check out my blog post about visiting the CDC with
other patient safety activists to talk about C. diff and other HAIs."Christian, you
mention some special setaside time at CDC to discuss C.diff. I'm mostly ignorant of
HAI issues aside from my dad dying due to MRSA. Are these two infections considered
in the same or different categories by CDC and/or medicine?""Bart - Though both
MRSA and C. diff are HAIs, they differ in how they are transmitted, with C. diff
being the harder to tackle from an environmental cleanliness aspect, owing to the
difference in their makeup (C. diff enters a sport form outside of the body, which
is resistant to most antibacterial cleaners). Also, while MRSA transmission and
death rates have been declining (though not by nearly enough) over the last few
years, C. diff's are rising. So while they're largely both considered HAIs, C. diff
has become a bigger priority recently, though that could change again.""Stainless
steel looks clean, but can harbor pathogens. Copper and brass surfaces kill germs.
I think of all metal surfaces that didn't have to be steel were replaced with
copper, hospitals would be significantly less dangerous.""With the exception of C.
difficile spores, copper killed concentrations as high as 100 million Colony
Forming Units of these organisms within approximately two hours. A concentration of
1,000,000 C. difficile spores was completely killed within 24 hours. Most of these
organisms can survive for days on common surfaces, while C. difficile spores can
survive for months.""From the PDF link at the bottom of:
http://www.antimicrobialcopper.com/us/news-center/articles--publications/armedforces-poster.aspx""The Empowered Patient Coalition has updated our Hospital Guide
and it is now a free download on our website. Please share with others so patients
and their advocates will be informed and engaged when seeking medical care. We need
your help to get the word out!
http://www.empoweredpatientcoalition.org/publications/journals-and-books""It causes
me great sorrow to have to say that there are copyright issues with this material.
Unless this matter is resolved, I would urge members of this community to exercise
caution in their use of this publication."My virus scanner is showing a trojan
horse.Hello all: This is to say that the copyright issues on the Empowered Patient
Guide to Hospital Care and The Patient Journal have been resolved. Please feel
free to use these publications under the existing joint copyright to Julia Hallisy
and Helen Haskell."Debra, so is mine."I have checked with my web hosting service
and they assure me that there is no problem on our end as far as a virus. If you
message me I can always send you a pdf if that makes you feel more comfortable.
"Please visit this site and sign the petition to regulate coroner and medical
examiner. They are unaccountable to anyone - they can send innocent to prison with
an incorrect cause of death and a guilty go free when they refuse to investigate a
suspicious death. It could be your loved one...
http://www.causes.com/causes/794844-regulation-of-coroner-and-medical-examiner"
thank you for your assistance - with a little assistance we can get attention of
our legislators."I can't sign this petition because a window opens, and it says it
is contacting facebook, but the window never completely loads. Can you post this
petition on a site that simply has one put their name and info?"it won't let me
sign . is this because i am canadianHope you've been - and will be - following the
#MedX tweetstream. Excellent content coming out of Stanford.And another"And we see
in action, the Medicare rule that if there is news coverage of a mistake, we handle
it differently....http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/25/14095982-report-ohionurse-didnt-realize-she-took-kidney?lite""Might I suggest that each medical person
and hospital administrator who was involved in this fiasco voluntarily donate a
kidney if medically able as a demonstration of their sincere apology for this
situation. Surgeon, hospital management, nurse. Perhaps they could start a chain
that will get this guy a new kidney."Using ROBOTIC since it is so SAFE.Doctors who
make serious mistakes or behave unprofessionally stand a much better chance of
being disciplined in Alaska than Mississippi.The Minnesota Board of Medical
Practice has done the worst job of disciplining doctors in the nation"Since 1998
I've been observing District Hospitals in California (48), and other states e.g.,
Washington, Idaho, Montana, No & So Dakota, Texas, Minnesota, etc., with publicly
elected boards with revenue from taxpayers - who hire the CEO (Chief Executive
Officer) to manage the hospital. In California it appears the
CEOs (Control Elected Officials) are managing the elected boards and the (COS Chief of Staff) Medical Executive to keep costs down for the CEO's year-end
bonuses, as they tag team pushing ""real"" peer review out the door, failing to
report adverse and sentinel events, all in the name of risk. In confidence, I'd
appreciate learning more from California members and those from other states what
you have identified in the area of peer review and lack of or it's impact on
patients who have been the subject of medical errors, negligence, turned into
futile care. Contact [email protected]""By the way I'm not a Journalist I'm a controversial elected official with a ballot designation of ""Consumer Health
Analyst"" who sits on a District Hospital Board for 12 years, with 7 members with a
majority of medical (doctor, nurses, pharmacist, accountant for physicians &
groups) and plenty of quid pro quos to go around for those in bed. Needless to say,
I was their target as I stood up for obvious common sense over padding pockets.
Having the experience of working with professionals over the last thirty years I've
fulfilled the requirement of representing or advocating for Consumers on medically
dominated boards, a federally mandated California Medicaid committee, a federal OIG
task force, regional health planning board and committees, the 2-plan model pilot
programs established to move Calif. Medicaid into managed care, and represented the
US as a consumer with medical professionals affiliated with the United Nations as a
think tank in Norway evaluating, comparing and contrasting systems. I've stood up
for what is right for Consumers only to find Consumers not engaged locally to help
me with holding their local hospital district and CEO accountable. Corruption at
this hospital is very deep, and I chose not to run for another four years as I
decided I will do more for Consumers in another way. Knowledge is power and I now
know intimately how the hospital internally works - Surely this will be useful to
those whose plight is to improve and change the way we do healthcare at the
hospital - It galls me that CMS is offering bonuses while the new venture of
Obamacare and the ACO may be another way to bury the bodies. Obamacare will bring
in 47 - million uninsured while the Medicare baby boomers 70 million may become the
victims of Dr. Death to minimize costs for those cases with medical errors,
negligence, poor peer review, and the year end bonus scheme!""Yes, however I'm
eager to network and help with our stories - I'm hopeful ProPublica and other
groups we belong (friend with Gil Mileikowsky (the empowered patent & Citizens for
patient safety) will be able to pull all of us together to move our concerns to the
legislatures of respective states and the federal government. I'm impressed
Veronica with all you've taken on as a loving daughter and your Mom's first
advocate - your story is heartfelt. Hopeful again with the newest development with
ProPublica's help - and are there other organizations similar for a national
awareness - investigative reporting with national media - to develop pressure on
the elected to make the changes. OR should there be a train the trainers to take
the experiences on the road to give the tools to others to know what to do in
situations like yours and others? What better way to educate the Consumers to take
control by learning and having a tool kit to advocate for their loved ones. Relying
on the system certainly is not going to do it. As the lobbyist have the ears and
hands of those who can make law. Consumers for health and medical care must
organize themselves to do the same. My experience with Legal Services Corporation,
Centers on Law and Poverty, are unable to do the legal advocacy on the state and
national level because of their funding sources. Same holds true with the ""free""
clinics, each organization unions, AMA, appear to only represent their interest
while ""using"" consumers as their interest but as a national coalition of
Consumers - I'm unaware of any and I believe this is exactly what must occur - a
National Coalition of Consumers!!!""i don't think people understand how scary the
ACO's are or how misguided Obamacare is. Regardless of your policy goals, its
horrifically bad policy implementation."Congratulations ~ ! ~ breaking the 1000
mark ~ ! ~ As the group's focus is national I'm interested in linking and outreach
with California members too. Please contact me at [email protected]"It's
nice to see that this group has broken the 1,000 participant level -- more people,
more input, more awareness.""Hello, my name is Elbert Chu and I'm a freelance
journalist and masters student at the City University of NY in Marshall Allen's
health investigation class.I'm working on a story about how some nursing homes dose
residents who are not diagnosed with schizophrenia or psychosis with
antipsychotics. These chemical restraints not only rob people of their
personalities, they also endanger many lives. My project is focused on NYC. I'm
wondering if you have experience with a loved one who was inappropriately given
these drugs in a NYC nursing home? These drugs include Zyprexa, Risperdal, Haldol,
Clozaril, Seroquel and others. If so, please leave a comment below and we can
arrange an interview. Thank you.""I'm not in NY and mom wasn't in a nursing home,
but she got antipsychotics instead of correct medical treatment for an iatrogenic
drug overdose, even though they were contraindicated due to prolonged QT and
swallowing issues and the family had forbade it, in writing and it was on mom's
chart in big letters written by a nurse. Marshall has my email address.""Hi Debra,
thanks for the note. Sorry to hear how your mom was mistreated. It is good to hear
about families who are aware of the dangerous cocktails of drugs and want to avoid
them, but so frustrating that mistakes persist so often.""By the way��� if
anyone with experience in NYC would rather get in touch directly, you're welcome to
email me: [email protected]""Hi Veronica James, what a tragic mistake. Glad to
hear you didn't give up hope. I appreciate the heads up. I will take a look at the
files."As some of you know COPD is often misdiagnosed or mistaken for asthma and/or
bronchitis for years. It is different."I am looking for more guests for the show,
so if you are interested please let me know."your the best!!!Thanks Daniel so are
you"I'm working on a story about how rare it is for patients to complain about a
medical mistake or the harm they've suffered in the hospital.I'm going to include a
mention of this new proposal to have patients blow the whistle when they've been
the victim of a medical error. See the NYT article for more details. This is a
particularly interesting idea, since the current systems to acknowledge harm to
patients are so woeful. Most patients do not complain, for various reasons, and
other methods, such as having hospitals self-report harm to patients, are
ineffective. I wanted to run this latest idea by you all and include some of your
thoughts in my story. What do you think of this new method being proposed, as it's
described in this story? Do you think it'll work? Is it a good sign? Are you
doubting that it will make a difference? Share your thoughts below!""Of course
hospital administrators say they welcome it, but there already is a path to report
errors - state medical boards. But state medical boards are of doctors and for
doctors and little comes of that. The point is who will control the reporting data?
For example will hospitals volunteer (out of the spirit of cooperation) to hand out
questionnaires to patients, then collect and keep them internally and if any
patient has the audacity to track the report submitted, the response will be a lie
or that it was ""lost?""Or, will the government agency who controls the data be
made of doctors and keep the information a secret, anonymize it, and provide it for
certain restricted research purposes only?It is simply PR for patient safety to
simply collect reports about patient injury. Where the rubber meets the road is in
making an effective action from it.""I realize that I have probably way, way
crossed the threshold of dominating this conversation, but I have another point.
It is dicey business for alot of people to make a complaint. It doesn't matter,
the doctor or facility is going to know who is causing trouble if the inspectors
show up. If you have insurance that limits you to one or two providers in the area
for a particular specialty, if you are in a hospital or a nursing home, if you are
in an integrated health/provider plan, etc. there is significant risk of
retaliation that can result in your being plain 100% denied health care with no
remedy. If you think that is paranoid, how many health providers are afraid of
ratting on their colleagues for fear of retaliation? If they are afraid, why
wouldn't patients have a reasonable fear. There are laws that protect and provide
damages to employees/health care providers who have been harmed by retaliation for
whistleblowing. There are virtually no protections for patients who whistleblow there isn't even a right to have someone facilitate your transfer to another
facility. And if there is a low success rate of having complaints addressed, it is
the much smarter thing to do to shut up. when mom was in the hospital, we had one
lawyer tell us to not complain because it would make the mistreatment worse -- but
we had no choice. I think there should be some thoughts about the ethics of asking
people to come forward at substantial personal risk but then doing nothing of
substance with the information and doing nothing to protect them. Some
researcher's personal curiosity or desire to do a presentation is not a valid
reason to ask patients
to put themselves at personal risk.""And by the way Martha Deed, bravo!""marshall,
thanks for your response... i'm merely going by the many posts i've read since
joining pro publica a few months ago. many people say they've reported medical
error and filed complaints. maybe they haven't. i don't know... maybe i'm the only
one who has filed all the appropriate complaints for no reason.""I think you're
right about that, Robin Karr. Many people have complained. I'm sure the ones who
say they have complained actually did. But from the questionnaires I'm looking at
it appears that most people do not complain. Others have said this too, including
Julia Hallisy at the Empowered Patient Coalition, who said her questionnaires have
shown the same thing. She estimated that perhaps 10 percent of patients complain."
"Complaining is very difficult and the results are often minimal. I complained to
the NYS department of health which cited the hospital twice as a result. But the
physicians were not cited -- only nurses and respiratory care staff. While those
citations were merited, they were not what I considered to be the main problems
with my daughter's care. I lay out the complaint process I went through in NYS
using the primary documents -- medical records, complaint forms, responses, etc. in
my book, The Last Collaboration. Complaining is definitely not for the fainthearted or for someone whose skin has been thinned by grieving the loss of one's
only child. http://www.amazon.com/The-Last-Collaboration-Not-very-funny-
modernization/dp/061564595X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1341258273&sr=11&keywords=%22The+Last+Collaboration%22""How many of the people who say that they
did not complain learned of the error after terminating care? We did not learn
about many of the errors in mom's care until after she was dead and we had had time
to review the medical records and then it was an 'oh crap' that is what was going
on moment. In fact, every time we look at mom's records, we have a couple more
""oh, crap"" moments as we figure out the incredibly poor handwriting. We take
turns verifying information out of the records because it is just that upsetting.
Given that we had had a pretty clear indication that the hospital did not care
('your mom is getting great care' from the COO of the hospital after mom had been
starved') we had no reason to talk to the hospital. It would be a completely
pointless conversation. If we had not had an already working set of complaints, I
am not sure that we would have had the motivation to make a complaint given how
painful the whole situation was. But we had people asking questions so we felt
obligated to continue... It's part of why I think asking people the broad question
""did someone make a mistake"" is not the right approach. More pointed questions
that include what the norms are would be more effective.""Right, Debra Van Putten.
I'm not criticizing these folks for not complaining. There are so many complicating
factors involved, as you and others have noted, that it's not necessarily a
surprise. But at the same time complaints, particularly to state licensing
agencies, result in independent investigations that result in public inspection
reports. They can also lead to citations and fines - though state regulators and
laws vary in terms of how much they hold providers accountable. So they're an
important way to flag problems and quantify the problem of patient harm, but one
that is not really capturing the full extent of the problem.""marshall, not too
long ago we had a really good discussion on this same issue. there were many
comments. hopefully, you can go back and take another look at them as you work on
your article.""Marshall, no offense. I have skin as think as a gator. I will also
say that some people distinguish ""making a complaint' as something different than
saying something. The odd thing is that Medicare actually has a very detailed
grievance process that is supposed to capture data, set off an investigation that
gets wrapped up into the quality plan and result in a response to the patient any
time there is concern, even informal, about something serious or that cannot be
resolved with those persons present. It appears to be supremely ignored. If that
rule were enforced, there would be data galore, I suspect."Robin Karr - it was that
discussion that led to what I'm working on now.i suspected as much:)"Another reason
people might not complain is that there are language barriers, educational
barriers, time and financial barriers (dad has probably spent about $2000 on copies
for complaints and we have easily spent thousands of hours) or legal barriers, such
as being illegal. I suspect that hospitals take one look at folks, make a
socioeconomic assessment based on appearance and treat people accordingly, knowing
that certain people are unlikely to ever be able to complain or sue. Go read
Crasspolination and its boards and you will see it is true for at least a voluable
minority of the medical community. Mom had missing teeth because of side effects to
steroids for the RA and she could not tolerate dentures because her mouth was so
dry. We suspect that part of why we were treated so badly was that mom looked
poor. And there are code words throughout mom's medical records indicating that -like references that Mom and dad were from West virginia (not, from Naples Fl, both
retired bankers). Doing a structured survey based on billing data might also help
address the problem we were discussing last night - inspectors and reviewers who
are themselves incompetent. One could have clear experts in an area write the
questions and then the data could be assessed with algorithms and non-technical
personnel. One could much more easily implement consistent and correct standards
and have less of a risk of having the process hijacked by someone who is corrupt or
lacking medical expertise themselves.It's certainly not a 100% solution but it
certainly would help with creating a baseline of care for everyone and reward
hospitals that are honest about their performance, vs hospitals that have
compliance (or even excellence) due to flat dishonesty.""yes,I complained. And
because an internal ""adverse event"" report is never shared outside the hospital,
if the doctors circle the wagons,and stand by their story that they did no harm,
what are the options?I never signed a confidentiality agreement. and that ended up
being meaningless. I know exactly how the doctors and hospital staff messed up, and
my daughter ended up dead. Who else do you complain to? at some point, it just
seems to make sense to help ""empower"" other patients, the doctors dont seem to be
changing""Solving the problem of medical errors is key to cutting the cost of our
healthcare system, and we won't solve that problem if we don't listen to the
patients. So it's good to see the administration making this effort. Also:, The
educational impact of placing these questionnaires in hospitals and doctors'
offices will be unprecedented. Nothing like this, nothing on this scale, has ever
been attempted before in patient safety outreach.""Suzanne, every single person on
Medicare is supposed to get a piece of paper at admission informing them of their
option to complain to the Joint Commission, state regulators and QIO. With
addresses and phone numbers. All of whom work 9-3 pm, are on never ending
vacations, and rarely do anything. And all of whom take months, if not years to
investigate complaints, if at all. It has made zero effect. So, this is been there
done that from my perspective.So while I applaud your optimism, I am not so much."
"And Lenore, I really feel like I am ""post"" empowered patient. I feel it very
stressful to have to monitor, check, finagle and cajole medical professionals into
doing what they are supposed to do. When I go to a restaurant, I do not, Gordon
Ramsay style, go perusing through the frig to see if the place is safe. When I buy
a car, I would take offense if Ford thought it was my job to test the integrity of
the steel frame. If I go to the grocery store, I don't think I should have to
require sourcing records from the produce manager. If I fly on a plane, I don't
think I should have to make the pilot do a pee test, or give me his/her resume or
interrogate the crew as to the plane's maintenance. In order to avoid being at risk
of bad doctors, I drive 250 miles each way about once a month to see my primary
specialist. That costs me about $250 a month. I pay $600 in health insurance. I
pay about $250 a month in meds. My primary won't do anything for me, but I see him
so that I don't get yelled at by the specialist. Sad to say he is the best I can
find and he is generally not too disruptive. PPACA is going to want to make him the
captain of my medical team. Yeah. Let's put the village idiot in charge when even
he at has the sense not to be in charge. Brilliant. I have back up meds for all of
my meds ordered from overseas so that when the specialist and my primary get into a
fight over who gets stuck dealing with insurance, I am not short of critical meds.
That I pay for out of pocket. I have one med that if I am without, I die within 2448 hours. So, the annual two-year old tantrums are a problem. Going without while
the two of them and the insurance company is not an option. Hopefully the new doc
will be better.Since I try to keep my head down to not have food fights, if there
is a test I need and the doctor won't order it when I ask nicely, I order it from
self-pay lab and adjust medications accordingly. I have been fired as a patient way
too many times by bringing the ""standards o care"" to doctors who get really
irate. The only thing I ""need"" a doctor for now is an imaging order or a surgery
recommendation. And proof to disability that I am still having
severe muscle issues. So that I don't end up homeless. but I still gotta pay $600
a month in insurance in case I get in a car accident and I can't convince the
ambulance crew that I really, really am refusing to go to the hospital. Mind you, a
simple trauma can kill me like that.I am tired of being my own advocate -- that is
what my doctor's job is. I don't have the money to pay someone else to tell my
doctor what to do -- and my disease is so complicated, it would not work. I really
do not want to be spending what energy I have ""advocating"" but there is no
choice. The local hospital is so bad that if I had an emergency, I would under no
circumstances go to the ER. I would self treat. And if the problem gets to be too
tough for me, well, apparently that is my tough luck. And it is entirely
foreseeable that I would end up in that position. So for me, if I can hold the
hospital accountable, the life I save is not some strangers'; it may be my own. If
I can't, the person who may very well be the one to suffer is me. A campaign of
brochures being sent to kiosks at doctors office in the hopes that they are
returned to an impotent agency is useless to me. It provides me with no safety net.
It provides me with no assurance. It ensures that if I get very sick, my choice
will be to use my overseas antibiotics and pray that they are not adulterated and
to pray that they work.""It���s not that most patients don���t complain. Many
patients complain informally while they are still in the hospital to the people
they think are the responsible authority. They talk to the nurse manager, or the
administrator in charge of Patient Services and they assume that their complaints
are taken into account somewhere. Many are often told as I was, ���You will
receive a Survey in the mail. Please be sure to explain your concerns there. We
take them very seriously.��� Well, my survey NEVER came. Even after I wrote
and called asking for one. I even wrote to the President of Press Ganey asking for
a Survey and was told I could not have one if I wasn���t in the ���randomly
selected 30%���.It took over 100 letters and multiple phone calls to the local
health dept. before they began an investigation into my ���immediate
jeopardy��� adverse event. The law says they are mandated to arrive within 24
hours. People told me to give up��_. But I wouldn���t!It took almost 4 years
of letters and calls before the Dept. of HHS/Office of Civil Rights got involved to
investigate the disappearance of photos from my medical records. And only because
I had a photo of a nurse HOLDING the hospital camera over my body!!Most patients
will try one or two resources to be heard before becoming discouraged and
depressed��_then at the insistence of well-meaning others who think they are
becoming obsessed ��� they give up and move on.""Debra, I understand feeling
post empowered. I just refuse to give up the fight, and helping the ""consumer to
beware"" is a bandaid on a fatal wound, and it's something to do in the moment,
because the real change takes a long time,as we all know""Most of the time we do
not know who to complain to. And we are busy dealing with the results of a bad
surgery. And we dare not sue -- who is going to win, you with your one lawyer that
you probably can't afford or the doctor/hospital with their team of doctors? So we
keep seeking further medical help to deal with the complications of a bad surgery."
"What's different about this is the list of types of errors and types of reasons.
While patient advocates might have added other types and reasons, this approach is
much more likely to cause patients to think about the issue and look more closely
at their own treatment. It's not simply a boiler plate statement of where to
complain. It is much more educational. Also, it is an express invitation and
request for patients to provide this information and a commitment to provide the
information to a couple research organizations for analysis. And it is a very
public admission that medical errors are widespread and systemic. This is very
different. It has not been done before.""���Currently there is no mechanism for
consumers to report information about patient safety events.��� Currently there
is no mechanism for providers and healthcare organizations to report information
about patient safety events.""Federal officials said the reports would be analyzed
by researchers from the RAND Corporation and the ECRI Institute, a nonprofit
organization that has been investigating medical errors for four decades""Then
what? The article fails to address what happens after the reports are analyzed.
Research purposes, followup, etc? Who know as the article doesn't address that.
Other than speculation on our part, lack of that information makes it difficult to
provide commontary.""it was important to match the patients��� reports with
information in medical records""This would be a critical component of any patient
safety initiative and unfortunately isn't going to happen any time soon. Mandatory
reporting by healthcare organizations of incidents would require legislation and
who knows if that would ever happen.Questions:What happens to the data after
analysis? If there is followup, what methodology is being used? Is any action
being taken?Who has access to this data?""Suzanne, IOM has been reporting how
widespread medical errors are for more than a decade. Anyone who has regular
contact with the health care system as a patient knows that it is broken. There
are dozens of agencies now that one could complain to, none of which speak to each
other and are completely stovepiped. If you don;t know what the agency does and
exactly how to phrase the complaint, it will be ignored and even if you do, it will
be ignored. I suspect that most people who work in the profession realize that it
is broken, but the problem is that nobody thinks he or she is the problem. It is
always someone else. The data already exists for a ""couple research
organizations"" for analysis. The problem is that none of that information escapes
in a way to protect patients. If people don't see results, they stop trying. And
there is no system that reliably produces results, and most are structured to make
sure that the output of the system is not doclosed.""Empowering patients"" (which
is a fancy way of saying that patients should do alot of the doctor's work for
free) isn't a very good paradigm for people who are working two jobs, don't have
alot of education and are raising kids. They don't have the time and money to
""empower"" themselves. They are just trying to keep the diapers changed. If you
are stuck in a wheelchair and doing rehab for 10 hours a day because you got
paralyzed, you and your family does not have tons of time to do tons of writing to
officials, and your family doesn't either. Do you really want to spend your
evenings learning the difference between translabial vs transphenoidal pituitary
surgery, steroid hormonogenesis charts, and the merits of RIA vs tandem mass
spectrometry. Trust me, I've done it and sometimes it has been pretty important to
me. But it is something I really shouldn't have to do, and there are alot of
people who don't have the time and education to geek out on this sort of material.
It's why we train doctors. And if you want me to write up why the last endo I fired
was incompetent, you better know your steroid hormongenesis chart. Which 99.9999
percent of the population isn't going to know off the top of their head. The
likelihood that anyone who receives my complaint understands the problem is equally
unlikely. But it was a potentially fatal error. This is not a problem that is
going to be fixed by brochures in the waiting room.The information is aimed at the
wrong people. And it subtly minimizes the problem. The solution to a system is
killing more than 180,000 people a year is not a brochure handout.""A few states
do. Access is very limited. Even the federal government doesn' have access to
those state records. As noted above, ""it is important to match reports with
medical records"". So with this initiative the federal govt would have the
information sent in by the patient and the (few) state would have the incident
report and the federal govenment would have the patient report and never the twain
will they meet.""One thing that you should be aware of Marshall Allen is that many
""patient groups"" are funded by drug companies who use them as fronts to push
their meds. So some people who claim to be ""patient advocates"" are really
sponsored touts with a non-patient agenda. It's a wild world out there. If you ask
someone for a comment, ask them where they get their funding from before deciding
what category they fit in. Fancy website + professional staff= need to figure out
what the real agenda is. Board = 95% licensed medical people= is it really a
patient oriented organization.""""Martin J. Hatlie, the chief executive of Project
Patient Care, a health care safety coalition in Chicago, welcomed the federal
plan."" Look at who is on the board. All medical professionals. I would say that
it is not fair to say this is a ""patient safety coalition."" It is a medical
professional organization. The story did not accurately represent the source and
lacked a legitimate patient source.""He may be a wonderful patient advocate. He
may be a great guy. But to say that a 100% medical professional led organization is
a patient organization or a patient inclusive organization is not fair. There are
undoubtedly doctors who are strong advocates for patient safety. That is a great
thing. But that is not the same as the patient voice. If you watch the blogs,
there are meeting after meetings about patient empowerment, the patient voice, the
patient experience where
not a single actual patient has a seat at the table. We get represented by
advocates, doctors, nurses, social workers, insurers, regulators who all think they
know what ""we"" want, but that viewpoint is tinged by their own. This group has
had a different take on the proposal than anything that is in that article. And in
part its because of who was asked to comment. I am really glad that Marshall is
going behind the front groups.""Marshall, one has to know who to complain to;
that'd be a given in the proposal. That said, there are a zillion complaints. In
certain of them I think it'd be useful to be able to frame a complaint in a larger
context if possible. Ex: Dad ain't getting fed and watered. Conclusion: the place
don't care and there ain't enuff staff. Larger context: cruise and/or ask to
determine what the PT (census) / staff ratio is on the unit. With this info a
complaint gets a bit more concrete when it becomes evident that there truly ain't
enuff staff to round and serve.""Bart, who do you think is supposed to do that
framing? Because as a family member, I have no access to the staffing plan, etc.
In our case, there was indisputable evidence of starvation and the inspector was
too dumb to understand that admission date of August 29, start date for nutrition
of Sept 4 = starvation. Inspector cited the fact that the hospital told her that
mom got fed on Sept 4 as proof that all was well without even checking the
admission date. We have had another person be told there is no black box warning on
interactions between levaquin and corticosteriods. And on and on. If you can't
even get the correct facts into the inspections.... it really is an exercise of
futility.""I want to respond to a couple of things here. First, while I was quoted
and am very pleased AHRQ is developing this project, I wish Robert Pear the NYT
reporter who wrote this had not described it as a system for reporting malpractice.
It gives the impression that this is designed to be a whistle blowing system, and
that is not the objective. The objective is to create a pathway for consumers to
contribute to safer care by reporting what they see and experience that COULD cause
harm. A malpractice event, by definition, HAS caused harm. Sue Sheridan and I did
ten focus groups of consumers as part of the first phase of this research, during
which they told us they would be motivated to report events that caused harm, as
well as errors that caused no harm (e.g. patient has known allergy to aspirin, is
given aspirin by mistake, but luckily has no reaction), near misses (patient was
going to be given aspirin but spoke up and stopped it), and unsafe conditions that
accidents waiting to happen. Hospitals and other healthcare settings could use
that info to make corrections. Currently, they only get that stuff from
professionals, and every piece of evidence suggests that professionals underreport. What was striking to AHRQ -- an AHA! moment I believe -- was how unafraid
the focus group participants were to report. We asked whether they would like the
system to accept anonymous reports, and the answer from most was ""make that an
option"" but most said they would have no hesitation putting his or her name on a
report, because they wanted to be able to track it and see how the report was
used.The fact is that there currently are""Continuing, the fact is that there
currently are many places for consumers to complain or whistle blow. Those
pathways exist at state licensing boards, the Joint Commission, QIOs, and
professional societies. I don't think they work well, but also don't think we need
another that won't work well. I think complaints do have value to health care
organizations and wished they used them more, but they don't. Its time -- past
time really -- to provide a pathway for all the consumers who say in every study
where they are asked to report information about risk that might be able to protect
the next patient. I love that that innate generosity of human spirit shines
through in this research, and that's why I like this idea so much.""Debra Van
Putten, I don't presume that anything any of us enter here is a panacea. Marshall
asked for input and we all have some of that.There are just too many variables for
any one suggestion to cover the bases.""As for Project Patient Care, we are an
organization that is modeling partnership between providers and users, starting at
the board. We have never once claimed to be 100% consumer run or driven. However,
we did establish ourselves as an independent non-profit in reaction to a demand
from a healthcare provider organization that it have approval power as to which
consumers sat on our board. We said no and moved out. Interestingly, our ability
to do that was facilitated by a physician who respected that decision and gave us
the funds to become established as a 501c3 as his contribution to the principle of
always including the patient voice. Our board now includes a person who has
experienced multiple life-changing medical errors and has never worked for
healthcare. There is a prominent journalist/pundit on the board -- Michael
Millenson. We also include a healthcare professional who lost a family member to
medical error. As for me, I have worked for organized medicine but it was a long
time ago. Much more recently, I was intensively involved in caring for ill and
dying parents. I saw repeated errors, fired a doctor who wasn't meeting my
family's needs and, along with parents, my siblings and their spouses, repeatedly
intercepted errors that could have had unwanted and devastating outcomes. So, I
feel much more like a patient advocate than a defender of the system at this point
in my life. I do have hospital clients, but they hire me when they want help in
finding patients who will push them forward in becoming patient-centered. At
Project Patient Care, we like this model of partnership between providers and
users. In our experience, it produces better deliberation and better results when
diverse voices are listened to and each have weight. We're proud of the fact that
we are bringing the consumer voice prominently into the discussion of safety in
Chicago, not just in our own organization but in our community events. I hope this
helps clarify who we are and what drives Project Patient Care.""Martin J. Hatlie,
why do you think this will work differently than the other organizations? How are
consumers in themidst of a crises to know that *this* is the real deal
organization, and the other's aren't. How is this going to remedy on-going problems
caused by the harm? For example, my mom wasted 30 of her sixty SNF days recovering
from a hospital caused pressure sore. If she had not had the lung cancer
misdiagnosed, she really need some of those rehab days for recovering from the
hospital acquired paralyzation and if she had lived, mom and dad would have had to
go out of pocket for that cost or mom would have gone without. She was also running
through huge amounts of hospital days because the hospital was so poor. We could
have easily run through all of her medicare days without an ounce of improvement.
We made our complaints while mom was still in the hospital because we needed help
getting her out and because her pressure sore was getting worse. What is there in
this to accomplish an intervention for someone who is in the midst of bad care, not
a retrospective. Are these organizations going to take over the statutory
responsibilities of the QIOs and state survey organizations. Will they have the
authority to exclude doctors and hospitals from medicare. Will they have the
authority to declare an immediate jeopardy. Will they have the right to cut
hospital reimbursements. I understand having a place to complain, but my real
question is where the teeth come to actually make a change. Some hospitals care and
that is wonderful. But there are other hospitals that really don't and those are
the ones that are scary - and quite impervious to feedback. Our family has,
collectively, been at a lot of hospitals. Not all are a horror. But the ones that
are bad seem very entrenched in being bad.""Information is really great if you are
having a voluntary procedure, but sometimes you have no choice about where they
take you-- and the policy here is that EMT decides where you go, not choices. If
the Level One trauma center in the area is a death factory, and you have a level
one trauma, they're gonna keep hauling your butt back no matter how many times you
try to crawl away. And mom did try to crawl out of the hospital -- she didn't get
very far, but she did her best.""Debra, I think we are kind of agreed here. I
don't think another complaint system will work be the real deal more than the ones
that exist now. Rather than re-invent, lets fix what existing ones become the real
deal and handle complaints better. In addition I favor this new system AHRQ is
designing, which has a different goal. This is the system for those who want to
offer what they see to those in healthcare trying to improve it. The new system is
not the place to go if you want to make a complaint that law or regulation will use
their power to correct. It is the place to go to report information that will help
healthcare organizations learn. I think you need both kinds of systems, but they
are different. At least, I think so.""I have a couple concerns. One is that it
seems to me the priority needs to be to make the actually regulatory processes work
and to get them to be non-stove-piped. And they don't. Medicare has testified that
they don't. The second concern I have is based on the sheer frustration and
difficulty we had when we couldn't get mom out of a hospital that had caused her to
be paralyzed and starved. There are so many places you can call. Everyone wants
this huge amount of
data, that in the fog of a current problem is impossible to get. In fact, it is
really hard to get after the fact. Any place that isn't a solution, is, honestly, a
waste of time. And if QIO, the state survey agency, CMS OIG, CMS Ombudsman, and the
CMS regional office can't hand over the information, its really is an undue burden
on patients to have to file yet one more complaint, just for the purpose of
research. Mom was in the ICU and likely dying if I could not get her help. And
trying to get through the alphabet soup and palm-offs by people who would not help
was horrific -- even for someone who is pretty good about getting around federal
government agencies. And at the end, I failed and mom died in the most traumatic
of circumstances because we could not get her help. She was beaten because we
complained.The package of materials that we put together on our complaint about
mom's care after she died-- after round one resulted in an altered inspection
report-- was about 15 pounds of paper. We included, by complaint, the pages of the
medical record that pertained to our concerns. That too has done nothing. So it
seems to me that if you are going to do all of the work as to create yet another
round of paperwork demands on patients and their families, it should be a system
that holds the rest of the system accountable. Anything that registers complaints
without doing something in a direct and tangible manner about them puts a fig leaf
over the problem -- at great pain to some of us. The ""curiousity"" of researchers
is not a sufficient reason to put someone through this. That is my two cents. We
don't agree. I don't particularly want to be heard. I want to grieve. I don't care
to have my grief and my mother's suffering the subject of prurient observation. I
want the people who did this to us, intentionally, willfully, and sadistically,
brought to some sort of justice.""The Joint Commission has an extremely valuable
franchise thanks to federal statute. Why not require them as a condition of that
franchise to hand over the data you want, in the format you want. If not, they are
no longer have accreditation authority. Why not burden them, instead of patients?"
"Debra, I think getting regulatory processes or bodies to do their jobs more
effectively is an important goal, something your experiences seem to have
energized you to do something about. You sound like a human rights advocate to me,
and their are many human rights issues to tackle in health care. Your passion
comes through your posts.""Four rules in washington; 1) Information is power.
Someone proposes a solution that cuts you out of the information loop, it's a bad
deal for you. 2) He who has the money makes the rules. If you want to make real
change, not jawbone, find the persons who write the checks and and who get the
money from Congress and convince them. The policy wonks don't matter. The problem
with HHS is that it is overrun with policy wonks and no central check writer. 3)
avoid the slow roll. If someone offers you a ""solution"" that just gives them time
to avoid a solution, refuse. because the bureaucracy will see it as ""problem
solved"" and move on, and you wont get what you want. 4) If you want to make
people decide, create a cliff. Create penalties for not doing things. Make the
penalties as automatic (and not subject to political tampering) as possible."Socalled ���never events��� in medical facilities should be made public says
@DrMartyMD in his new book ���Unaccountable.��� http://amzn.to/PftwvCWhat a
great group!"Thanks, Deborah Hatter-Grant!""The Obama administration wants
consumers to report medical mistakes and unsafe practices by doctors, hospitals,
pharmacists and others who provide treatment."I'd be happier if he dealt with the
complaints he already has."Thanks for all your great comments on patient
complaints. I included several of your thoughts and suggestions in this story that
published today. As you can see, I linked back to the original Facebook discussion,
because there were so many interesting insights.""Thank you Marshall Allen for your
article which includes many useful links. I see you put in the link to ���A
Prototype Consumer Reporting System for Patient Safety Events.��� I wanted to
look into this.https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2012/09/10/201222028/agency-information-collection-activities-proposed-collection-comment-request"
"marshall, i think you wrote a great article and here's why. you did't merely write
an article about patients not reporting error/harm, you made the point that when
they don't (for whatever reason), this creates a danger for everyone. you hit the
nail on the head in my opinion! this is exactly the point i made with a local
cincinnati reporter last spring. he didn't seem to get it... thank you for making
that most important point."1. It is sometimes cheaper to let you die rather than to
treat you for a serious condition.
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1206862#.UGCYNi1v5a0.facebook#t=comments
New call in number is (646) 652-2105i will be listening!
"http://www.govhealthit.com/news/joint-commission-praises-620-hospitals-quality?
topic=30,31,34,19"
http://www.jointcommission.org/improving_americas_hospitals_joint_commission_annual
_report_quality_safety_2012/"One of those is the one that killed my mom. So, not
exactly the best of resources. And yes, the Joint Commission had proof of mom
being intentionally starved."Sounds like something for a Marshall/Elbert to
investigate."I am wrong. they were on last year, but not this. It really grated to
see them touting it.""#1 The chairman of Aetna, the third largest health insurance
company in the United States, brought in a staggering $68.7 million during 2010."
http://www.wcpo.com/dpp/news/region_northern_kentucky/florence/State-suspendsFlorence-doctors-license-says-15-patients-died-in-his-careHealth insurance
companies like to keep secrets. And they like to save money"Just an observation.
Billing fraud. Two day turn around to get a letter out of DoJ. Complaint about a
nice Grandmother being nearly starved to death, beaten, left to die... 377 days and
counting:http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/25/business/us-warns-hospitals-on-medicarebilling.html?hp""And I would note that I told Ms. Sebellius more than six months
ago that all but one of mom's H&Ps had been cloned by unscrupulous doctors, quite
notable because they record a surgery that mom obviously never had reported in the
first, incompetent H&P. Complaint obviously not read. Once again ... patients on
the forefront, completely ignored.. I am heading to the doctor's office to go read
some groundbreaking, totally innovative brochures, so I can get up to speed on that
patient empowerment thing. And for those of you who don't know me well, that is
irony.""And if I might note, I also wrote Mr. Levinson, HHS OIG, followed up
umpteen times with his staff, and got a letter from Jennifer Trussell of his staff
telling me to sit down and shut up.""If only I had filled out a brochure instead, I
am sure they would have listened..."immediately what hit me as i read this article
was the fact that doctors and hospitals are finding a new way to 'game the system'.
my god! when is enough going to be enough. is there no end to the greed? seriously!
"The taxpayer gets the same amount of respect as the medical injury victim. Once
they have started to game the system, they feel entitled to do it even more."
"We���re overdiagnosed, overprescribed and undereducated ��� the best thing
for medicine may be having less of it"If any of you have loved ones suffering from
cognitive issues you may be interested in this"""New York Times article about my
friend Jennifer In Memory of Jennifer C. Jaff. The swellin fof support and sharing
of her tremendous accomplishments is helping me, and many who knew her cope with
the devastating news of her passing. On September 30th at 11:00 PST we will be
lighting a candle Merced Gardens & Nursery in solidarity with many people across
the country to celebrate her life and legacey. Please join us if you can.""4. If I
prescribe a newer, more expensive medication, it may be because a drug rep just
left my office. They constantly bring us presents and flatter us, and their only
goal is getting us to prescribe the latest medication, which is usually no better
than the older ones.""1. ""We're not going to tell you your doctor is incompetent,
but if I say, 'You have the right to a second opinion,' that can be code for 'I
don't like your doctor' or 'I don't trust your doctor.'""""a nurse saved me when i
was in the hospital about a year ago. a doctor misdiagnosed me and my nurse knew
it. he ordered me to take a dangerous drug for a disorder i did not have. my nurse
came into my room and handed me information on the drug, looked me in the eyes and
said 'read this. by the way, you can refuse to take that just so you know'. i knew
what she was telling me.. 'don't take that!' i'm very thankful for that nurse!"
that's good to hear veronica... i'm quick to say the doctor who performed my
surgery acted criminally but i'm also quick to say i've had some good doctors and
nurses along the way too."I dido that, I had a amazing nurse after the surgery.."
"6. Even though I tell you to let your baby cry himself back to sleep once he's
older, don't ask me if I always followed that advice with my own kids. I didn't."
Please help support Jocelyn.terrible story out of the colorado chiropractic board
awesome mary-lou! so proud of what you're accomplishing in the midst of your
terrible loss.."I am asking for prayers. We have been working with a reporter for
over six months on what happened to mom. He has a kick butt story from what he has
told us. But it keeps getting kicked back and kicked back and we are getting
discouraged. Bluntly put. Its
been on the ""verge of being released' since mid-July. We have so little faith in
anyone at this point and we can't be think that it is politics. Can you pray or
send white light or whatever floats your boat that it will make it to press this
week?""Thank you so much Jennie. Although I have never met you, I often think of
your sister and I am so sorry that you have had such an awful loss.""Empathetic:
""The doctor tries to understand what I am feeling and experiencing, physically and
emotionally, and communicates that understanding to me.""""The avoidable death of
Albany Times Union reporter Mike Hurewitz is described in a chapter on med errors
in the new book ""Unaccountable"" by Dr Marty Makary. The paper ran many stories
about the tragedy in a New York City hospital but over the past 12 years has
ignored dozens of lawsuits alleging negligence filed against hospitals in its
circulatation area.http://www.northeasthealthclaims.com""Living donors die every
year in the US within 12 months of surgery (4.4 living kidney donors. and PS. 2
liver donors died in 2010). Even though the transplant centers are supposed to
report it to OPTN (UNOS' is only the contractor), but there is no mechanism of
quality control to ensure they do. Since there is no transparency for either the
hospitals nor OPTN, the media and public very rarely find out about the deaths. To
this day, btw, the transplant center responsible for Hurewitz' death lies to
prospective living donors about why he died. www.livingdonor101.com"interesting
site cristy! i have many issues with organ donation..."Ok, not a great article to
read before bed, I have only 1 kidney left."so sorry georjean... i thought about
you as i read this."As you might have guessed, I only have one kidney myself. I
realized, after my donation, that my experience didn't jibe with the public
conception of living kidney donation. I searched for support groups or resources
and found none, so I began reading journal articles. With each new revelation (How
can they have no data? What do you mean my blood pressure will go up? Chemotherapy
is nephrotoxic?!? Now I'm at greater risk of cardiovascular disease?!?!?), I was
thrown into a new panic and depression. It'd be neat and tidy to say I've gotten
over all of that four years post-donation, but it'd also be a lie. Like you, I have
to live with it every day, so it's impossible to get over. But I have taken the
approach that it's better to know my risks so I can try to prevent as much as
possible. I don't do everything I should, but I'm much more aware than I ever was
before, and I consider that a step in the right direction."very sorry cristy...
cases like yours and georjean's are the reason i have serious issues with organ
donation - living or otherwise. your cases need exposure! thanks for sharing...
"Important topic and quotes by The Empowered Patient Coalition.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-surgeon-switch20120923,0,3844888.story"Deborah Shelton is one of the few reporters who has given
attention to the neglect and deficiencies in the transplant system regarding living
donors.She was wonderful to work with - we spoke on the phone for several hours.
She is one of the most devoted and thorough reporters I have ever encountered.I
agree. We need a couple hundred more just like her
"http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-consent-form-tip-box20120923,0,999198.story"We picketed our hospital yesterday. mostly to get public
awareness and to get support for an inquest into Josh's death. While I was there I
had three people come to me with their horror stories from this hospital. It is
the worst in the area. I am praying for an inquest so they have to change the way
they treat people like my son.good for you mary-lou! hoping with you for a good
result here.."Brick by brick the wall of silence is coming down. This article by
Robert Pear is in Saturday's New York Times, about a proposal for a way to let
people report medical mistakes to the government.http://nyti.ms/PMGvVZ"Six thousand
plus dollars for a single insulin shot - described in this multi-item posting at
http://www.answersforlisa.blogspot.com"david, i disagree on one point. i don't
believe hospitals make billing 'mistakes'. i believe they overcharge on purpose.""I
think some do yes. What is amazing in this case is that the insurance paid the
claim. It wasn't until I asked the hospital for an itemized bill that it responded
with the letter, a letter that makes it sound as if it had discovered the
ovecharge.""david, i haven't been able to read all documents but i'm working on it.
there's so much information... it's great you are blogging about this! somebody
needs to hold their feet to the fire... it is amazing that insurance companies seem
to blindly pay out on these claims. united health care told me that they pay any
claim submitted to them as long as it's covered under the patient's plan. when i
asked them how they know a claim is legitimate, they told me that they trust that
doctors don't lie. that's nearly incomprehensible!"And people wonder why health
care costs are rising so much. This is one reason why.you're so right david and
there's no excuse for it!Call in number is (646) 716-4367glad you're talking about
tort reform deirdre.... pursuing a medical malpractice complaint is next to
impossible. i filed a complaint in 2008. i've been through several lawyers and i'm
now representing myself due to no other choice. my trial date has been moved many
times and is now set for 2014. tort reform has created a very very dangerous
medical environment for all of us. doctors know they can't be sued so they have
little incentive to 'first do no harm'. the judge over my case actually told me at
my last hearing that his own wife filed a malpractice complaint but she didn't win.
he went on to tell me 'you just can't win a medical malpractice case in this
county'. what does that tell you?great show deirdre! thank you for talking about
what very few are willing to talking about!you are welcome-we will continue this
show until we get justice. thanks for tuning in. please call in and talk we would
love to hear your stories.Is this radio show archived? I would like to go back and
hear it.In New York the task is how to interest one independent state politician in
legal change. Where in god's name can we find one independent(sans lobbyist money)
state politician??http://www.blogtalkradio.com/kingdomview/2012/09/21/life-radioshowher next show will be on at 8 p.m. est on thursday... she has a great guest
lined up for that show!"Excellent article on prescribed drugs.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/14/french-doctors-drugs-useless-dangerous"
"New article on overbilling. The article misses one consequence of this aggressive,
falsified billing. Incorrect medical records. In the second ER record, Mom had
recorded a ""normal"" neurological exam. Never happened and mom had preexisting
conditions that precluded one. In the first ER, the doctor recorded that Mom had
had a Coronary Arterial Bypass Graft surgery that she had never had. That
erroneous history was cloned probably a dozen times, and resulted in misdirection
on diagnosis and incorrect medicines that caused harm to her. Not a single doctor
questioned the inclusion of this item of the history, even though moment's view of
her chest (and lack of scarring) would make it clear that this surgery never
happened. She was also incorrectly recorded as having a history of pulmonary
embolism, which resulted in unnecessary procedures. Billing cheating can cause
serious patient harm.http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/22/business/medicare-billingrises-at-hospitals-with-electronic-records.html?hp""errors in medical records can
and do cause great harm and even death as in your mom's case debra. and getting
those errors corrected can be next to impossible; even when you find them. after
one of my e.r. visits, i noticed that the doctor i saw wrongly noted that i had an
alcohol abuse problem. i don't drink - never have. i contacted the hospital many
times to try and get this corrected. the process for getting this one thing
corrected was unbelievable! to make matters worse, the doctor who made the notation
was no longer working at the hospital. my efforts to get my record corrected were
all to no avail. so my e.r. record from university hospital in cincinnati says i
have an alcohol abuse problem.""Which means that if you ever go in with severe
abdominal pain or the like, the ER doc will decide that you are a ""drug seeker""
and that you are faking it, and therefore decide not to treat you. There really
should be a better remedy for slander in medical records.""It's one of the things
the integrated EHR folks did not factor in. How to get rid of the info from the
crazy docs that can screw up a patient for life. with paper docs, when you run
into one, you just switch docs and ""forget"" the name of the old doc. With this
new system one vindictive doctor can kill you by lying in your record and there is
not a darn thing you can do.""The new HIPAA (2003) and HITECH (2009) acts have
provisions for improved patient access and amendment to their Protected Health
Information. Google, ""45 CFR 164.524"". Plus, this link:
http://library.ahima.org/xpedio/groups/public/documents/ahima/bok1_048587.hcsp?
dDocName=bok1_048587""Another proactive way to know what is in your record is to
ask for a copy of todays information before leaving the facility. If you get a push
back, produce the following from your back pocket:
http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/special/healthit/eaccess.pdf"
"Doug, thank you for that information, but this is another theoretical ""right""
that everyone believes is true because earnest reporters and medical professionals
tell us its true,
but it is not. There is no real enforcement of HIPAA. A hospital is more likely
to burn down to the ground than have a serious fine for violating HIPAA. If you try
to get a serious medical error fixed in your medical records, it is more likely
that you as a male will give birth. The medical facility will stonewall telling
you that they refuse to change the information because it was accurate -- to do
otherwise would mean that they made a mistake. A medical provider is not going to
admit in writing to a mistake, and the intransigence will be worse the more serious
the mistake -- meaning the likelihood of harm to the patient goes up. If you try
to put your own correction in the record, you will brand yourself as a problem
patient, so there is no winning. The solution is that medical records belong to to
the patient, not medical providers. But that is not going to happen. If laws do
not have working enforcement mechanisms, it does not matter.""Pre-2003 HIPAA was
poorly enforced. HIPAA HITECH does enforce violations and non-compliance with huge
fines. The facility may refuse your request to amend your record if your request
includes one of the terms for denial. The old ways are changing, slowly. If you
take a copy of the law with you and speak to a department director you may have
better results.
See: 45 CFR 164.526(a) Right to Amend
-http://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/45/164.526""And I don't mean to be picking on
you, but i have fought many battles with medical providers to get records. Almost
all have only been settled with me pulling out my bar card. One ended with a
family member scheduling an appointment and walking the records when the doctor
left (after months of requests) In one instance, however, even that did not work.
The hospital mom was in refused for two months to give us mom's current medication
(with signed paperwork) even after there were multiple overdoses. Then they
refused to give us the CTs that showed she had lung cancer. All of which is sitting
up on the desk of a Regional Administrator at Medicare who refuses to enforce one
ounce of the law. All of my complaints stem from post-2009 and I will tell you I
fail to see a single glimmer of change. The problem is that one of the
""exceptions"" is that ""the records are accurate."" If the provider does not want
to admit a mistake, its a loophole the size of Missouri. And truthtelling is not
the strong suit of the medical profession.""And it has been sitting on that
administrator's desk for more than half a year, with a congressman's office
intervening, a teleconference with the regional adminstrator, promises of
""immediate action"" and it resulted in a patient death. Can you hear the
crickets? They have died of old age.""It seems like there also needs to be laws
that keep hospitals from suppressing some of the medical records that they feel
aren't pertinent. When a medical records system is setup with flags for suppress
y/n and patients can't get everything and have no clue what is missing and have no
say in what is suppressed it should be considered fraud, tampering and premeditated
intent to do harm and above all HIPAA violations. Doctors and facilities that do
harm and then are allowed to cover it up by suppressing records need to be
stopped.""Your not picking on me - I can appreciate all you've been through. These
issues are difficult to resolve after the fact. I encourage a different approach to
the healthcare community by enlisting a professional or family Patient Safety
Advocate to monitor care for best-practices 60 minutes per hour and to review
everything that is documented within 12 hours of it's entry. If you have evidence
that is documented, yes, res ipsa loquitur."Suppress y/n?? There are 10 reason why
a Covered Entity may deny access. See: CFR 164.524. There may be state laws that
are more restrictive but the facility should be able to show you the state laws.
The facilities can no longer make up their own rules.
http://library.ahima.org/xpedio/groups/public/documents/ahima/bok1_048587.hcsp?
dDocName=bok1_048587"what doug is saying might work if all things were equal but
they clearly are not as most of in this group know too well. i obtained a copy of
my record immediately after my surgery in 07. by the time i filed a malpractice
complaint a year later, my record had been altered. so even if you ask to see your
record after each visit, your record can easily be altered after that. and even if
your doctor freely admits they've altered your record, there's not one damn thing
you can do about it. i sent my doctor's testimony to the state medical board for
review; along with my altered records. they responded with 'maybe your doctor gave
false testimony'. there is no way to win. the deck is stacked against you in a big
way! specifically, my former doctor defended altering my record by stating ""this
chart is my record. this is my remembrance of events. this is for me"". further, in
reference to me merely inquiring about a note in my record, he said ""i thought it
was odd that she would be 'rifling' through my record..."" there are many doctors
who believe your medical records belong to them; not you. therefore, they have
absolutely no problem altering them.""We contacted patient advocacy. They were part
of the problem. The hospital refused to allow us ANY access to records for two
months. It's not a matter of a different approach. It is a broken system.This not
the only patient related group I am in. I have multiple rare diseases and I have
close network of other patient sites I am on. Access to records is a horrific and
continuing problem. Misrepresentation of patient information and status is a
terrible problem. Doctors sending out ""poison pen' letters to colleagues and
other blackballing techniques if a patient does not ""comply"" with unnecessary and
expensive testing, to the detriment of the patient, is not infrequent.""I have seen
dozens of poison pen letters posted by other patients -- usually they get them from
a decent doc who warns them. I have been the victim twice -- luckily my insurer got
copies and gave them to me. But trust me, mine were not in my medical records when
requested and others have found the letters to be missing also.We actually did two
data dumps from hospital radiology for mom. One was very early and surprise,
surprise, a very incriminating image showing the spine clearly broken went missing
from the records when provided several months later. there needs to be some
recognition on the part of regulators and ""advocates"" that much of this is not a
matter of people not getting along, there is a serious degree of malice in some
instances, which will not go away no matter how nicely or professionally one
addresses the matter. Dad was mom's advocate in the hospital for 15 years and very
successful at it. It is not that we did not know the medical system. It was that
there are some very evil people out there.""The examples on this forum are the
reasons why HIPAA HITECH 2009 was written. Yes, facilities had the attitude that it
may be your data but it's our paper. Electronic Health Records and this new law
will actually benefit patients and patient advocates. See 45 CFR 164.502,
164.510(b), 164.514, 164.520. Plus, complaints of violations and non-compliance can
now be made directly to your state attorney general because they are violations of
your Civil Rights.""Um our state attorney general has told us to go screw
ourselves. The hospital in question provides 15,000 jobs in our state. He frankly
does not give a damn.""Three weeks after that letter, he issued a press release
about his tireless multi-agency, federal/state efforts to protect roosters from
abuse."45 days until election day.same here in ohio debra. the attorney general
does not care about any of this. try reporting a hipaa violation and see how that
works out for you. nobody gives a damn about hipaa. i'm disabled for the rest of my
life due to blatant violation of hipaa privacy laws. nobody cares - nobody that is
except the person whose privacy has been violated."Unfortunately, this appears to
be a bii-partisan effort here where I am.""Thank you for your presentation
Partnership WITH Patients. I support your work. You presentation is wonderful."
http://www.propublica.org/article/now-on-nursing-home-inspect-140000-plusinspection-reportsThank You for posting this."well i've heard it all now. i just
got off the phone with someone from the state medical board of ohio. i called to
check the status of my complaint filed in may. the woman i spoke with was christa.
christa told me that it can take months to complete an investigation, blah, blah,
blah... i told her that it shouldn't take months in my case because i submitted the
sworn testimony of my doctor wherein he 'admitted he alters medical records and
obtains illegal consent for surgery'. you know what she said to me? she said
""well, maybe he lied."" i said ""excuse me, what do you mean well maybe he lied?""
she said ""i've personally given false testimony before."" i said ""why would you
do that?"" she said ""to get someone off my back."" i was speechless... when an
investigator from a state medical board defends a doctor's illegal/criminal
activity by stating ""maybe he lied. i've personally given false testimony
before'"". well, i don't know where a person does with that information....."Wow
hang in there - all I can say is some people just won't get it until it happens to
themshe called me back as they were leaving today. i think i am going to try to
call back tomorrow though. it's almost impossible to get through to someone but i
can write to them if i can't get through via the phone.i meant on monday....This is
what I would do. Write the board. Put the conversation in writing. Unbelievable.
Except it isn't. Nothing like admitting to perjury.Karen
what state are you in? Also I would love you Tonkin our group Citizens for Patient
SafetyThat is truly pathetic....they make it impossible for any of us to get help I
am so sorry"This comment/clinical note should have been shared with us. This topic
of conversation was never ever discussed. I/we were told I had Advanced stage of
kidney cancer TCC. I make my own medical decisions NOT my surgeon on a Presumption.
the beginning of the lies and deceit my surgery was the morning of 112/17/2008. Now
tell me what shouldn't be shared, wait till you see all the NO cancer testing
results between 10/2008 and 12/17/2008.""Looking at documents under Files and see
some medical records posted.As these documents are posted by individuals not
hospitals, those documents may not be applicable to the HIPPA requirements that
hospitals are under but some redaction of personnal identifable information may be
in order. Even if not required legally, this forum should practice the same
guidelines that we would consider patient harm in a clinical setting.""I don't
believe that we need to hide whom doctors have hurt or caused some death. This is
not a clinical setting and this is what I believe needs to be done. Date of birth,
social security number I wouldn't do that, but if they are dead because of medical
negligence, really does that matter. If they are showing it, it possible they
don't care. The main concern and purpose here is to let others see what some are
trying to cover up.""I want to say to the community of people who have lost hope.
I urge you not to let someone take your voice. Your voice is going to be the very
voice of change. Some may not understand because they haven't experience what you
have and never will, but never allow the doubts of others or their insecurities
make you not do what is right."thank you deirdre! thank you for being courageous in
the face of such personal tragedy. and thank you for being a voice for change!
"since individuals are the ones posting, why would HIPAA privacy laws apply here?
the only way this becomes an issue is if pro publica posts medical documents
without consent; which i'm sure they would not do. i see this as an non-issue."
"While the documents being posted imply the consent of the person who has posted
it, there is no signed consent documenting this. Also if the document is not
posted by the individual who's record it is they may not be legally entitled to
post the document.While Propublica isn't doing the direct posting, they are hosting
the post and if said document are there w/o consent then they can possibily be held
liable for the posting. Not trying to cause trouble. Trying to keep this forum out
of trouble.""And I am a firn believer in practicing what you preach. If we feel
that exposure of medical records to the public by medical facilities is harmful to
patients, then we ought to live up to that same standard.""Hipaa does not prevent
me from doing anything I want with my medical records. I can post them in Times
Square if I want. The ""guidelines"" of scrubbing all useful information about
medical wrongs is part of why we can't get the problem fixed. Who, what, where,
when, how. I refuse to be treated like a 1950's rape victim where being mistreated
is supposed to make ME feel ashamed and the whole social fabric is set up to
protect the evil-doer from facing what he did. I refuse to be stigmatized by
someone else's wrong. I refuse to live my life having people trying to make me feel
ashamed of what someone else did and saying I can;t talk about it. I agree, no
socials, but other than that, what did you think needs to be taken off? Names? the
doctors, nurses and institutions that did wrong. The embarrassing personal
information? The ugly pictures of what was done to people that make others cringe?"
"agree with debra completely! having said that, marshall do those of us who have
uploaded/posted medical docs need to sign a consent of some sort to keep this forum
out of trouble? please advise...""The documents can and should be posted. And any
redaction I referred to was the patient involved. Only the patient. Staff,
institutions should be fair game.""The point, Cary, is who is charge. A nurse has
no right to decide what should happened to my information or my body. I do. It's a
question of patient autonomy and rights. Hipaa has nothing to do with a fear that
the public might actually find out what medical professionals are doing. Why should
the patient info be pulled out? It happened to them. If they want to share why
not? Or is it that you are afraid the doctors and nurses and hospitals will be
embarrassed about their conduct? if someone posts something they have no right to
post, the owner can sue the publisher. The law is very clear on protecting the
rights of board owners.""Hi Cary Parks, thanks for bringing up such an interesting
point. But I do have to disagree with you. Members of this group own their own
medical records, so they have every right to do what they want with them. The
privacy laws prevent exposing these records without an individual's consent, which
is a much different thing than a person deciding to post their own records to
verify their story. I would say that people should be careful about posting any
medical records, and should definitely redact private info that could be
compromised. But there is no legal problem with someone posting their own records.
And it also doesn't violate the principles of patient privacy because the whole
point is that a patient has the right to do what they want with their private
information. Do you disagree?""How are we going to guarantee that the person
posting the records was indeed the person directly giving the consent. If I have a
copy of your record somehow and posted it to this forum without your consent, is
that proper? And should that be moderated?If you read my post in this forum about
my brother's radiation tradegy, you would see that I have no compunction at all
with exposing my brother's story via the New York Times, Congressional hearings and
now this forum. But if I were to post any of his medical records, I would seek a
signed consent from his widow and redact any information identifying him. I would
not redact the instution or the clinical staff involved.""The law is that if you
invade privacy rights of a third party, it is between you and the third party. It
is of no interest to the board owner. In fact, I think that if the board owner
tried to regulate it, and did a poor job of doing so, it there would be more
possibility of liability than by doing nothing. but I am sure Propublica has good
lawyers.""Cary Parks, you can see the name of the person who uploaded the file, for
one thing. But the bottom line is that you are asking for a standard here that is
impossible to maintain. Do you think that we can verify anything that is said in
this group? It's very difficult when there are nearly a thousand members, and
that's not a standard that we are trying to set. I would say that this forum -like any social media forum -- is limited by the fact that it's pretty much
impossible to verify the things that are said in it. That's sort of understood with
social media, I think. But that doesn't mean it's flawed. It just is what it is."
"By the way, Cary Parks, do you see medical records that appear to have been
uploaded by someone who does not have a right to upload them? If so, please be
specific. But it sounds like you just don't agree with the principle. And that's
OK, too. We can agree to disagree. I understand your concern. It's certainly
valid.""Another very timely post for me. Thank you for this information. If I did
get a response from the 'watch dog' gov't agencies - they all state confidentiality
must be strictly observed - no mention of hospital or physician names. My reply
was always I wanted to be totally transparent - they found this rude.... - I intend
to send several documents from my records as well as all correspondence on their
stationary marked as Exhibits - no redacting. I have not uploaded any online todate. I won't upload anything here if that is PP's wish. IF we go silent, we can
help no one. That is not an option for me."a agree with michelin... going silent is
not an option for me either!"I agree with the difficulty to monitor this but
document posting recommendations may be in order.All, pleaes understand that I am
not trying to cause trouble. I think this forum will be a wonderful resource for
all involved and may provide Marshall with material for publishing in ProPublica.
I am a big believer in activism via social media (BTW Marshall PP is one of the
best!) and it is time for patient safety to harness this resource. I just wanted
to insure that we were addressing this issue as a group before it became a
potential problem.""Michelin, Robin,If you read my earlier posting about my
brother, I can assure you I am not the silent type.""I understand your concern,
Cary Parks, and we'll discuss it with our team here again. But you also have to
realize that there is tremendous value in allowing people to post their own medical
records, because it can verify their story. That adds a lot of weight to what that
patient is saying, and makes that story much more difficult to dismiss. Also, let's
pretend we did try to set a standard where we would ""verify"" each person had a
right to post any records that were posted. How would we do it? The point is, we
cannot verify these things with absolute certainty, nor is it necessary for us to
do so. And we're transparent about that fact. So far we have not seen a case where
someone seems to be posting records that they have no right to post. (You'll also
see that very few people have posted any records at all.) That doesn't mean that
the issue couldn't arise, but also realize that we've
been doing this for a little while so far and it hasn't become an issue yet."
http://olenderfeldman.com/privacy/how-can-they-post-that-understanding-thecommunication-decency-act"cary, i went back and read your brother's story. i'm very
sorry for what your family has endured... thanks for sharing here. when one of us
shares, it benefits all. now that i've read your posts, i'm even more perplexed by
your posts here regarding posting of medical records and privacy issues.""Thanks
Debra.. ""websites that post only user submitted content (even if the website
encourages or pays third parties to create or submit content) are protected under
the CDA, and immune from liability, with two major exceptions. The CDA does not
immunize against the posting of criminally illegal content (such as underage
pornography), and it does not immunize against the posting of another���s
intellectual property without permission.""""You are not a silent one Cary - I was
needing this guidance you have provided and did not read all before I posted. I am
not medically trained - only know patients really do have stated rights, but, I
have been told just the opposite by several Federal and State agencies. When one is
conscientiously lied to by so many - one hesitates - momentarily only but you do
get the heebie geebies and it is good to see daylight here.
You can relate your
experience to people, but, if they have not experienced something similar - it is
hard for them to accept medical professionals lie. The proof is in one's records and staff who sees what is going on. Thanks for what you have shared earlier that I
have not read and for your comments in this thread. Attorneys do not want a client
sharing too much. You have caused me no trouble Cary - sorry if I made you feel
that way.""This has been a good discussion, and I'm glad that Cary Parks raised
this issue. There is much confusion about patient privacy laws, including within
the medical profession itself.""Cary Parks - I am so sincerely sorry for you and
your family's great loss. I have no words to express my gratitude for your sharing
your story so that others may be more aggressive, careful . Unfortunately,
lobbyist/marketing has taken a great deal of time to smearing certain big legal
cases - the victim, not the one charged. People tend to only read and semi
comprehend what has truly been done. It's really hard to read these stories and
know it can happen to anyone.""I'm ok and encouraged by this discussion.Robin,
sorry for perplexing you but I point back to those NYT articles as an example of
what can be exposed and lead to monumental improvement in the safety of patients
while guaranteeing the privacy of my brother's medical record. While my family had
multiple discussion with the NYT reporter (Scott's widow could not discuss anything
with NYT due to litagation), no records were ever released.Lack of the records was
never a limitation. Diligent journalistic investigation led to a series of
articles (links are posted) that led to congressional hearings that led to FDA
oversight and vendor improvements to not only insure that the equipment would be
modified to not ""stick wide open"" as it did in my brother's case but also to add
radiatio dosage measurement devices to xray and ct devices. These dosage records
can be included in the medical record and monitored for cumulative exposure. An
enourmous impact to all of us and didn't require any release of my brother's
medical records beyond immediate family.While we lucky that NYT took an interest in
this issue and the subsequent exposure led to important national action, I believe
social networking such as this forum and socially responsible organizations such as
Probublica can lead us to the same goals but believe me it is a long hard road and
takes committment, courage and time to get there. But every time i visit my
parents and see their wall of Scott's pictures and a picture of my Dad testifying
in front of congress, I know it was all worth it."thanks for the further
explanation cary. i understand your concerns better... it's nice to see where
something good and worthwhile can come from something so tragic. glad you shared
here."One thing that this is really useful for is that it seems that the process of
getting information out is really broken. So, a reporter who wants to talk about
this either has to hope the right person will find him/her and that official
sources come clean. As family, we have found it a very hard to find people who are
interested in a story. and many reporters say, well, if I had two stories that
were the same... well the likelihood of that happening is like lightening striking.
So having a ""clearning house"" that has real names and gives reporters some idea
of who really has ""the goods"" is a help to making things better.""I think that
finally medicine is getting to the level of every other type of business, If you
refer to something like ""Angie's list"" consumers are able to voice good and bad
and name employees and businesses. We are healthcare consumers and when things go
WRONG we need to be screaming it to the world. My medical records my story. All
40lbs will be published if for nothing else but a learning tool for patients
(consumers) and the medical profession. There was no reason to be in the ""BEST
HOSPITAL"" (per consumer reports) and go through what I went through, Unacceptable
and Unaccountable. Plus if all these Doctors and Hospitals can advertise their
GREAT achievements I can advertise the HORRIBLE achievements, I AM PROTECTING the
next innocent victim. Silence is allowing someone else to possibly be placed in
harms way.""that's right georjean.. silence is not golden when it comes to speaking
out about dangerous doctors, hospitals, medicine, etc."May I need to start a
service like Angie's list for healthcare and tell the good with the bad.
"www.ratemd.com is good, but the docs try to do gag agreements and threaten
litigation""My bigger question is how do we have animal rights groups the protect
animals from research studies, but we don't seem to have that for Humans..."yeah
they have Health Grades-I sent a letter in and I want you to start writing to this
entity as well.To Marshall please read the letter I sent to Health Grades because
this is the entity that is being used for doctors and hospitals. I attached it in
an earlier post."We review all submissions. The purpose of review is to ensure that
procedures discussed are ""on-label"" meaning the US Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) has cleared the treatment(s) discussed; that privacy of friends and family is
protected; to ensure that stories are about da Vinci procedures and to ensure
content is appropriate for a general audience.
http://www.davincistories.com/web/davincistories/about"this site will never tell of
patient harm.interesting site georjean! i can see that they only post positive
stories about the robot. i read one woman's testimonial where she said she only had
three puncture wounds - only three. this woman was 73 and underwent a hysterectomy.
how sad that this poor woman let a doctor looking for practice with his robot
perform a surgery on her that she didn't even need. many of the testimonials are
sad..."Thought you all would be interested in this: Now On Nursing Home Inspect:
140,000-Plus Inspection Reports http://www.propublica.org/article/now-on-nursinghome-inspect-140000-plus-inspection-reports"Nice work! Anyone interested in the
quality of care in nursing homes will be blown away by what this tool reveals."Wow,
you all amaze my with what you are doing. Thank you all.""Wow, I looked at the
inspection reports for the two snfs mom was at and boy, are those inspections a
world different than the inspection done at the hospital.""One of the places got
written up because the inspection report wasn't in the main waiting room. I hate
to say it, but it just made me laugh."It is great to have all of these available.A
doctor advocating transparency. And a newspaper practicing suppression. Who would
have thought it would happen? http://bit.ly/R3l30l"As I have been scanning all my
medical records I just came across something of great concern. Up until this very
minute I was told I had a Laparoscopic left nephrourecterectomy. Why did I just
find an Operative Note like this - ""She underwent a ROBOTIC ureteral nephrectomy
with lymph node dissection.""
My doctor never ever discussed ROBOTIC with anyone
and I NEVER gave consent for ROBOTIC anything. From my research I know now,this is
something Dr Castle promotes and is very very involved in."Talk about UNACCOUNTABLE
Excellent book"Marshall Allen just interviewed Dr. Makary about the book, and his
thoughts on the system. Check it out: http://www.propublica.org/article/qa-martymakary-m.d.-author-of-unaccountable""Um, we're not in Kansas anymore? More like
down the rabbit hole and through the looking glass.""What a fantastic article, it
gives us all Hope for a better system. I also applaude Dr Makary, we need so many
more like him to break the silence.""Using robots allows doctors to do complicated
surgeries less invasively meaning many patients can get back to their lives faster
and with fewer complications.
LOL...
http://kaaltv.com/article/stories/S2594905.shtml?cat=10799"We need discussion on
the patients that get severely injured and lay for 2 days in a hospital and go
into SEPTIC SHOCK..."those robots cost a fortune! guess how they pay for them? they
do surgery after surgery after surgery using them. sometimes they inform patients
they are using a robot and sometimes they don't. often, when they do inform
patients about the use of a robot, they don't tell them the risks involved. there
are many patients who have been seriously harmed via these 'miracle robots'!
stories of harm are all over the net.""You know,
that is a good question. How do you actually clean one of those. I mean if NIH is
pulling plumbing apart to get rid of Klebsellia, how do you clean a robot for the
next patient, who might be in the next 15 minutes."why is that because they don't
have the training themselves"just one of the many comments i found on the web
regarding robotic surgery... ""has anyone had one of the surgical tools fall off
this robot? in my surgery, a tool fell off in me the dr. had to look for 1 hour to
find it in my body she found it using x-ray but from all the poking around i am
extreamly painful!""""Two more comments... Angela said ""The Da Vinci surgery
ruined my life - lets see it this gets posted - if so I will elaborate in detail the training these surgeons receive is hardly enough to prepare them for how to
deal with the possible occurrence of complications - the vaginal cuff failed three
times and I had two intraabdominal abscesses then following that two bowel
obstructions from the scar tissue that formed and now reoccurring formation of scar
tissue in my abdominal cavity I had a minimally invasive procedure that lead to 11
follow up surgeries - four of which were emergency life saving following MY da
vinci hysterectomy..."" Then, Lauren said ""Angela...I am glad I read your comment.
My mom had her davinci hysterectomy November 29 2011 and she is still having
complications. Her doctor brushed his hands of her. I have taken her to like 35
doctor appointments since then for help. WARNING do not have it done!""""the
following article discusses the cost of the da vinci robot and also the risks of
robotic surgery, etc.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304703104575173952145907526.html"DOMO
ARIGATO MR. ROBOTOI actually had 14 surgeries and 4 or 5 blood transfusions and
still need more surgery for multiple hernia repairs."georjean, that is nearly
incomprehensible! i'm so sorry!!!!""http://www.escapefiremovie.com/I just heard
about this film, which takes its name from a book by Don Berwick. I sure hope it
elucidates what's really wrong with American healthcare and why we do not have the
""best healthcare in the world"" and rises above the political noise. Some of the
subjects (Berwick, Shannon Brownlee, Dean Ornish) will be familiar to those in the
patient-safety movement."Thanks for posting; looks like an interesting film.IS THIS
A FILM BY THE TEA PARTY GROUP D.P.M.A?No. They certainly wouldn't be featuring
Berwick. They torched his nomination.Are there any new york residents on this
facebook group? Are there any families that have had bad experiences with the
giant medical fortress known as new york presbyterian hospital in New York City?
"Steven, please read my earlier posting about my brother. Happened at St. Vincents
though not NYPH."how far back is the post12 -13 posts below yours."There are
approx. 95,300 metal on metal recipients out there, and i believe it is time to
organize all of us before we start dying off of cobalt/chromium poisoning. i
already have written myself off as there is no help out there for us. I am
planning to donate my body to science so others don't have to suffer as I have.
Cobalt/chromium has no place in the human body""Hence forth I should be addressed
as ""lab rat"".""That is so sad. I don't know if this is acceptable, but I listen
to Ring of Fire on the radio, and one of the host's, Mike Papantonio is a lawyer
whose firm is working on the hip implant case: http://www.levinlaw.com/ There is a
lot of info on their website.""Been there as a matter of fact i have applied to his
law firm. the problem is they only take depuy asr and i have a pinnacle. my
acetabular component that has subluxed the day it was put in to almost 20
times/dayshearing cob/chrom. and as a result i have large amounts of ions in my
blood and there is no medical data on the effects. i, however am under attack at
every level and i am sure this is killing me."METAL SCREWS ARE MADE OF TITANIUMTHE
PROBLEM WITH COB/CHROME IS SHEARING OF METAL IN THE TISSUE AND IONS IN THE BLOOD.
UNLESS THEY ARE LOOSE TITANIUM IS RELATIVELY SAFE."TITANIUM IS AN ALLOY, COB/CHROM
IS A HEAVY METAL POISON""I WANT TO MAKE A SMALL CORRECTION; TITANIUM IS GENERALLY
INERT, HOWEVER, TITANIUM SHOULD BE CLOSELY LOOKED AT WHEN USED IN DENTAL WORK. AND
FOR ANYONE THAT HAS TO HAVE METAL PLATES ATTACHED TO THEIR BONES, THERE IS A FAR
LESS PAINFUL ALTERNATIVE, TRUE FLEX RODS WHICH ARE A STAR SHAPED ROD THAT IS
DRILLED IN TO THE BONE AND IS INSIDE THE BROKEN BONE. AND ONCE HEALED IS REMOVED
EASILY. FOR BACK SURGERY I RECOMMEND B.A.K. CAGES. THEY ARE IMPLANTED THROUGH THE
ABDOMEN AND DON'T REQUIRE CUTTING THROUGH THE DEEP MUSCLES OF THE BACK.""I have
another topic. What standard of proof does your state require before imposing
discipline upon Medical professionals? I recently received a letter from the
Virginia Board of Nursing positing that the standard is ""clear and convincing
evidence"" which is a really high standard-- nearly the standard you would need to
convict someone of murder. I have spent the evening going through the regs, the
laws, the case law. There is absolutely no legal basis for that high standard. I
also looked at the Virginia FOIA laws and once a case is closed, its fully subject
to public disclosure. Letter saying I could not get the info I requested was
wrong. Here is a good court case explaining why the lower standard of proof is
appropriate. http://caselaw.findlaw.com/wa-supreme-court/1368417.html"In Texas the
standard of proof is high. It states that we must prove that the healthcare
provider did what they did with willful and wanton negligence and that we had to
prove the mental state of the physician or healthcare provider at the time of the
injury or death. The Fort Worth Court of Appeals notes that it is doubtful that an
expert report would ever be able to contain an opinion regarding whether the doctor
or healthcare provider acted with willful and wanton negligence. It also states
that this standards effectively codifies a lower standard of healthcare for
emergency medical care.Is this for malpractice or for removal of license? It's
just crazy. Don't these legislators have kids that might get brought to the ER?
"this is for malpractice but if you can't prove it or if they don't report the
adverse action then the removal of license is not going to happen. this is the
problem with the National Practitioner Data Bank which is this secret data base
that keeps all these doctors histories secret, but it is the responsibility of
hospitals to report the doctors but they don't. In my daughter's case they did not
tell anyone she had died. It has become a web of deceit.""that seems to be just
the heart of the problem. Everyone wants reports but nobody wants verified data, so
the hospitals just lie with no consequences"You don't irradiate loose metal. It
can fry things."That's why the consent forms ask if you have any loose metal. But
oh wait, this whole darn thing was done without consent.""debra, you hit the nail
on the head!""It just seems to me that having a license to practice as a medical
professional should not require ""clear and convincing"" evidence to revoke. It's a
privilege and if anything, continuing fitness should be the onus of the licensee,
rather than the onus to prove conclusively not on the licensor. Can you imagine if
the same standard was for revoking the licenses of drunk drivers?""Marshall Allen,
In the patient harm questionnaire, I said No/Uknown to medical records altered, I
have just now Validated that my medical records have most definitively been
altered.""My angel Dr had updated her records to reflect this - As I have been
scanning all my medical records I just came across something of great concern. Up
until this very minute I was told I had a Laparoscopic left nephrourecterectomy.
Why did I just find an Operative Note like this - ""She underwent a ROBOTIC
ureteral nephrectomy with lymph node dissection."" My doctor never ever discussed
ROBOTIC with anyone and I NEVER gave consent for ROBOTIC anything. From my research
I know now,this is something Dr Castle promotes and is very very involved in."UGH!
Sorry I don't know her name but a health journalist from the Chicagi Tribune has
been investigating some of the surgeries that fudged about informed consent. With
some searching might be able to find her.Claudia Kim Nichols Is it Deborah Shelton?
Possibly. Or she might help direct to the individual investigating."OK - I'll make
that change, Georjean."Interesting google search term - davinci robotic surgery
erik castle"Here are some more questions. The Medicare State Survey Manual
indicates that complaints should be elevated if the patient is able to get
publicity. Is that fair for those who are less well connected? ""If a complaint is
especially significant, sensitive, or attracting broad public or media attention,
the SA informs the RO immediately. PFW `""http://www.cms.gov/Regulations-andGuidance/Guidance/Manuals/Downloads/som107c05.pdf.
So, if you are an owner of the
Sun Times and a friend of the president, you get immediate justice. If you are a
regular person, you don't. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-0414/business/ct-biz-0415-uofc-tyree-20110414_1_medicare-and-medicaid-servicesmidwest-business-group-medical-facilities.""Dennis Quaid, do you think that it
would be right that because you are famous, something would be done about what
happened to your kids, but if it were someone who was poor, uneducated and without
resources, Medicare would pay less attention to it? How would your feel if you
knew the hospital had made the same mistake many times but because the victims were
not connected with the media, it went unaddressed?""I guess that when we have
problems with a hospital, we don't need to hire a lawyer, we need to hire
a publicist. Anyone want to ask kathleen sebelius about that one. email address
is [email protected].""I'm just glad I am not driving people nuts. The
hospital Mom was at made us take care of her 24/7 in the ICU, I got the night
shift, so between moments of terror when the oxygen tube would fall apart, I would
try to be quiet. So, I started reading the Medicare regulations, and the guidances
and the manuals. I think I have read most of it -- doesn't mean I remember it all.
So, I am posting what I remember that I think folks would like to see. We get the
same response from Sebelius too, but sometime we also get a letter from the person
we complained about asking us not to bother the secretary. So, at least someone at
Medicare is experiencing some momentary annoyance.... Gotta take your wins . I
bet that if Marshall Allen or Charles Ornstein emailed her, they would get a
response, because they are important people. The manual says so. I bet that if
Dennis Quaid emailed her, he would not get just the form letter. I bet he'd get a
real letter.
Who thought that when you went to the hospital, you needed to bring
your own publicist with to deserve being kept safe?"the immediate jeopardy one I
just posted should have much fodder.It would be interesting to see if there is a
single person with a serious injury who has had a positive experience with this
process.I removed my comment - I am too tired tonite and will attempt again
tomorrow. Thanks for all the info. I don't suffer from cognizant dissidence I
suffer from PTSD - it's been like a war to survive the insults heaped on top of
injury."Big hug Michelin Anderson, it is a WAR innocent victims abused by the
medical system.""I am very interested in this subject as my brother Scott was
diagnosed with stage 4 tongue cancer after working at Ground Zero. He elected to
be treated with targeted radiation via linear accelerator. A risky undertaking
under any circumstances.
A computer error and inadequate monitoring allow the
machine to blast Scott with Chernobyl level radiation; not just at the cancer but
his whole head and neck. After several year of brave survival, Scott passed away
in 2007. His autopsy was attended by Army surgeons who were interested in the
effects of such devastating radiation and it was a rare opportunity for them as
this level of radiation doesn���t occur very often.His plight (and that of many
others) was documented by a series of New York Times articles. These articles led
to Congressional hearings and subsequent reaction from the FDA and the radiation
equipment community.I have pulled together a list of articles collected during our
family���s (and Scott���s last wishes) to see that some good came from this
tragedy. While benefits are slow in coming, I do believe some improvement have
been made but there is much left to do."
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/01/24/us/20100124RADIATION1_index.htmlMy Dad
testifying in front of Congress.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/27/health/policy/27radiation.html?ref=waltbogdanich#
"Hi Cary Parks, thanks for sharing your story. So sorry to hear about your
brother's tragic death. That was an important series of stories about radiation in
the NYT.""Thanks, Marshall. Will continue to post the library of articles for
resource material for this group."FDA and equipment manufacturer reaction to
Congressional oversight."Radiation Bills Raise Question of Supervision
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/26/us/26radiation.html?ref=waltbogdanich&_r=0"Sorry
that the links aren't embedding properly but they will go to the appropriate
article."As Technology Surges, Radiation Safeguards Lag
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/27/us/27radiation.html?ref=waltbogdanich""F.D.A.
Toughens Process for Radiation Equipment
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/09/health/policy/09radiation.html?ref=waltbogdanich"
"Safety Features Planned for Radiation Machines
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/10/health/10radiation.html?ref=waltbogdanich""A
Pinpoint Beam Strays Invisibly, Harming Instead of Healing
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/29/health/29radiation.html?ref=waltbogdanich""Hi
Cary Parks - another way to house these more permanently, would be to put them in a
single document and then post them in the ""files"" section of this page. This post
will get buried as other people post and comment on things, but having the links to
the stories in the files section is a good way to keep them more permanent."How
about both? I agree with it getting buried and the file section is a good
repository but I was hoping to stimulate some good conversation but posting en
masse right now. Is that okay to do both?"F.D.A. Urges Two Steps for Safer CT
Scanshttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/09/health/policy/09scan.html?ref=waltbogdanich"
Assorted articles about overuse of radiation."Medicare Claims Show Overuse for CT
Scanninghttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/18/health/18radiation.html?
ref=waltbogdanich""Bad X-Rays Found Again at a Brooklyn Poor Patients Rights
Connecticuthttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/13/nyregion/13radiation.html?
ref=waltbogdanich&_r=0"One more to post but hit my NYT limit at work. Will post
the last article from another PC and also post to Files for long term resources.
"Marshall, thanks for starting a valuable social project. I believe that this
resource can give rise to a constuctive dialog that can include the public and the
medical community for the common good of us all.""Also, I am prepared to go outside
this country for care.""who would have thought this necessary... i know so many
people, including myself, who are right there with you.""The bottom line is that
you (patient) has to be completely involved in the entire process from care....and
post surgery. I was left in a post op room after surgery and was trying to talk
for help, the nurses were discussing the night before when they partied, what they
wore, etc. I couldn't believe it, they acted annoyed when they heard my request
for help....scary I say to be prepared for all aspects of your care.""Another good
reason to enlist a professional or family Patient Safety Advocate to monitor for
best-practices patient care 60 minutes per hour. And have your comfort, safety and
involvement given the priority it deserves as a paying consumer of healthcare
services.""Doctors need to make room for disagreement with patientsby Ishani
Ganguli, MD on September 17th, 2012in PhysicianWhile our dad was in the hospital
last winter, my brother shared with me his strategy for talking to the doctors we
encountered ��� an approach honed over ten years of marriage to an internist and
dozens of pediatrician visits for his two little boys. He asked smart questions
that used medical terms to earn their respect, he told me. He was appropriately
deferential, admitting his lack of clinical experience. If he disagreed, he gently
offered empirical evidence to support his argument and then hoped that the doctor
listened and didn���t get defensive.That���s a tall order, even for the
savviest of patients.I���ve written before about shared decision making: the
idea that for medical decisions in which there is no clear right or wrong answer,
doctors and patients should collaborate on choosing a path that best fits the
patient���s preferences. The success of this approach rests on the ability of
patient and doctor to have a frank conversation. But this has been historically
difficult and a study that was published last week in the Archives of Internal
Medicine helps explain why.California-based researchers surveyed 1340 adult
patients about a hypothetical scenario of deciding on a treatment for heart
disease. Almost all of them reported that they���d be comfortable asking their
doctors questions about the options (93%) and stating their preferences (94%). Good
news so far. But only 14% said they would tell their doctors if their preferences
clashed with the doctor���s advice ��� not because they couldn���t express
this disagreement, the survey results suggested, but because they felt it was
socially unacceptable to do so and wouldn���t end well. Many feared being seen
as a difficult patient; others worried that they would hurt the doctor-patient
relationship or would get in the way of their care.The part that most struck me was
that factors like age, income and education level didn���t predict a
patient���s willingness to disagree (neither, for the record, did the existence
of true heart disease, extent of their medical issues, or race). The only predictor
of voiced disagreement was a general preference for making one���s own medical
decisions.In the clinic where I practice, most patients are Massachusetts General
Hospital employees. While their jobs range from cashier to cardiologist, their
education levels and health literacy tend to be above average. Yet, I���ve seen
many of my patients fall into the same traps described in the study. Though they
often have the background to say ���I���m sorry, I don���t mean to be a
difficult patient,��� they still worry about being one.It���s an important
reminder to myself and other doctors to make room for disagreement: To ask,
explicitly, what is your preference? And then to say, explicitly, it���s truly
up to you.What have your experiences been? How do you make your preferences known,
especially when they are at odds with your doctor���s recommendations?Ishani
Ganguli is a journalist and an internal medicine-primary care resident who blogs at
The Boston Globe���s Short White Coat, where this article originally appeared.
Tagged as: Primary care""Yes I agree with letting go of doctors who can not and
will not treat what needs to be treated. One of the advantages that I had was that
I had a background in medical coding and billing. I knew the medical terminology
that was
being used and if I didn't I looked it up. Having knowledge of what is going on
is going to protect you and your loved ones. I had a doctor to tell me that my
daughter did not have seizures by simply tapping her on her knee. I asked him did
he get that from medical school because he did not even take an Cat Scan. This is
the problem we are facing. You know more about you or your loved ones more than
the doctors and I made the doctor understand this is not about your degree but it
is about my daughter's life. I know what she need and since you don't pay for it,
give her what she needs. If that was not accommodated, I found someone who would."
"Our Governor was joined by Senator Jane Nelson and State Representative John
Zerwas. Would you think this is a conflict of interest since he works for Memorial
Hermann Hospital, a board member of Memorial Hermann Hospital making over $850,000
a year and he was appointed by the Governor over the Appropriations Committee who
funds any bill, resolution or state agency, and the Health and Human Services who
are supposedly protect public health. How is that possible when you have this web
of deceit.""This is what they call Agency Capture-John Zerwas is one of our State
Representatives, but he also sits on board of a hospital in Houston as well as
being appointed over two state agencies. Appropriations Committee who is
responsible for funding any bill, resolution or state agency and The Health and
Human Services who is responsible for the protection of public health. He is a
board member, an employee of the very hospital that was responsible for my
daughter's death. But look at the convenience of him being friends with the
Governor who supports the ""Tort"" Reform."they don't want you to see this I guess.
Sounds like an interesting movie.If we can get 5 funders in the next 2 hours we
will break the record for the most backers on Medstartr and help pay for food and
transportation for patients at the Partnership with Patients Summit!
http://www.medstartr.com/projects/35-the-walking-gallery"Whoo Hoo even patients
need to eat..Glad to help How did we do? I pushed it out to my 5000 followers on
twitter and it looks like we go over $10,000"Great Work!!!!Now lets see who can
figure out the million dollar question: HOW DOES SOMEONE RECEIVE HEART SURGERY by
MISTAKE? Examine the medical record"I wanted to share this with you:
https://www.ctlanet.org/index.cfm?pg=Case%20of%20the%20Year"please watch the first
video."watched the first video. it's good that this family was compensated with
money as they certainly deserve it. however, no amount of money will ever make up
for the horror and injustice of what was done to them! this did not happen via a
mistake. it was intentional and so was the cover-up. those responsible should be
behind bars!""Oregon got $1.9 billion federal funds to revamp its Medicaid program.
One foundational idea: pay doctors for the quality of health care they provide,
rather than the quantity, and eliminate expensive care that doesn't improve health.
The article below has more from Oregon's governor on how they plan to do it.What do
you think: will it work? What kind of obstacles might they face? Do you know of
other states with similar models?""It's interesting that they hope to make their
biggest savings in reducing hospitalization of people with chronic conditions that
can be managed at home. Not a bad idea if the planning is done right and the
necessary resources are in place -- an important ""if."" I do feel a lot safer at
home than in a hospital, especially from infection. And I get a lot more rest. Very
hard to sleep in hospitals!""Very interesting policy proposal. One item that might
be difficult for them to address is rare diseases. It is one of the really weak
areas of having Medicaid coverage because most state medicaid programs limit
coverage to providers within the state. If you live in NY, that might not be a big
deal. If you live in Rhode Island.... not so good. While rare diseases may sound
like not a big deal, about 10 percent of the population has one, and they tend to
burn through money like wildfire. Expensive drugs, lots of missteps in management.
Lots of fancy tests. And avoiding them is often a function of traveling to someone
who is highly specialized. A second issue is access to diagnostic services. If you
are poor and on Medicaid, you can get access to diagnostics are hospitals, and
hosptials tend to have easy access to public transportation. Lab Corp, Quest, not
so much. An easy area for cost control is using lower cost, high volume, often
not accepting of insurance, radiology centers. A head MRI at a no-strings MRI
center is $350, at a hospital the same one is $6000. i wonder if they will be able
to shift people to lower strings and therefore lower cost medicine providers. One
of the reasons why you need to go to the hospital is to get access to the better
radiologists, but then you gotta have the high cost scan there.""Another tough
issue to address is the high cost of infrastructure. Every hospital has to have the
latest and fanciest of every piece of equipment, even if they aren't very good in
that specialty and someone else across town (or across the state) is. how do we
stop the arms race -- not ever hospital in town has to have the most fancy heart
surgery equipment -- it would be more efficient to have the patients who need it
ambulanced or air lifted to the place that is good. but that would mean that
hospitals have to admit what they are good at and what they are not...""Please call
in and join in on the conversation tomorrow 7:00 PM CST. The number is (646) 7164367. You can also go to www.kingdomviewnetwork. com and scroll down to ""LIFE""
Radio Show."http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/video/swiss-health-care%3A-a-model-thatworks/1847969109001"Congratulations! Today we���re launching a section of our
ProPublica website that���s a direct outgrowth of the success of this Patient
Harm Facebook group. Your ongoing conversations about the harm you or your loved
ones have suffered while undergoing medical treatment are generating a lot of
interest. We can see that by the more than 900 members that have joined the group,
among other things. This group has raised important issues that warrant further
investigation and brought a much-needed patient voice to the discussions about
holding health care providers accountable and protecting patients. This Facebook
group is not going to change. It will continue to be a forum for people who care
about patient harm to encourage one another, share their stories and offer
resources and advice. The ProPublica site���s Patient Safety section -- named in
part to be search engine friendly -- brings the conversation about this crisis to a
wider audience. We���ll feature topics that arise in the Facebook group, a blog
that examines relevant topics, interesting stories and studies and interviews with
patient safety experts. Some of the posts came straight out of this group. See
Helen Haskell���s recommendations on what to do if you���re harmed, your Q&A
with Rosemary Gibson and Patty Skolnik���s recommendations on ���how to play
in the sandbox with others.��� (As we move forward, you���ll notice additional
cross-posting of content between the Facebook group and the ProPublica site.) We
appreciate your participation in both venues. We hope that you���ll continue to
contribute to the Facebook group, and also offer your insightful comments on the
ProPublica Patient Safety site.""I can see the next thing I do is donate money to
help support your good works. Bravo, guys.""Thanks much, David Eric Hancock!"by the
way... excellent interview with marty makary marshall allen!"Thank you, Robin
Karr.""From the book ���Unaccountable: What Hospitals Won���t Tell You: and
How Transparency Can Revolutionize Health Care,��� by Marty Makary, M.D.���If
you want to see a hospital jump to enact large-scale reform, just watch when a
journalist cracks open the story of bad medical care. I���ve never seen
hospital administrators move as far as they do when their public image needs
repair. It���s the code blue for hospital administration.���""Too bad that's
the situation! With the education prevalent in the medical community, one would
think they would understand the concept of proactive being better than reactive."
This looks like an interesting story. Something I'm adding to my reading list.Oh my
god!truly despicable."From the doctor who wrote this book: ""All doctors make
mistakes. Some are preventable and some are not. But when every doctor knows a
doctor who should not be practicing, it speaks to the closed-door culture of
medicine.""""you know as much as i am angered by what my former doctor did to me on
purpose, i'm also reminded of the many good, decent, caring and ethical doctors who
have helped me during my life. i guess it takes one bad apple... having said that,
reading portions from 'unaccountable' has also reminded me that there are ethical
doctors among us because one wrote 'unaccountable'. it's a shame that the many
good doctors are all but helpless when it comes to reporting those doctors who
harm. the 'good ole boy' system in place in the medical world needs to go! and it
needs to go yesterday!"I am happy with all these people speaking up and all the new
jobs being created to provide statistics but it also angers me because it just
seems like a lot of talking right now and a new business being created but I see
very little help being given to people who need it and very little change......
Albany Times Union reporter blogs on how transparency reduces med errors - while
for years her paper has ignored 100s locally http://bit.ly/U8DP9B"The manuscript
regarding setting standards for MRSA Surveillance (published in the Journal of
Patient
Safety) is now FREE ACCESS.
http://journals.lww.com/journalpatientsafety/Fulltext/2012/09000/A_Perspective_on_t
he_Evidence_Regarding.6.aspx""���Extensive research has shown that no matter how
knowledgeable a clinician might be, if he or she is not able to open good
communication with the patient, he or she may be of no help.��� 1"agree shannon
that the importance of good communication between doctor and patient cannot be
overstated!Medical professionals are oftentimes accused of having poor bedside
manner due to unintentional nonverbal cues that are sent to patients."Amanda
JointCommission, here is another question for you, in the hopes of a meaningful
dialogue. The premise of the Joint Commission is that hospitals are better served
by having a third party provide a thorough review of what hospitals do -- to audit,
inspect, to make recommendations, and see if those recommendations are implemented.
Why then does the Joint Commission not release its data? Using that same logic,
would not the Joint Commission do a better job of oversight if academic patient
safety researchers, the press, patients and the government could review what the
Joint Commission is doing, what its strengths are and what its deficiencies are?
Wouldn't it be a better, stronger organization if it adopted the same transparency
that it expects hospitals to provide to it?""The Joint Commission is only concerned
about their self serving accredition . They are a Joke and lacks any sort of
mediation or transparency. You make your claims, the provider answers them and the
case is closed. As a patient or surviver, you have no opportunity to see their
response or contest it. This agency is just the chior for medical malpractice and
Hospital Acquired Infections caused by providers.""Marshall Allen. Given that the
Joint Commission has ""deeming"" authority, and there has to be medicare approval
of that authority, has anyone ever done a FOIA on Medicare's approval? Has anyone
argued that the Joint Commission is exercising an inherently governmental
responsibility (determining which contractors quality for contract with Medicare)
and therefore should be viewed as a federal agency for the purposes of FOIA?""Here
is the FAR regulation defining what actions must be done by government employees
(not contractors). https://www.acquisition.gov/far/html/Subpart%207_5.html. By
giving the JC ""deeming"" authority, I think that the JC is perfoming the
inherently governmental functions of acting as a source selection board, awarding
contracts, administering contracts, and terminating contracts (if the JC were ever
to do so). I believe that their authority could also be covered by the following:
(14) The conduct of administrative hearings to determine the eligibility of any
person for a security clearance, or involving actions that affect matters of
personal reputation or eligibility to participate in Government programs.(15) The
approval of Federal licensing actions and inspections. It seems to me that if the
JC is performing government functions, it should be subject to FOIA."We so often
minimize listening by saying we ���just��� listened.
"http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-17/superbug-vaccine-tested-by-pfizer-glaxozap-deadly-staph.htmlWe need new ways in which to prevent MRSA infectionsand I hope
that there will be a vaccine some day. I was interviewed for this article.""I'd
like to share my story to see if this happened to anyone else. I have suffered from
GAD and panic disorder since I was 12. I have been on and off meds since that time.
My husband I decided to try to get pregnant and I was weaned off of what I was
taking at the time. Panic attacks started to resume 3 months later and I spoke with
my obgyn to see if there was anything I could take. He suggested Wellbutrin. After
1 week of taking the drug, I experienced the worst panic attacks of my life,
constant shaking, a fear of eating, leaving, the house, even just a fear of my
house. Completely irrational thoughts. This began almost 2 months ago. I spent 3
times in the ER and was admitted for one night. Every medical professional I have
spoken too has said that someone with my medical history should never have been
prescribed this medication. I am recovering now taking several medications but lost
over a month of my life to complete terror. I'd be interested to know if this
happened to anyone else and what they have done about it.""anne marie, i'm very
sorry for what you'e going through... you might want to contact a psychiatrist (who
can be trusted) and ask about this. i've had my own issues with xanax and the like
but don't know how to advise you. i would suggest writing to dr. peter breggin.
i've been following him for quite a while. he's written some excellent books on the
subject of psychiatric drugs/withdrawal. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Peter-RBreggin-MD/290410539778"http://breggin.com/index.php?
option=com_content&task=view&id=296&Itemid=129Yes with the help of a psychiatrist
and counselor I am recovering. Thank you for the comment.You WILL get better with
proper medications...are you still pregnant?"Question 2. These are the instructions
for State Surveyors and Medicare to assess Immediate Jeopardy.
http://www.cms.gov/Regulations-andGuidance/Guidance/Manuals/downloads/som107ap_q_immedjeopardy.pdf. The rules are
very clear that only ONE patient has to be affected. Starting at page four, there
are listed the triggers for immediate jeopardy. Mom's medical records unambiguously
document Triggers A, B, C, D, E, F, I and J. What does AHRQ propose to ensure
Medicare follows its own rules? What remedies should there be?"Noel Eldridge isn't
going to answer. We are little people."But I will say this Marshall. We have been
working with a reporter and our congressman for some time. Probably one of the most
maddening part of the process has been that we would call and call and call and
write and write. Not even people who were that high up. Most of the time, they
would not ever return the communication. For months. In the rare instances where
they did, the response was venomous that we would expect accountability, that we
would question what had been done. Literally, why are you bothering us because
this won't bring your mother back (that one is in writing, from one of the
organizations responsible for helping us get her out). And our letters were always
professional, filled with citations to legal authority, and with reference to
included medical records. The reporter would get instant responses.
People
called him back. they were polite to him. the same exact people. Things we had
been asking for for months would be addressed in hours. Same deal with the
congressman's office. the person in reference was tagged for a response and
dropped the group within 24 hours, without providing a response. i have worked
through many other questions with federal and state agencies. Usually, I find
regulators to go out of their way to be nice. Usually, the higher up you go, the
more responsive people are. Not so with the medical community. A while ago, you
wrote about all the nice doctors etc. Keep in mind you might get treated
differently because you are a reporter.""Hi Debra Van Putten, you're absolutely
right that reporters are treated differently than patients. It's not right, but
it's the reality. That's one of the fundamental reasons that we created this
Facebook group -- to bring attention to the injustices suffered by patients, bring
attention to the issue of patient harm and give patients a voice. This also
underscores the importance of engaging the media on these stories. It's sad that
sometimes it takes media attention to get medical providers to do the right thing,
but it's common. I am certainly aware that reporters are not treated the way
patients are and would guess that other journalists know this, too.""Actually, I am
going to amend that. About a year before mom's death, mom changed part D providers
and there was a problem with one prescription. We tried 1-800 medicare and that was
useless, but we contacted the same person who we contacted later. In that
instance, there was a problem with the computer programming with a subcontractor
that could not be easily remedied. It was discovered, an interim fix was
implemented and dad never had a problem with getting that med again. So, Medicare
is capable of managing its contractor and subcontractors. It's just hospital
oversight is the third rail.""when I was able to talk to someone from the Regional
Office in Philadelphia, the officer responsible for Mom's investigation said to me
that I shouldn't be complaining because after all I was a Republican (my
contribution history is shown on HuffPo) and after all I was in favor of small
government and this is small government. And then she told me i could hire an
attorney, call my congressman or talk to a reporter, it didn't matter, this
hospital would be held accountable over her dead body. I understand how the world
works. But it really seems to be that it is one step too far when government
employees are crystal clear that justice is for sale to the highest bidder.""So, we
called our congressman and called a reporter.""the congressman's office made the
Regional Administrator talk to us. She claimed that she thought mom being starved
was ""new information' and was promptly disabused of that. She promised to make
this her ""top priority."" That was May 31. Radio silence except for the letters
we get when we complain to Sebeliius. We're up for our third run at the
administrative editor today on a news story. The story keeps getting longer every
time it gets kicked down with more questions, so we guardedly have our fingers
crossed. Prayers are always welcome. We had seven findings of immediate jeopardy
at the state level, and that is the only
report in the official state files. The only version of the report in the records
at CMS has those findings mostly scrubbed with no action being taken. Don't know
who changed the findings, but I sure have my beliefs."And medicare sure was
perturbed that we got both versions of the report. How that happened was priority
one for them coming off of the phone conference.We (and the reporter) filed Freedom
of Infornation Requests both with the state that did the investigation and with
Medicare. This describes the Medicare FOIA process:
http://www.cms.gov/center/freedom-of-information-act-center.html. The state agency
should have a similar request page.QIO is not subject to FOIA. That is the really
bad thing about this system is that it is set up to bury any negative finding.
"there are basically three entities that do reviews. The Joint Commission, QIOs and
State Survey Agencies. The Joint Commission publishes no information (even while
flogging patients that they need to take charge and promoting patient involvement)
and the QIO is also a black hole. Only the State Survey Agencies are accountable.
What is really bizarre is that QIO can make decisions on what care is reimbursable,
yet the patient has no due process rights. In our instance, if Mom had lived, that
would have posed a very serious problem for them. Mom had run through about half of
her compensable days in rehab taking care of hospital caused conditions. She had
alot more need for rehab and only thirty days left -- not enough time. We would
have had to keep her out of any health care facility for sixty days to have that
reset. Otherwise, Mom and Dad would have had to pay out of pocket. So, Mom and Dad
actually had a probably six figure interest in the resolution of our complaints,
but ZERO due process -no right to be heard, no right to contest.""Going back a half
dozen or so posts - to the phone conference with CMS Regional Administrator and
staff - I think Debra's characterization of ""perturbed"" is kind and generous. In
actuality, both during the conversation and subsequent review, it was obvious that
CMS was FAR more concerned with how it was that we could have gotten copies of the
disparate versions of the onsite hospital inspection than they were of the actual
allegations of patient abuse, torture and denial of civil rights.""I would also ask
for the Form 2567 (I don't know if they are the same). We sent in a letter, but the
system is automated and there is no reason that I know of not to do it
electroncally. In fact, it might be faster.""Here's the Medicare sample FOIA
letter. I think we asked for all records related to a complaint about X hospital
pertaining to [Mom's Name]. and then we asked specifically for the Form 2567, and
you can ask for the citation notice and anything else you want/. The email address
is
[email protected]. If you are asking about a
http://www.cms.gov/Regulations-andGuidance/Legislation/FOIA/Downloads/FOIARequestLetter.pdf If you are asking for a
deceased person, you need to include proof that you are the executor and there is
a different letter: http://www.cms.gov/Regulations-andGuidance/Legislation/FOIA/Downloads/FOIARequestLetterDeceasedBene.pdf. We used this
letter and the first time we got a denial because they said they did not think the
form of the request was appropriate. We wrote them back and told them it was their
form letter, so fix the letter. So, if they are stupid, don't be surprised.""In
fact, there is a really good reason to send it to the national center (ie. email).
When we did the FOIA, apparently the PA Regional Office has a policy that program
officers (not FOIA officers) have the authority to answer FOIA requests on their
program. Of course, the investigator I had had problems with got the FOIA request
and once we made them answer it, it was short alot of information. When we
insisted on a national office review, we got more information.""Still again I ask
how do people get a reporter to listen and look at all tje documentation. I have
tried with no luck, and everytime I try on my own all I get is road blocks because
it is Mayo the great. If they are so great how does a patient have surgery and lay
in pain for 2 days in the hoapital and noone helps or monitors anything until I
look my husband in the eyes and tell him I am dying and he finally got the
attention of general surgery to help but I was already in septic shock. Pretty sad.
I also was released way to early after being in ICU on life Support because urology
didn't want me there over 30 days. I remember being so sick at home but scared to
death to go back to that hosp. My husband talked to the general surgeon that saved
my life and she promised she would handle my care if he brought me back and she (my
angel) would not let anyone but herself release me home again until she was
confident I was ready to go. She was also the one that contacted CDC. She
immediately had me back in surgery to open my left flank to drain more stuff.
Thankfully my angel had small hands to get into the small spaces no one else could
have. She explained everything to me so clearly and always held my hand. Ok this
is were the tears start and I can't see to type."You would think I would be
remembered well as the topic for discussion was I was only the 2nd person to be in
the hospital so long the 1st longest was the man on a heart machine that my family
got to know well. I was actually referred to as Lazarus and stayed in the room
Barbara Bush stayed.Maybe someone could pull the stats for longest hospital stays
and reasons why it was so extended. Also look for concurrent stays with
admit/discharge within 2 week or 30 day period. Review billing codes and start
flagging in payer systems."Yes, Veronica James?"I figured that's what you meant.
The truth is we read and take into consideration all of the things that are posted
on this site. But I'm also pretty consumed with the things we're working on so
don't have the time to pursue every idea. Hopefully the other reporters on this
group are tuning in so they can pursue the many good leads."Veronica, working with
a reporter has been an eyeopener (and we don't know if we'll make it across the
finish line.) This has been a seven month process. We were fortunate because we
knew someone because my nephew had been the subject of a human interest story a
couple years ago. We were fortunate because we had a distant relative working in
our congressman's office. The reporter we have worked with has easily put in 500
hours on the project. The guy is a local beat reporter and he has completely
busted his butt. He has reviewed all of mom's thousands of pages of medical
records. He has talked to every organization several times. It is not a small
project. We have extremely clear medical records. As unhappy we are with some
people for not stopping things, they did leave an unambiguous paper trail. Even
with that, it is a tough story. Lots of complicated concepts. I used to be a
writer by profession and I could not put something this complicated together in
such a short space. It has been an emotionally difficult process for us, because it
has been a roller coaster. It's part of why I took such offense to the rule that
says that if you have gotten press attention, we will pay more attention. And we
will answer press questions, but not family questions. We should not have to have
the press basically do the investigators' work for them in order to get justice or
to get basic questions answered. That is not the role of the press - to do a first
cut on the government's job. Maybe they do it once in a while, but justice should
not depend on it. It is a huge amount of work to make something a publishable
story.""'We should not have to have the press basically do the investigators' work
for them in order to get justice or to get basic questions answered. That is not
the role of the press - to do a first cut on the government's job. Maybe they do it
once in a while, but justice should not depend on it.' agree debra... i'm glad
there are sites like this one but we should not have to look to them for
remedy/justice for patient harm.""I most certainly appreciate it as well. And I
really appreciate the help we have gotten thus far. but it is certainly no
substitute for a functioning system. The hard thing is that it seems nearly
impossible to get the hard questions about why the system isn't working asked, much
less answered. At this point, we don't want an ounce of sympathy. the person who
deserves it most is gone and will never hear it. And she got zero from anyone when
she needed it most.""This morning I was at work when this series of posts started.
My experience with patient safety topics is mostly from working in the Department
of Veterans Affairs for almost 10 years, and the CMS rules don't pertain there so I
don't know much about them. You might want to contact the HHS Office of Inspector
General at www.oig.hhs.gov or Hotline Number: (800) 447-8477 & Hotline Email:
[email protected]. AHRQ does very little regulation and has no authority over
CMS. I'm not avoiding responding to anything I might be able to provide an
informed opinion on. One way to understand what those topics might be is to Google
my name and the phrase patient safety, as follows: Noel Eldridge ""patient
safety"".""Been there, done that. got chewed out by Jennifer Trussel at HHS OIG
that she didn't have time for this whining after she went to the extraordinary
lengths of calling the lady in the Regional office who tanked the investigation in
the first place. That lady of course said she had done an exemplary job and
Jennifer thought that constituted an ""investigation"" on her part. she had 250
pages of medical records contesting the original ""investigation.""
Thanks for
responding though. It's nice
to see someone from HHS pays some attention."And I have now looked at your
published stuff and its right on. The roadblock being serious implementationLooks
fantastic!"A reporter at the Albany, NY Times Union defends the newspaper's noncoverage of medical-malpractice lawsuits. http://www.answersforlisa.blogspot.com"
http://www.nationofchange.org/how-doctors-and-hospitals-have-collected-billionsquestionable-medicare-fees-1347804104I just want to let everyone know that one
should never give up hope. I just spent the weekend with the NYS hospital trustees
from 175 hospitals. They were so engaged and thankful for having a face put on
their work...these are the influencers wea are all making a difference.that's all
many of us have left... 'hope'"Robin,Please try not to lose that. Thinking of you.
Patty""i decided to tell my own story and not worry about waiting until i get to
court one day or until a reporter somewhere writes about it. i'm redoing my web
site now to reflect my true story and my real name and the real names of those who
purposely harmed me. i've spent the last five years of my life connecting the
dots..... those who harmed me weaved quite a tangled web of deceit and lies. i
untangled it though - piece by piece. it does no good to untangle the web and
connect the dots unless i reveal what i've learned. please take the time to read
'my story' and the supporting evidence i've posted which substantiates it. i'm not
done but i have a good start at least. also, please share my web site with women
you know and care about. thank you.
http://www.hysterectomyconsequences.com/my_story"I am SO PROUD OF YOU!!!! <3"I
AGREE ROBIN - I just told my husband a couple hours ago that is probably the only
option we have. It not only is my story it is also my husband - Mike Parrish, my
father,brothers and sisters, children - Christopher M Monarrez Sr., Thomas , Daniel
and Angela Marie Jones, and many grandchildren - That have been through this with
me since that awful day DEC 17, 2008 - They have all had a tough time with no
answers or accountability. And the anger of finding out in my medical records that
all the days the doctors lied and told them I was in a medically induced coma, BUT
THEY FORGOT TO MENTION THAT I HAD DAILY A 3 HOUR ""MEDICATION VACATION"" from 5am 8 am - right before visiting was allowed in the ICU. I remember waking up daily and
seeing 5 on the clock but it was dark and I didn't know if it was day or night and
kept asking for my family and they said they would be here later, but for me later
never came day after day, until one day my husband said we had a good conversation
the day before new years and he was looking forward to a GREAT NEW YEARS until he
came back to see me the next day and the meds were turned up - he immediately went
to complain to my general surgeon and problem was solved I have been awake since.
UROLOGY Dept was running the show thank goodness again for my angel Dr.- I hear
from lawyers over 2 years kick rocks, BUT CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR and ASSULT SHOULD HAVE
NO STATUTE OF LIMITATION EVER....""AND the medical records themselves will name the
names, and tell the HORRID story...""I was also restrained tightly to my bed, and
my husband had to keep loosening them because he said they were too tight when he
came in yes I was awake just before that trying to get help... All I could see was
a nurse sitting through a little window to my left."Then when my husband got there
I was in a medicated coma again.i agree georjean.. there should be NO statute of
limitations on assault and battery.Most impressive presentation - thank you for
your thoroughness and for sharing. I have just started reading and intend to read
every entry. It was not just one error - it was a series of criminal actions
perpetuated by professionals. The number of these would crush most - that is what I
learned from my own experience with 'today's' heathcare system. The depth of lies
and deceit has to have cover from many systems - not just the medical and it is all
done for only one reason. Hint - it's not safe effective healthcare. It's a
business."yes michelin, you're exactly right... in my case and many others, it's
not just one error - it's a series of criminal actions perpetuated by
'professionals'. it is 'crushing'! what a good word choice! there are many days,
many times i feel the weight of what's been intentionally done to me via a place
where i should have been safe and i feel 'crushed' by it all. if this had happened
to me in a walmart parking lot, i could accept it i think - at least on some level.
but to know for sure that what was done to me was 'planned' and 'done on purpose'
is - to use your word *CRUSHING*! to have so much evidence of criminal activity and
for nobody to look at it or care is also 'crushing'. that's why i decided to post
the whole ugly truth on my own site' along with all my substantiating
documentation. i realize that by doing this, i most likely will have to dismiss my
malpractice case but i don't care at this point. silence is not golden for harmed
patients. in fact, it's just the opposite! when we remain silent, we remain
*CRUSHED* thank you for your very insightful post and thank you for using the word
'crush' to help describe the tremendous impact of 'intentional' medical harm.""You
have done a noble and outstanding job of not being crushed. Very courageous and
self-less. Anyone with an ounce of compassion for a fellow human being who has been
medically mutilated that can lie for monetary gain is sub-human in my book - but
for in the case of the supposed givers of health to perpetrate this on the entire
population - no gender, age- group nor even really wealth - protects us. There is
no accountability and it has gotten much worse. Those of us who have first hand
knowledge and try to warn others are sometimes shunned because the facts are
reprehensible, unthinkable. We are black balled by medical professionals, etc. I
neglected to say to you how sorry I am that you have had this happen to you. I
really admire your strength and self-less actions to save others."thank you
michelin for your kind and encouraging words. we are all so broken by what has been
done to us by those we trusted most - those we trusted to 'first do no harm'.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41yOxQu2Qdghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=thaAVwMJPms&list=FL5CMYoktO7rnah9eSscnpUQ&index=9&feature=plpp_video"thank you
for sharing shannon. I'm very sorry for what you've endured. i've thought a lot
about your story since you first posted it. what happened to you is truly
horrifying. major surgery is horrifying when you 'need' it. when you don't... well,
no words come to mind. it's very difficult for me to believe this was done to you
purely by 'mistake'. how does a doctor perform 'heart surgery' by mistake? i don't
believe it was a 'mistake'. did the surgeon who made this mistake give the money
back? if he did, then i might consider that it was a 'mistake'. your story needs to
be told everywhere!"the bigger problem is the INSURANCE companies keeping and
promoting their Preferred contracted providers and basically mandating that if you
want the better benefit you MUST use their CONTRACTED providers - when do we start
to hold them accountable too."Complaining to BCBS about their doctors, and the lack
of documented diagnosis/ test results, to legitimately AUTHORIZE a surgery(Left
Laparoscopic nephroureterectomy,left aortic and interaortocaval lymph node
dissection, right iliac and obturator lymph node dissection) prior to it being
done, seems to be none existent in my case, and yes, I also have a copy of the
submitted/billed diagnosis's by Mayo Clinic AZ, and never was Kidney Cancer nor
any other cancer submitted until approx 1 year after the fact when I started
questioning all that had happened. Then to think the people that really are sick
and need surgery have to fight all the time to get services covered."Please share
with your friends.sharedthe picture of you and jocelyn at the end of the video is
*beautiful*"Please forward to your friends and family-Start this same petition in
your state. You can use the same information, but send it to your Governor."signed
deirdre! good for you by the way... please sign my petition at change.org regarding
the unnecessary castration of women. http://www.change.org/petitions/help-stopunnecessary-hysterectomies-and-castrationsignedthat's the surgery that was
performed on me:( it's brutal..."Agency capture has been the topic of recent media
reporting. Agency capture is when people high up in certain industries go work for
the government agencies that regulate the industries they are from. From the
inside, these infiltrators prevent meaningful regulation and oversight of the
industries those agencies are supposed to oversee. This has been used to explain
why the FDA has allowed dangerous drugs and devices through without proper testing.
However state medical boards are made up entirely of doctors. State medical boards
have been entirely captured from the beginning. They have been able to prevent any
action under the practice of medicine from being viewed as a crime. And in the
actions doctors do that the public would be shocked to find out, doctors have made
it very difficult to shine a light on. If a doctor rapes children or steals money
from a patient's bank account, that is disciplined because those things are already
crimes. Doctors have been given complete control of the classification of anything
they do in medicine, and they have made sure no action under medicine is considered
a crime. They have made their profession of medicine a world unto itself,and they
control perceptions and prevent legislation that would punish unethical and immoral
acts from entering their world.""'they have made their profession of medicine a
world unto itself'...
this is so true it's downright scary. i never really considered just how much the
medical world is a 'another world'. it's a world where doctors do seemingly have
complete control. their world operates by their rules and anyone who enters that
world must submit to those rules or pay the consequences. and often, those
consequences are beyond devastating.""the video is not mine veronica. i like enya
too and i understand what you're saying about how the music does not seem to 'fit'
with what's taking place in the video. that was my first thought as well.
however... after some more thought, i decided it was probably a good choice in some
ways. enya had trouble with stalkers for a portion of her life. in fact, she had
stalkers actually break into her home and attack her staff. consequently, she spent
a fortune trying to 'protect' herself via securing her home. i think if anyone
would understand the horror and victimization women feel after having their body so
brutally assaulted, it would be enya.""i understand veronica... that's how
everything is for me though since hysterectomy. when a woman undergoes this
surgery, nothing is ever the same. there have been many books written about how
women lose their ability to create and be artistic. one gynecologist from cambridge
spoke about this at a hysterectomy conference i attended in new york. he said he
quit performing hysterectomies because he saw that women were never the same
afterward... grass wasn't as green for them, skies weren't as blue, music wasn't
beautiful, etc. and women who could sing, dance, paint, etc. before the surgery
couldn't afterward. the creative desire and energy is gone forever... this is very
sad but it's the truth. that's why i warn women about the consequences of
hysterectomy. most doctors will never tell a woman this. a new book came out about
the vagina that i believe helps to explain the connection between the vagina and
the brain. if i didn't know before, i know now that there is most definitely a
connection - a strong one. you really don't know until you no longer have it:
( http://www.harpercollins.com/books/Vagina-Naomi-Wolf?
isbn=9780061989162&HCHP=TB_Vagina"Attended the Virginia Board of Health's Meeting
today. it was a full board meeting with everyone there because the issue was
whether abortion clinics should be held to the same standards as Virginia
hospitals. I said my piece about what 'virginia hospital standards' mean to me.
Sitting next to me was the Dept of Health staffer who has been sitting on our
complaint about mom's care. He had no idea of who I was. It was the tiniest bit of
satisfaction to watch his face as my name get called and see him have this bemused
look on his face -- how do I know that name. and then see the blood drain from his
face as he realized."More than 40 cases brought against this plastic surgeon. Daily
News reports: A teacher was blinded in one eye in 2005, and a Health Dept report
said the doctor tried to stop an ambulance crew from transporting a bleeding
patient to a hospital. His license is finally, finally, finally revoked. Finally.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/staten-island-cosmetic-surgeon-robert-cattaniloses-medical-license-slew-malpractice-complaints-butchered-patients-article1.1159301""New book by Hopkins surgeon makes me even more afraid to go to a doc or
a hospital than I was before. Spotlight on ""Dr. Hodad"" surgeons nicknamed for
their ""Hands of Death and Destruction."" A scary read. My column today.
http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/content/QUA-284447/Hopkins-Surgeon-BlastsHealthcare-Safety-Ethics"Available in book or Kindle on 9/18 - available now for
pre-order at: http://www.pulseofflorida.org/BookStore.html"Wow, this looks like a
great book!"Wow excited to read a must buy"Test your knowledge: See how much you
remember from the Institute of Medicine's report on waste and misuse in healthcare,
with the New York Times' new quiz. (Hint: You can find one answer in Marshall
Allen's summary of the report! http://on.fb.me/U9pyVw)"The IOM Report makes it even
more clear of the state of healthcare. Even with $750B in wasteful spending per
year the average hospital still operates at -0.7% profit margin."Push back from the
healthcare industryhttp://mcclearymrsaprevention.com/""This is an important post,
Kathy. We need to speak up when abuse happens, not ""swallow"" it. My thinking -applied from my days of working on family violence issues -- is to stop the
conversation in its tracks at the first instance, and to deal with the abuse and
misaligned relationships before resuming. Reason for this is that if the abuser
""gets away with it"" the abuser no longer has to credit anything the abused person
has to say -- which means, in patient safety terms -- if the advocate is abused,
the advocate cannot be effective.""MRSA has a new champion!!! Richard Branson of
Virgin Unite will help raise awareness for MRSA and he is producing a video with
his personal meesage about MRSA and hospital-acquired infections that will be shown
during the 4th Annual World MRSA Day Kickoff Event, Sept. 29th in Chicago - join us
at this important event! More info at MRSAsurvivors.org and www.worldMRSAday.org"
That's what you call a heavy hitter!"Ted Chabasinski is an American psychiatric
survivor, human rights activist and attorney who lives in Berkeley, California. At
the age of six he was taken from his foster family's home and committed to a New
York psychiatric facility."just goes to show that the human spirit is capable of
enduring much and overcoming much...Great amount of accurate information on Medical
Malpractice.Thank you for sharing"What do you all think of this? The Agency for
Healthcare Research and Quality is seeking approval from the Office of Management
and Budget to test a patient reporting system for health care safety eventsRead
more: http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/2012/9/10/ahrq-seeks-permission-to-testpatient-safety-event-reporting-system.aspx#ixzz265upd0PM""There is already a
reporting system, at least for hospital events. The problem is that they don't do
anything.... In point of fact, there are myriad places to report. QIO, state
licensing, board of medicine, Joint Commission. If you call one, they will give you
ten more numbers to call and you could spend days making complaints. The problem
isn't a lack of places to report. It's the lack of anyone who will *do* something."
"Debra Van Putten, I could not have said it better myself! Truth: ""There is
already a reporting system, at least for hospital events. The problem is that they
don't do anything.... In point of fact, there are myriad places to report. QIO,
state licensing, board of medicine, Joint Commission. If you call one, they will
give you ten more numbers to call and you could spend days making complaints. The
problem isn't a lack of places to report. It's the lack of anyone who will *do*
something.""""Could one of you reporters ask AHRQ how many deficient hospitals have
been closed, have lost medicare contracts, have been seriously fined in an amount
equal to the long term harm caused and hospital executives been fired and excluded
from medicare as a result of patient harm in FY 2011? How many doctors and nurses
have lost their licenses permanently? With 180k Medicare patient deaths per year
due to preventable medical error, how is it that pretty much EVERY hospital in this
country passes inspection without so much as a wimper of concern. That is 30
preventable deaths, per hospital per year -- or more than one every other week. How
is it that the Joint Commission holds itself out as a quality seal of approval yet
90+ percent of hospitals get that stamp of approval with that death rate.""How many
health providers get into trouble for misbilling vs. poor quality? How many
chargebacks does Medicare do for coding errors vs. quality errors? How many
enforcement people in OIG investigate fraud vs quality failures? Isn't the message
given, you can do whatever you want to the patients but don't mess up the
coding???""And here is another one for Noel Eldridge. Instead of burdening us with
more complaints to make, why not have every other entity that accepts complaints
make them public? Why not publish ALL of the quality related data that the
government has? Why not require the Joint Commission to publish its inspection
reports. why not require state licensing boards to publish complaints on their
websites as well as all inspection results. Why should be have to be subject to
care that would cause us to complain when you all probably know who the bad apples
are already?""Today the FDA conducted a meeting (including webinar) on post-market
surveillance of medical devices. Harmed patients were poorly represented. The
usual suspects of industry, providers and regulatory sphere took the mic during
public comment periods. The mission of the meeting was to get public comment.
Short notice and the cost of travel prevents real representation/advocacy. Of
course, the MedWatch #5009052 report of a failed elbow implant has never gotten an
investigation. Why bemoan the lack of 'patient engagement"" when reported patient
harm is ignored by the registry and there is no enforcement? Avoid medical
implants to protect your civil liberties."I find the lack of engagement with the
patient community puzzling as well. Was there anything sent by way of notice to
the Arthritis Foundation and did the Foundation advertise it on its website? Most
surely they would have a community that would likely have a strong interest. Was
it advertised on facebook or other patient sites for people with arthritis. I doubt
it. How about folks with heart dieseae -- another major area for implants. Bet
nothing on those websites. Its not like it is hard to find the patients."Charles
Ornstein, here is the AHRQ website
on who to call. when mom was in the hospital, I called every single one of them to
try to get mom out of the hospital that had intentionally starved her. the quality
of ""help"" I got was basically to wheel her $50,k hospital bed out of the
facility, hitch it to the back of my car and drive her home. And a year out,
nobody has the moxie to say that intentionally starving a patient, not terminally
ill, with no advance directive, is wrong. Not even the theoretically pro-life Ken
Cuccinelli. Trust me, if we had wheeled the bed out with mom in it, someone would
have gotten us arrested and I would sitting in jail for major theft. But when we
called 911 and adult protective services, it was so sorry, we can't help you.
http://www.ahrq.gov/consumer/cc/cc031709.htm. So, ""file another complaint"" is
really irritating.""charles ornstein, you have been doing this a long time, what do
you think of this?""Responding to note above. I don't know the details on this,
sorry I can't help shed more light on it.""The comment period is open until
November 9, so there is plenty of opportunity to make inputs on what has been
posted. Either as individual citizens or from groups.""well, thank you for joining
us!"I hadn't been looking or posting on Facebook for a few days...There is this new
crabby lady who has posted tons of new stuff. Most of it is junk. But some of it
is ok. ;) Thanks for returning.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mercuryexposure/you-put-what-in-my-mouthToday a
little thought occurred to me which may have profound implications. I reflect on it
at http://www.hospitalpatientadvocate.com/?p=1772http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=svvzESoMnI0"I am looking for others to join me on ""LIFE"" Radio Show to discuss
those issues that we need the world to hear. Bart Windrum will be my guest on
September 27th, if you are interested in telling your story, inbox me. I also have
the 20th available and October 4, 11,18,and 25. Let me know, I am trying to get
this out via the show."This is my story.....Please take a moment to read it and
share it. Thank you in advance!!
http://mymedicalsurvivalstory.blogspot.com/2012/09/khristina.htmlDeirdre GilbertDicksonHow do u inbox youI went to the URL address at the bottom of the flyer you
posted. It took me to a webpage for starting an online talk show. I did a search
for ProPublica and found a list of past shows. I am not sure how to listen on the
day you specified."FDA 4-day public meeting on medical device post-market
surveillance9/10/12-9/13/12 Harmed patients are the 'elephant in the room' and 'he
who should not be named'! I tweet at JjrkChJoin the webinar tomorrow using this
link:
http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/NewsEvents/WorkshopsConferences/ucm300724.htm"
"FDA 4 day public meeting on medical device post-market surveillance9/10/12-9/13/12
The patient harm community is poorly represented but you can join now and
participate by webinar. Email your questions/comments to:
[email protected]""A local blogger with a large and influential
following here in Albany, NY posted comments and a link to my page listing
unreported lawsuits against hospitals.the blog is New York Citizen One. Read the
post at: http://bit.ly/NlfY3F""Check out this site. Tell your story of medical
error and sign up to be a speaker. Together the medical community can learn from
our stories, and we can reach the goal of healthcare helping not harming.
http://www.speakerlink.org/home.jsp"I can't get the link to work...."I just clicked
and it worked, try www.speakerlink.org"Thank you Shannon Koob :)
http://bc.ctvnews.ca/health-canada-mum-on-plant-inspections-researcher-1.949889
"Thank you for accepting my request, Here is my story, This news story was done 5
months after surgery.http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=thaAVwMJPms&list=FL5CMYoktO7rnah9eSscnpUQ&index=6&feature=plpp_video""Just one
story, my story of a medical mistake. Thousand of people are harmed by the
healthcare system. I share my story to make you aware of the dangers of Americas
Healthcare system��_��_��_Shannon Koob storyhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=41yOxQu2Qdg&feature=my_liked_videos&list=LL5CMYoktO7rnah9eSscnpUQ""And this is
breaking today too: A national project targeting central line-associated
bloodstream infections has lowered overall rates of such infections by 40% among
participating hospitals, according to government data released Monday.
http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20120910/NEWS/309109950#ixzz2664Qnsm2?
trk=tynt"This is as result in part of using a CUSP BSI Checklist and Best-Practices
every time the central line is accessed. The Patient Safety adage is right: No one
is hurt by doing the thing right.Happening now: FDA public meeting/interactive
webinar on medical device post market surveillance.
http://fda.yorkcast.com/webcast/Viewer/?peid=af65cdee620e418196e780a4b3f76a9c1dIM
ON IT!!!we are going to picket the hospital on Sept 22."This is the same thing that
happened to me and I have the same feelings as this person.
http://csn.cancer.org/node/148182"scary!"i hate to say it but i think most of us
who have read this story can see the elephant in the room here... this was no
miracle. it's not a miracle when a doctor removes a perfectly healthy kidney!
personally, i believe they needed a healthy kidney and they found one. using the
'C' word to scare a patient into agreeing to surgery they do not need is
unfortunately fairly common these days. the first thing my former doctor said to me
after he removed all of my healthy sex organs without my consent was 'the good news
is you don't have cancer'... even though i was 'out of it' on morphine, versed and
had lost a lot of blood, i knew that the bad news was *I DID NOT HAVE CANCER IN THE
FIRST PLACE* so sorry georjean that you had to endure the same... :("Did you know
the Corrupt group of UROLOGIST also have now created a New Profession called
UROGYNOGOLOGY so the can get to more innocent women.this is another story that
needs to be told far and wide - the story in the article and your story georjean...
"I had conversation with a the tech at Mayo Florida and she informede that
everything they see is always labled ""renal mass"" and they have no information
relating to amy cancers. And directed me back to Dr Castle in AZ because he is the
owner and principle investigator if Castle Labs which also has an interal kidney
registry.""We need professional advocates to tell us what the doctor doesn't and
ask the right questions. My hindsight is 20-20: did you consider getting a second
opinion? That doctor seemed so certain your kidney had to come out. No biopsy
needed he said. I agree with the last comment, ""You are better off having an
objective doctor review your charts before you talk to a lawyer.""But it is a
pretty naive comment. How hard would it be to find a doctor to tell YOU the truth?"
"The ironic thing in my case is they did a biopsy of a lympnode becauss they told
us they thought the cancer had spread to lymphnodes and lungs ghey told us I had a
very advanced atags of TCC of the kidney but all biopsies before and during surgery
show negative for cancers. The final biopsy of the tumor per our consent was to be
done prior fo removal ic nothing came back positive they did not have permission to
removs the kidney and there was never a mention of removing ureter and lymphnodes
tbat they had confirmed negative biopsies for prior fo surgery. When my husband and
finally got to talk to a dr (not the original surgeons) we were told the dr made a
medical decision on his own to procede to remove my kidney, and his notes state he
presumed it was TCC of the kidney.""while this doesn't help those here, there is
actually a fair amount of good information that is available to use as a touchstone
as to whether the doctor's recommendations make medical sense. Mayo has good
website, NIH does. Sometimes they cover recommended treatment courses, sometimes
not. One source is the AHRQ website, which has a catalog of guidelines
http://www.guideline.gov/browse/by-topic.aspx. Not user friendly, but its there.
Now. Some of them are really tough slogging and most are not written with patients
as an audience, but you can learn alot. Pay attention to the date and who is
issuing it. This is the one for kidney cancer
http://www.guideline.gov/content.aspx?id=36891&search=kidney. If you look at it,
partial nephrectomy is always an option. If the surgeon you see doesn't offer that
as a option (or explain why it isn't), he or she may be not up to date, short on
the surgical skills needed for a partial, or just wants to schedule alot of
surgeries. In any case, this is a red flag for a second opinion. If you go in with
some idea of what the doctor *should* be talking about, even if you don't
understand it 100%, it should help weed out people who are really outside the
medical mainstream.""although it may seem overwhelming, you don't need a
professional advocate to help; it just takes work and patience. For me, patient
support groups have been very helpful in weeding out the less ethical doctors
(everything with a grain of salt of course). I know moms with only high school
degrees who can go toe to toe with the top researchers in the field in a very
complex field of medicine. There is much that you can do on your own hook without
spending money on so called experts.""Most people including myself are overwhelmed
with the idea that I will need surgery. My mind is focused on subjects about how
will my life change, what arrangements to make with my employer, what will I tell
people, how much will it cost, etc. Most people are not experienced surgery
patients, and don't know to think to check on all these things. And if someone
would have recommended I check around to see what I need to know regarding the
doctors diagnosis, it
would seem like a mysterious task. I would quickly forget. There should be
something in place to protect the masses. How about a magazine in the grocery,
""Surgery Patient Magazine"" that would go over some of these things every month?
Anybody here in the magazine business?""the problem is no matter how much you
research, no matter how intelligent and savvy you may be, etc., there is just no
way you can be completely sure 1) your diagnosis is accurate/correct 2) you need
surgery 3) you can trust your surgeon to perform only the surgery you agree/consent
to. so even if you're not completely overwhelmed for all the reasons garrick listed
(which i think most patients would be) and even if you had the where-with-all to do
your own research, etc., (and those are some pretty big if's), there is still
simply no way you can know your surgeon will 'first do no harm'. so at best, you
take a chance. you take a 'gamble' as it were. is it worth it? not to me... never
again will i subject myself to the trauma of surgery and all that goes with it.
like so many others, i learned a very hard lesson.. a lesson no human being should
ever have to learn inside a hospital."please go back to the story on the kw record
and read the comments. there are a couple that will make your hair stand on end
"read the comments mary-lou... as difficult as it is, try to ignore the senseless
and cruel comments. the person who continued to say such nasty things to you about
wanting sympathy, etc. is filled with hate and that comes through loud and clear.
having said that... most of the comments are fair and supportive of you and what
you're trying to accomplish. i went through this same type of thing when my story
regarding the abduction of my children was on tv in texas. everybody has an
opinion..... if i were you, i would not waste my time and energy responding to the
nasty comments. i would thank the people who left supportive ones. i learned a long
time ago that you can't overcome evil with evil. what you are doing is honorable.
there can be no question about that. keep telling josh's story. you are making a
difference for *GOOD*"actually this person helps stir up interest without knowing
itagree mary-lou... let them stirCannuckCol clearly has no idea of the amount of
unnecessary deaths caused by the use of restraints in hospitals and by police. Its
not hard to look up the information but instead he states its not a problem."I
predicted this would happen. Many people would read this article as a one-off
misfortune, and the character to responded negatively thought it a cheap plea to
feel sorry for the victim. The message communicated should have been that hospitals
are dangerous because of how they are run, the lack of coordinated communication,
the erroneous assumptions, and here is an example.The journalist who wrote this
article did good to expose the public to another incident of medical malpractice.
But I think the author does not comprehend the seriousness of the situation is
nationwide. In his attempt to look as unbiased and middle of the road, he
concentrated on reporting the facts in minutia and the complexity of the close up
view. The author missed the big picture.""ATTENTION: Fluoroquinolone drugs have
been linked to numerous and widespread devastating and systemic side effects. Toxic
side effects to the Central Nervous System, Peripheral Nervous System and the
Autonomic Nervous System have been reported. If you have taken Levaquin, Cipro or
Avelox and experienced any of these or other side effects lasting longer than 3
weeks after discontinuation of the drug, please contact the FQ Lawsuit Registry.
One experienced Southern California law firm would like to represent you regarding
your adverse drug reaction. In order to be considered for compensation for your
injuries, in this class action lawsuit, you must fill out the information form
provided. No information will be shared outside the legal firm. This is time
sensitive. Law firms gauge interest by numbers of responsive victims affected.
These forms need to be submitted by Thurs Sept. 13th. Please take 3 minutes and
register NOW in order to obtain financial
compensation.https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?
formkey=dGtXRnVhcjZXRzU4VGh6OEcwckJRX2c6MQ&fb_source=message"Is this site really
open as free advertisement??? Please....It is not an advertisement. This is
organized by people who have been damaged by Fluoroquinolone drugs. We are
attempting to remove them from the general market. I need victims to register in
order to include them in a litigation. It benefits the victim."I am not an
attorney, I am a victim of Fluoroquinolone Toxicity."Done!Thank you fellow FQ
victim."you do realize that even if you aren't a lawyer, this likely comes under
the CA Bar rules on soliciting clients... And without disclosures would this would
likely not meet muster. I'll tell you, I wouldn't want such a law firm
representing me. Just sayin..."No need to exchange medical malpractice for legal
malpractice...Debra Van Putten. are you always this nasty? Is that your medical
problem?"Erin, sorry if you took offense, but this looks like an attorney ad to me.
It seems that if the group is open to attorney ads, that's all that would be on
here. Not much room for discussion. If you think I am being unfair, this is the
relevant rule from the CA Bar:
http://rules.calbar.ca.gov/Rules/RulesofProfessionalConduct/CurrentRules/Rule1400.a
spx. It's a client solicitation, even if its related to patients and not sent out
by the law firm itself. And it is misleading: ""In order to be considered for
compensation for your injuries, in this class action lawsuit, you must fill out the
information form provided."" If it were a court ordered class-action notice that
really was a cut off of plaintiff rights, it would not be in this format. If it
were a proper law firm solicitation, the law firm would be named and there would be
disclosures and there would be tons of other information. For all you know, this is
a website run by the manufacturer. The California rule is a consumer protection
rule intended to keep people from getting ripped off by unscruplous attorneys. Like
the plaintiffs in the phen-fen disaster. http://www.fbi.gov/louisville/pressreleases/2009/lo040309.htm. Marshall Allen?"This is accurate information on the
status of Levaquin litigation. I hope it helps. http://www.mnd.uscourts.gov/MDLLevaquin/current-developments.shtml"Hi Erin - insults are not at all welcome in
this group. Please refer to our guidelines in the ""files"" section. The document
is called ""How to participate..."" Also, I think that Debra Van Putten was asking
a legitimate question. Your post does sound like a solicitation of sorts and she
was inquiring about it."google kw record to see my story"Here's the link:
http://www.therecord.com/iphone/topstories/article/795298So sorry for your loss."
"An Institute of Medicine report released today is an expansive indictment of
American healthcare, and I wanted to get your thoughts on it.The ���Best Care at
Lower Cost��� report says that waste, fraud and other inefficiencies are costing
an estimated $765 billion a year ��� an amount greater than the entire budget of
the Department of Defense. The report also said too many patients are suffering
harm, and it���s now recognized that infections and complications that were once
considered routine can now be prevented with an evidence-based approach to
medicine. Those findings are alarming, but also widely known, particularly to
members of our ProPublica Patient Harm Facebook Group. I wanted to get your
thoughts on one of the report���s conclusions. It said the structure, incentives
and culture of health care result in a lack of engagement with patients and their
families, even though patient engagement leads to better outcomes across the board.
Health care providers offer scientific expertise, the report said, but
���patients, their families, and other caregivers bring personal knowledge
regarding their suitability ��� or lack thereof ��� of different
treatments��_Information from both sources is needed to select the right care
option.��� So here���s what I wonder: How does it make you feel that some the
top health care minds in the country ��� the committee that produced this report
��� acknowledge the shortcomings that have been discussed at great length in
this group? Do you find it encouraging? Or is it depressing that experts and
reports keep verifying the problems, but the culture is so slow to change? And what
do you think needs to happen to spur meaningful improvement?""I just read it. and
interviewed one of the authors. It tries to foster a sense for providers, patients
-- all stakeholders ��� to see fraud, abuse, unnecessary care in the context of
electronic medical records, patient engagement and complications. in effect, it is
the kitchen sink of what's wrong with healthcare. unfortunately, imho, it does not
pave a path to assembling the pieces to fix the problem. Only payment reform,
again imho, will get that done. Until providers are not paid by click, and until
they can monitor in real time what's going on with patients right now, in their
hospital, will a dent be made.""Veronica James, they do make a push for
transparency in the report, too, urging for actual quality outcomes to be made
public. Many studies have shown that transparency spurs providers to improve. But
meaningful public reporting is hard to find.""IOM published, ""To Err is Human"" in
1999. They did an extensive study on errors in 2007. There has been no
significant change, and the cost of medical error wasn't even whispered in the
national ""debate"" related to PPACA. HHS is gutting what little there is helpful
in PPACA in response to the lobbying efforts of the AHA. The federal government
pays for half of medicine
in the US and has zero effective quality controls. It can't even say that starving
a 67 year old grandmother, because she is a paraplegic -- due to medical error -is wrong. And we are federalizing the rules for the health care for millions. And
in doing so, making it impossible to contest bad insurance decisions and even
further limiting visibility on oversight. Corporate payers of insurance (a soon
diminishing species) continue to buy the unproven ""preventive medicine"" sales job
of the AMA and big pharma, instead of demanding quality as well. If you go on any
medical blog, it is clear that the medical community has nearly zero belief in the
proven medical error rate. Try to make a post on Kevinmd.com -- you will get
bullied. Or if you want a real idea of what medical ""professionals"" think, try
nurse K's blog: http://crasspollination.blogspot.com/"Nurse K has a heck of alot
more readers in the medical community than the IOM"Look at the trashing Atul
Gawande got on kevinmd.com for a pretty middle of the road article that espouses
management theories that were new in like, 1911 (see Frederick Taylor). I think
Kevin is actually a nice guy, but his audience is often beyond the bend and they
seem to not understand (or don't care) that they bring their profession into
disrepute. Unfortunately, I suspect the audience represents the majority of the
medical community.""Most doctors who read this, most administrators who read this
will say (1) this is how it is, it can't be fixed, the people who write this is pie
in the sky; (2) they are talking about someone else (3) they are overestimating the
problem, these people calculated it wrong. Why, to come to terms with the body
count is just too horrifying. look at doctor responses in the NYT Well column.
anyone mentions something bad and its a doctor pile up. the solution is YOU (Dr.
X, administrator X) did Y, which caused Z harm in a way that can't be rationalized
away. And when something is public, it is much more difficult to rationalize.""We
also need to realize that there are limits to jawboning. ""Don't steal"" is a
great thing to teach kids. But there is a certain set of the population who will
steal anyway. It's great if we can get people at that point to realize what they
have done and have them stop, but the reality is that there is a certain percentage
who will need to see the unpleasant side of the criminal justice system to change
their minds and some percentage never will and will only stop when locked up. For
people with security clearances, there is much that is voluntary, but people can
and do lose clearances all of the time for even minor infractions, and it can and
does affect one's livelihood. And nobody really cries a river for those folks.""i
agree with you debra... there is a certain percentage who will need to see the
unpleasant side of the criminal justice system. if we were merely talking about
medical errors, medical negligence, etc., then maybe this report would give me some
hope for change. however, far too often, this is not the case. in my case and so
many other cases, doctors are harming patients with intent for profit. as ugly as
that is, it's the truth. until harmed patients have legal remedy via the criminal
justice system, i don't believe there will be noticeable change. if and when
doctors begin going to jail for their crimes, i believe we will likely see at least
a hope for change. at present, doctors have zero incentive to 'first do no harm'
because they know full well there is absolutely no consequence awaiting them if
they harm by mistake or even on purpose. they are free to commit unthinkable crimes
against humanity. and not only do they not face consequences, they are paid for
what they do - even if they harm and kill.""I don't think its even just jail
(although I think that is the appropriate remedy in my mom's case), it's
consequences. Oh, so sad the doctor might lose his livelihood if he loses his
license. Oh, so horrible if a doctor is humiliated with a lawsuit. Please. First,
if someone is smart enough to make it through med school, he or she should have
enough smarts and ambition to earn some other living. Maybe not so plush, but
something to put food on the table. Second, if that ""livelihood"" is made at the
cost of imposing wanton destruction on others, well, maybe subsidizing that
""livelihood"" with a body count is just too expensive. If you are an airline pilot
and if you show up drunk, you are not going to fly. If you are a neurosurgeon
about to cut millimeters away from someone's carotid artery and you show up three
hours late, guess what -- you get to operate because the hospital is not going to
give up the revenue you bring in. And yes, I know someone who had brain surgery
from a DRUNK neurosurgeon.""Going through medical school is probably not dissimilar
to learning to be a member of a cult. Not a religion based cult, but a very insular
group non-the-less. There is sharp line dividing inside and an outside. There is an
us and a them. Loosing lawsuit isn't just about money, as recent reports have told
us many times they just don't pay anyway. Losing a lawsuit is a great humiliation.
Like belonging to a cult, to be kicked out is like annihilation, a death of a selfconcept. Come to think of it, going through medical school, through internship, and
becoming a doctor is probably very much like becoming a priest. A doctor who looses
a license to practice medicine is like a priest defrocked. See how tightly priests
have stuck together to protect any member accused of the crime of pedophilia."
"garrick, you bring up a good point by way of comparing doctors and priests. i see
similarities there. i think one reason (probably the biggest reason) i've had such
a unbelievably difficult time pursuing my medical malpractice complaint over the
past four years is due to the fact that I was harmed in a catholic hospital namely 'mercy'. also, there's the issue of the specific type of surgery that was
performed on me - removal of all six of my 'healthy' sex organs. catholic hospitals
do not want cases like mine 'advertised' in any way because they are not supposed
to be in the business of removing women's sex organs - especially healthy ones...
that this happened to me in a catholic hospital just adds another layer of
difficulty. i suspect this adds to the difficulty in other cases as well for the
reasons you already stated.""Robin Karr I agree with all you said. Once I found out
what had happened to me and found others in yhe same situation I posted and.still
post. Amazing information has seemed to allow me to connect the dots and believe me
it show exactly how doctors are profiling and placing innocent patients in harms
way. I have the dots connected and with EHR it become a reality to stop this
nightmare for patients and monitor and authorize realtime all patients info in one
place. The key is to have superior quality control of the data so more harm
doesn't come from incorrect information in files. This has to be a partnership
between patients, providers and clinicians""Since the discussion seems focused on
the problem of enforcement -- making sure the bad practitioners are not harming
patients -- I thought I would mention that most of the doctors and nurses I speak
to (who are obviously the good ones with nothing to hide) are willing to talk to
the media because going through the established system of oversight has been so
frustrating for them. The vast majority of doctors and nurses are good at what they
do, are ethical and put patients first. But some seem to be greedy, sloppy,
incompetent, etc. The good practitioners know who the bad ones are, but, from those
I've talked to, have an almost impossible time stopping the harm that's being done.
The medical boards are often conflicted trying to discipline their peers, who
lawyer up and fight tooth and nail to defend themselves. And those who turn in
their peers often get targeted for retribution.""marshall, i know what you say is
true in regard to how the retribution factor makes it very difficult for good
practitioners to stop the harm they see and know is going on. to some extent, i
understand that... however, to a larger extent, i don't or at least i don't accept
it. i gave up two careers (one in 1984 and one in 2004) due to the fact that i was
not willing to look the other way in order to make a good living. is it fair that i
had to lose all i worked for due to the unethical actions of others? maybe not...
but at the end of the day, i have to look myself in the mirror - i have to live
with robin. when i chose to walk away from my first career, my supervisor told me
that he wished he had the courage to do the same. since this man was directly
responsible for molding the lives of many children, i wish he had had the courage
to walk away too. debra brought up the issue of security clearances and how people
lose those (along with their livelihood) for even minor infractions. i know this is
true because i lost mine due to my reporting a high government official (working
under president bush) who was sexually harassing women. i should mention that two
women who worked for this man died under suspicious circumstances. i knew the risk
i was taking in reporting this official. and my worst fears were realized when my
clearance was suddenly taken without warning and i was escorted out of dhs
headquarters in our nation's capital. my ride home on the subway that day was very
very long. i lost everything..... even my home. i paid a very high price for doing
the right thing. i could easily have justified looking the other way. after all, i
was a single mother just trying to survive. i chose to do the right thing
regardless of the consequence. i taught my son that it's 'always' the right thing
to do the right thing. how could i choose not to do it then? i
couldn't. i made a conscious choice to do the right thing. in the same way, those
in authority consciously chose to take my security clearance and ruin my career.
those in authority consciously chose to do the wrong thing. my point is we all make
choices. the choice to do nothing is still a choice. that's what people often don't
understand or consider. i suspect the admitting nurse who worked with me the
morning of my surgery in 07 was let go for not going along with what was done to
me. i know she no longer works for mercy hospital in cincinnati. i felt badly for
her (in a way) when i first learned she was no longer employed by mercy. but then i
thought about how she can at least know she does not have my blood on her hands.
she did the right thing the morning of september 27, 2007. she made a conscious
decision to not be a part of what ultimately happened to me that day. in my
opinion, there's a lot to be said for that. maybe i'm a idealist or a dreamer, but
even today, i still believe it's always the right thing to do the right thing.""I
see your points, Robin Karr. I'm not justifying the lack of action by the good
nursing, docs and hospital officials. I think if they decided, as a group, to speak
up and refuse to accept the bad care that they see, it would be revolutionary. But
I am trying to explain the very real reality that those who speak up seem to be in
the minority, and the risks that they face are real. But you're right -- we all
face this in various aspects of our lives. No one has an excuse to stand by and do
nothing when they see something that's wrong.""love what your mom used to say
veronica ""when you see a wrong, right it -- put on your gloves and fight it."" you
obviously took what she said to heart...""Two posts, both long. In the security
clearance system, if you know someone is doing something wrong, and don't report
it, you can lose your clearance too. I got yelled at once because the guy in the
office NEXT TO ME left classified out one night. It wasn't even my office.The
processes were designed to remind you that you were not dealing with something
casual every day -- logs, handling instructions, etc. It was so rote after several
years that on 9/11 when the plane came in at the pentagon, flying 50 feet over my
office, I pulled the hard drive out of my computer, gathered up the classified and
got it in the safe, with completed log, before I evacuated. There were real random
audits. There were scheduled audits. There are security guards on the way out of
facilities and they check your bag on the way out. And I have had coworkers get
caught forgetting to follow the handling procedures, head to a meeting and getting
caught in a random bag check and lose a job. The penalties were real and enforced
at senior levels -- in fact harder at senior levels. I had one boss -- very senior
-- who has not handled his hard drive correctly and he was forbidden to use a
computer for a year. And, he was denied the right to touch anything classified,
for a year. So, his employees had to bring everything to him and take it away.
They had to log on and get his emails. He got to wear his humiliation with him to
meetings without outside agencies, explaining his misdeed. Trust me, he had a
different view of following the rules after that. I had another boss lose safe
privileges because he left a safe open overnight. So, the employees had to log
every classified document he got and he had to hand it back. He got to tell every
employee that he got caught and trust me, it gave the security officer fodder for
years. So, real professionals, if entrusted with something really important, can be
subjected to serious rules and the community can be accepting of it and
collectively can enforce. If someone saw something go wrong, they would say
something. Like, if the guy next door leaves his safe open, you give him a hard
time to be more careful, and if you leave after him, you check his office, fix the
problem and tell the supervisor, so you don't get blamed. Sure, there was
training. But what kept you motivated was the penalties. Very public penalties
that were meted out to all. And the whole system was premised on oversight and
regular feedback, at a low level, for minor infractions, to prevent larger, more
painful punishment. If you were an airhead about what you did with paper and were
deluded that you were not, trust me, you figured out quickly that you had a problem
and changed.""Post, two (and I suspect there will actually be three). When what
happened to mom happened, one of the things that was most upsetting to me was that
the medical staff behaved as if this was normal, if not exemplary behavior. The
abuse and failure of the hospital was horribly visible. A black eye. Emaciation
with pictures of a healthy person only weeks before.
A stage Iv pressure ulcer.
Fear of hospital personnel. Inappropriate medications designed to restrain, rope
burns on her arms, open, untended wounds on her arm, paralysis due to delayed
treatment, a lack of basic physical therapy, lack of access to equipment needed for
movement and communication. Pretty much every red flag of elder abuse. Hospital
personnel admitted that if mom had been brought in by us to the ER in her
condition, they would have called social services on us and had her removed from
our custody. The head of the hospital admitted this and then turned around and
emailed us that mom was ""getting great care."" Not a single one made a report to
adult protective services, even though they were mandatory reporters and even
though such reporting is anonymous. there are probably 60 -70 nurses and doctors,
plus some administrators, who could be fairly prosecuted for elder abuse or
derogation of their mandatory reporting duties -- felonies at this level of abuse.
Trust me, if the Virginia board of medicine had some spine and yanked their
licenses en masse and the Virginia attorney general were to prosecute every single
one, and there were even a few more cases like it, every doctor or nurse in the
country would have the excuse of ""I'm not going along with that, I have too much
invested in my license and I am not risking going to jail to cover your butt."" If
there were a credible and somewhat predictable threat of serious penalties, there
would be much more social acceptance of lower level enforcement of standards -- it
would change the calculus of individuals as to where their self interest lies."and
so what does it take to instill the values required to fix the problem? Or perhaps
the difference is between government and business."And now back to, ""the
established system of oversight has been so frustrating for them."" That is
because the established system of oversight in the health care industry is
essentially one of enabling. If you look at the literature, there is this belief
that if you impose penalties, you will cause nobody to talk about failures and
therefore the ""system"" won't find out what is wrong. The belief is that all
information has to come from voluntary disclosures. The belief is that health care
providers are emotionally fragile entities that if told that they, personally, are
screwing up, they will collapse and be unable to function, therefore harming even
more patients. It's silly.""Let's look at that oversight system. More than half
of health expenditures are paid for by the federal government, directly or
indirectly. So, that is where the ""money"" is on oversight. Medicare has NO
entity that has the necessary authority, training and independence to enforce
quality requirements. Period. There are plenty of organizations with enforcement
for coding errors, but nothing to ensure that we are paying for competent care.
it's like Dod counting how many bullets it has received and not checking if they
work.
Let's posit this. After every hospitalization, Medicare sends out a
survey to the patient based on the billing codes submitted by the hospital. And
instead of a bunch of fluffy questions, the survey asks alot of hard questions
based on the diagnosis codes. Is the billing code what you went to the hospital
for. Did you experience any other problems. Was medication delivered timely. did
you get a pressure ulcer. how bad was it. Were your blood sugars checked before
meals if you were a diabetic. Etc. Pay people $20 in the SS checks to fill out the
surveys. I guarantee alot of surveys will come back. If a problem shows up in the
survey response, cut the reimbursement for that visit by a certain percentage. If
its something that causes harm, offset reimbursements by the cost of the
anticipated harm Medicare is going to have to pay over the lifetime of the patient.
And maybe add a multiplier for how many of similar incidences are likely missed.
Use the survey data in guiding inspections and do real, random audits of patient
files, with real penalties. Go behind the files and interview patients to validate
the data being provided by the contractor. If there is some real penalty that is
attached to non-performance for both hospitals and doctors, information about what
is not working then becomes something of value to the organization, not something
that is a potential liability (lawsuit). Have the overall survey information
available publicly, so that people can choose which hospital they wish to go to and
so that boards have independent data as to the performance of the executive staff,
who, under the current system have no real accountability for quality failures -in personal liability or medicare exclusion. The worst that can happen to a
hospital executive for a quality failure is being fired. Everything in the
oversight system is designed to hide information to prevent it from being used in a
lawsuit because ""the system"" believes consequences are evil. Can you imagine how
many taxes would
be collected if there were no penalties for non-payment, but only public service
announcements about all of us ""paying our fair share."""Mothers against drunk
driving had significant effect by penalizing federal transportation funding if the
drinking age was below 21. How about penalizing Medicaid block grants if a state
does not have an effective medical licensing program that is fully public? How
about tying federal funding for residencies position to demonstrated low rates of
infections and never events. How about tying federal funding for building projects
to proof of effective management and recognition and compensation of medical
errors. How about extremely stiff penalities for failure to report and failure to
document. I don't see why we are putting all of the onus on people who are at the
bottom of the food chain."Veronica, I am well aware of the Medicare survey division
and the state inspection process. Our experience is that the state survey
personnel had absolutely ZERO technical skills, ZERO knowledge of the legal
requirements (they did not even know what the phrase ""conditions of
participation"" referred to) and ZERO understanding of the investigative process.
Quite frankly, they weren't able to string a sentence together in a report. They
are also the people who had ZERO problem with a 67 year old grandmother being
involuntarily starved for a week. The State inspectors could have shut the
hospital down while mom was there and did not-- even though the found substantiated
seven immediate jeopardy level violations. I am also familiar with the medicare
survey folks. The woman from the Philadelphia Region who was responsible for these
state inspectors told me that, over her dead body, would the hospital in question
be held accountable, and somehow, the state inspection report got altered, without
documentation why, to fit that viewpoint. And by the way, that alteration
constitutes obstruction of justice under federal law. HHS OIG refuses to do
anything because after all, they talked to the lady from Philadelphia, and she told
them she did not do anything wrong. That we have the starvation documented in the
hospital's records means nothing. When our Congressman's office required the
Regional Administrator to meet with us on a conference call, the survey division
was more pissed off that the state had given us, as required by law, the original
version of the inspection report and the altered inspection report, than they were
about the fact that mom had been starved and otherwise abused. The state isn't
going to impose penalties on a major employer in the area (in fact, they sponsored
a $350 mil bond for them). And apparently CMS isn't going to be bothered either.Ask
Ms. Barbara Capers-Merrick MS, CD/N for the actual survey report and the CMS form
with its findings and the record of what penalties were actually imposed. And then
come back and let us know if you are happy with how it was handled.""i agree that
tying federal funding for resident positions to demonstrated low rates of
infections and never events would likely help matters. any time you tie money to
results, you can expect things will change. blindly paying money (via gov't funding
or otherwise) no matter what the result is not only dangerous, it can be deadly.
i'm still dealing with united health care and the complaint i filed with them
regarding my surgery in 07. uhc says they've done nothing wrong in paying for my
surgery because it was covered under my plan. using that reasoning, my former
gynecologist could have done any number of things to me (all unnecessary and
without my consent) and uhc would have paid for it so long as it was covered.
seriously? when i asked uhc how they know a patient needs or consents to surgery
they pay for, they said that they trust that doctors do not lie. i said 'that's
nice..... but what do you do when someone like me alerts you to the fact that a
doctor did lie (by his own admission no less), that a doctor altered medical
records and performed surgery without consent (again by his own admission)?' i
told uhc point blank that they are funding a criminal doctor who they now know is
altering medical records and performing surgery without medical need or consent.
finally, i told them that there is no way that my former doctor would be operating
without medical need or consent if he was not being 'blindly paid' (for whatever
services are rendered) by insurance companies like uhc. what incentive does my
former doctor have to 'first do no harm'? he gets paid no matter what happens and
nobody questions him. not a good system.....""In addition, if you look at this HHS
OIG report, even if state inspectors find something, they don't do anything about
it: http://oig.hhs.gov/oei/reports/oei-01-08-00590.pdf. They did not impose
penalties and they did not verify that proposed changes were actually implemented.
CMS does not inform accreditors of substantiated problems""Just because they
""cited' them doesn't mean that Select had anything happen to them. They can be
""cited"" but no fine, no requirement to change.""If the QIO found ""substandard""
what are they going to do about it? Cut payment? Refer to HHS OIG (our state QIO
told me they have NEVER made a referral to HHS OIG, even though it is supposed to
be the standard for any sort of serious patient harm). Again, nice to hear words,
but what teeth is there to that finding?""Trust me, if a materials provider gave us
something that got ""substandard"" by the inspectors, it would go back, there would
be contract penalties assessed, etc. Where's the beef in this system?""Are they
going to provide you with proof of implementation or is that going to go back into
the super secret, we can't tell you because it will make someone look bad file. Are
they going to publish on their website what they found and what the changes are and
how they are to be implemented, so that if someone else has the same problem, they
can contact the same person at NJDHHS to let them know that the fix did not work.
An effective oversight system needs to have that closure and monitoring. QIO is
legally precluded from publishing that data. Individual complainants are not
allowed to get even the information you received without permission of the
investigated health care provider.""marshall, can you perhaps also encourage some
of the folks in this group who are from the hospital oversight community (esp the
folks from the Joint Commission) to perhaps chime in.""Veronica, what the
regulations required is that the ""nice honest lady"" from Survey and Certification
send you the entire inspection report, plus the completed Form(s) 2567, Statement
of Deficiencies and Plan of Correction. email her back and ask for them. and if she
doesn't, make a FOIA request.""And, there is supposed to be a verification survey
done to ensure that the fixes were implemented. Ask for the Form 2567 for that
too.""Look at the OIG report I just cited. For all of the 100 Immediate Jeopardy
complaints, half of which were found to be substantiated (ie. complaints of serious
errors resulting in patient disability or death), ""Only one hospital was required
to submit data to the State agency showing longer term compliance."" One hospital
in the whole darn country. That's it.""To put a finer point on it. 180,000 deaths
per year due to avoidable medical error for medicare and ONE hospital got sanctions
such that they were required to show long term compliance. ONE."'...one hospital in
the whole darn country. that's it' ... well that says a lot now doesn't it!good you
rec'd some information helpful to you veronica... thanks for sharing so much debra.
and thanks to marshall also for posting his original question that prompted all of
us to begin this discussion:)"Veronica, this is the state survey process for
dealing with complaints: http://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Provider-Enrollment-andCertification/SurveyCertificationGenInfo/Downloads/som107c05.pdfthis is the QIO
manual: http://www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Guidance/Manuals/InternetOnly-Manuals-IOMs-Items/CMS019035.htmlThis is the Appendices for the State
operations manual, which includes what standards are to be applied:
http://www.cms.gov/Regulations-andGuidance/Guidance/Manuals/Downloads/som107_appendixtoc.pdfNow you have enough to be
moderately dangerous ;). Or at least smother them with paper.""This is an
interesting story, and not one of the usual ones heard over and over again.""very
interesting remark buy someone who posted a comment on ""inquest for Josh"". go to
the website http://www.justiceforjosh.com/ and click on sign petition and click on
signatures and check out #70.""mary-lou, i read #70's comment. sadly, i believe
many people are driven to say and do things they would never say or do because of
the very dangerous influence of 'prescription' drugs. i've been on that road. i
somehow managed to get off. others are not so lucky:("
http://www.webpronews.com/tom-brokaw-hospitalized-blames-it-on-ambien-2012-09"I
understand with you about the medical examiner being part of the problem, they
tried to claim that my daughter died from a narrow esophagus and CHARGE Syndrome.
You don't die from your disabilities. I did the same thing in writing a complaint
against the medical examiner as well, and the Medical board is trying to keep this
all covered up, but you keep writing until they turn blue and you don't stop. I am
working on some things in Texas and when I finish I will share with everyone how we
intend to bring this mess to an end. It is sick and it nothing short of Genocide."
you're absolutely right deirdre.. it is nothing short of *GENOCIDE*when our son
died the medical examier tried to say our son died because he was alcoholic and
this caused his major bleeding from his TBI..His physical he had just before
his injury proved he was not a alcholicThe truth was he had a major tear in his
artery from a fractured skull.Brain truma guidelines recommend evacuation which he
never got but they told us he did get.His attending wrote us a letter saying
surgery wouldnt have done him any good.A very conflicting story in writing and the
medical board did nothing.. Keep the pressure on the ME and youll get the
truth.When guilty doctors rely on bashing the innocent patient it just goes to show
what they realy are.true john... blame the victim"Here are Michael Moore's mailing
addresses: Michael Moore Dog Eat Dog Films P.O. Box 831 New York, NY 10101
Michael Moore Endeavor Agency LLC 9701 Wilshire Blvd Fl 10, Beverly Hills, CA
90212
Michael Moore's Agent:
Ariel (Ari) Emanuel Endeavor Agency LLC
9701 Wilshire Blvd Fl 10, Beverly Hills, CA 90212"is there a city and stateclick
on see more at the bottomthanksI actually think there is merit in doctors having a
government-sanctioned place to go if they are struggling with addiction. Consumers
Union's Lisa McGiffert has a different take. http://bit.ly/UmYIvfI'd be interested
to hear other folks weigh in on this. Does a doctor have a right to privacy if s/he
is struggling with mental illness or addiction? Should doctors who have struggled
in the past be allowed to be 'rehabilitated' if they successfully complete
treatment and are sober? Or should they be banned permanently?What information
would you want as a patient?"The information readily available now includes: Name
of medical school, if that medical school is accredited, the date of graduation,
date and location of beginning of residency, license status and history, advanced
speciality certifications, national background check.""Healthcare workers are
people too ~ 12% of the population is addicted to something. Is anyone aware if
pilots, nuclear plant operators, soldiers, police, truck drivers and others are
required to have a drug screen and to renew their license?"Do they have mandatory
regular pee tests to keep your medical license? We most certainly had those to
keep a security clearance."""I hired a pathologist and brought in the coroner to
consult��_[they] determined that Lloyd���s death was caused by surgical errors,
and infection untreated which led to severe sepsis.""Is this something people
should consider when the hospital doesn't give an adequate explanation? This man
got the truth this way.""garrick, i think this is something patients should
consider... a woman i know in california learned her breasts and muscles were
removed for no reason after she hired a pathologist to re-examine her tissues. she
did not have cancer as her surgeon told her she did. i doubt she would have ever
learned the truth any other way - sad to say...""Thank you everyone for entering
the discussion on this issue. I am Michele and Lloyd (mentioned in the article )
was my husband-to-be. In response to Olga Pierce's question. I believe that if a
physician chooses to abuse drugs or alcohol, then we as patients have a right to
know about it. I have spent five years on this issue up against the most powerful
lobbying groups in the state. I have testified at Senate hearings where I have
heard others say that physicians have a right to their livelihood. My response to
those comments in my testimony was that Lloyd had the right to live. Lloyd had the
right to his livelihood which was empowering Californians. So, in response to your
question. No, physicians should not be guaranteed privacy. If doctors do not pay
their child support or do not pay their taxes, they face potential suspension and
real discipline. Yet, if impaired, they were able to avoid discipline and even now
without a program most doctors receive probation over and over again."A lot of the
physicians who have these issues are repeat offenders. They relapse over and over.
Some of them receive probation 3 times over while still practicing with their
patients having no idea their doctor has such a problem. There are many examples.
Here is an example of a mentally ill physician. Jose Maria Montenegro was a
pediatrician who had to surrender his license a couple of years ago because there
was no program. His public records list many years of disturbing information yet
he kept receiving probation over and over again
http://www2.mbc.ca.gov/LicenseLookupSystem/PhysicianSurgeon/Lookup.aspx?
licenseType=C&licenseNumber=35541Here is a recent example of a physician who was
abusing drugs in his office while on duty and on call at the hospital. He is an OB
GYN. It was the janitor who discovered items in the doctor's trash can. It was
the janitor who reported his findings to the Chief of Staff of the hospital because
he was concerned for patient safety.
http://www2.mbc.ca.gov/LicenseLookupSystem/PhysicianSurgeon/Lookup.aspx?
licenseType=G&licenseNumber=86782"Garrick, I think it is something more people
should consider. In my case, it was the only way that I was going to get any
answers."thank you for sharing so much insight and info michele'lloyd died three
days following 'elective surgery' with no reason given for his death.' this is
tragic on every level! so sorry for the horror you faced via the unnecessary death
of your *husband-to-be*. the 'elective' part of this story especially upsets me. so
many innocent and unsuspecting people sign up for 'elective' surgery unaware of the
many hidden dangers. lloyd is a perfect example of this. and so am i..."'i decided
that I was going to get to the bottom of it if it was the last thing I ever did.'
you did get to the bottom of what happened to your mom veronica. thankfully, it's
not the last thing you ever did though.. you uncovered so much! and you went on to
share your mom's very important story, what you uncovered and also how you
uncovered it.""The solution to cognitive dissonance is feedback with consequences.
A lawyer who goes to court and loses every time figures out pretty quick that he
stinks in the court room. Someone who sells a product nobody buys figures it out
pretty quick, too. The politician who thinks nobody cares about his private life
but gets outed in the paper will rethink that position. Public disclosures and
consequences do wonders for self-delusion.""I don't believe that all doctors need
that system. One time is rehabilitation but multiple charges of drug and alcohol
abuse is reason for revocation. We can not drive and drink and not go to jail,
even if we go get rehabilitation. I am concerned because the first doctor that
perforated my doctors esophagus and colon, overinsufflated with CO2, and
disappeared after he did it leaving my daughter to die has no right for keeping a
secret. That is what is wrong now, too much secrecy. Why is it the doctors claim
that revelation will ruin their business, but what about the doctor killing or
injuring a person? Something is wrong with that picture. It is time for change
and we can no longer sit idle and allow the systems to dictate morality."
http://www.amazon.com/Blind-Eye-Medical-Establishment-Doctor/dp/0671044214"""If
there's a lesson here, it's that authority figures, such as doctors, suffer pride,
envy and lust just like the rest of us but unlike the rest of us, too often fail to
acknowledge their fallibility. It highlights the patriarchal and sexist nature of
the American medical profession which, like other parts of society, is not
hermetically sealed off from that society.""""by the way... the reviews of this
book are almost as interesting as the book and many indicate that this book and
non-fiction story of a serial-killer doctor has served as a wake-up call for
hospitals. the following review indicates just that... A compelling wake up call
for hospitals and our government., September 11, 1999By A CustomerThis review is
from: Blind Eye: How the Medical Establishment Let a Doctor Get Away with Murder
(Hardcover)As a medical staff coordinator (basically we do the background checks on
physicians for the medical staff) I found this book quite interesting. I read it
straight through. I want to assure you that there are now many checks and balances
in place that would not allow Swango to fall through the cracks. This includes the
National Practitioners Data Bank and Federal of State Medical Boards.
Unfortunately, I am not familiar with residency and internship programs processing
so I do not know if they utilize these sources. Our government has also instituted
a new data bank (HIPDB) going into effect in just a few days which would include
criminal background information. Unfortunately, hospitals are not allowed access to
this information. How tragic. I urge each of you to contact your state
representative about this matter as soon as possible.I shared the content of this
book with my administrators, Credential Committee and Board of Trustee members.
They were astonished. They are now passing the book around and buying their own
copies. We are even buying a copy to put in our Medical Staff library for the rest
of the staff to read.My hospital has toyed with the thought of performing criminal
background checks on all physician applicants. This book was instrumental in making
in reality. It is now a policy to do this on every physician applicant.Many of
those in my profession have been following this story for some time now. My thanks
goes to James Stewart for opening the eyes of the rest of the country to this
monster. Unfortunately, the monster is not just Swango, but also the process that
allowed him to go from residency program to residency program with such ease. It is
comforting to know that there were those out there that attempted to stop him but
frightening to know that others, such as those in Ohio, were more concerned about
their own problems than stopping a
murderer.I urge everyone to read this book and to encourage others, especially
those in medicine to do the same. With people like Swamgo in the world today, it is
a must that hospitals, training programs and licensing boards go much further in
working to protect the patient.My prayers will continue for the families of the
victims to bring this killer to justice. I am frightened to know that he may be out
on the streets in just a few short months but thankful that the government found
some way to lock him up for at least a little while."That book is a fascinating
read."You know all those Immediate Jeopardy fines against California hospitals?
They total $9.25 million, but almost none of it has been spent. It's supposed to be
spent on patient care improvement projects. But after four years, one $825,000
project administered by UC Davis is just getting off the ground. The state is
sitting on the rest of the money. My column today.
http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/content/QUA-284154/925M-in-Fines-for-MedicalErrors-Goes-Largely-Unspent-in-CA"Nice work Cheryl Clark."Chicago is the Place to
Be!!! 4h Annual World MRSA Day & Global MRSA Summit - Sept.29th at the Hilton
Garden Inn, OakBrook Terrace, IL from 10:30am-12pm. Free admission & free parking.
Help us raise awareness- leading MRSA and HAI's experts along with MRSA survivors
and families sharing their personal stories. Also speaking is Illinois Senate Pres.
John Cullerton. Short seminar on how to become a 'MRSA Champion' and a balloon
release after the event. Bring the entire family!! Downloadable posters and
materials for World MRSA Day, Oct. 2 and World MRSA Awareness Month, October
available at www.worldMRSAdayorg. RSVP at 630 325-4354 to MRSA Survivors Network.
Media Sponsor - NBC5 Chicago."http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2012/09/die-lightly.html
"'of all the wishes in our lives, the wish for how we die seems as important as
any, something to plan for deliberately and carefully.'""Very interesting
discussion...http://csn.cancer.org/node/151960""Notice the comment "" I had a
healthy kidney removed"""hard not to notice that... literally jumped out at me and
made me queasy.This is the same thing I experienced. I truely believe I survived
so these corrupt UROLOGIST would be exposed. UROLOGIST are using humans for
research subjects without disclosing to the patient.This is the same thing I
experienced. I truely believe I survived so these corrupt UROLOGIST would be
exposed. UROLOGIST are using humans for research subjects without disclosing to
the patient.i too believe that so many of us have survived so we can help to
educate and expose.good news. My story is set to run in the kw record on Saturday.
Unless something major happens and I get bumped. Pray for me and check it our.
"Sorry wrong linkwww.unaccountablebook.com""Get your registration in by tomorrow,
September 5 if you want to attend this FDA September 10 webinar!"Make public
comments!http://www.ofr.gov/OFRUpload/OFRData/2012-21434_PI.pdf?source=govdelivery
"clearly, the motive here was 'donor organs'...""How do these doctors look
themselves in the mirror? I hope that Texas right to life and the ACLU join
together and picket this place with the same gusto as an abortion clinic. The law
most certainly cannot be constitutional -- its deprivation of life without due
process, which requires at a minimum an impartial arbiter and opportunity to
confront evidence and present a differing side.""Surely, prisoners at Gitmo can't
have more rights than a twelve year old kid.""you bring up a good point debra... i
just read a great article on michael moore's site regarding a call to pro-life
people to care about life 'outside the womb' too. i'm not pro-abortion or anything
BUT i believe we need to also care about the lives of those who are already here;
lives on those on our streets, in hospitals, nursing homes, etc., etc.. i can't
help but wonder what would happen in a case like this one if pro-life people would
rally behind these poor parents..... i can't begin to imagine their devastation on
every level. my heart is overwhelmed for them. this story needs to be reported far
and wide in my opinion!""We called right to life and they would not answer our
phone calls. It's a pro-life governor and in Virginia here it was a pro-life
governor. I'm not a fan of michael moore, and I know Texas right to life
intervened in a similar case, but you're right. But you will never get this
administration to get the civil rights division of its department of Justice to go
after Texas for this law. Which is what should be happening.""Two things:1. I'll
go out on a limb and suppose that since the victim was a drug deal bystander that
this family is lower class. I wonder how treatment decisions would have unfolded
for a middle class family.2. My book contains an entire 30-some-odd page chapter on
resuscitation matters. Issues around DNRs and life support technology LST abound
yet are nowhere, as far as I know, presented to us in advance in a cohesive whole
(nowhere except my 2008 book, that is ��� tho writing this may prompt me to do a
google search). The 3 most problematic moments in my parents' ~6 weeks of terminal
hospitalizations were directly and 100% about LST. Especially relevant are provider
inclinations and hospital DNR policy during surgeries and post-op. Of course we're
not advised in advance; the surgical release form is where we encounter such
things, but it's provided very late in the process (in Robin's case to devastating
effect). Our first two ""DNR Snafus"" as I call them were during Mom's intubation
treatment and completely decimated the family's ability to function, including my
then 83yo father, Mom's proxy. Way to go: tell people to bring a proxy, then
undermine them, especially when elderly. The 3rd DNR Snafu led directly and
unnecessarily to Dad's death due to clinical disinterest in investigating his
stipulation. My sister and I became inadvertently complicit due to our naive
inability to advocate at a full level on Dad's behalf (""we are part of the
system""). It was specifically because of our DNR Snafus that I made a call in the
book's reform proposals section for Communication Algorithms, a phrase I coined to
communicate the fact that effective professional communication is a repeatable
skill that can be learned according to some set of parameters. DNR issues must be
understood in advance of confronting them. Investigate doctor, facility, and first
responder and be prepared for several things: facilities and their policies differ;
be alert for overrides to your wishes; if your wishes are liberal (right to die)
complete a Compassion & Choices ecumenical form for removal to a facility that'll
honor your wishes, should you end up in one that won't (hint: these days even
facilities with non-Catholic names may be governed by Catholic organizations, even
crossing US state boundaries); and that anything related to DNR or AND (allow
natural dying) including POLST and MOST forms are doctor's orders; US citizens are
not legally empowered to execute forms on their own behalf."thanks bart for your
input here... you are unfortunately somewhat of an expert on 'end of life' issues
now - including but not limited to dnr and lst. i was shocked to read where it's
legal in texas (other states too i suspect) to place a 'dnr note' in a patient's
chart without disclosing this to the family. i usually have no trouble verbalizing
how i feel about almost anything. i'm rather speechless here..... i agree with you
about how the class status of the family most likely sealed the 12 yr. old's fate.
and i completely agree with you on this *dnr issues must be understood in advance
of confronting them*"Very good point. I also wonder why the doctors in this case
are not being prosecuted for attempted murder. And by the way, our family is
nowhere near poor ... happened to us. Mom was a retired bank executive. Dad a bank
executive, daughter a licensed attorney. the problem is that if you are on
medicare, the receiving facility gets stiffed on a transfer, so nobody will agree
to receive.""Another important point: when a DNR is appended to a patient chart,
that chart ought to get flagged in a highly and immediately visible manner, esp. in
the ICU. This is so that nurses don't end up calling code should the patient
arrest. Advocacy 101 includes that the chart is available to the pt. and their
proxies, so regularly ask for and examine it. This assumes you've got all your
paperwork ducks quacking. AND points to the necessity for either an ironclad HIPAA
authorization and release as part of the durable medical power of attorney or via a
standalone document. Without the HIPAA angle covered it's conceivable that a
legally assigned proxy might have access to their patient's chart withheld under
the guise of HIPAA compliance."i'm on medicare now even though i'm not elderly. i'm
on medicare due to being disabled by surgery i didn't need or consent too. the
cycle of trauma is unending..... precisely why one simple post on here is likely to
prompt in-depth discussion. a good thing!"bart, you bring up a good point regarding
the hipaa laws.... actually, you bring up several good points. in my opinion,
hipaa laws have unnecessarily complicated things for all involved. hipaa laws were
blatantly violated in my case and yet there is seemingly nothing i can do about it.
my hospital medical record clearly notes that nobody was to be given my medical
information. i made certain of this because my family has very different religious
views from me and i knew my mother would be present the morning of my elective
surgery. even though i was proactive on this, the hospital o.r. nurse shared my
private medical information (including type of surgery i was scheduled for, etc.)
with my mother who, in turn, agreed to
sign a consent for surgery i refused to sign. i assumed that i would have legal
remedy - at least on this... i was 'dead wrong'. hipaa violations are many and
there's really nothing a patient can do. having said that, i suspect that hospitals
turn the tables when necessary (for them) and claim 'privacy' due to hipaa laws. in
other words, i can see where it would benefit hospitals in many cases, to not allow
a patient's legal representative to have full access to all pertinent information
and then claim 'hipaa laws'...... not sure at this point what to make of the whole
'hipaa thing'. just wondering if you've done much research on enforcement of hipaa
laws bart...""I've done zero research. This whole empowered patient patient
advocate/advocacy thing scares me to death. No two situations will every be alike
and whatever lessons we learn may or may not apply the next time. We have to do it
all, and the best we can, anyway.""you're right bart... lessons we learn may or may
not apply the next time. that scares me. and at the end of the day, all we can do
is 'do it all' and do it 'the best we can'.""I think it's all a mess and we are so
far from seeing a real change... there are too many issues, too much wrongdoing,
too many coverups, too much to lose.....sorry stupid IPad typing again""melissa, i
agree with you that a very tangled web has been weaved...""I am a fan of being an
empowered patient. It means being educated about your condition, it means
understanding how the health care system really works and it means having your own
information so that you can make your own decisions and not have someone make them
for you. in this case, the family's decisions were not respected and the family
wasn't informed. In my mom's case, the hospital actively hiding information
greatly contributed to her death, as did the doctors' constant refusal to listen to
the family. We were right, time and time again, and it is particularly grieving to
us to know that if we had been listened to, things would have turned out
differently.""yes debora, what you describe as far as what happened in your
mother's case, does make it much much more difficult... it's not that you were not
proactive and/or didn't do the right things. and when things are hidden, what can
you do? that's an utterly impossible situation.... honestly, that's what gets to me
the most regarding my own case. i educated myself and i took all of the proper
precautions, etc. but at the end of the day, i was dealing with a criminal doctor,
who does not play by any rules. i have a new saying... all's fair in love and war
AND MEDICINE. like bart said, lessons i learned may or may not apply the next time.
knowing this has caused me to reject breast surgery that could be life-saving. i'm
just not willing to take a chance again - not knowing what i know now. i can apply
the lessons i've learned but there is just no way i can know the next surgeon will
'first do no harm'. i think the story i posted is a perfect example of this. and,
so is your story and my story and so many other stories.... unfortunately, many of
us make the same scary point.""I 'self' diagnosed myself with a very rare disease a
couple years ago. Correctly, stuck to my guns, over doctors telling me I was
wrong, and it undoubtedly saved my life. In that journey, I ran across more than a
few bad apple docs and I am part of a larger patient community and that helps. Dad
was very active in mom's care all along. So, we have learned to go with our gut
about medical decisions. By and large, we KNEW that something was going wrong and
in most instanced we KNEW what was going wrong, days ahead of the doctors. Knowing
yourself and knowing about your own condition, having savvy family members is the
best insurance. In your situation, there was not much to do, except not let your
mom be next of kin. Having worked with alot of doctors, you get an idea of who is
weak, who shaves the truth and who plays it straight. If you have an idea of the
underlying medicine, you can also more easily spot folks who claim to know what
they are talking about but are wholly clueless. But the best armed patient can't
do anything against a doctor in a hospital that is damned and determined to do
wrong.""Debra you are so right.....I see it in my case and the longer it takes the
more damage is being done to my health....I am the educated one in my situation and
am alone most of the time at the hospital and it's been a field day for them...I am
sorry what happened to your mom I can totally see where they would ignore you, they
ignore the patients completely most of the time, sometimes it helps more when you
have educated family members such as yourself but your case shows they don't even
listen sometimes then...... so where are our solutions?....what I hear repeatedly
is that the problem is the doctors, the hospitals, etc but nothing changes ....all
that changes are the amount of errors and deaths...they increase....."". But the
best armed patient can't do anything against a doctor in a hospital that is damned
and determined to do wrong. .....Due to agendas that are anything but the safety
of the patients? Why - because they can and have done and will continue. Since the
year 2000 - the biggest budget in the Federal government has been Health and Human
Services each year.. That is more that the military.
Regulations that are
established have zero accountability. Statistics are being scrubbed annually quite
boldly., but, really the people who generate the data - control reports of events
so they are not accurate anyway.They stopped doing the WHO reporting in 2000 - said
it was too expensive to do. That last year's 'overall' report - 2000 - rated the US
as #37 - right below Costa Rica and above Slovenia. The US was #1 in cost. In
checking all the different departments for Health and Human Services - they all
pretty much do the same thing. I am wondering how many employees they have. I am
wondering what these employees do besides write 'policy' manuals and go to training
seminars, and deny any errors. In 2011 - HHS - funding was 909.7 billion.
Military was 739.7 billion. The year 2000 seems to be a pivotal year for HHS - tort
'reform'. I want to thank ProPublica for providing so much information to us. It
is very hard for the general public to understand that THEY are responsible for
their own SAFE medical care. We are all told to consult your physician - that is no
longer a good thing to do without researching on our own. Health and medical care
is certainly not an example of American 'exceptional-ism'. It does generate big
bucks though. I am speaking from recent personal experience and a little research.
I keep reading the same remark .....for the good of the
community...compromise....why do people accept this?""Michelin Anderson, it can be
a non-starter for many people to consider that authority has the capacity to betray
them. Most people grew up with parents that were good enough, and by good enough I
mean that they were instilled with the idea that there is some kind of contract
between the world and themselves that they could rely on which says official
authority would always take proper care of them.When presented with evidence of
official betrayal, either second-hand or their own personal experience, cognitive
dissonance occurs. Cognitive dissonance is the nagging feeling that something isn't
right with the facts. Such as one might have when dealing with a fast talking usedcar salesman. Cognitive dissonance feels like an anxiety. A skilled salesman is
trained to notice the uncomfortable feeling of a customer, and to try to disconnect
the person from their cognitive dissonance to facilitate the sale. The customer may
then be sold something that they later realized they regret buying.To overcome
cognitive dissonance one must examine the differences in the information, and this
can take considerable patience and determination, especially if the result could
change one's world view. And that is what happens. If the result of examining the
facts could lead to a shakeup of one's world view, the facts are avoided. Denial
sets in as a symptom solver. Denial is the solution to allow life to continue as if
the facts never happened.I think the way to cause people to be less accepting of
medical abuse is to make it more difficult to deny cognitive dissonance. To make it
less rational to believe in a lie.""Garrick, what a lucid presentation re:
cognitive dissonance. I never applied my mind to that phrase or even recalled it;
the best I could muster were things like ""I couldn't believe what was happening
and couldn't believe what wasn't happening"" and, upon figuring a few things out,
""I'm not nuts...I'm not crazy.""""I agree -- Garrick Sitongia, that's a great
explanation of cognitive dissonance. With regard to some of the discussion lately
about the media telling these stories, one of my main goals in telling these
stories is to break through that cognitive dissonance. That's a big reason for this
Facebook group, in fact, to acknowledge the problem and encourage discussion about
it. Denial has been, and is, a big part of the problem."it is also a major factor
in my story as well. Once they do something wrong or back out of helping they tend
to turn it towards the patient."Exciting news from The Empowered Patient Coalition!
We have optimized our website for the iphone and ipad. You can bookmark our site
and an ""EPC"" icon will show on your screen to give you access to our free
resources right at your fingertips exactly when you need them. Please share with
others.www.EmpoweredPatientCoalition.org""Information for Patients
http://privacyruleandresearch.nih.gov/patients.asp""Here's more evidence the US
does not have the ""best healthcare in the world"" (despite what NJ Gov. Christie
said on national TV the other
night). We'll never make it better if we don't acknowledge the problem.
http://consumer.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=668084"you can't heal a wound by
saying it's not there...."'even if misdiagnoses in the ICU do not lead to patient
death, they can lead to unnecessary surgery, a longer hospital stay and reduced
quality of life for patients'. and that's something most don't stop to consider...
death, unnecessary surgery, a longer hospital stay and reduced quality of life...
all bad!"And more income for the hospital. Fee-for-service needs to go.What is the
solution if not pay for service?"Fee-for-service, not pay for service. Bundled
payments for managing entire cases. No reimbursements for preventable readmissions
within 30 days of discharge. It's in the Affordable Care Act (though politicians
and the MSM only want to discuss the insurance aspects, which have zero to do with
actual care).""Fee-for-service means you get paid for each service you provide. The
incentive is for volume, not quality and safety. You make more money when people
are sick and you can run all kinds of tests, whether or not they're necessary."
"neil, for some reason i knew what you meant. but... thanks for explaining. i agree
with you."Welcome. It was Doug I was trying to explain this to.I haven't read the
1990 pages of the ACA. I don't follow the logic of bundled payments for managing
entire cases? Will each diagnosis and treatment regime be assigned a dollar value
and facilities expected to deliver services within that value?"Yes. And they will
be expected to coordinate care with other providers, such as primary care
physicians, physical therapists, LTC facilities, etc.""Each diagnosis will be
provided a list of approved treatments and if you need something off of that list,
you are out of luck. Current medicare for hospitals does bundling by diagnosis
group. The bundling rules meant that we could not get a transfer out from the
hospital that decided to starve her for a week, just for kicks.""'we could not get
a transfer out from the hospital that decided to *starve* her for a week, *just for
kicks*.' no human being should ever have to utter those words. *beyond chilling*
and *very wrong*""We have it in writing from Medicare that starving a patient, on
purpose, because she is a paraplegic is not a violation of Medicare's condition of
participation. AFTER an email to the General Counsel of Medicare, WHILE the Mom was
still in the hospital. By that point, the hospital had turned mom away from the ER
twice with a spine fracture, left her without surgery for 31 hours after she
couldn't move her legs. Only got surgery by calling the head of the hospital
system. they overdosed her with steroid for two weeks, caused pneumonia and
CAUTIs, pumped, caused a stage IV pressure sore. She was illegally restrained for
20 days. To top it off, they knew she had lung cancer but did not tell us, her or
the hospital we were trying to get her to and scrubbed all of the transfer records
of any mention of lung cancer. Of course, by the time another hospital figured it
out, it was too late. Head of the hospital addressed our concerns by writing that
Mom was getting ""great care"" and Medicare has refused to levy a single penalty.
Medicare's explanation is that not penalizing the hospital is for the ""greater
good' of the community. If we had done this to her, we would be serving decades
long sentences. Oh, and the day after the Medicare inspector came through, mom was
catatonic and somehow got a black eye. No problem to medicare -- they refused to
investigate that too.""Debra, you might want to start a separate thread for that."
"Here is why patient safety is ignored by the government:""explanation is that not
penalizing the hospital is for the ""greater good' of the community.""The real
reason is cash flow is all that really matters to the government and the legal
industry.""The government isn't ignoring patient safety any more. Medicare is
cutting off reimbursements for certain preventable hospital readmissions starting
Oct 1, based on data collected since last Oct 1. It's in the ACA.""Neil, that is
verifiably untrue. The hospital in question miscoded the second of three admissions
so that it would get NO bounce back penalty. If the administrators REFUSE to
enforce the law, it does not matter how many laws are written. And to make things
absolutely clear, the state investigators found that the hospital had seven
immediate jeopardies. The report got altered. The response of both medicare and
the HHS OIG, in writing, is ""we don't care."" If you think Medicare is watching
out for us, you are sadly, sadly deluded. And to make it clear, Medicare had the
specific opportunity to save my mom's life from a situation that unambiguously
would lead to her death (since the pressure ulcer was progressing) and it
specifically chose not to. What happened to Mom should have resulting in the
hospital losing its medicare contracts without immediate and serious changes and
Medicare took a complete pass.""Furthermore, the AHA has been crabbing to Sebelius
about lack of specificity in the definition of Immediate Jeopardy. Because the 75
page appendix explaining what it is, isn't enough for them. So, did Sebelius push
back? No. Did she request better regulations. No. She changed the regulations so
that a hospital has to have TWO immediate jeopardy findings before having the
contract terminated. That's right. A hospital is allowed to have one major
contract provision unfulfilled that imperils the life, health and safety of every
patient or visitor to that hospital, and that is OK and they don't have to comply."
What is verifiably untrue?The government isn't ignoring patient safety any more.
What is untrue about it?"neil, you made debra's point really.... 'here's more
evidence the u.s. does not have the ""best healthcare in the world"" (despite what
nj gov. christie said on national tv the other night). we'll never make it better
if we don't acknowledge the problem.'""the government most certainly IS ignoring
patient safety. Writing regulations means nothing. Doubling, tripling or
quadrupling the number of regulations that are not enforced is not ""paying
attention to."" Writing regulations that exempt huge swaths of the problem (eg for
bounce backs, people who are so harmed that they die before going back to the
hospital or are so disgusted with the quality of care they go elsewhere) isn't
meaningful. Quality and consistent enforcement of the regulations is what makes
the difference. And as you can see by what happened to my Mom, even with everything
documented in the hospital's records, with the state investigators finding the
hospital seriously in non-compliance (with more never events by four fold than HHS
IG could find as his worst example), and with a patient's life on the line,
Medicare intentionally CHOSE to do NOTHING. I don't know how one could be more
clear about it. PPACA's ""quality improvements"" are anemic and lack the
regulatory enforcement mechanisms/organization framework to make a serious
difference. For goodness sakes, we have a report dismissing our complaint that mom
lacked necessary pain medication by quoting a doctor who said it wasn't true
because mom had been receiving a steroid. Steroids are not pain medication. A
statement that should have shown the doctor to be completely incompetent was
something the state investigator and Medicare oversight couldn't even recognize was
a serious medical error.""""The government"" is a broad statement. Check out www
ahrq gov. I will have an interview with AHRQ director Dr Carolyn Clancy posted
online in the next few days. And please take your rants to another thread."
Politicians like Christie certainly are ignoring the problem."agree neil that 'the
government' is a broad statement or term. but you didn't really qualify what you
meant in your original post when you used christie and his rnc speech as a way of
supporting your statement 'here's more evidence the us does not have the ""best
healthcare in the world'.' since christie is a gov't official, he does qualify as
'the government' in the stricter sense. i agree with your original post/statement.
i also hope your interview goes well by the way. however, i also see where debra is
coming from... i don't view debra's posts as 'rants' or even unrelated. (i assume
you were talking to debra when you said 'rants' since you already suggested to
debra that she start a new thread). i think the word 'rant' is unfair in this
instance. like you, debra has given us some good information and insight. debra is
helping to make your original point. i totally don't 'get' you saying 'and please
take your rants to another thread'....."The evidence is the study I linked to.
"Neil, I think you are missing the point. Great that AHRQ is doing studies. Lovely
that we have a bajillion more regulations. The most salient problem is that none of
it is flowing down to where reality exists, which is Medicare's writing and
enforcement of its contracts -- its acquisition management (and I am an expert in
that-- used to audit and reorganize problematic federal programs). Medicare's
contracting authorities allow for only the most tepid of quality enforcement. For
example, Medicare cannot refuse to pay for substandard services unless they are
""totally worthless.""
This is an unimaginably higher standard than I have seen
in any other federal agency. It is contrary to good acquisition oversight. Any
other agency I have reviewed can terminate a contract with a contractor ""for the
convenience of the government."" It's a fast way to get rid of an errant
contractor. Medicare's processes to remove a contractor are rococco. there is no
way they could get rid of a health care contractor on a fast basis -- it would take
years and a major prosecutorial effort.
Most of Medicare's oversight function is delegated to entities with ZERO public
oversight or accountability, over which Medicare has limited oversight itself, and
which have other, complex relationships with industry-- QIOs, the Joint Commission
and state health agencies. All of the lovely research on how to improve quality
very poorly flow through to Medicare's contracting efforts, if at all, especially
for hospitals. Those who are responsible for enforcement have clue as to what they
are responsible for doing -- the people I talked to at the QIO, the state agency
and the regional office had no idea what the regulations are, what the appropriate
medical standards are, and what consequences should flow form a violation. The pay
dirt in government oversight and patient protection is the federal government. And
it is not happening. Neil, that is not a rant. That is an analysis from someone who
has taught federal acquisition oversight and developed acquisition oversight
curriculum.""Neil, since you think my criticisms are unfair, I thought I would add
some folks to the conversation. Jerod Loeb Terry Terri Dickerson Tye Both list
their organization as the Joint Commission. The Joint Commission had no problem
with the care my mother received either -- and it was did a pre-announced
inspection while we were there . ICU nurses were spending their time washing
windows, rather than turning mom, contributing to the pressure ulcer. It doesn't
appear from what others have posted, that many, if any, patient complaints receive
any sort of satisfactory resolution -granted this is a small sample, but...
There
are no statistics on the Joint Commission Website as to its responsiveness to the
patient community or how the patient community is involved in its accreditation
process/standards. Anyone from the Joint Commission want to join in and explain why
patients and their families find the Joint Commission less than useful?"What does
any of this have to do with my post about quality of care? It really does sound
like you have an axe to grind on a totally unrelated subject."You said, ""We'll
never make it better if we don't acknowledge the problem."" I am agreeing and
saying what I think is the cause of the problem, which by your comment doesn't seem
to be what you think the is the cause of the problem. And since my complaints
relate to undiagnosed conditions in the ICU, it is 100% on point. What do you
think is the cause of the problem, and thus sources for a solution?"I think it's a
culture of silence and a lack of accountability exacerbated by poor communication
and coordination of care."so, with that assessment, maybe an intervention could
mean providing patient's families handout of what should be expected for care for a
particular condition, so that the family has more of a roll in monitoring quality.
A detail phone treat of who to contact in case of problems, 24/7, with real people
on the phones and execs at to, would be great. Maybe even the ability to TEXT the
nurse so that if she is AMA, you can let her know its serous and the coffee break
is over.And to have them text status updates back. IS that what you are thinking
about or at least in a neigboring ball park?""I just want to chime in here. It
sounds like Debra wants to manage the medical staff to make sure her relative gets
proper care. The problem is that multiple patient family/advocates would be bossing
the staff around all at once. I think there should be a specific staff person who
should be the manager. The patient's family would contact that person with their
concerns and that staff person would integrate the care request into the tasks the
staff is doing. I don't think we have that now.There should be a staff organization
chart that is posted for patients and visitors to see.""Without having read the
comment thread, and where ""staff"" equals ""nurse,"" and in a world of chronic
understaffing that understaffedly ebbs and flows with patient census, is it
realistic to even conjecture about an additional staffing layer (staff mgr)?""A
manager trained for the job would keep track of the big picture in order to reduce
mistakes and errors and improve efficiency by making sure tasks are done in time,
facilitating important communication and prevent erroneous assumptions,
coordinating actions when emergencies arise. If you wonder if this good idea, I can
point out that it is already being used. Just check any other moderate to large
private business from restaurants to manufacturing or any other service industry
besides medical businesses. If you were to suggest they could save money by letting
everyone run around doing things as they thought it was needed without a manager,
I'm sure they would laugh and say it would be a disaster.""What I personally vote
for is better for it better contract management and oversight so that there is
quality management at the hospital. And that means tying quality very closely to
payment, rather than coding accuracy. This requires serious validation of quality
(and by that I mean no errors) and investigations of reports of non-quality, not
the potemkin village inspections the Joint Commission does. (The only serious
validation of data that is done is of billing data, not quality of care data). The
new ""quality measures"" and ""quality penalties"" are too small and too remote
from actual care instances to make a difference. We need real and serious
penalties, including not paying for schlock work on a case by case basis -- just
like we do for miscoding. Trying to micromanage how a hospital achieves quality, in
a top down fashion, is an impossibility, very expensive and will result in people
doing stupid things like waking patients up at 3am to see if they need a flu shot.
It's how the department of defense ended up with $700 toilet seats. Can you
imagine how long serious errors would last if Medicare refused to pay for the
entire care event and offset the total medical cost projected to be caused by the
event -- ie made the hospital pay the other providers, not Medicare. If hospitals
bore the cost of sloppy work, serious medical errors would be gone in a year.""The
other thing Neil is that you posited that ""bundled payments"" would facilitate
better quality. My Mom's experience is that bundled payments made it 100%
impossible to get her out of a hospital that was providing criminal care and had
every incentive to have minimal care and to die. Severely bundled care, such as
what is going to be implemented with ACO's, is what resulted in the HMO crises,
where places like Kaiser deprive people of access to care for diseases it knows
will be expensive to treat. I have one friend who has been trying to get a needed
brain surgery out of Kaiser for years (and most certainly can't speak out because
of fear of retaliation) and there is another person on this site I know who lost
her sister due to a delayed diagnosis of a brain tumor with Kaiser. Jennie
Whitehead Brick. Another lady I know had to have her church pay for brain surgery
because of a plan with severe restrictions to ""reduce costs."" I know several
ladies from Canada who have had to pay out of pocket for brain surgery in the US
because of problems with the Canadian system. Every person I know of who has been
denied access to medical care for my medical condition has been denied care -- not
because of a lack of insurance -- people get free care-- but because of being in a
highly restrictive insurance plan.""You have a right to move to another facility,
though insurance coverage tying you to one place is another factor.""The thing is,
too many Americans believe insurance is the same as care. Just thinking out loud
here, but maybe our employer-centric insurance system needs to go away. It's a
relic of WWII wage controls. Instead of offering raises, companies increased
benefits.""Good point about insurance doesn't equal care. Even today we see more
patients, sicker patients, staff shortages, healthcare workers bailing to different
careers and fewer students starting healthcare training. See the Affordability Care
Act time-line to see your referenced employer-centric insurance system going away
in 2014 - www.healthcare.gov/law/timeline/"I just started a new thread mentioning
that the Sept issue of Health Affairs is dedicated to payment reform."FYI, the
September issue of Health Affairs is looking at payment reform's effect on quality
and cost.""From the press release:Profiles in Payment Innovation Featured in Health
Affairs' September 2012 IssueComplex patients responsible for $319.5 billion in
annual spending under federal programsBethesda, MD -- The September 2012 issue of
Health Affairs, supported in part by grants from WellPoint Inc., the WellPoint
Foundation, and the California HealthCare Foundation, focuses on changing the way
US health care is paid for to shift incentives away from fee-for-service medicine
and produce better health and health care at lower cost.Together with other
articles in the issue, a series of ""Innovation Profiles"" highlight promising
pilot programs in which payments to doctors, medical groups, and hospitals were at
least partially based on quality and other metrics--and in some instances moved
broadly away from fee-for-service toward other, very different payment models.
Innovations featured include patient-centered medical homes, accountable care
organizations, bundled payment projects, and others.Other articles in the issue
carefully analyze the development of different payment models and show that,
despite early signs of success, there are many challenges to their widespread
implementation.Ruth Raskas, vice president of clinical health policy at WellPoint,
and co-authors provide encouraging signs that medical practices participating in
patient-centered medical home pilots are meeting goals
for higher quality of care, lower use of hospitalization, and cost savings.
WellPoint provided incentives to participating physicians for greater care
coordination and preventive activities to improve patient health.In New Hampshire,
for example, WellPoint paid primary care physicians fees based on services
provided, plus a monthly care management payment to support comprehensive services.
Additionally, physicians who met certain quality and utilization targets were
eligible for a bonus.Early findings show patient-centered medical home participants
in New Hampshire saw costs increase just 5 percent, compared to 12 percent in
traditional practices. Patient-centered medical home participants had a greater
decline in emergency department visits than the control group, and the pilot had a
positive influence on utilization of health care services.""We know that we need to
drive fundamental changes in primary care in order to improve the lives of the
people we serve,"" said Raskas. ""Payment models that improve both access and
quality are scalable, and they encourage the type of patient-centered care that's
needed to transform the US health care system.""Thomas Claffey, medical director of
NovaHealth, president of Intermed, and director of the Infectious Diseases Division
at the Maine Medical Center, and co-authors report on a collaboration between Aetna
and NovaHealth, an independent physician association based in Portland. The model
focused on shared data, financial incentives, and care management to improve health
outcomes for approximately 750 of Aetna's Medicare Advantage members. Patients in
the pilot had 50 percent fewer hospital days, 45 percent fewer admissions, and 56
percent fewer readmissions than unmanaged Medicare populations statewide.
NovaHealth's total per member, per month costs for its Aetna Medicare Advantage
members were 16.5-33 percent lower than costs for other members. Clinical quality
metrics were also consistently high.Marjie Harbrecht, CEO of HealthTeamWorks in
Lakewood, Colorado, and Lisa Latts, principal of LML Health Solutions LLC, in
Denver, share their experiences from one of the nation's first voluntary,
multipayer medical home pilots. Six health plans, the state's high-risk pool
carrier, and sixteen medical practices with approximately 100,000 patients
participated in the pilot over a period of three years. Preliminary results show
that the pilot significantly reduced emergency department visits and also reduced
hospital admissions, particularly for patients with multiple chronic conditions.
One payer in the pilot reported a return on investment of 250-400 percent.Despite
such success, participants in Colorado also ran into numerous obstacles. Many
practices had to provide extra services to patients whose employer-sponsored
insurance plans declined to pay the extra fees needed to cover the cost of the
patient-centered medical home expansion. The authors say this outcome shows how
important it will be to have strong commitments and collaborative efforts among
multiple stakeholders in order to make the model viable over the long term.Rachel
Werner, a core investigator at the Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion
at the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center and an associate professor of
medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and
R. Adams Dudley, a professor of medicine and health policy and an associate
director for research at the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies,
University of California, San Francisco, calculated hospital performance scores and
projected payments for all eligible hospitals. With a projected bonus pool of $850
million, it's the largest Medicare quality improvement initiative to date, but
dividing this pool among more than 3,000 participating hospitals will produce small
bonuses for individual hospitals, even those with the best scores. Almost twothirds of hospitals will experience payment changes of just a fraction of a
percent. Even after a projected doubling in size of the bonus pool in 2017, only
eight hospitals would see payment changes as large as 1.5 percent, and the authors
say it's unclear whether such small amounts can influence care.Related articles
that profile early payment innovations include:A Global Budget Pilot Project Among
Provider Partners And Blue Shield of California Led to Savings in First Two Years,
Paul Markovich--president and COO of Blue Shield of CaliforniaHorizon's PatientCentered Medical Home Program Shows Practices Need Much More than Payment Changes
to Transform, Urvashi Patel--head of research and development at Horizon Healthcare
Services, Inc., and co-authorsPayers Test Reference Pricing and Centers of
Excellence to Steer Patients to Low-Price and High-Quality Providers, James
Robinson and Kimberly MacPherson of the Berkeley Center for Health Technology at
the University of California, BerkeleyMichigan's Physician Group Incentive Program
Offers a Regional Model for Incremental 'Fee for Value' Payment Reform, David Share
and Margaret H. Mason of Blue Cross Blue Shield of MichiganRelated articles that
analyze past changes in provider payment and the viability of early payment pilots
include:The Lessons of Medicare's Prospective Payment System Show that the Bundled
Payment Program Faces Challenges, Stuart Altman--economist and the Sol C. Chaikin
Professor of National Health Policy at the Heller School for Social Policy and
Management, Brandeis UniversityBeyond Capitation: How New Payment Experiments Seek
to Find the 'Sweet Spot' in Amount of Risk Providers and Payers Bear, Austin
Frakt--health economist with Health Care Financing and Economics at the Veterans
Affairs Boston Healthcare System and Rick Mayes, a faculty research fellow at the
Petris Center on Healthcare Markets and Consumer Welfare, University of California,
Berkeley.Fee-for-Service Will Remain a Feature of Major Payment Reforms, Requiring
More Changes in Medicare Physician Payment, Paul Ginsburg--president of the Center
for Studying Health System ChangeMedicare Postacute Care Payment Reforms Have
Potential to Improve Efficiency of Care, But May Need Changes to Cut Cost, David
Grabowski--a professor in the Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical
School, and co-authorsMany Large Medical Groups Will Need to Acquire New Skills and
Tools to Be Ready for Payment Reform, Robert Mechanic and Darren E. Zinner of the
Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University"
http://www.deathbymodernmedicine.com/"US research lags most of the world in medical
ethics. ""Not a single academic medical center in the United States makes it a
policy to compensate injured subjects or their families for lost wages or
suffering. These policies do not change even if a subject is injured in a study
that is scientifically worthless, deceptive, or exploitative.""
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1205623"Thank you Garrick for reposting
"Someone had posted it in a different forum, but I see you posted it here first.
Great find!""After reading this, I truly believe this is the type of practice in
UROLOGY at Mayo Clinic Arizona by Dr Erik P Castle (Castle Labs) & Dr Shane
Daley. No Confirmed Kidney Cancer before or during surgery, per pathology reports
and Dr Castle had in his notes ""Presumed Transitional Cell Carcinoma"". The
problem is we were told, I had a very rare Advanced Stage Kidney Cancer. I would
NEVER voluntarily participate in a RESEARCH PROJECT... This is so wrong, we protect
animals better that people."The ideas Marshall Allen shared about how to work with
the media prompted this post: http://bit.ly/SPe3oC and this one:
http://bit.ly/Rv6WBC"As mentioned in the article, is there a possibility of
meaningful change as a result of going to the press? If meaningful change was the
result, our hospitals would have the safety record of the airline industry (no
preventable deaths in years). Meaningful change more likely comes from an internal
champion to make changes (Dr Pronovost at Johns Hopkins after the Josie King
tragedy). A post-event disclosure may uncover information for the patient and
facility. A proactive measure to avoid having a story to tell is to enlist a
professional or family Patient Safety Advocate to monitor for best-practices 60
minutes per hour and record everything.""Without reading the article, and since the
central line here regards our stories: before telling your story be sure to be sure
why you're in the game. The media still seek out, turn toward, and like to quote as
solution providers mainstream institutions and people in them who probably have
degrees awarded that support their livelihood. Reporters then find plain folk with
sad stories to tell. An article or section will lead with said story as a foil
(example setback) for the subsequent presentation of potential solutions by
mainstream professionals.If you are a harmed patient-family member whose sole aim
is to share your story in order to publicize and help grease these rote wheels,
that's perfectly fine. If you happen to also be an author or lay person offering
some product you've developed and have not acquired, through hard work or good
fortune, enough notoriety to be already known and sought after, beware���the
great likelihood is that the reportage will fail to acknowledge your expertise,
solution, value, or credibility (even if you're an author, around which
conventional book-sheparding wisdom says that author = expert).Some years ago a
major metropolitan business journal/newspaper did it's annual healthcare issue. A,
or the, main article was about dying with dignity. It lead with my story for a full
four paragraphs. The reporter knew of my book (which was mentioned),
bona-fides, endorsements, speaking, website; all of it���and especially the
hard-won meaning I'd made over years of reflection and engagement, and the unique
solutions I'd developed for what's requisite to die in peace. The article never
included me in that phase; only the other interviewees, representing facilities and
disciplines, were asked for and had reported their solutions. Peppered throughout
the remainder of the multipage print edition were sidebars presenting every other
entity's pictures, business name, offerings, contact info, logo, website URLs. I
alone did not receive this treatment, despite being in business. And, let us note,
that the always and ever present, unspoken context/frame was that tired paternalism
that medicine, alone, held the answers to the poor citizenry's troubles.I felt very
used.I don't know about you but I always have a dual purpose. Yes, this is heart
work. Yes, I was and remain driven. Yes, I have gone further than some in writing
and then publishing a book���at great dollar cost. Yes, I would be overjoyed to
with regular paid speaking gigs. Yes, I would like to recoup the cost of my efforts
and even make more than occasional spending money from them.In whatever corner of
healthcare harm you have crawled out from under and now work, it's probably the
same: you have some solutions that remain outside the bounds of everyday reportage.
I don't think that reporters collude with corporate medicine (we somehow have to
reach and educate them), but would understand if our megalomanic harmed patient
cohort did.When I challenged the reporter about being excluded he absolutely could
not get on my wavelength, seeing nothing at all wrong with his reportage.And even
recently, on these pages, I've seen links with little verbal ""hurrahs"" to halfsentence mentions of even the most prominent of our patient-advocate colleagues
within an article from, enviably, some huge media outlet.I'm no marketer, but do
wonder if we're kidding ourselves about the amount of value received from such
exposure. Yeah, something's better than nothing. Or, is it?Lesson: whenever I go on
record with a reporter I now make it a point to say that I offer a range of value:
story, unique insights, books, and a nascent speaking career. And that I expect to
be fully represented. I know that I (and you) have no muscle over national
reporters and reporting. But we've already been through the wringer with whatever
has brought us to a page like this. Be very clear about what you are, and want to
offer the media, and what you want from your media encounters.""as usual, bart
speaks much wisdom.... he said 'but we've already been through the wringer with
whatever has brought us to a page like this. be very clear about what you are, and
want to offer the media, and what you want from your media encounters.'""All righty
- I'll weigh in here, since we're obviously talking about what I do for a
living! ;) Doug Hall, it's true that no one article or series of articles is going
to bring about radical reform of the health care system. But that's also an unfair
and unrealistic standard of ""meaningful change."" I would argue that ""meaningful
change"" is the result of many stories of patients that are told by journalists. It
brings accountability to providers. It brings a modicum of justice to the patients.
And it brings important exposure to the problem of patient harm, which spurs health
care leaders to bring about change. Of course there are still problems. Major
problems. But the public is much more aware of them, at least. But yes, there's
much work to be done. And there have been instances I've seen where the public
exposure shames the providers into doing the right thing by the patient. I would
say this is meaningful. At the same time, I don't disagree with what Bart Windrum
is saying, and would need to caution that reporters and media outlets are all
individuals. You can't just lump them all in together. Each has its own unique
mission. Not every reporter is going to want to take on stories of patient harm. As
some journalists have explained in this forum, they are difficult stories to
publish. They're difficult because they can be extremely challenging to verify, for
one thing. It's a painstaking process that doesn't always fit with the deadlines of
many media outlets. I won't go into all the other reasons these stories are a
challenge, but will just post a link to the article we wrote about it in this
forum.""Just to be clear: my entry above refers to when reporters do engage in in
writing stories on topics about patient-family harm and needlessly rough dying, and
seek us out to write about. I and Marshall are writing about two different issues;
me, how we're portrayed and treated by the media (with the example being in print);
Marshal about whether our interests are topics of interest and do-ability for the
media.""I think my main point is that telling patient stories does bring about
meaningful change, on many levels.""This is an edited of the comment I put on the
article comment section.After a lifetime of believing normal people ""trust your
doctor"" which implies your doctor is trustworthy, and everyone you know believes
it, and you are part of everyone, to find this is all wrong because after your
doctor injured you he lied about it. And other doctors cooperate with the lie and
deny the injury. The victim knows most people believe doctors are high minded moral
do-gooders who would of course own up to their mistakes.Prior to this experience, a
victim would have assumed a person relating this very experience might be diverted
to the rubber room. The victim realizes he has information he can't tell, for fear
of not conforming to general wisdom. That is traumatic. The nature of trauma is not
knowing how to trust anyone to tell what you know. Now the victim still believes in
his sanity, so his world view must change.If his world view must change, he must
inform everyone else. The victim can't tell his story fast enough, but only to the
right person. Journalists play a large part in what people believe about the world.
It is no wonder that when someone has new information about he nature of the world
he goes to report it to a journalist. It is the responsibility of the journalist to
report changes in the world view we all hold in common.To the victim, the injury is
not a story of one lone patient versus a doctor. A deceit was foisted on him and he
realizes his experience not unique, everyone must be warned. The author must try to
understand the enormity of an experience for the victim is a huge world-view change
that contradicts ""trust your doctor.""The victim wants the author to see the big
picture, which is doctors really do have a Mr. Hyde that comes out when the doctor
makes a mistake. This real-life Mr. Hyde comes out not to kill the patient, but
silence the victim just as brutally with legal tactics devised to prevent
litigation. The doctor disappears and Mr. Hyde deals with managing reality for
patient and loosing any patient records containing evidence. Seeking ""good""
doctors, the victim finds out all doctors have Mr. Hydes who come out and cooperate
together to prevent the victim from obtaining truth and healing. This is what the
victim experiences. This shocking experience is about the entire world, it is much
more than a personal slight.""Like I have said., I WAS IN DISBELIEF when I dound
out I couldnt talk to any of my doctors many month after the fact becauae I spent
months in a hospital fighting the fight fory life because after removing my left
kidney for PRESUMMED TCC OF THE KIDNEY and the doctors that promised this was a
routine procedure that they do very well no explanation of side effect or
possibility of puncturing an intestine and going septic and on life supportor with
Zero percent survival. THEN since i have worked in health and requested my records
numerius times and only got a few things and i knew spending 3 months in a hospital
had to have more I went to the IT dept and asked for a dump cover to cover of all
my records from 10/08 to current and quess what i found in internal phone records
and also print stating parts of my record are archived because resident is no
longer on site well to this day i still cant get those records but i have many
pages of their internal conversations that show premeditation to do harm. I pray
for my story to be told only for purposes of saving lives we have corupt urologist
in the USA and have a certain doctors timeline by good fortune and evweything is
documented. My doctor now calls me Lazareth and I truely beloeve I survived for the
purpose of sharing my and my families story of MAYO CLINICS dirty little
secrets.""And, since we're all in this sandbox together, I was just telling my
story, not dissing Marshall's good efforts!""garrick said... 'this *shocking
experience* is about the entire world, it is much more than a personal slight.'
indeed, this experience is about the entire world and it is shocking on every
level!""Doug, My experience is that very little meaningful change comes without
media coverage. And media coverage of an issue always has less impact without a
human story. I know what you mean about internal champions, and they are hugely
important. But when you have internal pressure and external pressure (from the
media and readers) you get meaningful change. It can happen without media coverage,
but it's not as common.""I can appreciate your theory - There is no shortage of
stories of hospital acquired conditions that result in injury or death - yet in the
last 10 years the IOM Reports show no reduction of the estimated one hundred
thousand preventable healthcare deaths per year. How does the media or readers
affect the quality of care? We are in the midst of a perfect storm in healthcare:
More patients, sicker patients, staff shortages, MDs and RNs leaving for different
careers, fewer students entering the career, hospitals closing, increased
antibiotic resistant bacteria to name a few. What is your idea toward a solution?"
http://www.therecord.com/news/local/article/791372--west-nile-nightmare-forcambridge-family
http://preventdisease.com/news/articles/hysterectomy_operation_not_needed.shtml
http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2012/08/stop-paying-mcdonalds-wages-cheesecake-factorymedicine.htmlhttp://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1205623"Yet another reminder
that the medical negligence crisis is not a crisis of lawsuits. It's a crisis of
medical negligence. ""If [the deaths from hospital errors] happened in aviation,
they would shut the airlines down."" That quote in the story below comes not from a
lawyer but from a former hospital CEO."...number of preventable deaths in the
aviation industry in the last several years = 0"And not be a green eye-shade about
it, but medical errors can be horrifically expensive in terms of additional medical
care, disability, and loss of life. Given the error rate, it would not be
surprising if a quarter of health care spending, or more, is caused by preventable
error. Can you imagine what the benefit would be minus those errors. Doctors would
not be so harried, the would be room for scheduling more patients, we would not
have to spend so much for new medical facilities, people would spend less time at
the doctor and have more time for living their lives. Health insurance premiums
could drop 25% or more. Medical malpractice insurance would be low and our courts
would not be clogged with malpractice litigation.""Not sure if you are being
sarcastic or not but, medical malpractice litigation makes up very little of state
courts' dockets. In 2011, the National Center for State Courts found that
""despite the widespread prevalence of medical negligence,"" in 2008 med mal case
filings ""represented 2 percent of all incoming civil cases, and less than 8
percent of incoming tort cases.""""Yes, that last part was more than sarcastic."
"Professional engineers build all sorts of things, like massive factories, bridges,
airplanes, nuclear reactors, rockets. etc. You never hear them crying in their
beer about the raging design failure liability crisis that is preventing them from
getting rich and functioning properly. It's because engineering pays serious
attention to processes, failure potential, and peer review (the real kind). Anyone
trained as an engineer is trained to assess risks, costs and process times.
Engineering schools have, for decades, emphasized performance in teams as part of
the educational process. Engineers have no special protection from lawsuits and
don't need it. And I guarantee you, 99% of doctors would look down their nose at
an engineer. The risk of a lawsuit against you as a doctor is minuscule if you are
a decent human being (not a jerk) and reasonably careful. The people who get sued
are the ones who are so arrogant, they have no clue that they are professional
failures. It really disturbs me that people whose job it is to assess risk and cost
every day are so irrational about this risk."interesting comparison between
engineers and doctors debra and good points... especially this one 'the risk of a
lawsuit against you as a doctor is minuscule if you are a decent human being (not a
jerk) and reasonably careful.'Kirpal Singh is quite right. The number of medical
malpractice cases is minimal. The largest single group of personal injury cases are
motor vehicle accident cases."Debra Van Putten, I like your comparison between
doctors and engineers. The difference is that engineers design a single product
such as a bridge or a toaster that lots of people use. So a design failure gets
multiplied by the number of people affected by a single engineering flaw. A doctor
does a one-off each time. If a doctor makes a mistake it is easier to hide it
within the population. The people injured by doctors do not know of each other. But
the people who go down in a plane crash know how many of them there are. Also the
culture is vastly different. Engineers have to work in a team. In engineering
culture are no ""stars"" who get special treatment. Engineers are rewarded by
achievement of their design. Doctors are rewarded by reputation bestowed on them.
Any engineer who has an idea or a safety alert must speak because a bad product
that gets recalled can cost the company it's existance. On the other hand, bullying
is a part of medical culture starting in medical school. Doctors who do a single
act of whistle-blowing by telling the truth to a patient of another doctor may end
their career, at least in that state. Teamwork is really only important when they
are protecting one of their members from legal action. I could go on and on.""The
principals of engineering could in many instances be applied to doctoring. And I
do not think patients, in terms of care, are as ""one off"" as made to be
especially when you get to the specialist level. (and that is from someone with
multiple rare diseases). And engineers rarely face the exact same problem time and
again. Because I am very much a 'zebra,' I have been all over the country for
various aspects of my care. There is a night and day difference with a place that
takes care with its processes than one does not. The real driver in the difference
in the culture is how legal liability is allocated and how the system responds to
it. I have always said, if you are doing anything important, you need to have two
sets of eyes and two people working on it. Why, because we are all prone to
mistakes. Medicine seems to think that what it does is not, in the end, important,
or that doctors, despite ample evidence to the contrary, are infallible.""My
husband was part of the team that designed the landing gear steering control on the
Boeing 747 - so I know about the team work -There is no ""I"" in Teamwork and I all
too late realized the lack of teamwork in healthcare in Canada and the US!"It
wouldn't surprise me to learn that some medical malpractice suits are selffulfilling prophesies brought on by medical providers trying to prevent one.
Victims of error hate the lie more than the error. Victims sue the lie.Love all the
discussion and all so very true @poor patient nailed it.I have just submitted to
Michael moore again as well as Nancy Grace and Oprah. I have suggested a story
about all the people that have been killed and harmed by doctors. Heres hoping!
Thank you"This is about the $29,000,000 CEO of Davita Dialysis. Is this how we
ought to be spending our healthcare dollars? This guy is getting rich (and so are
his stockholders), from taxpayer funds for dialysis patients.I think the money
should be put where the dialysis patients are....into improved quality of care and
a safer experience. http://www.5280.com/magazine/2012/09/strangest-show-earth?
page=0,1""It's an article that makes one cringe. Long, but worth the time because
of the questions it raises.""To those who don't know, Davita is the company that is
trying to purchase Eastern Maine Medical Center's dialysis services, here in
Central and northern Maine. A colleague in Patient Safety warned me about the
corporation and some of their history. She also connected me to a dialysis patient
advocate. The advocate steered me to Dialysis patient who bravely shared their
stories of harm and sometimes dismissal from Davita clinics. This was the basis of
my campaign against the acquisition. I testified with several others at a Maine
Certificate of Need hearing.
Because I stood up for patients who had been harmed,
gave them a voice and dared to expose some of Davita's questionable past and
practices, I drew fire from their attorneys. All in a day's work when you are a
Patient Safety Activist. This is the letter of support from my trusted and admired
Patient Safety colleagues.""Date: August 17, 2012To: Phyllis PowellAssistant
DirectorPlanning, Development and QualityDivision of Licensing and Regulatory
Services Department of Health and Human Services State House Station #11 41 Anthony
Avenue Augusta, ME 04333-0011Re: Letter in support of patient safety activist Kathy
Day, RN concerning proposed
DaVita acquisition of Eastern Maine Medical
Center dialysis servicesThe Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)
has
designated patient safety as a top goal in reforming our healthcare system,
reducing costs, and improving public health. Across the nation federal and state
agencies, hospital systems and research institutes, auditors, advocates, and
activists are working to protect patients and especially vulnerable populations
from preventable medical harm. Given this sea change, speaking up and out about
patient safety failures is hardly an act of revolution, yet one courageous activist
in Maine has drawn fire for doing just that. We write to you today in support of
patient safety activist Kathy Day in her quest for serious deliberation of the
DaVita acquisition of Eastern Maine Medical Center dialysis services. We know of
Kathy Day's work as an advocate for patient safety in Maine. Because of her
compassion, caring, and advocacy, patients in Maine are receiving better care with
less risk from hospital-acquired infections. Her advocacy for dialysis patients is
consistent with the growing national concerns reported in the press about the
quality and safety of patient care at DaVita dialysis centers. Ms. Day has no
personal financial stake in the DaVita matter; her interests lie solely in the
outcome of Maine���s dialysis patients. We urge Maine to reject the proposed
DaVita acquisition pending a more thorough review of patient quality and safety
concerns. This action has precedent. The State
of Vermont recently rejected the out-of-state-for-profit acquisition of dialysis
centers by Fresenius Medical Care because it reportedly failed to pass their
patient quality and safety muster. Additionally, it appears to be statutorily
prudent to require regulatory investigations and whistle-blower lawsuits
regarding DaVita operations be concluded and prescribed corrective action taken
before giving further consideration to a business transaction that may negatively
impact the quality of care for Maine���s dialysis patients.While healthcare is
delivered one patient and one community at a time, national coalitions support the
grassroots work of state advocates and activists like Kathy Day to promote policy
action that recognizes patient safety as not only a moral highground, but also as a
financial necessity for program sustainability.Sincerely,*** Please note that all
supporters are non-conflicted individuals and organizations. ***(signed by 25
Patient safety advocates and activists)"
http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/donoharm_multimedia.html*FIRST DO NO HARM* a documentary
filmed in canada...http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/839648--127-women-seekseparate-suits-against-scarborough-doctorthanks kariann for sharing the above
link...such a good show"Do you know of someone who should be nominated for the Hope
Award? It's a great way to recognize and spotlight someone
(patient/family/clinician) who is doing great work supporting those who have been
harmed by adverse events. The winner will receive $5,000. Past winners have
included patient advocates. Link is below. http://us1.campaign-archive2.com/?
u=c1b1ae9f20456f800ad6e62cd&id=bcf689a205"Me! ;)"Christine, they have selfnominations--go for it!"Julia Hallisy of the Empowered Patient Coalition."Claudia,
great suggestion. Maybe you can nominate her."I will!"This painful article about a
needless cancer death exposes some confusion about citizen eligibility for highrisk-pool coverage right now, before full implementation of the Affordable Care
Act. Worth reading for that purpose. http://goo.gl/y1Aqi"
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mike-friends-blog/dead-woman-working-im-no-robinrobertsthe article bart posted above made me think of 'dead woman working' posted
on michaelmoore.com"Although Stein relinquished his license, he can reapply for a
new one in two years. In a final agency order the Board of Dental Examiners accuses
Stein of saving unused drugs in syringes, and then combining the medications into
another syringe to be used on another patient.""Of course....why should their lives
be affected any longer than the bre minimum while they leave us with the
impossibility of getting better, getting help or getting back on our feet....I want
my six figure job back too..... Unbelievable""Herein lies the evidence that the
Dental Boards keeping incompetent, dangerous, unethical and drug/alcohol addicted
dentists licensed impose the negligent/incompetent licensing practice on patients
paying exorbitant dental fees...too many of us becoming victims of both of their
dangerous conduct/misconduct."It is far worse the patients lieing in the chairs of
Dentists On Probation are not informed at the dental appointment the dentist has a
history of harmful conduct only the Dental Board and Probationer Dentist knows of
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/769999?src=nldneGood information on how to get
money back from insurance collectors. WOWgood for you deidre! *don't hush say a
word* may god bless your efforts for speaking out...Has anybody from the US tried
to send your story to Nancy Grace or Oprah. May be a way to get noticedI haven't
been able to get it to them. any ideas let me know.Hey guys - we have some tips on
dealing with the media here:
http://www.facebook.com/groups/209024949216061/doc/255361274582428/ and here:
http://www.facebook.com/groups/209024949216061/doc/255749517876937/"try michael
moore. go to his website www.michaelmoore.com and go to the bottom and click on
the word ""contact""""interesting mary-lou... thanks for posting. i like michael
moore but haven't kept up with him too much lately. looks like his site has lots of
information on it. if i was inclined to contact anyone at this point, it would
probably be michael moore.""Last year today, Mom was in her second day of being
intentionally starved, with no advanced directive and no terminal illness
diagnosed. She did have a stage III pressure ulcer, which was degrading quickly
from her previous ""visit"". The evil restraints were again applied, in lieu of
appropriate medications and to hinder any self care. Oh, and she was septic from a
wrongful discharge a week earlier and the massive overdose of steroids she had
received in visit 1.""I don't know if others have the same problem, but every
morning I wake up and relive what happened a year ago. It's hard to not be there
and be here."We who take action as a result of harm experienced are destined to
relive it. Comes with the territory. In my experience it ebbs and flows. 1 year is
a brief time. Best we can do holding it all close is figure out how to prevent it
for our (remaining) families and others going forward."Thanks for sharing. Somehow
we need to get people to understand that these are crimes. It's criminal abuse. If
a family member would go to jail for it, caretakers should go to jail for it. Why
should professionally trained people be held to a lower standard? Adult Protective
Services folks somehow believe that if it happens in a facility, it's not abuse or
neglect. There are multiple federal statutes that would make altering a medicare
recipient's medical records a serious crime (forgery statutes and obstruction of
justice statutes), yet such prosecutions are never done. If its a public company,
this kind of incident should have to be reported in disclosure statements."
"'altering' a medical record is a felony in most, if not all, states but it's only
a felony if the state decides to prosecute and files charges. my former doctor
'admitted' via sworn testimony that he 'altered' my medical record. *ADMITTED* he
went on and on about how it's 'his record' and about how 'he can do what he wants
with it'. nobody cares. *hush don't say a word* to use deirdre's phrase... he
admitted that it's his 'practice' to have his patients sedated before he arrives
for surgery and then obtain illegal consent. nobody cares about that either... not
the state medical board, not the joint commission on hospitals, not the insurance
company that pays for the illegal surgeries, not the police and not the media.
*hush don't say a word* i was 'crazy enough' to think the police would file charges
once my former doctor actually 'admitted' what he did to me and others like me no
less... i was wrong. i was told point-blank by the police that if a thug on the
street drugged me and stole my organs, they would file charges but, since a doctor
did this to me, it's considered *CIVIL* it's considered *CIVIL* debra is correct
'such prosecutions are never done'. when a doctor can 'boldly admit and declare
they alter medical records' and 'order patients to be knocked out so as to obtain
illegal consent for surgery' and NOBODY cares, that makes for a very very dangerous
medical environment - a deadly one in fact! but wait... *hush don't say a word*
right? if it sounds like i'm mad... you know what? I AM MAD! and you know what
else? I SHOULD BE MAD! the trauma purposely inflicted upon innocent and
unsuspecting patients by those who we believe take an oath to 'first do no harm' is
beyond overwhelming! the trauma never ever ends..... i just learned tuesday that it
looks like i may need breast surgery. the current issue with my right breast is
most likely due to my taking hormone replacement therapy since the unconsented
removal of my own vital hormone-producing organs five years ago. the breast surgeon
believes surgery is necessary. it took me exactly one day to decide that there is
no way in hell i will agree to surgery and take a 'chance' on further unnecessary
mutilation of my body. been there done that. not going back for more.....""Gordon
and Betty Moore Foundation aiming for a new approach, announces Patient Care
Program that seeks to eliminate all preventable harms to patients.""The web page
Albany 2 Cents has a piece on its front today about my web page listing unreported
medical-malpractice lawsuits. It's at:http://www.albany2cents.com""that's great
david! i too am outraged that the media, whose function is to *inform the public*,
routinely ignores lawsuits alleging harm while receiving hundreds of thousands of
dollars in advertising revenue from those providers. that's a huge problem... i've
learned this first-hand. for this reason, i post various media sources that refuse
to 'inform the public' on my website. i even post my e-mails/letters to them and
their responses or non-responses. it's no accident that hospitals advertise via
local tv and newspapers. silence is bought and paid for....."Exactly. Here in the
Albany area it's been going on for a dozen years and the newspapers are still
filled with ads for the hospitals."by the way david, i think what you're doing is
much needed. the more people i meet via this site and similar sites, the more i
realize just how many intelligent and passionate people are advocating for patient
safety in a variety of ways.""Thank you, Robin. There were times during the past
eight years when I felt I was in this alone. But now the truth is getting out.
David""!!!Excellent!!! By reporting the lawsuits, you are reporting the truth. The
truth does not need legal defense (Bradley Manning aside). I didn't download the
pdfs because it would take awhile on my Internet connection. But I don't know how
they could sue you for that unless it is frivolous. It seems NY has an anti-SLAPP
law
(Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) so they would end up paying for
their own frivolous lawsuit."agree with garrick. the truth is the truth... and
'does not need legal defense'"Yes, Garrick, NY does have an anti-SLAPP but it only
applies to government entities. So while the lawsuit the hospital filed against me
is clearly intended to shut me up, it is not covered by that law.""The truth is a
defense, but it does not defend your bank account from your legal costs. Mr. Baker,
if you are not already situated, I recommend the Electronic Frontier Foundation
for finding legal resources for bloggers threatened with lawsuits. They are the
preeminent clearinghouse in this area and have a comprehensive website"How about
sending your stories to Michael Moore. He seems to like exposing corruption"One of
the reasons given for medical malpractice damage caps is that if Colorado didn't
have them, physicians would leave the state and costs would go up. Texas has a
similar cap. This study shows that there has been no effect on physician supply or
costs in that state.""Yesterday was an extremely busy day. In the morning I spoke
at CareFusion's Town Hall Meeting, a live webcast to all of their employees around
the globe. In the afternoon, Eric Cropp and I gave another presentation to The San
Diego Patient Safety Council at CareFusion's corporate headquarters. The following
is some local news coverage about my beautiful daughter Emily and what we are truly
trying to accomplish through The Emily Jerry Foundation!""Johns Hopkins study of
autopsies finds 1 in 4 in ICU had a missed diagnosis, 8% of which could have caused
or contributed to the death of the patient.""That's a similar finding to the story
I wrote last year about the lack of autopsies in American hospitals, and what that
means for identifying incorrect diagnoses:
http://www.propublica.org/article/without-autopsies-hospitals-bury-their-mistakes"
"not only do they bury mistakes they falsify documents. they sent a fraudulent
cause of death to the medical examiners office. they said she choked, but she had
sepsis and six sponges left in abdomen. how does that happen"Presentations from
the August 9th National Priorities Partnership Meeting (regarding the Partnership
for Patients) are now on-line at:
http://www.qualityforum.org/Setting_Priorities/NPP/Partnership_for_Patients/Quarter
ly_PFP-NPP_Meetings.aspx"Dear All,Please join our open group as well on FB Citizens
for Patient Safety."Please share
http://reginaholliday.blogspot.com/2012/08/calling-all-patient-advocates.html
Shared.http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/27/overtreatment-is-taking-a-harmfultoll/?src=me&ref=general Another aspect of the patient safety problem..."What do
you do when you watch your father's dignity & health get eaten away by a hospitalacquired infection...and finally lose him? I put all my energies and personal
resources into creating a Patient Pod, and now want to give them away. Please check
out link below and help me have an impact on other families. Would love to hear
ideas from you!http://beta.medstartr.com/projects/46-saving-100-lives-with-thepatient-pod"Do I do this one too?"No, my dear, you have done quite enough:)
Wonderful post today about playing in the sandbox.""Robin,I totally feel your pain
and know your anger. This didn't happen with a magic wand for me but as Michael was
in nuring school and it was the profession he loved I found it in my heart to take
my grief an dthe tradgedy of losing my only child and one day at a time tried to
get wherw I am. I think of all the Robins and Michael's out there and say we have
to do something to save others.""i know patty... as i said, i saw your heart and
focus in your words. i'm thankful for you and for what you have the courage to do.
i was merely sharing my thoughts... that's all. i'm behind what you're doing 100%.
just not there myself.""Robin, I didn't mean that you need to be there just
something to think about maybe someday. My husband is not near where I am and I
don't believe he ever will be that's ok we understand one another. Sometime when
you feel like it and want too I would like you to share your story with me."
http://www.cbc.ca/player/Shows/ID/2273210665/Check out this site. I placed my
complaint on this site concerning the medical negligence of my daughter Jocelyn.
http://wwwcomplaintsboard.com. Read the article about Memorial Hermann Hospital.
"The site you mean seems to behttp://www.complaintsboard.com/But I do not see a
category for medical"Look at Jocelyn Y. Dickson foundation for Life where i filed a
complaint for medicalGreat Veronica glad you did"This is why I keep pushing for
Justice! The Fight will continue............HUSH DON���T SAY A WORDJocelyn Y.
Dickson a small framed 22 year old CHARGE Syndrome little girl was taken to the
Emergency Room of Memorial Hermann Hospital for a piece of corn dog lodged in her
throat. On that fateful day of February 14, 2011, the supposedly most loved day of
the year, she becomes the victim of medical negligence.Two doctors, who were found
to be friends as well as colleagues decided to commit a crime-cover-up of the death
of my daughter Jocelyn. HUSH DON���T SAY A WORDThe core value of the medical
profession is centered on the duty to help sick people and to avoid harm, but on
that day, one of medicines most cherished commandments, First do no harm was not
honored.Imagine, Jocelyn lying there while the first doctor forces the GI tubing
down her throat. The thrust of the tubing perforates her esophagus but he
continues to force the instrument further inducing too much CO2 in her abdomen
causing abdominal compartment syndrome. Her abdomen continues to swell until her
colon erupts releasing toxins in her body. Limp and helpless she goes into cardiac
arrest, but he proceeds with placing her on a ventilator. This is part of the
horrific experience I had to watch and endure. No one including the nurses said a
thing. They witnessed this ���serious��� medical error and did nothing. HUSH
DON���T SAY A WORDThough that wasn���t enough the second doctor operates on
what we found to be true later a totally brain dead patient, also leaving six blood
soaked sponges in splenic region of her abdomen. No one including the nurses said
a thing. HUSH DON���T SAY A WORDCompounding the problem, they roll her little
body into ICU as if she was alive, hook her up to IV���s and continued to give
her blood transfusions. During the second surgery her blood coagulated and she
began to bleed out. Blood streamed down her face from her eyes, ears and nose.
Every opening and every wound seeped blood until every drop of blood ran onto the
floor. Seven (7) hours my family and I watched my daughter die. No one including
the nurses said a thing. HUSH DON���T SAY A WORD.Edmund Burke made a profound
statement that ���No one could make a greater mistake than he who did nothing
because he could only do a little. Just one whisper would have done. Just one
word would have sufficed, but instead they said HUSH DON���T SAY A WORD.In a
survey of 1,600 physicians by Columbia University���s Institute of Medicine as a
profession revealed that 46 percent of the doctors in the survey had witnessed
���serious��� medical errors by their colleagues without reporting them. (DC
Medical Malpractice Law Blog). This was even true though 93 percent said they
realized they should turn doctors in. HUSH DON���T SAY A WORDOur governor Rick
Perry, legislators and the Texas Medical Board has failed us and has not protected
us from this repulsive demon ���medical negligence���.How does one ignore and
deliberately conceal this most hideous crime and get away with it? The answer is
the ���TORT��� Reform, Proposition 12, and House Bill 4. This horrid
���demon��� has become an undercover agent that is out to destroy. It
protects doctors, hospitals and other medical personnel, a matter of fact it is the
only entity that allows someone to injure or even cause death and suffer no
consequences. Even if doctors are sanctioned, they usually keep practicing. Both
doctors who caused my daughters��� death are still allowed to practice medicine.
HUSH DON���T SAY A WORDSocrates felt that it was necessary to create tension in
the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths,
so it is now necessary that I create tension in society that will call the American
people to action and to raise their voices in protest for change. I will never be
able to recover Jocelyn hugging me, never recover her sitting on my lap, never
recover her combing my hair, never recover her saying Hi Momma, I���m
Momma���s baby. Jocelyn���s last words to me as she kneeled on the side of
the bed was Momma Help Me Please and the ringing of those words will forever haunt
my soul, for my family and I trusted the doctors, doctors who Americans have
trusted for centuries.This sick sordid game on life ���medical negligence���
has taken innocent lives and the world has turned their heads and just simply said
HUSH DON���T SAY A WORD.No more HUSH DON���T SAY A WORD, Jocelyn had the right
to breathe. Texas has found a way to legalize Murder.���All that is necessary
for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing���Edmund Burke""deirdre, i'm
so sorry for what was done to your daughter and you. 'hush, don't say a word' is a
very sobering phrase..... it packs a *punch* as it should. thank you for sharing
with us. most in this group get exactly what you're saying. and most of us are
there with you."Heartfelt sorry for your terrible loss xoxoxo you have whatever
support you need"apparently ontario has also found a way to legalize murder. Your
story is horrendous, just like my son's"yes mary-lou... deirdre's story reminded me
of josh's
story:( good for both you and deirdre for having the courage to speak out in the
midst of so much pain and injustice.So sorry for the loss of your daughter. Cover
up goes on everywhere. Very sad!!Deepest sympathy for your terrible loss. Thank you
for posting each salient fact - so many different agencies are in on the cover up.
It is with great sorrow that I discovered so many people simply will not - can not
accept the deplorable machinations of our healthcare principles. When it happens to
them they may - but it will be too late then.
http://www.modernphysician.com/article/20120823/MODERNPHYSICIAN/308239974?
AllowView=VW8xUmo5Q21TcWJOb1gzb0tNN3RLZ0h0MWg5SVgra3NZRzROR3l0WWRMVGJYUDhDRWxYek9UY
ktwUGZUamg5b1g4WFFERmhzbHh0THNUYk9XNlk9&utm_source=link-20120823-MODERNPHYSICIAN308239974&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=mpdaily#'the texas medical board has not
disciplined 459 doctors who were sanctioned over a 21-year period by hospitals or
healthcare institutions where they practiced'... that says it all....."I would love
to sit in one of his lectures ans ask ""Have you ever harmed a patient?' Robotic
Bladder Surgery Complications: Preventionand Management
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .553Erik P. Castle, Rafael
Nu��ez-Nateras, Michael E. Woods,and Paul E. Andrews
http://www.scribd.com/doc/54594129/Robotics-in-Genitourinary-Surgery""Dr Erik P
Castle article is on page 553, but the whole document is very Scary and amazing.""i
posted several articles regarding the dangers of robotic surgery (hysterectomy in
particular) on my hysterectomy web site several years ago. the most wrong, twisted
and sickening article i ran across was related to high school kids being shown
robotic hysterectomies via schools in northern ky and cincinnati oh. comments the
kids made regarding the robotic removal of women's vital sex organs were nothing
short of 'alarming'. the very idea of doctors pushing robotic surgery to the point
of demonstrating it for high school kids is... well in a word... *EVIL* as far as
the kids were concerned, it was like playing a video 'game'. planting that idea in
young minds is so wrong.....""Great article:
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1205623""That is an excellent article
Georjean. Thanks for posting. I hope, I hope ProPublica writes articles on these
important issues facing heathcare today and those injured by the very people that
are supposed to be taking care of us and have a ""first, do no harm"" oath. And
lastly we simply have to do a better job of educating people about why their
premiums will continue to increase if the issue of responsibility is not dealt
with. I have no love for health insurance companies but they should not have to pay
when others injure. And why should SSDI or Medicare and Medicaid have to pay when
others injure? Something needs to change and those that are responsible for injury
must pay not us through higher premiums and our tax dollars.""It's time to walk
into your doctor's office and sing ""Gimme My DaM Data!""
http://www.acmimimi.org/2012/08/gimme-my-dam-data.html""Love the video! I think the
many members of this group who have not even been able to get ahold of their
medical records would agree. And the battles for data are also taking place on a
much higher level that relates to health care quality, as I wrote about here:
http://www.propublica.org/article/health-care-reform-rules-would-restrict-publicreporting""Hey Ross - checking out your website, which is hilarious, I'm interested
in the way you're using your creative talents - humor and music - to try and
accomplish a greater goal. Can you tell us a little bit about that? How did you
come to this point? Have you found this to be effective? You could do a guest post
for this group, perhaps, or just respond here. I'd love to hear from anyone else
who's had success using humor/satire/unorthodox methods to bring attention to these
issues.""I wrote up a fairly brief explanation of this odd place I find myself just
last night and posted it to the ""About Us"" page on the ACMImimi site.
http://www.acmimimi.org/p/about-us.html A deeper story of how love and uncertainty
have mixed to create our family's approach to healthcare can be found in a threepart post on my personal blog, starting with
http://rossmartinmd.blogspot.com/2012/01/shall-we-dance.html. The shortest answer,
though, is I do it because I must. I can't imagine not creating stuff that makes
people go hmm or laugh or tap their toes -- preferably all at the same time. Since
my careerish passions are in transforming healthcare through IT, a subject that
keeps growing in importance, I've been forced to blend the two to keep some remnant
of sanity/balance in my life. That I am working feverishly on a proposal on a
Sunday (no kidding, I have a fever and the flu), while posting this video with my
family out on their own today shows that balance is not working so well. As for
recommendations on what works, I don't post works that often and, when I do, I
really try to make them of high quality--funny and edgy maybe, but not so much to
cause offense. It's a delicate balance. Like with this video, the original was
""Gimme My Damn Data"" and there were folks who weren't all that comfortable
swearing--even for a good cause. Rather than just saying ""so what,"" a little
creativity modified it to DaM--Data about Me--and made a good idea even better.It
took me a while to learn how to leverage social media. I'm still learning really.
Not that I'm a novice at it, but I don't have the time to get really embedded in
all of the nuances. There's not much money in medical informatimusicology
(especially when you give it all away), so the day job rules for now. Instead, I
rely on a group of folks who are much more closely tied to the SM world, like EPatient Dave deBronkart, Regina Holliday and Brian Ahier. Once something goes out
that they like, it doesn't take much for it to go viral (or at least as viral as
something as geeky as my stuff can go). Hope this helps! Back to the proposal...
sigh..."Very interesting. Thanks - and I hope you feel better!To Marshall-please
contact me so I can talk with youhttp://gma.yahoo.com/kidney-ohio-transplantthrown-trash-174711282--abc-news-health.html"Because of tissue ownership laws, the
living kidney donor has no rights or recourse in this case. A significant number of
living donors whose recipients experience an 'adverse event' (in the literature
this is usually defined as either the recipient dying, the transplant failing, or
the recipient not regaining health post-transplant, but I think something like the
above situation applies as well) will experience grief, depression and/or PTSD. Yet
no transplant center in the US has structured aftercare or support services or
living donors, nor mental health professionals adequately trained in living donor
issues. For more about how living donors are treated, see www.livingdonor101.com."
"This may be of interest. Health Canada.http://canadianawareness.org/2012/08/fdaand-health-canada-corruption-rampant-whistleblowers-agree/"
http://martineehrenclou.com/2012/08/communication-strategies-for-physiciansbenefits-for-physicians-and-patients/"Right on M. I coined the term Communication
Algorithms for the training I suppose is required for providers to acquire and
prove communication skill. It's actually quite challenging, I found, when
serendipitously role-playing during an IHI conference session on initiating ""The
Talk."" The session leaders had a (decent) model, and boy did those very seasoned
doctors and nurses struggle. Quite humbling to witness.""Thanks, Bart. I wish I
could have been in that IHI conference. Sounds very interesting!"10 years of
training may not be enough to be a doctor. The lack of skill sets in communication
and conflict resolution compromise health care quality."You bet they do, Claudia.
Lack of communication with patients compromises quality of care, patient safety,
patient satisfaction and patient adherence to treatment plans. Just spoke on this
today at PFCC Partners.""As I review the completed ProPublica Patient Harm
Questionnaires (http://bit.ly/KeQ9h8) I'm seeing that most people do not complain
to regulators about the harm they or their loved ones suffered. I can imagine that
the trauma and urgency of a patient harm event would make it difficult to
immediately report it a medical board, Medicare quality improvement organization,
or state licensing agency. And I could also see a barrier just being not knowing
how or where to complain. But you all would know about this better than I would.
What do you see as the barriers to notifying regulators and oversight agencies
about patient harm?""Marshall, thanks for asking about these issues and for
investigating them. I think that your invitation to contribute to the Patient Harm
database may yield important information. Unfortunately, even doing the Patient
Harm questionnaire may be too painful for some of the most damaged
patients/families to complete until they have somehow begun to come to terms with
the damage.In my case, I knew where and how to complain, but I didn't always do it
when circumstances dictated a complaint. I have written about several noncomplaint incidents in my book, The Last Collaboration.http://www.amazon.com/TheLast-Collaboration-Not-very-funny-modernization/dp/061564595X/ref=sr_1_1?
s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1341258273&sr=1-1&keywords=%22The+Last+Collaboration%22On Pp.
12-20, I describe a disastrous ER visit which my daughter endured with me as her
advocate. A nurse misdiagnosed and mistreated an eye problem. The errors occurred
in my presence, but I had no idea that she was making mistakes. My daughter became
blind in both eyes within a few hours, and she was admitted to the hospital as a
result.
Although she eventually recovered usable sight, her vision remained unpredictable
for the rest of her life. We were so busy dealing with the psychological trauma of
her sudden blindness, the additional medical care caused by the nurse's mistake,
and the drastic increase in her caretaking needs that neither she, nor I had the
energy to make the appropriate complaints, let alone initiate litigation.I don't
live comfortably with this. A year later, we saw this same nurse during an ER
visit in another hospital. At that point, I simply approached the ER clerk and
asked her to make certain the nurse wasn't assigned to my daughter or I would tell
her why.So, one barrier is the harmful consequences caused by the medical error.
Another is difficulty obtaining records. As I write this, I am in the midst of
assisting someone toin obtain records of his surgery-gone-wrong. The materials he
received from the hospital 4 weeks after requesting them (in a state that requires
producing records within 10 days of the request) included someone else's records
along with his ��� and omits the surgery report, the admission and discharge
physicals ��� and even a copy of his consent form for the surgery. The papers
he did receive were primarily illegible, dates missing, id's of authors missing.
Some papers were actually missing all of the headings and labels.I have been on my
state's Access to Patient Information Program provider panel for many years. I
have never seen records like these. The patient (if able to persist in his pursuit
of the records) will need to make a considerable effort even to obtain his records,
let alone file complaints or sue for his injury.Many people whom I meet tell of
terrible experiences with the medical system, but they have never even obtained
their records, let alone filed a complaint, because they are too traumatized to do
so.Filing a complaint takes a lot of time. Even if the screeners are kind and
helpful, the results are usually disappointing. In my daughter's case, I filed a
complaint that resulted in a nursing care citation.
The citation was certainly
warranted, but the doctors were exonerated. Because the hospital's response to the
first investigation contained alleged facts that contradicted the medical record I
had already obtained, I was permitted to file a second complaint, which included an
allegation about the records.Again, a nursing error led to a second citation.
Again, the doctors were exonerated. As to the distortion of facts in the course of
the first investigation ��� I will never know the outcome as this comes under
the ���quality control��� issues which, by law, are kept confidential.Many
people who attempt to file complaints with regulatory agencies are disappointed by
the results as I was. And yet, I am one of the ���lucky ones,��� because the
state health department hospital complaint liaison actually talked to me and
apologized for the inaction. I was treated as the grieving parent I was throughout
the experience, and I had the satisfaction of learning that the nurse investigators
are much more willing to apply applicable regulations than the doctors are. The
medical investigators in my state still appear to be more concerned with
maintaining doctors' and hospitals' reputations than protecting patients.Again, I
have laid out how I investigated my daughter's death, the barriers I encountered in
keeping up my efforts until the investigations were concluded, and even the long
road I have traveled attempting to heal after my daughter's autopsy revealed the
medical errors that had caused her death. The Last Collaboration contains many of
the primary documents to and from the state health department, so readers can learn
about how the regulatory agencies I turned to function. I assumed, in writing The
Last Collaboration that the challenges I faced could apply to people in other
states.""I'm a nurse and I have reported communicable diseases to my state. So,
when my father contracted MRSA in his tiny community hospital, after 2 others had
and died, I called my State Public Health office. I was promptly told that MRSA
is not a reportable disease in the State of Maine. Nothing else was offered, like
a referral to licensing or regulatory offices. I proceeded to call the Joint
Commission. The tiny Maine Hospital he was in was not JC accredited. In hindsight
I should have kept going with the Department of Health and Human Services here in
Maine, but by that time I was well on my way with my campaign to stop MRSA in Maine
Hospitals. To tell you the truth, I don't think it would have made one bit of
difference. The DHHS defers to the industry and my complaint would have likely gone
into a black hole.""Kathy...did you ever work at Brotman Memorial in Culver City,
CA?""No, I worked mostly in Maine and a few years in VT.""This is a bit of an aside
but the Jayco 100 hospital my dad contracted urinary tract MRSA in in 2005 and died
of, as my 2nd parent's 3-week terminal hospitalization within 15 months played out,
flew a banner off the side of the building so large as to function effectively as a
billboard toward the 6 lane arterial roadway fronting the facility. I identified
this as one manifestation of a positive communication stream (that's towards us)
intended to advertise and promise patient-families things. And I experienced a
negative communication stream (as we all here have), the many things withheld from
us, the vital things we really need(ed) to know. Now, this stuff is not directly
about Marshall's query in this thread but the twin streams are at the least an
undercurrent atop which we bob (and, apparently, medicine weaves)."We need national
news attention to this conspiratorial sabotage of our health and safety. :/"My
father's Hospital did disclose that the infection came from there (surprise
surprise), but they punctuated that disclosure with ""well, it happens and there
isn't much we can do about it"". That really got me.....they obviously had no plan
to stop the small outbreak that had infected 3 patients and killed 2. Dad died 11
weeks after his infection was diagnosed....he was about 50lbs lighter and he never
walked again after his infection. When I asked the hospital's Med surg manager if
they did any MRSA screening, he looked at me like I had two heads.
I still think
Maine would be in the dark ages about MRSA prevention if I hadn't raised such
hell about these preventable infections. They were killing vulnerable
patients...every single day in Maine Hospitals. Sadly, I think they still are, but
not at such a high rate.""I asked the medical examiner who did my mother's autopsy
whether or not her case would be reported to the state health department. Her
response was that my mother's case (a 56-year-old otherwise healthy woman who died
from C. diff after only 5 day of symptoms) ""wasn't the unusual"" and wouldn't be
reported. She also said something like, ""we see C. diff deaths all the time."" I
was disgusted and horrified at the casual callousness of such a statement."
"Christian, I dont' know what the NY laws are, but that callous response might be
considered way out of line now.
I hope NY is now reporting all C Diff, and
deaths because of it. We have just started this year in Maine and only nosocomial
(infection started after being in the hospital a few days). It all has to be
reported and tracked, or we will never lick it!""Christian, I am so sorry. We are
so vulnerable when dealing with autopsies. The person who did my daughter,
Millie's autopsy, started the conversation by asking me if I was angry about her
death. I said (not yet knowing what caused her death), ""No."" The pathologist
replied, ""You will be."" But the point is -- at the moment when we are utterly
helpless with grief, we are at the mercy of whoever comes along. Your story
horrifies me.""christian's post raises a good point... the attitude concerning her
mother's death via c. diff indicates that the more 'common' the cause of death, the
more likely it is to be overlooked and not reported. i have run into the same
attitude regarding the surgery that was performed on me. even though i was healthy,
didn't need surgery and did not consent to it, it's considered no big deal really
since it's a 'common' surgery. we should never consider surgery 'common'. and... we
certainly should never consider 'death' brought on by a mistake or infection via a
hospital 'common'. the medical examiner's callous comment is truly *HORRIFYING*"I
reported an infectious disease cover up and their was no investigation and further
cover up."They do not answer the phone and when you leave a message, they do not
call you back. Letters of complaint are not acknowledged unless sent certified
mail......for starters. Marshall, I'll give you a challenge. Call the various state
health departments and leave a complaint (message on a machine) and see how many
return the call. Send in complaints to the medical boards regular mail and see how
many are answered."Ditto! Same with the Sate Attorney General OfficeDoes anyone
know if there are any groups that offer Patient Advocates to help Injured Patients
"georjean, i wondered the same as you... i checked into it and found a few
groups/resources that appear to assist with healthcare issues but not in the
context we are talking about here. it appears there very few, if any,
groups/resources that assist with medical 'harm' and the aftermath - including
filing complaints, etc....""bart said 'the twin streams are at the least an
undercurrent atop which we bob (and, apparently, medicine weaves)'. bart is correct
here and he makes an excellent point actually. for lack of a better way to say this
just now... bart fell into a trap most of us in this group have fallen into - the
trap of trusting a doctor
and/or hospital based on a 'misconception' (a scheme) - one they purposely project
on us though. in bart's case, he believed the large banner hanging off the building
which housed his parents at the end of their life was a sign (quite literally) that
the hospital staff cared about communicating with patients and patients families.
bart said 'I identified this as one manifestation of a positive communication
stream (that's towards us) intended to advertise and promise patient-families
things'. that's a reasonable assumption in my opinion. i chose the surgeon who
ultimately performed surgery i did not consent to and who severely compromised my
sexuality and health for similar reasons. we absolutely must remain guarded at all
times when it comes to matters of medicine and our health. we have to be very
careful not to be lulled into a false sense of security. martha said 'at the moment
when we are utterly helpless with grief, we are at the mercy of whoever comes
along'. this is *exactly* what happens... everyone who has posted here in response
to marshall's query about filing complaints has found themselves in the position
both bart and martha describe. what bart and martha pointed out is extremely
important because it may help explain how so many of us find ourselves in similar
horrifying medical 'situations' if the first place. we are at our most vulnerable
when we make decisions that will affect health and life forever. add that to the
many 'misconceptions' we succumb to... well, you have a recipe for disaster as many
of us NOW know. it occurs to me that if we knew 'then' what we know 'now', many of
us would not be in a place where we would have to concern ourselves with filing
complaints. bart said ' this is a bit of an aside'... while it may be a bit of an
aside, it's a very important one in my opinion.""First off most of what is coming
out about the FDA does not inspire trust even if it was reported. Second many feel
without validation from doctors that they have no standing and their injury is
being vehemently denied by doctors that protect their pay masters, pharma. Third
because many of us have relied on disability to sustain us we worry that our LTD
insurer will deny us benefits on a whim which they have already done to me. My LTD
insurer is Liberty Mutual which is in the top three deniers of legitimate claims
for LTD. They are equally as bad for Workers' Comp. This puts patients on an
endless treadmill of protecting their rights and constantly worried that they will
lose their benefits should the insurance spies find out they can do something that
they said they couldn't on the endless questionnaires they have you fill out. My
insurer asks who takes care of your child. And as in my case I'm also fighting
Freddie Mac and Ocwen from an illegal foreclosure. Our loan was with TBW, you
remember the ones that multiple pledged the notes to up to 13 times. I'll be
fighting phantom notes until I die because of what they did. I���m going to
send you a letter a recent doctor sent to my treating doctor. It was nasty and
inaccurate. Doctors can���t be bothered to help their patients it interferes
with their profits in my opinion in a healthcare system that has very little health
in it. I think the only way anything is going to change is if the insurance
companies and Medicare and Medicaid get a clue about the inverse relationship they
have with their profits to that of pharma and predatory doctors (faulty products or
medical malpractice). Because the doctors lie for one another it becomes
impossible to get those responsible to pay and because now insurance companies
can���t kick you off their rolls they will pay and pay for pharma and medical
malpractice while the doctors and pharma are able to privatize their profits and
socialize or privatize their losses onto the backs of policy holders and insurance
companies. The only chance we have is if insurance companies wake up to what is
being done to them in the name of healthcare. As ProPublica embarks on this series
you might want to hit the insurance companies up for donations. It would greatly
benefit them and would be doing society a public service. I hope the health
insurance companies see the opportunity here and don���t have to be told to
donate.""sharon made an excellent point also... 'this puts patients on an *endless
treadmill* of protecting their rights'. what a great metaphor - *ENDLESS TREADMILL*
i think that's what we've all been trying to say here... after being harmed, we are
put on an 'endless treadmill'. every comment in response to marshall's query has
been eye-opening if anything - at least in my opinion. i've learned a lot from all
the comments. hopefully, all the responses here have helped marshall to better
understand the many many reasons patients don't file complaints regarding medical
harm and/or negligence with various agencies. it's *COMPLICATED*""veronica brings
up the question in georjean's post regarding the need for patient advocates to
assist in filing complaints. @veronica... you did do an excellent job filing the
appropriate complaints on behalf of your mother. you know exactly what to do and
how to do it. maybe you could help others in this regard? i agree with you about
the 'need' to document... i think most of us agree with that in theory. i was able
to easily obtain my records and i'm a writer by trade. yet, i still had a very
difficult time filing complaints. i came to the point where i simply had to focus
what energy i had left on my health. i couldn't focus energy on filing complaints
that may or may not be taken seriously. there is no doubt a very real need for
advocates like yourself. until marshall posted this query, i never really
considered how much advocates are needed in regard to helping harmed patients file
the appropriate complaints.""I reported a HIPAA violation to the state medical
board. After a year of silence, I received a form letter saying they conducted an
investigation, but they couldn't tell me about the investigation, but they
determined there was no violation. Really? Because they certainly never talked to
any of the people involved, so how thorough of an investigation could it possibly
have been?""exactly to chisty's point regarding HIPAA... there is no question that
HIPAA laws were violated in my case because my mother was told to sign 'my'
ELECTIVE surgical consent form. AND... my hospital record indicates that nobody was
to be given medical information concerning me. (my mother was not even supposed to
know what surgical procedure i was having done that day). regardless, my lawyers
all told me that although HIPAA had been obviously violated in my case, there was
nothing i could do about it since violations are rarely ever addressed. i
researched the matter myself and came to the same conclusion so i didn't bother
filing a HIPAA complaint.""The opacity around all of this (ex: Cristy's post above)
is spirit-crushingly awful.Trisha Torrey: I wonder if you'd be interested in
looking into complaint filing assistance as another category up at AdvoConnection,
or writing it up on About.com..."
http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/node/13777#disqus_thread"Powerful, Joleen. Thanks
for posting this.""Joleen Chambers & Marshall Allen if the health insurance
companies would provide assistance to patients for filing the complaints they would
benefit in the long run by: 1) getting more reports completed, 2) by ensuring that
they are followed up on and 3) their only true concern; it would improve their
profits. We have a small window of opportunity here to get the health insurance
companies on the consumers' side and in the process help to clean up a broken
reporting system. The result would shine a light on treatments, drugs or procedures
that shouldn't be on the market in the first place.""Whew - Joleen Chambers that's a powerful article you posted. Sharon Hanson - you make a good point. But
when I've talked to insurance folks they seem concerned about maintaining a good
relationship with providers, so that the providers will continue to be on their
panel. Someone who knows more about insurance could enlighten me about this, I'm
sure. But do insurance companies do much in this regard? I know they do some things
internally. But I'd like to know all that they do if you know.""I receieved a
Subrogation letter from my Health Insurance company months/year after they finally
identified a submitted diagnosis code of Injury. If an Accident code is billed it
will trigger the questionaire. Of course as the patient I will never get the
results, but they do try to recoup their money. In the case of Employers that are
self-insured and, in actuallity, the money paid to providers is the employers
money, I would think they should have some responsibility to their employees to
make sure the care received is Quality Care. Employers and Health Insurance
Companies need to stand behind the Injured patients' and family. If Health
Insurance Plans offer a PREFFERED PROVIDER ORGANIZATION (PPO) and a patient uses
their CONTRACTED PROVIDERS and they are continuing to do business with providers
and facilities that are doing harm and not taking actions they become a major
contibuting factor in patient harm. When I choose a healthplan, sign a contract and
pay premiums with the expectation of QUALITY CARE, that is what I should get. I
fought endless hours with my healthplan and offered to partner with them and asked
for their help in keeping their policyholders safe. Of couse, that hasn't
happened."I also have suggested to CMS Medicare/Medicaid they need to be more
dilligent in reviewing members that have medicare/medicaid because of a
disability/injury that was originally caused by a provider/facility and now
medicare/ medicaid has to pay out huge dollars of long term care that should
remain the responsibility
of the provider/facility at fault."A Healthcare consumer advocate that I work with
suggests that we all call our insurance companies if Hospitals or other providers
screw up badly. We need to make them aware and tell them we do not want our
insurance to pay for harm to the patient. Keep asking up the line of supervisors
until you get someone who will actually refuse to pay for healthcare harm. It's an
interesting idea, but I haven't tried it yet. She has and she succeeded....charges
as a result of
harm to her husband were not paid by her insurance to the guilty
Hospital."What about letters and radiologic studies that would identify the harm
would that be enough to file? I had contacted almost every organization and agency
out there but never filed an official report?"marshall, i had united healthcare at
the time of my surgery in 07. they paid for the surgery even though i let them know
that i did not consent to it. then, after i filed a medical malpractice complaint,
they turned around and put a $10,000.00 lien against any settlement or jury award i
could possibly receive. i filed a complaint with united health and the ohio dept.
of insurance - to no avail though. i provided both of them with a transcript of my
former doctor's deposition wherein he stated that it is his 'practice' to obtain
illegal consent for surgery. i assumed that united healthcare would be interested
in knowing about a doctor who makes it his 'practice' to obtain illegal consent.
united healthcare was not at all interested. the ohio dept. of insurance sent me a
letter advising that their hands are tied when a provider pays for any surgery or
procedure covered under a patient's contract - regardless of whether they consent
to it or not. my efforts to enlist united healthcare in assisting me with reporting
my former doctor went nowhere. i seriously doubt insurance providers would 'rock
the boat' for the reason you stated... 'they seem concerned about maintaining a
good relationship with providers, so that the providers will continue to be on
their panel'.""@Kathy -- I think your friend's experience in persuading an
insurance company not to pay a claim when medical care was deficient is highly
unusual. My daughter had a Medicare Advantage Plan through Blue Cross/Blue Shield.
When she was made blind in a local ER due to an NP's multiple mistakes, I was told
(tho I phoned the next day) that the hospital had already been paid and that BCBS
would not pursue the issue. When my daughter left a different ER shortly before
midnight AMA because she had waited more than 8 hours for results of a CT scan to
determine whether she was bleeding internally (she assumed if she was bleeding
internally she would already have died) we called the insurance company and got the
same response -- the scan wasn't read until the next afternoon because it was the
weekend and there were no radiologists on duty in the entire hospital system (5
hospitals, 1200 beds).""I agree, my friends experience is probably rare and
unusual, but if a lot of us strarted a trend, who knows. She got her company to
with hold payment...maybe more of us can do the same. I do plan to give it a try
in the future if I feel that something should not be reimbursed. At one time I did
find a medical device (endotrachial tube) charge on an intemized bill and I
contacted the insurance company and the Hospital...it did not get paid for. It
wasn't used...I had a spinal block...no need for an ET tube. a bit of bill padding
perhaps?""Another item of concern is the non-compliance with Prior Authorization
and case management services. I actually was able to get copies of all my bills
submitted to BCBS and found that the Kidney cancer diagnosis that was given to me
verbally and documented in my pcp records and indicated as PRESUMED TCC OF THE
KIDNEY in Dr Erik Castle's (my surgeon) notes was never submitted to BCBS until
many months after the surgery only because I kept asking how they never had any
kidney cancer diag submitted to BCBS. MILLION DOLLAR QUESTION ""How did my surgery
for kidney removal ever get authorized and paid"" . My medical record clearly show
NO CONFIRMED CANCER PRIOR TO OR DURING SURGERY. I will never understand how it is
not assult with intent do do harm for a Dr to procede to cut into a person and then
the removal of a left kidney and other organs on a PRESUMPTION and he is not
required to have any docummented pathology prior or during the
procedure.??????????""georjean, i had a woman from california e-mail me recently
and tell me that she went into the hospital for a lumpectomy breast surgery to
determine if she had cancer or not. she woke up to find both breasts gone and even
her muscle gone. her doctor told her she had invasive cancer. she didn't believe
him so she asked for her tissue to be re-examined and it turned out she had 'no
cancer whatsoever'. of course, she was completely devastated. long story short...
she learned that her doctor's partner was overseeing a study regarding muscles in
women who undergo a double mastectomy. she filed a med mal complaint which she
didn't win and she filed all the appropriate complaints with various agencies. this
woman is older and on medicare but extremely savvy. like most of the rest of us,
she was unable to find any closure or remedy via a med mal complaint or complaints
to various agencies. and... medicare paid for the mutilating surgery she didn't
need or consent to.""Well I would think that BC/BS would love to jump on mine then
because I would think they would like their five million dollars back....if its
possible and a viable option then I would be a perfect candidate especially since
my issue can still be resolved or hopefully most of it with the proper
surgery......remove the foreign body and maybe my body will heal .....i would think
maybe if the insurance company contacts the individual specialists that felt that
the problems in their area were due to a retained foreign body .....i am also a
prime example because of what they paid and are still paying to maintain
unnecessarily.....wow now u understand why I continue to try and speak out..... not
just because I need help but also because here's a perfect example of an error that
was made and then after the error there were years of not diagnosing it and
suggesting other illnesses, of treating other illnesses then ruling out all those
diseases then after years of medicine, treatments, tests etc and not getting
better, increasingly getting worst....finally a doctor tried to resolve it
suggesting an infection and possible foreign body nope......too easy then on to
still more years of hospitalization, tests, medicines..... expensive ones mind you
, then out of state visits, more attempts at surgery only to confirm they couldn't
get to the foreign body..""....now on to more expensive hosp stays, new things
wrong, more tests etc and now now now the patient should just get the laparotomy to
remove the foreign body the one the doctor suggested should be done four years and
half the healthcare cost earlier...... My situation looks at the unnecessary costs
of healthcare, the errors made during a surgery, the unwillingness to look at
medical error before u rule out every natural disease in a patient who was
completely healthy before surgery, it also shows all the organizations, agencies I
attempted for help and truly how unavailable or unable to handle true error
resolution (in English how alone patients are when errors happen), whats worst is
it shows the true inability every person had not just te original doctor, not just
the medical personnel but everyone that came along rather than think they missed
something, rather than believe or admit that human error could have been involved
or maybe even they missed something they would much rather turn it around to look
as if the patient made it up or they have something oing on they cant figure out
even after its being shown as what it truly is and documented in my case a foreign
body but for others it can be different......instead of work to resolve they would
rather trn te patient back into the system to start over, for more coats of
testing, hospitalization and more temporary high cost bandaid pills and this is why
its so messed up. Patients nowadays are not worth much as humans they are worth
much more as a human error. In addition, my case can also help u look at patients
who didn't have strong relatives or family advocating for them, i myself was a very
educated person but it didn't matter""........it shows how little they listen or
receive the patient....if u need help in looking to resolve one, multiple or all
issues within our system I am an open book and a classic example as I am sure many
of us are......I also stand to prove that even when u want to try and fix it or
resolve some of the problems there are not many real options....I have to say I
don't really believe we are there yet......we are on our way but not there
yet.....most patients who died from error I would bet tried to fight or get help
first and no one listens or there's nowhere to turn that works......I will try the
insurance company route again I did try years ago and they were more interested
with me being in a wheelchair when they thought it was due to a car accident or
something similar they reaced out to me"".......when i told them my situation and
asked if they could help they said oh sorry we can't help..... Sorry this was
messed up I just edited and tried to fix ....I typed it on my iPad and it replaces
the words and it doesn't make sense half the time.....""Robin Karr you just left me
speechless"".......no cancer both breasts removed can prove partner was involved in
study that would benefit from it, she tried te law it didn't work tried appropriate
agencies didn't work......God I don't know how people live with themselves and just
watch this crap happening.....""Marshall Allen ��� I see your point. This is
what I mean by a small window of opportunity. First we must educate them as to how
much money they lose from faulty products and medical malpractice especially when
the provider or manufacturer doesn���t pay. Medical errors are generally
serious with life-long consequences. I know insurance companies know this.
And
now they have access to the data to prove it. We are not talking pocket change; we
are talking trillions of dollars. I cannot speak for insurance companies but with
the new ACA they no longer can kick people off their rolls, deny insurance for preexisting conditions or limit life-time benefits. Marshall, what does that leave
for insurance companies to reduce their costs? They must keep us healthy and
prevent injuries; it is the only way they will survive. We need to alert the
health insurance companies to this financial reality so that we as consumers can
get them to do the right thing. How can a business model like this work for health
insurance companies without jeopardizing their relationships with the providers?
By ensuring that there is a well-funded non-profit watchdog group that assists
those injured to report and track the injuries and maintain a database of those
reports. That way the insurance companies will have more accurate information as
to which treatments, procedures, drugs and/or scans are causing the injuries. The
health insurance companies can and should be our best ally in keeping us healthy.
It���s a win/win situation and they should embrace a model like this. Otherwise
I don���t see them staying solvent for long.""melissa, i don't know how they
live with themselves either... they obviously find a way because we are here
sharing basically the same story of medical harm and/or abuse.... and we are all
here trying to find ways to cope, to survive and find some sense of justice and/or
closure.""Most victims don't immediately recognize the damage that's been done and
when the damage results in pain most victims are more interested in seeking
immediate relief. My experience with reporting and filing a complaint with the
Dental Board was highly disappointing. They conspired with the dentist and ""lost""
my records and probation monitor's reports. They simply apologized to me and after
a 2 yr investigation they didn't find my dentist negligent even though my current
dentist wrote to the Department of Consumer Affairs and the Dental Board my former
dentist didn't know the mechanics of the procedures he performed and practiced
below the standard of care."The majority of filed complaints with the Dental Board
of California have resulted in no action taken against the dentist or if they
revoke the license of a grossly negligent/fraudulent/drug and alcohol addicted
dentist they almost always immediately license the dentist as a PROBATIONER
DENTIST- a status of licensee the patient is purposely not informed of at the
dental office.agreed robin and tina......
veronica mom is smiling on you"The
Texas Medical Board as I found it is very lenient with notorious repeat offenders
who commit medical negligence. I am astound to see that doctors are murderers,
rapists, have felonies, commit sexual assault, falsify documents and are still
allowed to operate and practice medicine. In my research I found that people were
impersonating doctors and were told just to cease and desist. What is that? There
was not legal actions and I guess they went home and figured out where they could
go next. We will have to step up and take our lives back because a life today is
not worth a penny. One thing I found out as well is that people don't know that
crimes are being committed because doctors and hospital personnel are manipulating
and falsifying documents. Some don't even tell you that medical negligence have
occurred. My daughter had sustained three perforations and they left six sponges
in her abdomen and they tried to cover it up. They said she died from an
asphyxiation of a hot dog. I had an autopsy done but I am still having to fight
the system even with the evidence. That's crazy.""Pharmacy malpractice and
dispensing errors may be responsible for tens of thousands of hospitalizations and
untimely deaths each year. WWW.Ultimedhealthadvisors.com""I have a question - What
does a patient do when you take a rx to the pharmacy and the pharmacist enters it
in the system and receive alert that drug does is too high and conflicts with
current medication patient is taking - pharmacist calls dr and explains alerts but
dr instruct pharmacist to overide and fill. WHEN I discuss my concerns of this with
my dr he got an attitude and makes the statement ""I cant help you if you dont
follow my orders"" well as I know now he never had my best interest at heart."
"Georjean, Unfortunetly many Pharmacists will just hit the override button on the
computer and fill the Rx. Some RPh's will call the MD first to alert them about the
drug interaction, and then document the MD wants the RPh to dispense it even
knowing the risks, and fill the Rx. Your MD's response was very inappropriate. Most
MD's have very little training in Pharmacology, yet precribe copiuous amount of
medications they know little or nothing about. An MD or an RPh should also take the
time to explain everything about the medicine, the action /indication, proper dose,
possible interactions, side effects, how to best take it, possible risks, and if
possible adjunctive therapies and/or possible alternatives. As Voltare once
said:���Doctors are men who prescribe medicines of which they know little, to
cure diseases of which they know less, in human beings of whom they know
nothing���"USA Today followed up last week's story featuring the foundation with
an editorial outlining solutions to combat C. diff.When you sit on your hands
instead of enforcing your rights it has a huge impact on how a Judge decides and
how others harmed by medical professionals can find restitution and rightful
retribution. GET THE FACTS.already signed it tina. a worthy endeavor.....me as
well......http://www.nature.com/news/india-shakes-up-rules-on-clinical-trials1.11223"now, if we could just shake up the rules on clinical trials here in the
u.s.""���Selling Records for Profit Alleged - Hospital Staffer Targeted Accident
Victims' Records, FBI Says���http://www.healthcareinfosecurity.com/sellingrecords-for-profit-alleged-a-5054?rf=2012-08-22eh&elq=b18adb7bc1ba4eb6ab38ca4091ca943a&elqCampaignId=4279���A former staff
member at Florida Hospital Celebration was arrested last week for allegedly
inappropriately accessing more than 760,000 electronic health records with the
intent to disclose, transfer or sell certain information for personal gain.���I
started warning about the black market value of stolen medical records years ago,
and have been mostly ignored by the dental community. As a matter of fact, there
are still a few industry leaders who would silence me only for the sake of
appearances. When dentists complain about even lousy products it somehow seems
unprofessional."Not a happy story."Veronica James asked me to share my little story
this morning. While it is not a serious medical issue, in it's small way, it
highlights simple things we can do to better advocate for ourselves. Thanks
Veronica, for letting me share this.From Kim Lynette (Sandstrom) Hawksey Ok...here is a new patient safety advocacy story. When I went to the VA in Gville
on Tues, with my complaints of back pain, the ER triage guy was quick to say, ""Oh
it's muscle pain, and muscle strain is worse you know."" I looked at him and said,
""It is not muscle pain."" I wanted to say, ""I have lived in this body quite a
long time and I have learned to tell when it is a muscle issue and when it is
not."" But I held my tongue. He then ordered xrays. Fast forward 4 hrs of waiting
on results and being sent to the Urgent Care section of VA. The Urgent Care
specialist, looked at me, listened to me and then told me that my lumbar xrays
showed no breaks, but significant degenerative changes. I then asked him why it
hurt where it hurt, which was not in my spine. He was good to stand me up, and
finally, someone actually asked me where it hurt. I showed him. He said the ER
triage guy didn't order enough or the right xrays. Because I insisted this was not
muscle pain, and the Urgent Care guy, listened and paid attention, I was sent back
for the appropriate xrays. The results came back that I have 3 fractures on the
right side of my back. My point is this: when you know that you know that you know,
persist and insist until you are satisfied that the right things have been done. It
took 8 hrs that day. Also, I had to call for the radiologist report or I might not
have received it. Fortunately, the Ocala VA doc knows me, knows how I feel about
medical care and called me back twice yesterday and when he couldn't get me, made
sure he reached me this morning. I always get my tests and reports in hand as well,
as should everyone who receives medical care...it is more important than getting a
receipt when we go shopping, yet many do not even do this important thing for
themselves and for their health. Always get your results. Make copies and keep
them. Always ask questions and do not be satisfied until you are satisfied with the
answers. Trust your instincts.""Thank you, Kim Lynette. Good advice - and never,
ever assume that the doctor knows best.""Amen, Heidi...we need to come together as
experts...I will respect my doctor and his/her education and medical experiences,
when he/she respects what I know about my body, health history and experiences."
"This is an important story -- not only was the outcome good for the patient, which
is the most important part of the story -- but the writer emphasized the importance
of acquiring medical records as soon as they are generated. Saves a lot of time
later and makes medical care more efficient. It's good to hear a ""good doctors""
story once in awhile, because they surely do exist.""Thanks Martha...I consider my
story fairly insignificant in the scheme of things, however it is representative
of many common experiences for us as clients of modern medicine. I am the mother of
Diana Brookins (Fatal Care by Dr. Sanjaya Kumar), who lost her life to a routine
gall bladder surgery at 25. The good outcome, by the way, is only because, I
listened to myself and respected what I was ""hearing"" and a new ""eye"", the
Urgent Care guy, later in the day, was a listener too. This is the new paradigm I
preach: mutual respect brings positive results.""Just wondering what your Vitamin D
level is - bone fractures a- one of the symptoms of deficiency along with
malabsorbtion in the gut (allergies) - if MD's were working with ND's health care
would not just be sick care! Keeping records is important but getting the right
answers too might be difficult because ""not in their scope of practice""!""Hi
Margaret. I live in the Sunshine State and my D levels are excellent, but I have
other issues that mitigate my bones and joints. Thanks for your input.""@Kim-- I am
deeply sorry for your loss, which seems similar to mine (although no loss of a
child is ever the same as another mother's loss of a child. I hope that your
daughter's story in Kumar's book will at least raise patient safety issues that can
help others. This is my hope for the loss of Millie as well. BTW-- I just ordered
a copy of Fatal Care. Don't know how I missed it when it was first issued. Thanks
for mentioning it -- and for writing about your daughter.""Kim, did you mean to say
""exacerbate"" rather than ""mitigate""?""no, I meant mitigate. Thanks for the
clarification though, what I meant, was, I have other issues that make it harder
for doctors when they treat me. Not feeling so hot today!""@Martha...I wrote a full
length play called Damselfly about my darling Diana. Helen Haskell of MAME also
helped me with this. Damselfly is dedicated to all affected by medical harm, but
especially our children. Damsellfy had it's world premiere at HART Theatre in
Portland, Oregon last month. Helen and I flew out there to attend.""Kim, great
example of being the best advocate for yourself. You know your body best! Love what
you wrote. Thanks for sharing your story.""Wonderfully well written and true, true,
true!!!""Psychiatrist Keith Ablow and member of the Fox News Medical A-Team says,
""Given the available data, I would recommend that children with learning
disorders, attention deficit disorder, depression, attention-deficit disorder or
other psychiatric illnesses refrain from drinking fluoridated water
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/08/22/does-fluoride-in-drinking-water-hurt-yourbrain/#ixzz24K2CKJ5J""Dear Friends, If you are attending the Partnership with
Patients Summit in KC please register
http://partnershipwithpatients.eventbrite.com/ If you cannot attend please share
this with your larger network of friends."Will be a wonderful and important event.
Looking forward to it!'imagine patients coming together to plan how to make a real
impact in the healthcare industry'. that is our hope... wish i could attend....."I
am very familiar how it works,you file a complaint with Medicare,the joint
commission ,and in Nevada, the Health care Quality and Compliance.The Joint
Commision sides with the hospitals And virtually does nothing and is a waste of
time.Medicare contacts CMS to do an investigation once you have denied the CMS
billing requests,CMS contacts the QIO(quality improvement organization?),in the
west it is subcontracted to a company called Health Insight,in the Midwest it is a
company called Stratis Health .These company's are made up of Doctor Surveyers who
are mostly tainted to side with hospital facilities as is evident in their websites
which show a ,in Nevada,83/17% decision ratio for outcome decision in favor of the
health care facilities.The investigations are based on medical records,hopefully
they are accurate and have not been altered or deleted.Then a decision is made by
the Doctor/ surveyor as to the ""quality of care"" ,regardless of whether or not
your loved one was indoctrinated with Hospital acquired infections or as they like
to call it 'conditions', as long as we turned the patient and gave meds on
time,Quality of care was given.In Nevada the facility does not have to tell your or
your loved ones that you even have an infection until five days have passed,by
law.That gives them time to fix the problem before you know you have one.So, the
QIO studies the records, the Health Care Quality and Compliace inspects the
facility to respond to the complaint,all is well protocols are followed according
to policy,The QIO confirms with the HCQC that everything is shipshape,and they
respond that the multiple infection that killed your love one happened because they
had pre existing conditions and that HAI'S do not matter because it s your loved
ones fault for having these conditions and hey,Our opinion is ;quality of care was
given so your claim is UNSUBSTANTUATED,there for we the tax payers !Oh I Mean
CMS/Medicare are going to pay the $800,000 to the facilities/medical personal.
Only when Senatorial pressure and bad press were instigated did these institution
start to re review their decisions,because you must complain,especially if needless
suffering or death occurs.And you must follow up.If you want to get results,take
the money away give the press( great job USATODAY) they deserve"Ditto...Ditto...
Ditto...Ditto...Ditto...Ditto...Ditto...That was an internet problem...not me:/
"Although...did I mention ""Ditto""? :D"the last post was submitted by Steve
Winters.http://www.cbc.ca/player/News/Canada/Windsor/Audio/ID/2238327667/?page=9
i've read stats which state that more people die in hospitals than die in car
accidents each year in the u.s. something to think long and hard about for sure...
especially if faced with being in the hospital for any reason.During cervical spine
surgery in Oct 08 I contracted MRSA. It almost killed me. It was a long 2 month
battle that ended up forcing me to retire on SSD."Could anyone here kindly help me
figure out if there are any long-term patient studies on the survival rate, the
quality of life, the disability rate, and the numbers and kinds of repeated
Thoracic Outlet surgeries for patients who have had Thoracic Outlet Syndrome
surgery, with a 1st rib resection?? I am a suffering survivor of T.O.S. surgery in
2004 with a 1st rib resection, and I get worse every year living disabled since
surgery, with decreased function, more restricted mobility, and more pain. It is
hard to find doctors to diagnose or even treat the problems I have including
trouble walking, breathing, and severe shoulder atrophy, bilaterally with pain, and
more. I have some information from patients who have contacted me over the years
via my website www.tossurgerynightmare.com but, at this rate-I'm concerned about
my own survival. I wonder each day how much longer I have until I'm completely bed
bound, and living as a ball of restricted pain. I still have NO power wheelchair
though I was approved for one over 4 years ago. Having a hard day today. best,
Bobbie Jenke""bobbie, i don't have the information you're asking for but just
wanted to let you know i saw your post. i had one of those days yesterday. our
lives completely change after we've been harmed by a surgery we didn't need or one
that went wrong somehow. there are many days i feel completely defined by what's
happened so i understand... and i 'get' your concerns about the future. you're
strong or you wouldn't be here seeking answers. take one day at a time when you
have to...""thanks Robin!! Now, if only I was not so blacklisted in this ""Kaiser
town."" I have over 30 years residency here. There are x-Kaiser doctors--or
current Kaiser HMO doctors starting to fill the low-cost clinics and more. This
concerns me--because I was blackballed from Kaiser after the first surgery, that
they paid for. I led a Patient Rights rally with several of my students/friends
whose family had been harmed at Kaiser, here in Santa Rosa, CA. We handed out
fliers about Patient Rights--and carried signs and I was spokesperson on local
channel. But, soon after, I got a letter stating that I could no longer be a
patient at Kaiser Santa Rosa, because I ""complained"" too much about my care
there. The DMHC did nothing--Glad I was still teaching a bit then--so I switched
to Blue Cross--or I would have been in trouble.""we all pay a price for speaking
out bobbie. it sounds like you are paying that price. your only other choice though
would be to remain silent. from what you stated above, i doubt you have the
personality to remain silent. good for you for speaking out. i'm going through
similar issues where i live due to my filing a medical malpractice complaint. i
knew after the my surgery in 07 that i would either have to remain silent about
what happened to me and continue to receive medical care or speak out and warn
others and not receive medical care. like you, i chose to speak out.""Dear RobinPlease feel free to email me if you'd like to--it is on my website.(I would like to
give you my phone # to perhaps discuss more of what we have in common and learn
more abt how you cope as well.) Typing is hard for me as is a lot of speaking,
even on the speaker phone, but it helps to know other damaged patients-in similar
situations.--I've been diagnosed by some specialists I've written to with RSD-which causes SEVERE delayed pain with any use of my body-especially the upper
(affected) parts. Even typing this amt., will create severe contraction in the
surgery site later, and more, with increased pain. It is a weird, hard life to
have one's nerves neurolyzed(sp?) 3 times via surgery--in the brachial plexus, and
more--only to have them scar over afterwards and to lose their natural protective
fat layers via surgery. It creates such painful chaos that affects my sympathetic
system. All done for profit with little-to-no evidence of need. Thanks for caring
Robin. You are right, I can't ""shut up"" as this is so egregious!!! to do to
patients--and then dump us!!........ I wrote many poems in the years after surgery-
and hope someday--Someone? might publish poetry by"" Patient/victims of Medical
Crimes."" very best to you too! b.""keep writing poems about your experience
bobbie. date them and keep them in a notebook. some day, you will have enough to
submit them for publishing yourself. that's a very creative way for you to cope
with what you're going through and, at the end of the day, it's a great way for you
to share your experience with others. good for you for finding a healthy way of
coping:)""Over a period of six months, six children each said they were paid $10 to
get into an unmarked vans, taken to a southeast Dallas dental clinic called All
About Dentistry, and drilled without their parents' permission. One child's
Medicaid records, obtained by News 8, show $2,000 worth of dental bills from All
About Dentistry without parental consent."Horrible.I cannot believe the lengths
some dentists will go to make a buck...it's torture on so many levels for the
victims to try to recover from shoddy dental work and still have to pay physically
and financially for a lifetime to recover from this greedy assault."this is
horrible... on a good and different note though, i'd like to say that some dentists
do volunteer their services and don't charge for it. diane sawyer did a special a
year or two ago about dental issues in appalachia (exactly where i'm from). she
talked about the problem of no access to dental care ( especially for children) and
she interviewed a dentist in appalachia who volunteers his services via a mobile
dentist office/unit. i just happen to know the dentist because he rented a garage
from my mother in which to store his mobile dentist office/unit. after the abc
story aired, pepsi bought him a new mobile unit which greatly helped this dentist
make his services available to even more children. i'm glad i knew this dentist
personally. it's good to know there are still decent doctors who care about true
need in their community and 'volunteer' their services. in a world where we see so
much healthcare for profit... this is refreshing."
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=6899312&page=1#.UC_M1qmPVGQWhat the heck. Why
is Medicaid covering dental care when working people have to pay out of pocket with
separate policies and it isn't covered by Medicare?"Medical Errors from White Coat,
Black Art www.cbc.caIn 1999, the US-based Institute of Medicine published a report
on medical errors at American hospitals. The report was entitled .Like �� ��
Share �� 21 minutes ago ��""JUST TYPE IN WHITE COAT, BLACK ART IN THE SEARCH"
"Most Hospital Mistakes Never Reported :: Halifax Medical Malpractice Lawyer Blog
www.halifaxmedicalmalpracticelawyerblog.com Most Hospital Mistakes Never
Reported :: Halifax Medical Malpractice Lawyer Blog .Like �� �� Share �� 29
minutes ago ��""Why 98% of Canadian Medical Malpractice Victims Never Get a Penny
in Compensation! www.articlesbase.comA review of Canadian medical malpractice
claims and how they differ from similar claims in the U.S..Like �� �� Share ��
13 minutes ago ��""I immersed myself in the topic for today's column, and will be
writing more to be sure. What there were a structure that helped patients
understand all the risks of the procedures their doctors persuaded them to undergo?
Or which they thought they wanted? I mean really appreciated what they would
endure, whether it would help, and whether there were less invasive alternatives.
'Informed Decision' May Irk Surgeons as it Cuts Costs, Improves Quality
http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/content/QUA-283486/Informed-Decision-May-IrkSurgeons-as-it-Cuts-Costs-Improves-Quality""Hi Cheryl-i left a comment on your
article--meant constructively only. Thanks for writing it. I've seen too much harm
sneak in the back doors of medicine in this Fee of Service country--and living the
result of my own harm done by surgeons and flawed reviews of surgical outcomes by
TOP medical journals. So, what really IS ""informed consent"". very best, Bobbie
Jenke""Comments ��� good, bad or indifferent ��� are always welcome as long as
they're thoughtful and not mean spirited. I envision informed consent as that one
would give after being told everything the doctors and hospitals know about the
chance of you having a good outcome, not getting infected, and that your health
status will have improved as a result of the procedure. Imagine if you were set to
undergo a procedure, and found out that the surgeon knew it only resolved the issue
completely in 25% of the patients, resolved it partially in another 10% and the
rest, 65% got no benefit at all. and then, imagine you were told that you'd be in
a world of hurt for at least three or four weeks, unable to walk or drive a car.
Would you still have the procedure? Then imagine that you were informed that
physical therapy or some other non-invasive strategy would worked for 25% of the
patients. I want to know the surgeon's track record as well as the hospital's I
want to know what they know. I want to know what they should know. Sorry if this
is rambling.""Cheryl, no rambling at all, just explicating the valuable facts of
the case for straight talk by medicine to citizens. For those of us who are not
babies requiring paternalism it'd be fruitful for the default to switch to that
described in your writeup.""I think it's a good treatment of an important issue.
There are other strategies. For instance, I blew out my ACL a few years ago. I
first asked a physical therapist I know to take a look at the list of surgeons that
are on my insurance plan. She said none of them did good knees. So I asked her, an
orthopedic surgeon that is an acquaintance, and anyone I know who had their knees
done. The doc I ended up going to was the team surgeon for some NY sports team (for
my other knee, some years prior, I used the surgeon for a ballet company). He
thought, because I don't do sports that involve pivoting on the knee, I might be
able to go without surgery and suggested that I see how stable the knee is. I am
physically active, etc. and the knee has been fine. But: in researching this issue,
I figured that 5 years after the injury I wouldn't remember what the procedure
cost, but I would remember every day if I walked with a limp. That was my
criteria.""I have had 2 recent encounters with institutional medicine, both
unfortunate. 1) My mother had a TIA and while in the hospital was prescribed
depakote, theoretically because of agitation (she was nervous, not epileptic or
psychotic). I reviewed her chart in the rehab facility, saw the problem, and had it
corrected. The attending hadn't noticed. She recovered and is fine now. 2) my
father fractured his hip and was in rehab. He was nearing completion of recovery
when he developed a URI. He had, it seems complained of difficulty swallowing to
his regular physician, who didn't visit that facility and turned my father's care
over to his wife's practice. She apparently had limited knowledge of his history.
The URI got worse, and she decided to discontinue visits to that facility as well,
so a new team took over. I was very insistent that this be sorted out (he has CLL,
but has been in remission for many years), so he was discharged to the hospital,
where it was finally determined that he was aspirating into his lungs. The hospital
chose a narrow interpretation of his living will, left him to die on palliative
care. I got it straightened out, and requested a PEG feeding tube. Because health
care providers don't collaborate/interact on a regular basis, I had a delay in
getting the tube scheduled and done. The hospital maintained they had 24 hours for
a consult and I disagreed. I won, and the procedure was done quickly, but the
hospital did not have rehab for dysphagia, so he sat there with no appropriate care
for a couple of days. He is now in rehab and doing very well. It is very upsetting
because the hospital's basic position was that he would die, when all he needed was
a 20 minute procedure under twilight sedation and rehab. Very discouraging.
Fortunately, I've learned a lot about rehab centers, and dad is in a good one. It
does require frequent follow up (daily with him and every few days with the staff)
to make sure that everything goes as it should. My condolences to anyone who has to
navigate the system.""Cathy Herbert, I have no idea what your TLAs mean (three
letter acronyms). You seem to be much more of an expert about proper medical care
than I am, and I am of average layman knowledge. My take is that unless a patient
his or her own competent person monitoring and correcting mistakes in his care, the
common place institutional incompetence could kill the patient who is left alone
there. Your post is quite an eye-opener.A recent article in the NY times compared
the success of a restaurant food manufacturer with the failures and problems with
institutional medical care. One that caught me was in manufacturing, there is one
person who is ultimately responsible for the quality of the product. He is at the
top looking down at the process. In the medical industry, several doctors and
caretakers are involved and must communicate horizontally with each other. And
often they fail to. There is no one person coordinating and keeping track of the
big picture about
the patient. In the medical industry, incompetence is financially rewarded just as
quickly as incompetence. The final result doesn't rate a high priority. Your post
certainly verifies that situation to me.""Veronica James, so sad to hear this. CMS
has indicated that hospitals/rehab/hursing homes etc should decrease their use of
antipsychotics by 20%.... it's a good move.""Sso true, Garrick Sitongia and I
suspect there is no other industry in which the people who make the profits (lots
of tests, procedures, billable hours) are the same ones responsible for all
decisions with no accountability. (TIA=mini-stroke) Also, people talk about
malpractice suits as a possible safeguard, but lawyers won't take cases re: old
people, so the docs know there is a steady and continuous stream of old people to
take the place of those that die or become too unprofitable (Medicaid) to continue
to care for. Oh, and one thought that bothers me somewhat: I pushed really hard to
get my father's PEG procedure done immediately, which meant a Sunday. I got a lot
of grief because there were several procedures already scheduled but I insisted
that he be fit in.""That was on Saturday at arouand noon. By the time the procedure
was done (Sunday at 1), the other 3 procedures were cancelled. I didn't ask (no
point in alienating anyone), but I can't help but wonder if those patients died.
That's not an optional procedure and aspirating into your lungs will kill you."
"Thanks, Veronica (don't know that I'm knowledgeable but I am persistent and work
in the healthcare industry, which is certainly a help). Will be happy to look over
the weekend. Thanks!""If Massachusetts can do this, why doesn't New York?Because
too many people are making too much money.http://bo.st/PiVQOM""I wonder if a doctor
won't admit to a mistake, if this law releases other doctors to tell the truth to
the patient without causing the original doctor to be legally threatened. Because I
think big ego doctors won't admit to their own mistakes no matter what. The patient
should be able to find a truthful doctor. Would this law make that more likely?"
"Thank you for the comments and kind words. I had hoped my website
www.tossurgerynightmare.com would be the one displayed here. Ahh....there it is!
Yes, the terrible rolfing injury started my search for answers--and when I got
NONE at Kaiser Permanente, CA HMO for profit, and, in fact, I got misdiagnosed
there by their neurologist, I had to start paying ""out of pocket"" to go our of
plan.
I was getting more disabled by my ""rolfing-induced"" injuries--so had
the first surgery in my life at age 42 to try to fix my ""winging scapula.""
I
fell victim to surgeons who were far overconfident, aggressive, and took my
insurance money or cash to ""fix"" me at Hospitals and Private Surgery Centers.
They ""fixed"" me alright. Now, sadly--I am a train wreck of scar tissue, half a
neck, spine problems, breathing problems, still have the winging scapula injury-and more.
The T.O.S. Surgery, my LAST surgery in 2004 was the WORST. Cutting
out my first rib-and my neck muscles--my surgeon LIED (grossly) on his pre-op form
that I signed, then abused me after his surgery made me obviously worse--and the
Medical Board in CA did not care--so just let him off. But, the truth is very
clear in the documents of my complaint to the Medical Board! He LIED!.... about all
of the risks of Thoracic Outlet Surgery saying the risks were only between 1-7% (at
most)-- He and I both signed his pre-op form. But, the Medical Board in CA stated
he was not at fault because T.O.S. surgery was so risky??? How do they get away
with that? A more accurate representation of T.O.S. surgery is that it almost
always makes people worse--not better. Yet, they continue to allow it--and it is
BARBARIC!
As so many of you here know, Medicine is a dangerous world when one is
desperate for answers. There were and are NO watchdogs for greedy, reckless,
abusive surgeons and their hospitals/HMOs. What they can get away with, they will.
That is why I'm so glad to find like-minded people here--maybe we can start to
raise awareness together and change this medical industry.""unfortunately bobbie,
they get away with a lot. most in this group have stories of medical harm and/or
know someone with a story of medical harm. so sorry for the reasons that brought
you here but welcome..."thanks Robin!thx veronica--I did--tho-thought of more to
add to it recently....thanks!"Hi all, ProPublica's social media producer here!
We're compiling a round-up of great accountability journalism on nursing homes. Do
you know any good articles, or journalists doing good work? Let us know in the
comments. (And just for reference, here's one example of the kind of work we'll be
including: http://californiawatch.org/node/1583) Thanks!""Thanks, Veronica!""I
would suggest reading Jack Schroder's book ""Identifying Medical Malpractice"" for
some more insights into Medical Crimes in those types of facilities.""Blair-do you
remember Ila Swan out of Sacramento? She may have retired or passed away?...(sorry
Ila, if not) but she used the millions she won in a lawsuit against a nursing home
for her (mom?) to do research, travel to across country to many nursing homes--and
was a ""pit-bull""(in a good way) for exposing dangers in them. She may have many
journalist contacts,or her relatives might. Here is one link to her. She was very
approachable on the phone years ago.. lives (lived in Sacramento, CA-http://www.hospicepatients.org/ilaswan/index.html""Are HIPAA-covered dentists any
more compliant with the Rule today than five years ago?In 2008, the results of an
informal 2007 survey measuring HIPAA compliance among dentists was published in the
Medical Executive Post.""-----------���HIPAA Rules and Dentistry ��� A Survey
of Dentists��� By Darrell Pruitt DDSABSTRACT:A survey of 18 dentists was
performed using the Internet as a platform. The volunteer dentists��� anonymity
was guaranteed. The dentists were presented with ten HIPAA compliancy requirements
followed by a series of questions concerning their compliancy as well as the
importance of the requirements in dental practices.The range of compliancy was
found to be from 0% for the requirement of a written workstation policy to 88% for
that of password security. The average was 49%, meaning that less than half of the
requirements are being respected by the dentists in this sample.Frustration with
the tenets of the mandate, as well as open defiance is evident by the written
responses. In addition, it appears that a dentist���s likelihood of satisfying a
requirement is related to the dentist���s perceived importance of the
requirement.Even though this is a limited pilot study, there is convincing evidence
that more thorough investigation concerning the cost and benefits of the
requirements need to be performed before enforcement of the HIPAA mandate is
considered for the nation���s dental practices.----------------As far as I know,
almost 5 years later this remains the only published study of HIPAA compliance in
dentistry. It goes without saying that the profession���s continued evasion of
the topic can only increase the harm that data breaches cause dentists as well as
their patients. What���s more, it is simply counter to the tenets of the
Hippocratic Oath to hide avoidable danger from patients. Americans have a clear
obligation to demand more transparency in dentalcare. D. Kellus Pruitt DDS"
http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2012/08/health-care-doctors-lead-change.html"If the cap
can be overturned in Missouri, let's hope it can be overturned in Colorado!! Spread
the word!"incredibly sad story but wonderful ruling..."Hi Patient Harm Site--I'm
glad I'm not alone--well sort-of glad. Hope Medical Boards start investigating
sham unnecessary surgeries, like mine-- Thoracic Outlet Surgeries. (they cut out
my 1st rib, lots of my neck and more--all for NO reason--NO proof it was needed!
UNECESSARY mutilation! Thank you Pro Publica!! for initiating this site and VERY
important PROBLEM in this greedy US Medical Industry. Please see my website at
www.sonic.net/bjj and www.tossurgerynightmare.com I hope to get to know some of
you over time--but OUCH!! typing hurts me..so might be slow to respond.
It's
time to OVERHAUL our Medical System and our phony State Department watchdogs--who
simply exist to protect the hospitals/HMOs and surgeons making all the extra
bucks.""Hi Bobbie. Reading your site I see the Rolfing manipulation as an initiator
of your problems. I'm curious what you learned about that and if you pursued it, or
the Rolfer, in any way. I ask neutrally, with no guidance to offer, out of
curiosity because I've benefitted mightily from Rolfing. Although it's been
probably 20 yrs since engaging in pure Rolfing (I think in the first 10 yrs I had
the basic 10 sessions and 2 rounds of 10 advanced sessions; and occasionally I do a
session of ""rolfage,"" massage by a Rolfer who works some in), and remembering how
challenging some of the work can be, every practitioner I worked with was sensitive
and excellent... that could be because a major and early training center is
nearby."thank you for posting you story and web site bobbie.thanks all---just
getting the hang of face book--kinda nice!"bobbie, it is helpful to know you are
not alone in your situation. reading articles posted here and reading about others
who have been harmed by medicine helps to 'validate' what you've been through.
doesn't make things better especially but it helps to know you're not alone."
http://collateral-damage.net/"notice the comments on this web site. several people
attack the victim of medical harm and even state that there must not be enough
evidence of medical malpractice since the
case was lost. as most in this group know, not being able to file medical
malpractice or being able to file and then losing your case does not equal not
enough evidence. sadly, this is often the perception...""Robin, I don't know about
this case, but I do know that the Chief of Johns Hopkins, Dr. Julie Frieshlog
(sp?), has been promoting Thoracic Outlet Surgery on You Tube--you may want to take
a look- (She came from the Vascular surgery Dept at UCLA where many Thoracic Outlet
surgeries were being done by her and by Dr. Samuel Ahn in early 2000---This surgery
has a very poor overall outcome--but the Vascular medical journals and many of the
surgeons doing the procedure lie about the outcomes--so the mutilation, the
unnecessary cutting out of first ribs, sympathectomies and more continues. The
surgery supposedly is used to relieve the repetitive stress injuries of
keyboarding, etc, or other brachial plexus injuries--but in fact, it carries very
high risks, and often causes scarring of same damaged nerves, and more, the blood
vessels, more tightness and pain, and loss of structure and more compromise of that
area--and leaves many many patients disabled and in pain for life. Just FYI re:
Hopkins and Thoracic Outlet Surgery. I'll look up your article. thank you!""bobbie,
many of the surgeries performed these days are unnecessary, mutilating and don't
make for a better quality of life. gone (i'm afraid) are the days when doctors
'FIRST do no harm'. with all the new technology come many new complications and
dangers. for this reason, patients absolutely must educate themselves as much as
possible about any surgery they are considering and especially learn about related
risks/consequences.""A Harvard meta-analysis funded by the National Institutes of
Health has concluded that water fluoridation significantly lowers IQ scores in
children, and may be a neurotoxicant that affects brain development Fluoride has
immunosuppressive effects at low dosages, which can raise your risk of chronic
disease, including cancer. http://lewrockwell.com/mercola/mercola218.html""In fact,
there have been over 23 human studies and 100 animal studies linking fluoride to
brain damage3. Fluoride can also increase manganese absorption, compounding
problems since manganese in drinking water has also been linked to lower IQ in
children.""USA Today attributes 30,000 deaths a year to C diff in this story today
and alleges that not enough is being done to prevent the bacteria and protect
patients. Sadly, I know that a lot of you have experiences with health care
acquired infections. They are indeed rampant. I'm wondering what you think about
the allegation that health care facilities are not doing enough to protect patients
from them. Whether you're a patient or provider, please tell us what you know. Are
health care facilities doing enough?""Thanks for posting this, Marshall.""My latest
article for ProPublica examines the problem of unnecessary stent procedures, and
touches on the problems of money-driven medicine, appropriate treatment of stable
heart disease and informed consent. It's well known that it's often just as
effective to treat patients with stable heart disease with medication, rather than
stents; and yet one recent study found that only 6 percent of Medicare patients who
received stents said that their doctors had presented medication alone as an
option. That raises some thorny questions about the nature of informed consent. The
story also plugs our Patient Harm Questionnaire, which is a huge help for our
reporting and to help other journalists tell these stories. If you have not yet
completed it, please do so here: http://bit.ly/KeQ9h8.I'd love to hear any of your
thoughts and observations about the problem of unnecessary stents or other
procedures. Have any of you experienced this?""I wrote about this last fall after
that paper came out and interviewed the PI. ""Don't have a flat tire in front of
that hospital, you'll likely get cathed."" Inside Cardiology's PCI problem.
http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/content/QUA-269942/Inside-Cardiologys-PCIProblem""Marshall: Is it possible that some teaching hospitals are putting in
unnecessary stents because they need their residents to fulfill requirements for
passing boards or procedures to move to next level? I have a friend who believes
that is what Kaiser Permanente HMO did to her carotid artery here in California-and she seems to have documents to prove it. She was going in to have her parotid
gland removed and didn't know a resident was going to work on her--and she says she
has evidence and films showing a stent in her carotid artery--they also ruined her
entire neck-R shoulder by killing the nerve function to her R trapezius ""Spinal
Accessory Nerve"" That is not even near the parotid gland, i don't think. Ck. out
""Kaiser Crimes"" on You Tube.""That would be an interesting thing to examine,
Bobbie Jenke. Would you please ask your friend to complete our Patient Harm
Questionnaire? That helps us keep track of people's stories so we have the info we
need to follow them up: http://bit.ly/KeQ9h8""This article shows the risks taken
when for-profit hospitals seek to maximize profits. Perhaps medicine really should
be, as it once was, part of what Lewis Hyde called ""the gift economy:"" run as a
public service, or a charity, or a religious vocation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/15/business/hca-giant-hospital-chain-creates-awindfall-for-private-equity.html?pagewanted=all"Healthcare Entities should never
have been allowed to go FOR-PROFIT. THAT IS WHERE THE PROBLEMS BEGAN."My comment is
about this: ""Earlier this year, a jury awarded Mr. Chandler and his family $178
million in damages. This month, Memorial and HCA, which had appealed the
jury���s verdict, reached a confidential settlement with Mr. Chandler���s
family.""For every one of these, there are probably tens, or hundreds of thousands
of victims with severe injuries who get nothing. Mr Chandler was probably very rich
to begin with, and had excellent access to legal resources, and was able to show
his injury would result in reduced income of a whole lot. Our legal system takes
care of people like him very well. The rest of victims can rot and die. Our legal
system is extremely inadequate for the majority of victims. And the medical system
takes full advantage of that."Papers in Samaritan Hospital negligent-credentailing
case will show details that prompted last-minute settlement. http://bit.ly/pAb3jb
wow... the gynecologist in this case had obvious issues"MRSA infection rates double
in US academic hospitals yet the CDC has not released MRSA infection rates since
2005. The government continues to hide the MRSA epidemic from Americans and the
genocide continues. NO public awareness campaigns, PSA's etc. by state health
departments. The only public awareness campaigns and PSA's are run by MRSA
Survivors Network. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-07/uocpmci072612.php"Same goes for C- Diff!My late husband was infected with MRSA during
one of his hospital stays. We were not informed until two hospital stays later when
he was placed in isolation because of his MRSA. Surprise! Same hospital.
HealthLeaders magazine's August issue features a story about how hospitals react to
data that makes them look bad. and quotes ProPublica's Charlie Ornstein."""More
reporters are realizing the treasure trove of information they can find,"" he says.
""For decades, hospitals fought to keep this information out of the public domain.
But now that it is public, we as journalists have an obligation to make it
relevant."" EXACTLY...""We all have an obligation to get this right. Pumping out
data, while being transparent, isn't being useful. I hope ProPublica's tools are
helpful to everyone."Amazing stories and some very scary truths.IHI's launched this
new end of life conversation-starter initiative. Useful guidance and resources.
http://theconversationproject.org/"this is really a good resource. i never gave
this much thought until my father passed away suddenly from a massive heart attack
in 12/2009. i don't feel that anything was done the way he would have wanted and i
will forever regret it. my father always wanted to be cremated. he did not want a
public viewing or funeral. my brothers had a public viewing and funeral anyway.
and, even though my father was not an organ donor, his organs were donated including his eyes. my father's organs being donated really bothered me so i
contacted a friend of mine who runs a funeral home and asked her how my father's
organs could be donated when he didn't want to be an organ donor. she told me that
in most states there is a law now that forces hospitals to contact the state's
agency over organ donation anytime a person dies in the hospital. she said that the
family is then pressured to donate the organs of their loved one who passed. i then
learned that this is exactly what happened in my father's case. according to my
friend, most of the bodies she receives now are missing most of their organs. i
would have never known about this law if my father's organs had not been donated.
none of us really want to think about death but what happened to my father has
taught me that we need to think about it.""Robin, organ donation is another very
important topic. On the one hand, much good comes of it. OTOH: there is great
debate over the practice, apparently, of not anesthetizing the body of the person
donating and that it's possible, if not brain-dead, for pain to be felt. Then
there's the issue of donate vs harvest, which is the operative term (not to be cute
about it). Next, harvesting may or does also include tissue, bone, skin, etc. from
the cadaver, all of which are used ��� and well used ��� in medicine. Finally,
I must acknowledge the issue that various
entities to profit from harvesting, but of course not the deceased's family
(that'd be crass, wouldn't it? ���not).At the moment I'm not an organ donor. I
might (re)consider it if (a) a system of guaranteed anesthetizing were enacted and
(b) my family received significant monies for my bod.""Bart in this country and
many others, the anaesthesia is very well controlled and administered.. and I
believe that it is in all countries.. with pain come different receptors and the
harvesting of organs, needs all to be well as they need to obtain a good vein and
artery system to that organ..... so unless you have real proof that it is not
happening. I would agree to disagree with you. It is very easy to get chinese
whispers going.. YES the anaes team leave before the surgical, but then the patient
has died and no longer needing support they were dead prior but on life support to
keep the organs alive. In Robins case it seems that her brothers did not get a
family consensus, which is the sad part.""Hi Brenda, esp. on this topic and in
these forums I'd like that we take care in our statements. I did not declare that
harvesting took place sans anesthesia. I wrote that there ""is great debate over
the practice, apparently..."" Reference: http://goo.gl/XeEpV . What's behind my
closing paragraph above is that, after experiences during all 3 of my family of
origins' hospitalizations, I no longer naively trust medicine. I'm not to the
point of saying, like some of the harmed, that the harm is willful; my experience
is that it's been systemically inept. That however doesn't change how we experience
it, or that medicine says ""adverse event"" when we feel shocked and harmed.
Knowing how fast events can move, and how absent real communication can be in
hospitals and at end of life, I'm personally disinclined to potentially subject
myself or a loved one to harvesting misadventures. Again, because donation can do
so much good, it's a very challenging place to be, at heart.Ever contrarian, and
acknowledging the awful aspects of Robin's family's situation, I have a hard time
reconciling the notion that individual's are supposed to be noble (donate) yet many
other entities get paid for body parts and their implantation. Again, sensitive
stuff, and my approach to broaching these topics is straightforward, as I believe
it must be.""i would never agree to be an organ donor for the reasons bart stated.
six healthy organs were stolen from my body without consent as it is. there is just
no way i would agree to organ donation now that i know what can and does sometimes
happen. brenda is right in that the sad thing about what happened to my father
(after death) is that his organs were donated when he did not want them to be. i
will never forget the way my father looked after this and unfortunately it will
forever be my last 'picture' of him. i don't know what use my father's organs could
have been anyway since he was almost 75 and he had heart issues, among other
things. what could his organs have been used for except maybe medical students to
practice on?""Robin, it's either in Teresi's article or...actually, in a video
report I subsequently watched online. Skin is used for burn victims, bone and
tissue have a variety of uses. I guess we're all a bit of a treasure trove! I don't
know how age plays out in assessing the usability of any parts.Interesting
""conversation"" we're having given how innocently this thread started!""innocent
post bart and a necessary conversation following in my opinion. 'end of life
issues' include organ donation or no organ donation. i guess that was really my
point. i thought if a person wanted to be an organ donor, they signed up for it making that the end of it. my father's death highlighted this issue for me and my
family and i learned it's not quite so simple. i had no idea that my family could
donate my organs when i don't want to be an organ donor. now i know that so i can
put in writing what i want. end of life issues are something we will all face at
some point. why not be proactive and make preparation? again i will say that your
post is a good resource...""bart, i also watched a video about the use of donated
skin for burn victims. we are every bit a treasure trove - even after we die. for
that reason, we need to ensure what we want at the end of our life is known and
that it will be honored... at least as best we can.""Speaking of med student
practice, Mary Roach wrote, probably in Stiff but I don't recall which hilarious
and educational book of hers, about a plastic surgeon's convention she sweet talked
her way into. IIRC, for one practice session, essentially, attendees (plastic
surgeons) entered to heads on platters. I might be embellishing the visual
slightly, or perhaps not. Mary's description was memorable. Just sayin'; it ain't
like they practice on Barbie dolls."Reliable answers about HIPAA and dentistry
��� at last"You may have heard a rumor that dentists are ���mandated��� to
purchase and use electronic dental records. As a matter of fact, you might have
read the rumor in the ADA News, followed months later by the ADA���s denial of
the rumor. Such conflicting information about a mandate have co-existed in the
leaderless dental industry for almost a decade. Bottom line: Regardless what the
ADA, EDR vendors and other stakeholders tell dentists, there is no mandate ���
not even for dentists whose practices are more than 30% Medicaid.A few days ago, I
asked well-known experts on the HIPAA 411 Linkedin group about the Rule. Our
unprecedented discussion even spilled over into other questions, including what
determines if a dentist is a HIPAA covered entity. As far as I can tell, many of
the answers I uncovered have never before been revealed to dentists:According to
the official definition from 45 CFR 160.103, a covered entity includes:- A health
plan.- A health care clearinghouse.- A health care provider who transmits any
health information in electronic form in connection with a transaction covered by
this subchapter.Another expert offered:a) Sending facsimiles doesn't count as
electronic communications for purposes of making a health care provider a HIPAA
Covered Entity. There are a number of reasons for this, but one of the biggest is
that the data being communicated via facsimile never actually exists as discrete
data elements.b) Patient registration and patient scheduling electronic
transactions are not among the list of HIPAA transactions presently spelled-out
starting with Subpart K in 45 CFR 162. Thus sending or receiving them does not make
a health care provider a HIPAA Covered Entity.c) A health care provider who only
receives electronic remittance transactions, but never transmits any transactions
is not a HIPAA Covered Entity.d) The electronic transactions that most often cause
a health care provider to become a HIPAA Covered Entity are:- requesting
eligibility or benefits information from a health plan- submitting a claim or
encounter report to a health plan.���Generally speaking, if a health care
provider initiates -- i.e., transmits -- any of these types of transactions via a
computer, that health care provider is very likely either using the ASC X12
transactions itself or via a business associate / health care clearinghouse, or
using Direct Data Entry. Either way, that health care provider is now transmitting
a transaction spelled-out in Subpart K or Subpart L in 45 CFR 162, and is,
therefore, a HIPAA Covered Entity.���e) Once a health care provider becomes a
HIPAA Covered Entity, all of the HIPAA regulations -- transactions, code sets,
identifiers, security, privacy, enforcement, etc. -- apply to that health care
provider.Another offered this:���Also, pursuant to Section 3 of the ASCA, PL107105 (2002), many providers are required to submit Medicare claims electronically
making them covered entities. In this case, though, dentists were specifically
excluded from this requirement. Per CMS guidance (Related Change Request (CR) #:
3440, reissued January 27, 2005), dentists and small providers are specifically
excluded from electronic submission requirements related to Medicare claims. There
may be states with additional requirements that would push more into the covered
entity category or even force adoption of HIT but that would be state by state. It
is not a national requirement today.���I wish to thank the members of HIPAA 411
Linkedin group for their generous help. I would also suggest to ADA leaders that
when they sell membership information about an EDR mandate that contradicts itself
not once, but three times, they harm the organization���s credibility for years.
You leaders need to get your act together quickly because the ADA is on the verge
of becoming increasingly irrelevant at a time when our patients need strong
representation the most.D. Kellus Pruitt DDS"Question - In my medical records there
are several mentions of contacting CDC and my husband remembers they were involved.
How does a patient get those medical records and what is CDCs responsibility for
reporting."Today, ProPublica introduces a new feature that goes right to the heart
of patient safety.Nursing Home Inspect, http://projects.propublica.org/nursinghomes/, allows you to easily search through thousands of recent government
inspection reports from around the country, most since the beginning of 2011.You
can search by state or by the severity level of the deficiencies cited. The default
search ranks results by the severity level of the problem found.Here is a link to a
story I wrote with Lena Groeger (who put together the app):
http://www.propublica.org/article/our-latest-news-app-nursing-home-inspectHere is a
link to a tipsheet on how to best use the app:
http://www.propublica.org/article/how-to-search-nursing-home-inspectHave
any of you had any experiences with a nursing home? Please comment below. And let
us know what interesting things you find using the search.""A study notes that
dental expenses are among the highest out-of-pocket health cost to consumers,
second only to prescription drug expenditures...the government as a factor too,
citing the statistic that only 6% of dental nationally is paid through government
sources.""New York authorities say a Brooklyn dentist has pleaded guilty to fraud,
admitting he paid recruiters to solicit homeless Medicaid patients with cash.
http://www.myfoxny.com/story/19266705/brooklyn-dentist-admits-fraud-in-medicaidprobe""This is one shared from childhood friend who used to be a girl, but is now a
man. The varieties of misuses of drugs never ceases to amaze.""The American Dental
Associaton���s Dental Quality Alliance ��� Quality control, cost control or
simple tyranny?""���The ADA was asked in 2008 by CMS to be the lead agency in
forming the DQA, with an initial charge of creating programmatic measures for
children���s dental Medicaid plans. It is comprised of multiple stakeholders
from across the oral health community who are committed to development of consensus
based measures.��� (See ���DQA accepting proposals to test measures��� by
ADA reporter Kelly Soderlund, ADA News, August 13, 2012).
http://www.ada.org/news/7480.aspx Actually, in the 2008 address to the ADA House of
Delegates, HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt put it much more bluntly than Soderlund
leads dentists to believe: ���If you don���t get a handle on quality control
my MBAs will.��� The government official���s threat to US citizens reminds me
of a quote by Thomas Jefferson: ���When governments fear the people, there is
liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny.��� Not
unexpectedly, our spineless ADA leaders capitulated to DQA cost control measures as
quietly as they surrendered my profession to HIPAA and EHR vendors ��� once more
favoring stakeholders over dues-paying members, the Hippocratic Oath and the ADA
mission.Dr. Christopher Smiley, DQA chair, tells ADA News: ���Quality
measurement has been present for some time in medical care and it���s evolving
in oral health care. This is going to impact not only public pay programs such as
dental Medicaid and federal Children���s Health Insurance Programs but it will
likely extend into private pay benefit plans through regulations of the health care
exchanges.��� Must American dentists fight against ambitious ADA bureaucrats in
addition to the other self-serving stakeholders they invite to interfere with
doctor-patient relationships?When the ADA-approved online report cards appear,
dentists will be identified by voluntary but permanent NPI numbers which were
promoted by ADA leaders and Delta Dental. It will be interesting to compare
stakeholders��� favorite dentists with patients��� favorites as listed on
doctoroogle.com.Doc, who would you really prefer to determine your value to society
��� patients you have pleased for years, or ���multiple stakeholders���
armed with your dental claims and a national report card? Since dental
patient���s opinions have already been discarded as unreliable by the DQA, how
do you feel about Dr. Smiley, Delta Dental and Leavitt���s MBAs determining your
pay scale instead of the free market? I cannot think of a quicker way for the
American Dental Association to become even more hated by a growing number of
American dentists. What a disappointment to the profession.D. Kellus Pruitt DDS"
please visit my website www.justiceforjosh.com to see what is going on in canada
What a travesty of medical malpractice without accountability. USA is already
here.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-peter-breggin/electroshocktreatment_b_1373619.html"A test for behavior is all that matters. Sitting quietly
in a chair and calmly answering simple questions about who the President is and
what your birthday is the test to determine mental health. Either a lobotomy or
electroshock can consistently produce this outcome, therefore they are
""therapeutic.""I might be exaggerating or over-simplifying some, but that's what
it comes down to."@ garrick... that is what it comes down to
http://www.naturalnews.com/036787_chemotherapy_medical_freedom_alternative_medicine
.html"The ADA adapts to climate change - slowly at firstFor years, I���ve
pointed out that the ADA Facebook continues to attract increasing numbers of fans,
yet the only information offered is the increasing numbers of fans. Recently, that
changed. The ADA Council on Communications cracked opened the door ever so
slightly, and quietly invited ���recommendations��� from the public."
"Surprisingly, it���s still open to comments. Not surprisingly, out of 21,739
fans, the invitation has only attracted 2 responses in its first week. That���s
what happens when an organization disrespects 21,739 fans for years.The first
recommendation is from a very dissatisfied customer complaining about a dental
clinic. The second is mine:Maybe someone can help me with this question: Are
electronic dental records mandated? in a 2008 interview for ADA News, ADA
President-elect Dr. John Findley told ADA reporter Judy Jakush: ���The
electronic health record may not be the result of changes of our choice. They are
going to be mandated. No one is going to ask, ���Do you want to do this?���
No, it���s going to be, ���You have to do this.��Ȋ��
http://www.ada.org/members/resources/pubs/adanews/081006_findley.aspBut then, in
January of this year, the ADA News reported: ���Dentists and their employees may
have heard rumors of federal mandates requiring dentists to adopt electronic health
records (EHRs), or implement ���paperless��� offices by 2014. Another rumor
implies that dentists must be able to create and transmit digital radiographs
(which are important EHR capabilities) by 2014. There are no such mandates or
deadlines for dentists who do not submit claims to Medicare, or who do not see
large numbers of Medicaid patients.��� http://www.ada.org/5348.aspxHowever, as
recently as May, the ADA appears to have reversed itself again on the question of a
mandate: ���Dentistry has joined a growing list of domains, including
cardiology, eye care, patient care devices, radiation oncology, anatomic pathology
and several others, in preparing for the legally mandated transition from paper
records to electronic health records.��� http://www.ada.org/news/7087.aspx So
which one do we believe?----------It was Friday when I brought the contradicting
statements to the attention of the ADA using their Facebook. Then on Saturday, I
discovered that the ADA has evidently reversed its opinion about the mandate a
third time. http://cdaonline.org/index.php?
option=com_content&view=article&id=564:aredentalofficesrequiredtousedigitalxraysystemsby2014&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=129 On June 24, the Colorado Dental
Association announced that there is no mandate for EDRs and that ���vendors���
(not the ADA) are responsible for the rumor. Considering the ADA���s notoriously
poor internal communications, do you think I should warn someone or let them find
out on their own someday��_ or not?I think the ADA���s small, diffident step
towards openness on Facebook reflects disruptive forces just under the toughened
surface. I may be reading too much into it, but I imagine very private, traditional
ADA leaders were perhaps recently shocked by discouraging news: For the not-forprofit to stay relevant as well as viable, ADA leaders must personally become part
of the community they serve. What���s more, they must interact with consumers
they can no longer evade with layers of protective bureaucracy. Community leaders
can���t get away with that in a small town. Those who demand special conditions
for interaction are called hermits. For my part, by patiently prising at small,
quiet openings, I���ll eventually succeed in bringing transparency to dentistry.
Sit back and watch. This will be fun.D. Kellus Pruitt DDS""Electronic dental
records are mandated ��� True or False? I learned today that the American Dental
Association leadership changed their answer to this question for the third time
just two months ago.""On June 24, dentists were told in a Colorado Dental
Association online news article that contrary to what ���vendors��� have been
saying, electronic dental records are NOT mandated. The CDA���s opinion directly
contradicts 2 out of the 3 articles about the mandate that have been published by
the ADA in the last 4 years. Confusing? You bet! But it���s coming to a head.
The truth will soon emerge on its own.For those keeping track of the ADA���s
argument with itself, the count stands at 2 apiece and we are awaiting a tiebreaker opinion from ADA Headquarters, or perhaps another courageous state
Association. I���ve found it fascinating to observe this awkward development of
national embarrassment from a safe distance. It���s sort of like watching an
undisturbed zit achieve its inflamed, indurated potential. MandatedSeptember, 2008
- ADA President-elect Dr. John Findley: ���They are going to be mandated. No one
is going to ask, ���Do you want to do this?��� No, it���s going to be,
���You have to do this.��Ȋ��
http://www.ada.org/members/resources/pubs/adanews/081006_findley.asp (Note: The
link is no longer valid. Dr. Findley���s interview with Judy Jakush is now only
available in print editions of the October 2008 ADA News).Not MandatedJanuary, 2012
��� ADA News: ���Dentists and their employees may have heard rumors [see
September, 2008 above] of federal mandates requiring dentists to adopt electronic
health records (EHRs),��_ There are no such mandates or deadlines for dentists
who do not submit claims to Medicare, or who do not see large numbers of
Medicaid patients.���http://www.ada.org/5348.aspx
MandatedMay, 2012 ���
ADA News: ���Dentistry has joined a growing list of domains��_. in preparing
for the legally mandated transition from paper records to electronic health
records.���http://www.ada.org/news/7087.aspx (Note: It���s my opinion that
this link could one day become a dead end).Not MandatedJune, 2012 ��� CDA online
News: ���Electronic health records are not required ��� not now and not in
2014. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (commonly known as the
���stimulus bill���) offers some incentives to encourage healthcare providers
to switch to electronic records systems, including grants of stimulus money for the
purchase of electronic records systems. However, the legislation explicitly states
that participation in the installation of electronic records systems is
voluntary.���http://cdaonline.org/index.php?
option=com_content&view=article&id=564:aredentalofficesrequiredtousedigitalxraysystemsby2014&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=129Contrary to what the CDA would have
members believe, the ���vendors��� are not the ones responsible for hatching
the rumor of a mandate ��� not directly. As anyone can see, it was the ADA.
Considering that I arguably uncovered a policy of deception in a national
healthcare organization, can you think of a more convincing reason for demanding
transparency in the dental industry?In defense of Dr. Findley���s abject
surrender of my profession to vendors, HHS and other stakeholders who don���t
care for my patients, he is otherwise known as a smart, capable leader and is wellrespected by dentists I respect. That is why I think the man was pressured into
promoting others��� ambitious interests rather than his own. Nevertheless, he
knew before running for the highest office in the profession that the ADA���s
traditional business model is designed to strip vetted leaders of apparent
intelligence. The notorious unresponsiveness of ADA officials hints that their
freedom of openness and even self-determination are forfeited for the good of the
organization. It���s an increasingly rare command-and-control business strategy
out of the 1950s that still thrives deep in dentistry���s hidden niche.
That���s my opinion. What���s yours?D. Kellus Pruitt DDS""""the notorious
unresponsiveness of ADA officials hints that their freedom of openness and even
self-determination are forfeited for the good of the organization"". for the good
of the organization says it all in my opinion...""Transparency, adequate
notification and accurate information is owed to the patients/consumers of dental
services and products...the ADA is known to deviate from the basic human rights to
the dental patient/client. It is so grossly unethical and has caused so much
suffering for patients and the professional committed to the paying customer in the
dental chair."It's all about transparency.Absolutely...when I contacted the Pres of
ADA a few years ago to discuss the merits of Tina's Bill Proposal and to gain the
ADA's support they agreed that ethically the Dentist On Probation should inform the
patient about their changed licensing status and the fact that the dentist is on
probation for being non complaint or for repeating gross negligent conduct. They
didn't take any action however and didn't follow up."@ tina... i've learned that
you can report and file complaints but they are rarely addressed for real. i filed
a dozen or more complaints regarding my surgery in 2007 and nothing has truly been
addressed. i think the most ridiculous response i received was from the joint
commission on hospitals wrote to me and told me that they don't investigate any
matter more than three years old. forgetting the fact that i filed my 'first'
complaint with them before three years was up... i wrote them back and told them
that they should follow up on any complaint as serious as mine - especially when
the doctor testifies that it is his 'routine' to obtain illegal consent for surgery
and it should not matter if the complaint is three years old or thirty. of course,
they never responded after my last letter. regardless of whether our complaints or
reports are taken seriously or not, we need to file them for many reasons. one
thing is for certain. if we don't file reports or complaints, nothing will be
done.""Sorry you're yet another person suffering with the frustration of being
""stonewalled"" after filing a complaint Robin Karr . You know the investigators
collect hourly fees for years from just investigating the dentist after you file
that valuable complaint...the dentist they keep licensed pays the investigation
fees and as soon as they are placed on probation for non compliant and negligent
behavior they also pay the hourly monitoring fees. If the Attorney General's office
is participating in the investigation they can also charge for their hourly
investigative fees as long as they keep the non compliant dentist licensed. The
""money wheel"" is the conflict of interest that doesn't prevent a dentist's
harmful conduct from repeating and harming a patient irreparably or provide a
victim with proper restitution or rightful retribution. The damage a victim suffers
is a physical and financial burden we endure after a Dentist On Probation repeats a
harmful pattern the Dental Board acknowledges may repeat""The answer to commandand-control stonewalling by unaccountable entities is to complain broadly and
loudly. About 7 years ago, when Dell Computer's deceptive warranty pissed off Jeff
Jarvis, he started a website called ""Dell Hell."" He had no idea that so many
thousands of Dell customers were just as disappointed, and also willing to publicly
complain. Dell Hell brought the computer giant to its knees. In the end, Dell
became a better company. I'm not saying you must open an aggressive website (but
you could). Post your complaint on Yelp, Angies List or any and all other ratings
sites you can find. It might not help you, but it could prevent someone else from
being a victim."I've participated on so many levels to prevent other dental
patients from being fooled or deceptively coerced by a dentist the Dental Board
licensed after they acknowledged he harmed several patients with a harmful pattern
and the Board failed to competently inform the public on their website - a duty
they owe the public and consumer of dental services. I'll never get my damage
repaired but hopefully others will learn from my experience. Dental professionals
need to educate the public about the difference in a dentist licensed as a Dentist
On Probation.You'll get no argument from me."If all dentists that are not on
probation would educate their patients about the different licensing status and
condtiion of a Dentist On Probation the consumer of dental services could actually
choose a dentist they want to invest in. All patients are trying to avoid any
increased risk of harmful products, patterns and conduct.""Hackers��� ransom
��� another important I told you so from years ago���Hackers Encrypt Health
Records and Hold Data for Ransom��� was posted today on
BloombergBusinessWeek.com by Jordan Robertson.""Today, Robertson revealed a growing
liability for HIPAA-covered entities - extortion by hacker: ���Unlike many other
data breaches, the hackers made no attempt to keep their presence a secret. In
fact, they all but fired a flare to announce the break-in, taking the extreme step
of encrypting their illicit haul and posting a digital ransom note demanding
payment for the password.���Almost four years ago, my reaction to this budding
crime wave was, ���Dentists must lose this danger or lose their computers.���
(See ���Extortion ��� The newest argument for de-identification,���
Pruitt���s Platform, November 22, 2008).
http://community.pennwelldentalgroup.com/forum/topics/extortion-the-newest-argument
If one is counting, this is my third unpopular I told you so this week ��� even
as dental leaders we depend on for representation continue to affect a stoic,
professional image by remaining above such concerns of common dentists. Am I right
or what?D. Kellus Pruitt DDS""I expect the efficiency of EHRs to improve and even
surpass paper records' in emergency rooms.... let's hope so. However, if an
unconscious patient is brought in, and his or her EHR has been altered by a medical
identity thief, the victim could be quickly injured or killed. I think biometrics
should be included in EHRs as a second item of identification.""Unecessary sedation
with Versed/Midazolam should stop. Most people don't need it, it can add THOUSANDS
of dollars to each procedure and it's dangerous to your mental health. Medical
workers want to use it because they can hide behind that amnesia that the drug
USUALLY causes and take advantage of the extreme obedience the drug creates.
Too
bad for you when you get PTSD from being tortured while under this amnesia drug.
BAN IT!"@ jackie... thanks for posting this. i experienced ptsd after being
injected with versed in 2007. versed allowed my former doctor to perform surgery on
me that i didn't consent to. this drug should be banned! it's not a true sedative
nor is it a pain killer. it causes conscious amnesia! it's often given to patients
who don't even know about it nor the serious side effects associated with it.My
medical records have verced they told us it was for anxiety before my surgery.
Another point to add is I thought general anesth didn't include propothol??? I
found in my records they used it"Propothol is used a lot for minor surgery.... it
has reduced the side effects and allows for faster recovery, in that sector of the
surgical/anaes outcomes""@ georjean... versed is most often given to patients to
make them more 'compliant'. without question, when versed is given, patients should
be told why and also
be told about the possible consequences. in my case, like you, i was told that i
was being given versed for 'anxiety' and/or to 'relax' me. in my case, i refused to
sign my surgical consent due to the wrong procedure being listed on the consent. i
told the nurse that i wanted to speak with my doctor. while i was waiting to speak
with my doctor, a crna came into my pod and told me he was going to give me
something to 'relax' me. i advised him that i did not want to be given anything
since i was waiting to speak with my doctor about my surgery. he injected my IV
anyway! that was my last waking memory. my family told me that the o.r. nurse
rushed into my room as soon as i was given versed and she told my mother to sign
the consent i had refused to sign and i was immediately taken to the o.r. and the
wrong surgical procedure was performed. my life was forever changed and in ways i
could never have imagined. i suffer mental anguish that i've never known and also
complex ptsd as well as many negative health consequences from the surgery. to this
day, i panic when it's time to sleep. i cried out that i wanted to die when i woke
up and learned what had been done to me. this is noted in my hospital record. i
would think that this should serve as a *red flag* in more ways than one. why would
a patient wake up from an 'elective' surgery and cry out that they want to die? the
o.r. nurse who was deposed in my case stated that i raised red flags because of my
behavior. you think????? the whole ugly picture became all too clear once i
obtained my hospital records - especially the anesthesia report. interestingly, my
pre-anesthesia plan did NOT include versed. versed was ordered by my doctor at the
moment of his arrival at the hospital for my surgery - 7:38 a.m. my mother's
illegal consent was also timed at 7:38 a.m. very interesting... the 'new'
anesthesia order states my doctor ordered versed due to 'anxiety'. however... the
admitting nurse noted in my pre-op assessment report that my mood was 'calm'. she
noted this only minutes before my doctor showed up and ordered versed. it is beyond
clear why this was done in light of my records. my doctor arrived at the hospital
and learned that i did not sign off on the wrong surgical procedure (the one he
intended to perform though) and he ordered me to be knocked out. the nurse obtained
illegal consent from my mother and i was taken to surgery. my doctor performed the
most expensive surgery he could perform on me and the most dangerous. he botched
the surgery i did not consent to and i lost so much blood that i needed a
transfusion. if i had not come out of my sedation and been able to advise my nurse
that i was pouring blood, i would have died. i was taken back to the o.r. and the
bleeding was stopped. although i needed a transfusion, i was not given one because
my doctor did not want the seriousness of what he did to me to be documented. he
told me the next morning that i needed a transfusion but that he decided to instead
prescribe iron pills for me to take for a few months. versed allowed for all of
this to happen to me. i was not anxious when i was given versed. however, i will be
anxious for the rest of my life..."
http://healthland.time.com/2012/08/09/antipsychotic-prescriptions-in-children-haveskyrocketed-study/I have also seen children have a rapid weight gainy daughter tool
her child of them and she lost the weight@ garrick... peter breggin m.d. of new
york continually talks about this issue in particular. he has been sending out
alarms about this for years.http://www.sacbee.com/2012/07/22/4648415/2-uc-davisneurosurgeons-accused.html?storylink=lingospot_related_articlesEXACTLY!!!!!"Those
of us who have received deceptive psychological management when we seek answers to
our medical injuries are left to wonder how these people can sleep at night. Here
is one answer. ""It suggests that the thrill of pulling off a deception outweighs
the negative feelings associated with immoral behaviour.""""good article and it
rings true. i always say follow the money. but, it is equally true that people 'get
off' by being bad or deceptive just for the sake of being bad or deceptive and...
getting away with it. sick people that is..."It's sad....
http://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play?
p=death+by+medicine+movie&tnr=21&vid=4997366887481570&turl=http%3A%2F
%2Fts3.mm.bing.net%2Fvideos%2Fthumbnail.aspx%3Fq%3D4997366887481570%26id
%3Df717a4d6a7578a8baf5982b63799f05c%26bid%3D45pK5RArkTzWjw%26bn%3DThumb%26url
%3Dhttp%253a%252f%252fwww.imdb.com%252fvideo%252fimdb
%252fvi228433177%252f&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.imdb.com%2Fvideo%2Fimdb
%2Fvi228433177%2F&sigr=11b9krpdn&newfp=1&tit=Death+by+Medicine+Trailer+-+IMDb
"according to gary null's death by medicine, there are approximately 800,000 deaths
each year caused by conventional medicine - making medicine the leading cause of
death in the u.s. both the book and movie are an excellent resource..."thanks
veronica. i found that one and a couple of others after i posted mine. glad you
posted the link you found:)"���The Insurance-Free Dental Practice.��� This
sounds interesting. Can you say, ���concierge dentistry���?""""The most
important thing to remember is that Quality Dental Plan isn���t dental
insurance. Rather, patients pay a simple, set annual membership fee directly to
their local dentist, bypassing the third party entirely. In return, they receive a
preventive dental care package for the whole year at that dental practice.
There���s also a further savings for additional family members, and patients
also save on any treatments (restorative, cosmetic, implants), with no limit, and
no deductible.""What do you think? I'm sincerely interested in your opinion.""@
veronica... the most important point you made in my opinion is 'i have been blessed
with a very good and honorable dentist'. that's the key to a successful outcome
always. i too have a wonderful dentist who i truly trust and have known for at
least 25 years. i'm more thankful for doctors like my dentist now more than ever...
having lost faith in medicine, it certainly helps to have a doctor/doctors i can
trust to do what is best for me. i saw my dentist several times this past year
which is unusual and everything went perfect each time. good experiences help to
balance all the bad ones to some extent...""That's good to hear, Robin. If you feel
like doing so, you could help others in your community by visiting one of the many
dentist ratings sites and put in a good word for your dentist. Encouragement of
good ethics always improves the treatment patients receive."i think i did that
darrell but i'm going to check now that you mentioned it:)"Now more than ever
before, consumers control quality in the marketplace. And that's wonderful."and
that's the way it should be...Demand it!"From NYrs for Patient & Family Empowerment
- new report urging hospitals to have patient-centered visiting policies and to
respect the patient's right to decide who can visit! It's called ""Sick, Scared and
Separated from Loved Ones"" - produced jointly with NYPIRG.
http://www.nypirg.org/patientandfamily/default.html""Great work, Suzanne. While a
24/7 family advocate can't prevent all medical errors (and could exhaust said
family advocate), it certainly would be a major help in reducing errors. Most of
the mistakes that harmed my daughter and led to her death happened when I wasn't in
the room.
She could email me at night and if I was awake, I could raise an alarm
from home. Obviously, that was not sufficient."I'm so sorry to hear about that.
Best thoughts to you."On the one hand medicine advises to us to accompany a loved
on as their advocate. It does an inadequate job of telling us why (too scary) and
how (too complicated). Additionally, it hampers us with arbitrary ""visitation""
policies (the ICU where we spent the last 3 wks of my mother's life disallowed
visitation before 11am, when a horde of family members queued up. Of course we
missed 6:30-7:30 MD rounding, often the only time the GPs/admittings would round.
This article's suggestions are good. I'd say timely except that I'm surprised these
conditions haven't already been remedied. Mom died in 2004."@ martha... very sad
that you had to raise an alarm from home. so sorry..."i agree with bart about being
surprised that these conditions haven't already been remedied. if they were
addressed and corrected this minute, it would be too late..."A Greenburgh dentist
was sentenced to 10 years probation Wednesday for pleading guilty in April to a
felony charge of possession of an obscene sexual performance by a child."Patients
and partners who plan to go to the Partnership with Patient Summit in KC Sept 2123, please register here: https://partnershipwithpatients.eventbrite.com/?nomo=1
please look for rooomates here: http://www.advoconnection.com/PWP-roommates/ please
book your hotel room here: https://resweb.passkey.com/Resweb.do?
mode=welcome_ei_new&eventID=10013915""Moreover, lawsuits are playing a previously
unconsidered role in hospital patient safety efforts - as a source of valuable data
about weaknesses in hospital policy, practices, staff, and administration. These
new and counterintuitive observations should inform open and pressing questions
about medical malpractice reform and the best ways to improve patient safety."
Electronic medical records have selling points for everyone"The question of whether
EMRs will increase or decrease physicians��� billings depends on who is asked.
Kelly Kennedy, writing for USA Today suggests that better oversight by insurers and
government will help eliminate unnecessary charges:���Also, the [2010 health
care] law and 2009 stimulus act will change payment incentives and allow physicians
to use electronic records to limit unnecessary medical testing. Private insurers
will also be able to work with government
agencies to combine billing data to spot trends in overused procedures.���
(from ���Health care law may cut down on excessive procedures,��� August 8,
2012).http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/story/2012-08-08/excessive-medicalprocedures/56875996/1On the other hand, if one asks Alok Prasad, the President and
CEO of RevenueXL, an EMR and Practice Management consulting firm, he tells
physicians:���Electronic Medical Record Software improves charge capture: When
traditional paper charts are used, many services performed in a physician���s
office are lost and never billed. The billing staff may either completely leave out
an E&M Code or may erroneously enter fewer units, all resulting in lower billing
and therefore lower reimbursements to a physician. Electronic Medical Record
software can increase revenues by facilitating capturing of charges for all
services provided by the physician thereby avoiding lost revenues. In a case study
(Nick Fabrizio, July 2005, QIO Presentation quote), a family medicine physician
while seeing same number of patients increased revenues by $3000 per month due to
timely visit documentation and automated charge capture.��� (from ���Does an
Electronic Medical Record / Electronic Health Record Software system increase
revenues?��� February 13, 2009). http://www.articlesbase.com/medicinearticles/do-electronic-medical-records-increase-revenues-768294.html Bottom line:
Will the improvements in government and insurance oversight enabled by EMRs save
more money than improvements in charge capture will cost?D. Kellus Pruitt DDS"
"Redemption at last - The ugly truth emerges about the true cost and safety of
EHRs. Again, I told you so, long, long ago.""If EHRs arguably create more problems
for physicians than they solve, how can they possibly provide a return on
investment for far simpler dental practices? If you haven���t yet heard the
news, they can���t.���Electronic Medical Records: Their Time Has Not Yet
Come,��� was posted today by Dr. Dennis Gottfried, Associate professor,
University of Connecticut Medical School.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-dennisgottfried/electronic-medical-record_1_b_1749795.html���The theoretical benefits
of an electronic record are not matched by its actual performance - a performance
that increases costs but detracts from clinical efficiencies and does nothing to
improve patient outcomes. Although the adoption of EMRs is one of the few health
care measure to enjoy bipartisan support, the technology is not good enough to
warrant that enthusiasm. In health care, the lawmakers have yet to learn that new
is frequently not better and change is rarely improvement.���For years, shady
businesspeople with selfish interests in healthcare IT misled not only physicians,
but also dentists into purchasing expensive, dangerous EHRs. I confidently proclaim
that those days are over in the dental community. Not long ago, when I pointed out
the lack of a return on investment on EDRs, as well as the epidemic level of
digital data breaches, defenseless leaders in the dental industry chose to censor
my warnings before blocking me from access to their intentionally uninformed
customers. In spite of the dentalcare stakeholders��� aggression against this
dentist, I successfully shut down their favorite lies. My pleasure. I would point
out that while virtually everyone else in the dental industry remained
���professionally��� silent about the true cost and safety of EDRs compared to
paper, I alone stood up and demanded honesty from stakeholders. I just hope the
sleazy leaders who tried to silence me never forget my name. In case I forget
theirs I���ve got them listed on my Google Alert. Should they pop up on the
internet pushing software, I���ll be right there to remind them of business
ethics.Six years ago, when I first noticed the absurdity of HIPAA in dentistry, I
never imagined this adventure would lead me to become this disappointed in our
elected leaders on all levels. Their ineffective representation of dental
patients��� needs before lawmakers truly saddens me.D. Kellus Pruitt DDS"
http://healthimpactnews.com/2012/doctors-at-hospital-chain-giant-performedunnecessary-cardiac-surgeries-increasing-profits/"A Perspective on the Evidence
Regarding Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus Surveillance.This article by
HW USA tells part of the story of the behind the USA not setting standards for MRSA
Surveillance. ""The publication in prominent journals of 2 studies, the STAR*ICU
Study and the MRSA-Swiss Study, seems to have had a disproportionate impact on
health-care policy, which has stymied the widespread adoption of MRSA active
surveillance testing in hospitals."" -- Journal of Patient Safety, Aug. 2012.
http://journals.lww.com/journalpatientsafety/
Abstract/publishahead/A_Perspective_on_the_Evidence_Regarding.99853.aspx""How many
of you would like to know ""How to Play in the Sandbox With Ohers"" to move your
agenda forward?"Great I will be putting something together for you :)I think it's a
safe assumption that any advocate would be interested in guidance from those who
have succeeded at scale.Yes!It will be coming so keep a watch out for it!! Bart I
miss you!!"aw shux, Patty! xo""One way or another, transparency with dentists and
their patients is inevitable. After all, it���s only dentistry.""While reading
this year���s ADA candidate statements in the ADA News, I recognized signs that
the ADA can no longer hide the financial squeeze caused by the loss of dues from a
declining membership ��� including dues from members suspended for
unprofessional conduct. On the good side, the candidate statements hint that the
disruption is forcing a return to basics: The Hippocratic Oath and the ADA���s
mission.A second vice president candidate says, ���Strong leadership across the
tripartite that allows for open communication and transparency in our deliberations
is a must in formulating answers to our challenges.��� This is the first time
���transparency��� has been mentioned by any ADA official in at least 3 years.
The last candidate who trotted out the modern idea lost.One president-elect
candidate states, ���Members are the ADA���s lifeblood���the heart of our
organization and inclusion of all dentists is mandatory. To enhance member value,
it is essential that the ADA be proactive and shed the reactionary mode of the
past. We must create an ADA where all dentists want to be members.���At first, I
was alarmed by his call for dentists��� ���mandatory��� inclusion in the
ADA. But since the candidate concludes with a goal to create an ADA that nonmembers
want to join, I think it���s clear that it was just a poor choice of words.
That���s understandable. Since ���mandatory��� is used so liberally these
days by ADA officials, it���s become a buzzword that can mean almost anything
ADA leaders need it to.Another president-elect candidate, perhaps the sharper of
the two, also acknowledges problems with the ADA: ���Today, the evolving
economic, regulatory and communications environment leaves the American Dental
Association at a crossroads. As an organization, we must adapt to the changing
realities or face the prospect of becoming less relevant. To succeed, we need
strong leadership and innovative thinking.��� Sound familiar yet, Texas Dental
Association? It will. He continues: ���People outside of our profession have
questioned our credibility as the voice of dentistry and as the policymakers for
our profession. The weak global economic and aggressive regulatory environment
could strain the health of our organization and the reputation of dentists. In
addition, we are losing membership market share vital to the ADA���s financial
stability.���If the ADA keeps moving toward transparency, I may see if
they���ll have me back. It sounds like they need customers��� financial
support bad enough to cause them to become more humble. And that���s the way the
free market is supposed to work. The customer is always right.D. Kellus Pruitt DDS"
"Thanks, Veronica. I was pretty certain that in the land of the free, customers are
still always right. Nevertheless, the moderator for Dental Technology Geeks
Linkedin group, Dave Greenfield, censored the very comment which happens to
admonish dentalcare stakeholders like him for censoring customers like me.If you or
any others in dentistry feel like it, please drop Dave a line and see if he���ll
offer you a reason for hiding my comment from at least one member who invited me to
join his group ��� a fellow dentist. http://www.linkedin.com/groups?
viewMemberFeed=&gid=2396260&memberID=98333897&goback=%2Egmp_2396260 Mr. Dave
Greenfield has been given the power to censor, yet the ���Social Media and
Community Architect at Objet Geometries��� won���t tell this dentist why.
Maybe Object Geometries just doesn���t need business bad enough to show common
respect for customers.""When Wal-mart employees treat customers rudely one should
always notify their supervisor. Why shouldn't Dave Greenfield be held accountable
for his rudeness as well.Dear Objet Geometries, Ltd. I wish to complain about the
rudeness of your employee, Dave Greenfield, who serves as moderator for the Dental
Technology Geeks Linkedin group. After censoring my comment without warning, your
���architect��� not only refuses to tell me why he chose to hide this
dentist���s information from his readers, but he then ignored my demand to speak
with you, his supervisor. In Wal-mart, when a customer is treated with aggression
by an insensitive employee, management pays attention. How about you, Objet
Geometries? Just what kind of business do you run that encourages your employees
to show such disrespect to customers?Please help me correct this misunderstanding
as quickly as possible. Otherwise,
I feel it is my obligation to warn others in the dental industry about Dave
Greenfield and Objet Geometries, which is ���engaged in the design, development
and manufacture of photopolymer 3D printing systems.���Who knows, perhaps US
dentists need your company���s services so desperately my public complaints on
dental technology venues may not affect your sales at all.Please don���t
encourage your employees to disrespect US dentists, Objet Geometries.Sincerely, D.
Kellus Pruitt DDSCc: Dave Greenfield, spamgroup"Those who don't demand honesty from
salespeople always pay more for disrespect."It all comes down to accountability
through transparency, Veronica. What do you think Dave Greenfield, Social Media and
Community Architect at Obet Geometries, is trying to keep hidden from dentists?
What is he afraid of?""Here's my wild guess: Since Dave's boss, Objet Geometries,
sells 3-D imaging devices to dentists, there might be an underlying justifiable
fear about the security of dental patients' PHI maintained by their equipment. And
now that Objet is soon to become a HIPAA-covered Business Associate, you can bet
that Dave's boss doesn't want to attract the attention of the Office of Civil
Rights in the Department of HHS - which determines who gets audited. Just a guess.
He certainly is acting strange.""""People in networked markets have figured out
that they get far better information and support from one another than from
vendors. So much for corporate rhetoric about adding value to commoditized
products."" - Thesis number 11, The Cluetrain Manifesto""""There are no secrets.
The networked market knows more than companies do about their own products. And
whether the news is good or bad, they tell everyone."" - Thesis number 12.""""Most
marketing programs are based on the fear that the market might see what's really
going on inside the company."" - number 28""""Companies that don't realize their
markets are now networked person-to-person, getting smarter as a result and deeply
joined in conversation are missing their best opportunity."" number 18""""Companies
can now communicate with their markets directly. If they blow it, it could be their
last chance."" - 19""""Public Relations does not relate to the public. Companies
are deeply afraid of their markets."" - 26"See new book Unaccountable trailer http
"""Unaccountable"" is an excellent book."Wow and thanks."the sad thing is that
dangerous doctors are allowed to 'continue'... even when they harm and even when
they kill their patients and even when those working around and with them 'know'.
dangerous doctors 'continue' because the danger is kept secret and because there is
'no accountability'. defense counsel for the doctor and hospital who knocked me out
and performed surgery which i did not need nor consent to stated in their answer to
my medical malpractice complaint that what happened to me was my own doing and that
it was through my own negligence that i'm damaged - if i'm damaged. additionally,
they added that if i did not cause my own damage, then it was an 'act of god' for
which they cannot be held accountable. i don't have words to express how i feel
about such a simple and arrogant response. how exactly did i cause my own damage? i
checked into the hospital for an elective surgical procedure. i refused the
procedure once i learned that the wrong procedure was listed on the consent and
asked to speak with my doctor. upon arriving at the hospital and learning that i
had refused to sign the consent, my doctor ordered that i be knocked out with
versed. (this is all documented in my hospital record). i did not agree to the
versed but it was injected into my iv as i was protesting. that was my last waking
memory. when i woke up a couple of hours later, six healthy organs had been removed
and i was bleeding badly even though i consented to NOTHING. i lost enough blood to
require a transfusion. i had to be taken back to surgery to repair damage caused by
surgery i did not consent to. i went on to develop so many complications from this
surgery that i was too disabled to work within three years. i still need two
additional surgeries to repair damage done. what exactly did i do that caused my
own harm? and... what did god have to do with it? NOTHING! the defense response in
my case reminded me of my young niece who scribbled all over the living room wall
with crayons and blamed it on my brother (who was grown) even though he wasn't home
and even though she had the crayons in her hand. she blamed someone who was not
even there. this might be acceptable behavior for a child but it is not acceptable
behavior for a doctor or hospital! there is NO ACCOUNTABILITY! therein lies the
true problem..."As an RN...have seen this type of behavior and everyone plays along
for fear of losing job or being blackballed! I remain outraged!@christine... i know
what you say is true. the only nurse who told the truth regarding what happened to
me is no longer employed by the hospital. it's good to know there are nurses like
her and you who are outraged by this type of behavior...I tried to get an attorney
to protest and was told that I would be blackballed from working in any hospital in
LA. The time will come when I can join other activists and stop these licensed
psychopaths!I left nursing as soon as I was financially able and have PTSD.@
christine... so sad you had to leave for the reasons you did. beyond sad that you
now suffer from ptsd like many of the harmed patients... you should not have to
leave your profession. the 'licensed psychopaths' should have to leave. and they
would if they were held accountable"I must interject, that there are some terrific
professionals available...but the psychopathic professionals must be weeded out
somehow!""i agree veronica. but how sad? if people with a conscience avoid the
medical field, what do we have other than a very dangerous medical community? agree
christine that we must find a way to weed out the bad... hopefully groups like this
one will help toward that end in some way.""@ veronica... i was pre-med in college
until i decided the same as you... i first wanted to go into medicine because of
the wonderful, caring treatment i received from my endocrinologist when i had a
brain tumor at fifteen. he inspired me. however, i came to realize that ones like
him are few and far between as they say and i made the decision to use my talents
in other ways as you stated.""@ veronica... i am a classic example of how even when
you go with your gut and do all the right things, things can still go horribly
wrong. i got a second opinion and that is the reason i even agreed to any surgery
in the first place. how was i to know that two doctors would lie to me? i took a
witness with me to my pre-surgery consultation only to have my doctor swear that
nobody was with me and that me and my witness lied. i read the consent once i
arrived at the hospital and informed my nurse that it was for the wrong procedure
and i refused to sign it. how was i to know that my doctor would order me to be
knocked out once he learned that i wanted to speak with him? omg! this is so
wrong... what happened to your mom is beyond words... what has happened to so many
of us is beyond words...""The report about your mom's care is very sad. I am so
sorry for your suffering. People such as we, will help to make changes in the
system. X"@ Veronica... i just finished reading your entire account of your mom's
story. i could feel your incredible pain as i read... what you said about treating
the whole person is so important and so on target. doctors often look at someone
who is older or poor or divorced or depressed or the like as someone who does not
necessarily matter. i watched a movie recently which drove this point home. a
plastic surgeon operated on a woman who ended up dying from complications from the
surgery. the woman's husband sued. the doctor was angered by the lawsuit and set
out to talk to the husband of the dead woman. the husband asked the doctor one
question. he asked him what color his wife's eyes had been. the doctor looked down
because he could not answer. the husband cried and told the doctor they were a deep
and intense beautiful brown color- full of expression. the doctor got his point as
did i. i cried as i thought about how often patients are viewed 'in parts' and not
as 'a whole'. the doctor who ruined my life actually stated that he did not think
what he did to me mattered since i was depressed over previous trauma in my life
such as the loss of my two youngest children. i mean we know that doctors often
think this way but how many admit it? my doctor actually admitted this. very
shocking and beyond sad..."@ veronica... did not finish my thought before posting.
i wanted to add that the most disturbing part of your mother's story is the part
about how graceful and intelligent your mother was and how she communicated via her
body (dance) and how she took such extreme care of her body and health. the medical
people who harmed and killed your mothers did not know or take the time to know
these important aspects of your mother. equally disturbing is the fact that your
mother was not alone when this all happened to her. you were there, and yet, this
happened. my mother, son and boyfriend were all there when i was drugged against my
will and taken from my room. they did not fully comprehend the horror unfolding
before them. at times, i want to blame them for not doing something but then i
remember that they would have had no way of knowing what my doctor would do to me.
how could they? my boyfriend is very very bothered by this til this day... hindsight is always better vision though. we can all look back and see clearly what we
could have done differently. that get us nowhere. all we can do 'after the fact' is
speak out and tell
our stories so others will not have to endure what we have had to endure. i'm sure
your mother would be very proud of what your doing because you are doing what you
can do in order that your mother's death not be in vain.""Kerry OConnell, one of
the members of our ProPublica Patient Harm Community, shares his saga of botched
surgeries, infections, engineering his own solutions and hope in this Health
Affairs article.""Kevin-- This is a terrific article -- well-written and
persuasive. I am sorry you have had the experiences that gave you the reason for
the piece, but this is really helpful -- should be required reading for anyone
considering a fixator, whether that person is a patient or a surgeon."what's wrong
with the american health care system 101... very very sad but good article."This
long new article by Atul Gawande describes new implementation of fundamental
process improvements in hospitals. It's a very interesting read, and potentially
raises a new question to ask providers when parsing the need for medical services,
a query into whether or not the procedure has been standardized.
http://goo.gl/EBfVT . The descriptions of Cheesecake Factory vs ""typical""
hospital goings-ons is almost amazing.""""The biggest complaint that people have
about health care is that no one ever takes responsibility for the total experience
of care, for the costs, and for the results.""Lots of good observations in this
article.""""defensive medicine"" in light of today's incredible front page NY Times
story about testing by HCA's cardiologists.http://www.thepoptort.com/2012/08/anopen-letter-to-sanjay-gupta-and-america.html""A lawsuit filed by two former dental
clinic employees accuses a Wichita dentist of viewing pornographic videos in front
of child patients while they were sedated. The lawsuit, which alleges sexual
harassment and racial discrimination, also says the dentist gave inadequate
sedation to Hispanic and African-American children.""This brings to mind a few
feelings:1) Encouraged because the intervention worked and the infection rate went
down by 1/3.2) Sad because even afterwards the rate is more than 1 in 6 of these
patients (colorectal surgery patients at Johns Hopkins) getting a surgical site
infection. JHU has been rated the best Hospital in the country for years so it
shows that this is a tough one to make vary rare.3) Strange because I saw one of
the co-authors (Dr. Efron) two years ago when I was considering major colorectal
surgery (I'm still considering it). (Long story.)4) Glad because the agency I work
for (AHRQ) is funding the JHU people to begin to spread nationwide an intervention
to reduce surgical adverse events based on the ""CUSP"" methods used in this study.
5) Perplexed that some in Congress have submitted a bill to terminate AHRQ as of
October 1, 2012 despite the fact that AHRQ funds projects like this. (Although the
rumored budget deal if passed in September will put off that argument until March
2013.)""AHRQ is a great resource. In my position I use their information at least
weekly. Noel, what do you do there?""Noel, would you mind if I used some of your
comments for a post on www.reportingonhealth.org about the Hopkins study?""Sure, go
ahead. :)""Another I told you so���Medical ID theft: Double danger for
doctors,��� by Pamela Lewis Dolan was posted today on AmedNews.com."
"���Medical identity theft is very much on the radar of Medicare and other
agencies responsible for investigating identity theft. In recent years, it has
become the fastest-growing type of identity theft in the world, according to
reports. An estimated 2 million people become victims of identity theft each
year.���I started questioning dental leaders about medical identity theft from
EHRs in 2006. I���m still waiting for a response.���Physicians also face
repercussions when their patients��� identities are stolen. Patients report
losing trust in their physicians after a medical ID theft has occurred. There is
also the potential for medical errors and bad outcomes caused by two patients using
the same identity. Physicians also potentially could be subjected to violations of
the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act [HIPAA] if they did not
adequately protect the data from being stolen.��� Sound familiar? Why does it
seem less unprofessional for an AMA reporter than for a dentist to say such bad
things about EHRs?While the AMA and the nation���s physicians have been working
hard to protect practices and patients from the devastating consequences of
identity theft, the expression of such concerns in dentistry continues to be
censored as ���unprofessional behavior.��� What���s more, if an ADA member
persists in questioning the safety of EDRs beyond the approved chain of dissent,
the unprofessional behavior can be upgraded to ���unethical behavior,��� which
includes the loss of membership and forfeiture of any dues refund for the unused
portion of the year. I say risk some dues money, Doc. Be like a physician and
demand more transparency concerning EHR dangers. You don���t want to find out
the hard way that I���ve been consistently straight with you for years.D. Kellus
Pruitt DDS""While the Missouri Supreme Court threw out their cap on pain suffering
in medical malpractice cases, unfortunately it still exists in Colorado as seen in
this verdict: ""Walters will receive only a portion of the $15 million awarded to
him by the jury. Under Colorado law, he can receive only $300,000 of the $10
million portion of the award for pain, suffering, impairment and disfigurement."""
Absolutely disgusting!"Has anyone in this forum compiled a list of these caps? I've
written about the Illinois cap and the California cap, but it would be interesting
to do a state-by-state comparison. What happens to you if you are injured in one
state and someone with the same injury sues in the state across the border? Seems
millions are in the balance.""William Heisel, just for medical malpractice or all
damage caps?"Click on the pdf link on this page.http://centerjd.org/content/factsheet-caps-do-not-lower-insurance-premiums-doctors-and-insurance-insiders-admit-it0"in california the $250,000 cap hasnt changed since 1973"You���ll never believe
who controls dentistry in the nation: Dental office designers."Tim Fichtner is a
dental facility designer from Lancaster, Pa who also serves as an anonymous
supervisor for Dental Geeks Linkedin group. Days ago, he had his not-anonymous
moderator block me from Dental Geeks. Like any consumer should, I demanded to speak
to the rude employee���s supervisor. Days later, after repeating my demand for
the supervisor���s name, Mr. Fichtner finally came out from behind an employee
to admonish: ���Posting on Dental Geeks is a privilege and not an unassailable
right.��� He added, ���What we expect of contributors is that their
communications display a professional, non-emotional, pleasant, civil, winsome,
non-confrontational, didactic tone.��� Yes, he said ���winsome.���Yet
another stakeholder���s determination that professionalism for good little
dentists is not unlike convenient oppression. I first learned about the flexible,
controlling qualities in a similar situation involving the Texas Dental Association
- which also couldn���t prove unprofessional conduct. In spite of encouragement
even from the Austin BBB, they still beat me out of a $200 refund in prorated dues.
Dear Tim,You said, ���As long as you remain professional & respectful to the
opinions and egos of others, your posts are welcome and will be approved. I believe
you understand me quite clearly.���Even though you claim I understand you
���quite clearly,��� you���ve been less than transparent starting long
before yesterday���s vague accusations of sarcasm and bullying. In spite of my
repeated requests, you haven���t once offered evidence of the unprofessional
conduct which resulted in the loss of my membership privileges. How am I to learn
anything from that?I���m happy to learn your name. Until yesterday, you had
anonymously directed a not-anonymous employee to censor me many times. The
disregard you show for employees��� reputations means you can put your lecture
on ethics back in your pocket. ���I look forward to reading your professional
contributions. Good luck.���Even though you continue to be sarcastic as well as
evasive, I still trust the sincerity of your invitation to contribute content to
the tightly-controlled Dental Geeks Linkedin group. I often get invited to join
forums in the dental industry, and as a result, I belong to several. The
invitations come mostly from dentists who cannot themselves publicly mention issues
dentists other than me only discuss privately ��� such as the known dangers of
EDRs that some would hide. In fact, after witnessing misleading HIT ads that
stakeholders successfully post, it was a concerned hygienist who invited me to
become a member of Dental Geeks. If you will be honest with me from now on, I
prefer not to let my friend down.Let���s start with yesterday. After you wished
me luck, I attempted to post ���EHR-related malpractice suits could threaten HIT
adoption,��� in which renown patient privacy rights attorney Jim Pyles offered
important insight to EHR liability dangers. Even though it was immediately picked
up by the Medical Executive-Post (a widely-respected source of healthcare news with
a readership of over 400,000), you chose to protect your readers from seeing it.
Can you explain why you censored my comment ��� even after wishing me, ���Good
luck���?���When someone disagrees with you on a post, I have witnessed you
respond with innuendo and subtle insults.��� Prove it or apologize, Tim.I have
to say, you���re trying my patience, but I haven���t given up on you or Dental
Geeks yet. If you really
want me to help provide safe content for your group according to your rules, you
will just have to reveal the innuendo and subtle insults you witnessed. If you
consider them too unprofessional to repeat, simply provide the date and time I
posted them and I���ll nail down what you feel Dental Geek members shouldn���t
read. That���s the best offer I can make. Let me know how I can help.D. Kellus
Pruitt DDS""Will Dental Geeks turn the corner with me?I offered Tim Fichtner���s
Dental Geeks Linkedin group the same news I posted elsewhere, but without the
sarcasm (per his request). I���m told my comment has been ���submitted for
review��� by the moderator to make sure it is safe for group members to read
before it���s allowed to be posted. If you recall, yesterday, Tim wished me
luck.---------Theft of a ���password-protected��� computer from a California
doctor���s office exposes 2500 patients to increased risk of identity theft.
���Stanford alerts patients to potential privacy breach after computer
theft��� by Robert Salonga, MercuryNews.com.http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_21229475/stanford-alerts-patients-potential-privacy-breach-after-computer
���Stanford medical school officials are alerting 2,500 patients that their
private health information may have been breached following the theft of a computer
from a doctor's office in July, the university announced Friday.The theft occurred
between July 15 and 16, according to a news release. The password-protected
computer is said to have contained patient names and medical records, and even
Social Security numbers in some cases.���In my opinion, ���passwordprotection��� is false hope and that should have never been mentioned by
Stanford. For anyone whose technology skills are sophisticated enough to steal and
alter patients��� medical identities (which sell for $50 each), passwords are
meaningless. Without a doubt, industry misrepresentations like Stanford���s
cause uninformed dentists to under-report data breaches ��� exacerbating
Americans��� risk of medical identity theft. Unlike a breach which only exposes
patients��� de-identified or encrypted personal information, HIPAA requires
dentists to notify patients whose PHI is only password-protected ��� and for
good reason. Dental Geeks moderator, you are to be commended for posting this
important, if unpopular information. Your editing exhibits the professionalism
dentistry needs.D. Kellus Pruitt DDS""Theft of a computer from a California
doctor���s office exposes 2500 patients to increased risk of identity theft. But
don���t worry, it���s ���password protected.���""���Stanford medical
school officials are alerting 2,500 patients that their private health information
may have been breached following the theft of a computer from a doctor's office in
July, the university announced Friday.The theft occurred between July 15 and 16,
according to a news release. The password-protected computer is said to have
contained patient names and medical records, and even Social Security numbers in
some cases.���Concerning Stanford���s hopeful reassurance of ���passwordprotection,��� I would assume that for anyone whose technology skills are
sophisticated enough to steal medical insurance, password protection is as obsolete
as the Maginot Line. Since stolen medical identities contained in removable hard
drives sell for $50 each, that makes the heist potentially worth over $100,000.
With that kind of money on the line, there���s a good chance that the thief
might find someone with a small Phillips screw-driver and working knowledge of
���righty-tighty, lefty-loosey.��� Is it unprofessional to sarcastically
reveal risks others would hide?D. Kellus Pruitt DDS""Based on the story, my theory
is it seems in order to access the records on the computer, the computer has to go
online and access a password server to decrypt the records. The password server it
what tracks the computer if it had been contacted.""Regardless, unlike deidentification, or even encryption, HIPAA considers password protection is
inadequate security for stolen computers. That's good enough for me.""Furman
allegedly prescribed both narcotic and nonnarcotic drugs to the girl���s mother,
brother and to the girl between 2009 and 2010, but failed to keep treatment records
for them, the department said. Based on the commission���s decision, Furman
cannot practice in Washington or seek reinstatement of his license for 10 years."
His license may have been suspended in Washington but he can move to another state
however and be licensed there without the patients in his office ever being
informed of his actual harmful conduct before agreeing to sign an Informed Consent
DocumentThese kinds of people need a dark cloud hovering over them 24/7!I'd love to
hear what people think about this. There are some fierce opinions out there about
Seroquel and people seem to want to punish doctors like Steven Balt who have
admitted prescribing a lot of it. Do the patients helped by drugs -- even with side
effects -- matter? http://bit.ly/NebwRh
http://truththeory.com/2012/08/05/individualized-medicine-fda-approved-ingestiblemicrochip-tracking-device/"I was a little critical of the claim that a pill could
monitor heart rate. The pill can detect what you eat or what pill you take, and it
passes through the body in the usual time. A patch on the skin receives the weak
radio signal from the pill. The patch also has additional capabilities that can
monitor heart rate, temperature, etc. The pill only detects and communicates the
chemical environment around it.http://proteusdigitalhealth.com/technology/"wow"I'm
pleased to say that, after 13 years, I settled a case for my daughter and it was
very successful. It CAN be done - but everything is stacked against you. The most
important step, without exception however, is the first step. That first step was
13 years ago and it was worth every minute, day, hour and year."Congratulations.
Maybe you could provide coaching for the one I need to file?"It's good to hear a
positive outcome Drew Gorman, congratulations. I was forced to settle my case
because my former dentist threatened to file bankruptcy and retire if I didn't take
a crappy settlement. The Dental Board is at fault and they will have to take
responsibility now for impeding my ability to seek rightful retribution and proper
restitution. They failed to supervise their licensee they placed on probation and
failed to post his Probationer Dentist status all the years he was on probation...I
should have been informed before I agreed to surgery or signing an Informed Consent
Document."Hi Drew Gorman - thanks for sharing this. Would you mind starting a new
post on this topic and giving some practical step-by-step instructions so others
can learn from your experience? It sounds like you've gained some valuable
knowledge that could be beneficial to the group."Kelly, you know I would be happy
to help you Angel...""Veronica, you did a great job with severability - all the
best on your next quest!""Marshall, after 13 years I'm not quite sure where to
start regarding your request. You're right, I learned so much during this process
but the most important lesson was to get started immediately. Each case is
completely different and I'm not sure general advice would be helpful. Perhaps oneon-one Q&A is the best way to go - as is being done on this site...""Drew, How do
you find an attorney to represent you when you've spent all of your money seeking
competent care and then become disabled because you couldn't find it in time? All
the lawyers I've contacted including those who say they will work on a contingent
basis still want $25,000 upfront for ""expenses"" -- you know, expert witnesses,
administrative, etc.""Anna, I can truly relate to your situation. Though time was
my greatest challenge, finding a lawyer was the hardest. There was also an
additional problem-there was a local statute that had expired and I had to get that
thrown out before I even had the 'right' to sue. Since my daughter was an infant, I
separated myself from the case and became a 'trustee' rather than a 'participant'
and was able to 'win' the right to sue-but gave up the right to make any personal
financial claims. My story goes on and on (as you can imagine-13 years!). I have a
FB page if you'd like to contact me there for more info. I would not want to take
up that much space here. I don't mind helping in any way if I can, so feel free to
contact me. I send you Blessings and Light!""Sorry I am a bit behind with reading
these and catching up.....first I would like to congratulate you Drew Gorman for
succeeding it sounds like you had a really hard time but you stuck with it ...... i
want to thank you for sharing some of the details esp in the last post because you
gave me a lot of hope....i think sometimes our statutes run out because the injury
was not discovered whether it was doctors who should have diagnosed it and didnt
accidentally, it could be intentional there are so many factors and they just put
these blanket statutes on there.....also when its more involved it may be more
difficult to find people who know how to represent your scenario....anyway thank
you for letting us know the different things you had to go through and i am sure
that was just the tip of the iceberg but hearing you had to overturn the statute
then become trustee, etc it lets those of us still in the thick of it know that no
matter how hard or impossible it may seem there are still options and to never give
up i dont know how and if I can do anything time will tell but thanks for the
insight."https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?
fbid=300055666758327&set=a.258335754263652.54360.156003164496912&type=1&theater
"According to a recent survey conducted by Xerox, only 26% of Americans
want their personal information stored in electronic medical records.""Considering
that this is discouraging news for those who profit from the sale of reportedly
dangerous EHRs, what���s your opinion of the ethics of stakeholders in the
business who hide information from consumers for selfish reasons?David A. Feinberg,
the moderator of HIPAA 411 Linkedin group, is president of Rensis Corporation
��� an EHR consultant firm located in Seattle. He is one of three Linkedin
moderators who blocked readers from witnessing findings that might hurt his
business. How Hippocratic is that?Another biased moderator with selfish motives is
Mary Yakas, who makes her living as executive director of The Dental Advisor out of
Detroit ��� an EHR consultant company which markets digital records to
uninformed dentists. She shields members of Dental Geeks Linkedin group from
viewing results of studies that don���t serve her employer���s needs.
She���s devoted.The third moderator to censor the link to the discouraging
findings is Christy Choi from Washington DC, who is the protective moderator of the
HIT Linkedin group. While David Feinberg and Mary Yakas are employed by private
industry, Ms. Choi serves as the Web Manager at the Office of the National
Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) ��� her salary is paid by
the taxpayers she censors.While censorship by private business to protect profits
is repulsive and clearly unethical, censoring US citizens by government employees
is not only tyranny, but it���s against the law. As a taxpayer, it���s my
opinion that Christy Choi should be fired from the Department of HHS immediately.D.
Kellus Pruitt DDS""Even as HIT stakeholders continue to evade this dentist���s
questions about EDRs systems��� increased risk of identity theft over paper
dental records, it���s already been a bad week for HIT security.���Personal
information for more than 1,000 Newfoundland patients compromised���
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/1235198--personal-information-for-morethan-1-000-newfoundland-patients-compromised CORNER BROOK, N.L.���More than
1,000 patients in western Newfoundland have had their privacy violated after an
employee inappropriately accessed their personal records, a provincial health board
said Wednesday.Western Health said it fired the employee after discovering that
1,043 people had their privacy breached.���Hartford Hospital and VNA HealthCare
Notify Patients of Computer Theft���
http://www.harthosp.org/Portals/1/Images/6/PR-VNA-Data-Incident.pdf HARTFORD ���
On June 26, 2012, the leadership teams of Hartford Hospital and VNA HealthCare
learned that an unencrypted laptop computer containing personal information of some
of their patients was stolen from the home of an employee of a firm called
Greenplum, which is a subsidiary of one of our vendors, EMC Corp. Greenplum was
performing data analysis for EMC on our behalf as part of a qualityimprovement
project related to hospital readmissions. ------------Why does it seem to be
unprofessional to share this information?""As someone who has work in or with
hospitals for 35 years, you would be suprised to see how many paper records go
missing. And it's not like they were trying to hide them. The HITECH proposed
structure and security would, IMHO, would be much safer.""I agree, Julie. Even
though the risk of identity theft is higher for EHRs than for paper records, I
don't think hospitals and busy physicians' offices can afford to depend on paper
records these days - especially considering the non-productive, tedious
documentation required by insurers for doctors to get paid for work already
completed. The longer the delay, the more insurers profit.But instead of the
millions of active patients treated at a hospital every year, busy dentists might
treat around 4000. Computerization is simply overkill. And when one considers the
additional cost and danger of digital over paper dental records, it's a no-brainer.
Dentists who have electronic dental record systems have an expensive and dangerous
hobby.""What do you think of the following. All medical businesses must send your
records to be stored in a central government agency, within 2 weeks of creation.
Any medical business that wanted access to your records would be required to get
them from that agency, not another medical business. And what they get is strictly
controlled by patient authorization.""It's a worthy goal for Americans to have
complete control of their own medical histories. That is what most Americans want,
and that is how it should be. However, my first concern is that if the government
controls the data, can they be trusted not to snoop into Americans' privacy
themselves? If you recall, it wasn't that long ago when the FBI got spanked for
snooping through Americans' phone records.""Secondly, considering the market value
for medical data, stakeholders in the insurance industry are unlikely to want to
let go of the asset, and they have much more power over Congress than you or me,
Garrick."Paper records could not be sent to a government agency. They need to be
readily available to the hospital if the patient returns for care."I'm no fan of
insurance companies. That said, and supposing that if I were to get screwed it'd
happen with or w/out eRecords, and having lived with the hassles of paper records,
and knowing how other nations have advanced healthcare systems utilizing eRecords:
on the whole I'm for them. Seems to me that the # of crowns and root canals in my
mouth is all of very little consequence, esp. when dental insurance is separate
from medical. Darrell, why are you so adamantly opposed to dental eRecords?""I'm
glad you asked, Bart. It so happens that only minutes ago, I responded to Ron's
similar question on Dental Speakers Linkedin group:It���s good to hear from you,
Ron. I���ve read your stuff. I like it. I appreciate your courtesy and fully
understand your point that dental offices, costing hundreds of thousands and even
millions of dollars, are being built to accommodate paperless practices of the
future - yet the future of EDRs has yet to be determined. Sometimes drastic changes
occur with even the largest federal projects. For example, several years ago,
billions of dollars were spent digging a hole in Texas for the Supercollider before
it was abandoned for becoming too expensive. What���s more, in contrast to those
supporting the unquestioned adoption of EHRs in dentistry, stakeholders promoting
the Supercollider were armed with evidence-based research proving its potential
value to Americans. All EDR stakeholders have are guesses and advertisements. Am I
wrong?According to a recent survey, only 26% of Americans want their medical
information stored on EHRs. That���s not my fault.
http://eon.businesswire.com/news/eon/20120731005334/en/Xerox/Electronic-HealthRecords/SurveyAs more and more dental patients become aware of the epidemic level
of data breaches from healthcare organizations, they could certainly start choosing
dentists with paper records. Consider this: If dental patients prefer EDRs, why are
dentists not advertising them? Time and again, I have revealed indisputable
evidence that EDRs are not only more dangerous than paper dental records, but they
are more expensive as well. Sharing these unpopular findings has certainly
attracted more personal attacks than friends, but that���s simply how it is.
Those who sell EDR systems to dentists hide evidence that paperless is a dangerous
and expensive hobby��_. Perhaps it���s the way I explain things that aggravates
people. �����_in this ���electronic and virtual��� world what do you feel
is a reasonable solution to integrating paper and cloud?��� I���ve said it
many times: One day, the solution to almost all security problems in dentistry will
be de-identification of EDRs. If a hacker exploits a computer belonging to a
dentist and/or cloud server, and nothing more than patients��� dental histories
are revealed, it is not a data breach according to HIPAA. That means nobody has to
be notified, and news of the breach doesn���t have to be issued as a press
release in the dentist���s community. Eventually, most will agree that de-id is
the simple, logical solution.���Lastly I do know of many reps working for the
Schein/Pattersons/Bencos, etc. who do a great job and have become members of the
dental office team.��� Name for me just one who can prove EDRs offer dentists a
return on investment like they advertise, and I���ll believe you, Ron. Nobody
can prove they are safer than paper dental records, and that���s also not my
fault.Thanks, Ron.Darrell""Darrell Pruitt, Regarding my suggestion of a law that
medical businesses submit patient records to a central government agency. I
understand your concerns about government snooping into private records. My main
concern is medical businesses pretend to lose records to hide evidence of medical
malpractice, and this evidence is the only way the victim can get help for their
injury. It is a severe conflict of interest for a medical business to be
responsible for records when they are liable for injuries exposed by those records.
And also, other doctors become part of the problem because they will not produce a
truthful examination of the patient, because a doctor will not tattle on another
doctor. With a legal requirement to deposit records, the doctor guilty of a
malpractice injury will have to either obey the law, violate the law by not
submitting records, or violate the law by submitting a false record. Any of these
is more to work with than the excuse of no records found.""Garrick, in light of
another conversation I had yesterday concerning unavailable EHRs, it was with
special interest that I read your opinion that medical records are sometimes
intentionally
lost to protect doctors from malpractice accountability. I cannot argue with your
frightening points. Allow me to share a related concern from another point of view:
According to patient privacy attorney Jim Pyles, the malpractice liability caused
by unavailable EHRs arguably threatens the future of healthcare IT. Yesterday, he
sent me a law question: ���Darrell, you will have fun with this. My question is,
who gets sued when the patient dies because the doctor could not get access to the
current medical record?���I guessed that the treating doctor would be held
accountable. ���He or she would at least be a co-defendant, I would think. But
then, I���m a dentist.���Jim writes, ���I think the answer is (a) the
doctor, (b) the hospital, (c) the vendor, (d) the power company, and (e) anyone
else the plaintiff���s attorney can think to drag in. Great law school exam
question. This will make the malpractice insurance industry pucker up. I have said
before that the thing what will bring down the HIT industry will be when the
malpractice insurers pull out. No one will want to go bare. HIT is like the nuclear
energy of health reform. It has the potential for some advantages if we carefully
control it, but it presents a clear and present danger when (not if) it goes out of
control.���It seems HHS promised too much too early.""Darrell - who gets sued
when the paper record is lost? The answer is nobody. That's a tactic they use to
avoid a lawsuit. I am not saying they have to discard their own paper records they
themselves have generated.I agree with you and I do not want to have individual
medical businesses responsible for holding their own EHRs, and being able to
conveniently transmit those EHRs to other providers. Each of those becomes a weak
point in losing medical records. I conceive a central, highly specialized agency
that does nothing but maintain records, and police their disbursal.""I question the
survey, who did they ask?? and how did they ask it. and what sort of health
consumer got to be asked.... one who hasnt had to fight the system, or even be
within the system...""I cannot argue against the Utopian idea of a secure national
vault for every Americans' medical records. But there is no cyber-security. That's
why the limited mobility of paper is still the gold standard in safety from data
breaches. Give it some time, Garrick. It's going to become even more tricky as our
DNA codes are more commonly stored in EHRs. Social security numbers only last a
lifetime. DNA codes last generations.We have a responsibility to our descendants
not to take privacy concerns too lightly. Yet today, I just read that Stanford
medical school fumbled 2500 patients' PHI through a stolen computer.
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_21229475/stanford-alerts-patientspotential-privacy-breach-after-computer""The Xerox survey is already 3 days old.
The number of Americans who don't trust the security of EHRs may have already risen
to 27%, Brenda.""The word is spreading quickly now. The Medical Executive - Post,
which has a readership of over 400,000, picked up my conversation with Jim Pyles.
He's very well known in the healthcare IT industry.
http://medicalexecutivepost.com/2011/09/25/the-legal-ehr-extreme-cautionahead/#comment-13052""The interdependency of doctor medical business to other
doctor medical businesses has to be reduced. This will open communication that is
in interest of patients who have been victims of doctors. I have two ideas:1.
Doctors should be independent of other doctors for your medical records.2. Doctors
should not depend on other doctors for referrals to their business."An Albany Times
Union story about a hospital accused of negligent credentialing a doctor! But the
hospital is in Connecticut; not a TU advertiser that the paper protects from bad
news. http://bit.ly/MX87tE"We want to be sure all the new members know about our
non-profit, The Empowered Patient Coalition. We have many free resources for
patients, caregivers, and advocates. Please visit our website at
http://www.EmpoweredPatientCoalition.org.""As always regarding end of life this
story has the wrong headline; ""assisted suicide"" is a prejudicial phrase. That
aside, the compilation of state laws regarding self-directed dying (as assisted) is
nice to have in one file. http://www.patientsrightscouncil.org/site/assistedsuicide-state-laws/""Actually, I only now perused the site; yesterday I perused the
state's legalities compilation page. I don't like the site because I completely
disagree with their viewpoint. Regardless, the site offers some useful resources."
...some dental clinics are literally picking kids up off the street and taking them
straight to the dentist's office without letting parents know.insanity
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jhj3u3LoooM&feature=player_detailpageCheck out The
Peggy Lillis Memorial Foundation's latest op-ed at AlterNet on how investing in
patient safety can save lives and create jobs. Please share to help spread the
word."Excellent article, Christian!""Yeah, Christian. A well-reasoned and very
well-written piece. Hope it gets lots of hits.""Thanks, ladies! Please do share it
with Facebook peeps.""Christian, I commented on your article, and talked about
needing more nurses at the bedside with more1 to 1 contact with the patients.""I
again question whether EDRs are more reliable than paper dental records. A couple
of weeks ago, I was once again busting the surprisingly durable myth that paper
dental records are more likely to be totally lost than EDRs. I���m still unsure
if some readers were emotionally ready to believe it, so today, when I read
���Patient data outage exposes risks of electronic medical records,��� by Chad
Terhune, I felt it was important to share the link to the LA Times article."
"���'Human error' is blamed for a five-hour computer outage last week. It
highlights the risks of a nationwide switch to electronic medical records,���
Terhune writes. ���Within minutes of the outage, they said, doctors and nurses
reverted to writing orders and notes by hand, but in many cases they no longer had
access to previous patient information saved remotely with Cerner. That information
isn't typically put on paper charts when records are kept electronically.���Ross
Koppel, a sociology professor at the University of Pennsylvania who has studied the
safety and effectiveness of electronic medical records, told the LA Times, ""As
vendors and the federal government push for totally electronic systems the
vulnerabilities of these hospitals to this kind of outage increases
exponentially."" He added, ""The lack of access to previous patient records means
that doctors were flying blind.""For those who are still concerned that my
patients��� paper records are at significant risk of turning to ashes in a fire
that would have to last for days, metal filing cabinets will always be unaffected
by internet outages. And even in power outages, paper records can be read using a
flashlight.When EDR vendors exaggerate the risk of paper cuts to improve sales, it
does nothing improve EDRs. It only makes vendors appear desperate to improve sales.
D. Kellus Pruitt DDS"New York State keeps thousands of hospital mistakes secret like a C-section on a woman who wasn't pregnant. http://bit.ly/M7NVnwI wouldnt be
surprised that this is happening all over the place"Is it a good business practice,
or even ethical, for HIT salespeople to ignore dentists��� concerns about
patients��� safety?���Does e-service create a higher risk of identity theft
than transactions that don���t involve digital PHI?��� The question I asked
Dr. Larry Emmott yesterday following his advertisement for e-services was finally
posted a few minutes ago. Perhaps a response will follow.""From a customer���s
point of view, mine is clearly a straightforward, logical safety concern about
transmitting dental patients��� identities over the internet. If Dr. Emmott had
any intention of respecting this dentist���s question, he could have answered it
with a simple yes or no hours ago. But who can blame him for taking his time? Since
it is impossible for anyone to provide a vendor-friendly response to the question,
and since in the traditionally quiet dental community, I���m still commonly
perceived as unprofessional for speaking out, that creates a huge disincentive for
him to react at all. He shows courage as well as wisdom in not censoring my
question. Outside the dental industry, unresponsiveness as default protection from
accountability became obsolete at least seven years ago when Jeff Jarvis brought
Dell Computer to its knees with his purpose-built, ���Dell Hell��� website. So
why does it somehow seem unprofessional for me to inconvenience a dental consultant
with questions about the safety of his favorite products? How can patients and
dentists possibly be protected from harm when the profession���s 1950���s
command-and-control habits now stand in the way of modern marketplace transparency?
In my opinion, evasion became an acceptable business practice due in part to the
very barriers the ADA erected to protect its leaders from accountability to
membership. Other stakeholders naturally stepped in to fill the resultant
leadership vacuum. Who couldn���t see that coming? If the niche weren���t so
well hidden by consumers��� preference not to think about dentistry when given a
choice, the ADA���s dysfunctional problems would have been resolved long ago.
For those out of the loop, I���m revealing nothing that dentists don���t
already discuss in private.While dentists weren���t paying attention, ambitious
entrepreneurs took control of our profession - enabled by well-meaning, stoic
leaders with blind faith in the magic of a ���one-voice��� PR strategy. Come
on out, Doc.
The air is fine.D. Kellus Pruitt DDS""This debacle involving the ""serial
infector"" raises questions about the regulatory effectiveness of state and federal
laws regarding reporting of disciplinary actions against hospital contractors or
employees. It also raises bigtime questions about the inadequacy of the National
Practitioner Data Bank to stop drug addicts from traveling through 12 hospitals in
nine states, eventually (allegedly) infecting at least 30 patients with Hep C by
the time he got caught in New Hampshire. My column today.
http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/content/QUA-283001/Serial-Infector-InvestigationPoints-to-Need-for-Federal-Registry""As a result, he was the first doctor in
Illinois required to have a chaperone present during all ���patient
encounters��� because of a new state law enacted in response to a Tribune series
on doctors accused of sexual abuse. Sue Hofer, a spokeswoman for the Illinois
Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, said Panos��� license would
be restored once regulators receive a court-certified copy of the disposition of
his cases.""The Board is also going to remove his disciplinary action from public
view so his patients aren't able to see he required a ""chaperone"" to practice."
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?
fbid=508066219207692&set=a.293794393968210.89115.248783301802653&type=1&theater
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?
fbid=299050076858886&set=a.258335754263652.54360.156003164496912&type=1&theater
Thought-provoking points. Have seen these basic themes/findings before in other
write-ups.I had to comment over there. At the moment it's awaiting moderation.
"Essay on the value of AHRQhttp://newsatjama.jama.com/2012/07/26/jama-forum-billwould-gut-patient-centered-outcomes-research/""There will be another fight in
March, assuming the 6-month budget extension happens in September and the
Republicans keep the House in November. If Romney wins, it will up to the Senate
(assuming the Dems keep it) to negotiate the continued existence of of AHRQ and
other groups like CMS's Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation...""The
Missouri Supreme Court today ruled the $350,000 flat cap on noneconomic damages in
medical malpractice cases violates the Right to Trial by Jury in the Missouri
Constitution."This is wonderful!A good article!
http://www.pharmatimes.com/Article/12-0731/Some_US_pharmacies_selling_entire_inventories_to_gray_market.aspx?"Read the
Congressional report, ""Shining the Light on the Gray
Market""http://commerce.senate.gov/public/?a=Files.Serve&File_id=dcc81e66-09ae4650-ab06-c590ae284c4e""The following picture was taken a few weeks ago at the
grand opening of SEA Medical Systems new facilities in Silicon Valley. Thanks
again to all of our friends at SEA Medical who are putting their ""hearts & souls""
into the development of their technology and systems that will save thousands of
lives and prevent IV compounding errors like the error that ultimately took the
life of my beautiful daughter Emily.""Thanks for posting this, Christopher Jerry.
Can you explain a little more about how compounding errors have been occurring and
how this technology works to prevent them?"This is another one that causes a lot of
accidental overdoses and bad consequences for patients."via Captain C.B. Sully
Sullenberger: In the proposed 2013 spending bill for the Departments of Labor,
Health and Human Services, Education and related agencies, the House Appropriations
committee terminates the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). This
agency funds research and programs that improve health care quality, enhance
consumer choice, advance patient safety, improve efficiency, reduce medical errors,
and broaden access to essential services.The bill also eliminates funding for
patient-centered outcomes research done by any agency. You can find out more about
it and how you can take action here:""Terrible. Thankfully, it will never pass the
Senate."Kind of funny. Kind of not funny.Hahahahaha - not!"I recently spoke to the
FDA investigative panel June 27,2012 in Washington, DC re: metal on metal hips.
Joleen Chambers was instrumental in helping me prepare for this event. Her belief
in honesty, patient education and care, accountability etc are genuine and sincere.
We the tenacity Joleen Chambers and 10 more folks like her, if we are evergoing to
rid the ongoing corruption in the medical device world and see truth and justice is
served in order to protect and ensure the quality of our lives.Howard Sadwin""Hi
Howard Sadwin, so nice of you to praise Joleen Chambers! I'm curious what you
shared with the FDA investigative panel. Can you tell us?"Video of patient Howard
Sadwin testifying at FDA begins at minute 1:52. Each patient had 4 minutes.
http://fda.yorkcast.com/webcast/Viewer/?peid=12f84ea095b445d78e9b115f495392731d
"Thanks, Joleen Chambers.""Whew, just watched the testimony, Howard Sadwin. You
really spoke from your gut, and that is some painful stuff. Thanks for sharing it
with our group.""We have to check if a drug or implant released under the FDA preapproval because that means it is untested, and the manufacturer cannot be held
legally responsible for defects. Our medical-legal system is becoming such that
each patient needs to bring a patient advocate who is an expert at knowing when to
ask such questions to every appointment. Or perhaps a business can be started that
patients can go to check what the doctor has prescribed for important negative
information. No, the doctor cannot be trusted anymore. Drug and device
manufacturers have shortcuts through the regulatory agencies like this.""I wrote my
July 5 column on MoMs hips. What should patients who have them do now? How did
these reactions and toxicity problems escape notice? And why is David Langton's
research not being taken as seriously as it probably should be? (By the way, i
didn't write this headline but here is the column.)
http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/content/QUA-281987/MoMs-Hips-a-Grinding-Dilemmafor-Hospitals-Doctors-FDA""I have been listening to the above video on computer
while I work. It has been quite interesting. After the patient horror stories, they
had industry representatives speak. Then they have the AMA equivalents of various
countries speak. At about 3:30 hrs there is the speaker from England showing their
collection of statistics. It shows the metal-on-metal with over twice the revision
rates of other types.http://s12.postimage.org/g7wc5wov1/MED_metalonmetal.jpg"
Cautious Patient Communities starting in Albuquerque New Mexico! You can host one
too! Visit www.cautiouspatientcommunities.org"In a truly startling decision, an
Illinois coroner���s jury investigating the heart attack death of 49-year old
Beatrice Vance while she sat, ignored for hours, in a hospital E.R., didn���t
just cite the hospital, but declared her death a homicide. The jury found that the
death was ���a result of a gross deviation from the standard of care which a
reasonable person would exercise in the situation.��� Illinois State���s
Attorney Michael Waller said at the time that this was the first time in his 30year career that an emergency room heart attack death was ruled a homicide. Read
more of this case at: http://myheartsisters.org/2012/01/20/beatrice-vance/"Yay
Carolyn Thomas is a member of the group! ((I follow your blog.)) :)"Thanks for that
nice welcome, Holly! <3"I mean Holle - sorry about the spelling...."Sure
Carolyn. :) For those not familiar with Carolyn's blog, see:
http://ethicalnag.org/ . I don't mean to hijack your post. I had not heard of this
case. I assume Beatrice Vance was profiled on arrival to emergency as not a likely
heart attack victim because of her age. It's very sad. She wasn't taken seriously.
Good to hear her death was called for exactly what it was - negligent homicide."
"Newspaper dodge a bullet - for now; Samaritan Hospital negligent-credentialing
lawsuit over without a trial. www.answersforlisa.blogspot.com""tried to share this
using the share button but it did not work, so heres the direct linkIts a
documentary, focusing on the alternative cancer treatment known as Gerson therapy,
another film i believe by the title of ""the forbidden cancer cures"" had some
similar footage, but this movie is very interesting to see the conventional doctors
talk about how ""alternative medicine"" is a scam, or doesnt even exist!Check it
out, hope you enjoy watchinghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=DoUl7F7dWdE&feature=watch-now-button&wide=1""Consider the benefits for consumers
if dentists and patients were provided interactive Facebook access to the ADA's
recognized experts in dentistry. Currently, in the absence of evidence-based,
reliable information in dentalcare, the nation depends too heavily on vendorfriendly advertisements ��� which may or may not warn about harm their products
cause. In fact, I���ve found that numerous dental industry vendors aggressively
hide the danger of their products by censoring dentists��� concerns. Tell me how
unaccountability can possibly improve the care of dental patients?""This is so like
what my sister went through at University of Michigan. We thought at the time that
her story was unique. This is not the case. Who could ever believe that a hospital
would throw out a sick, dying person? Now we know, it happens all the time."Yes it
does!This is a very important story. Cindy Chapman died in 2009. Has there been
any follow-up? E.g. was there an investigation of the hospital? Any outcome?I
really do not know?http://truth-out.org/news/item/10524-former-fda-reviewer-speaksout-about-intimidation-retaliation-and-marginalizing-of-safety"The above article
explains just how the FDA used it's spy program to defeat the the good people
working for the public health, for the
benefit of industry profits. For anyone who still believes that anyone who has
risen to running government agencies are moral and righteous, and our government
avoids corruption because of ""American Exceptional-ism"" and all that, should read
the above article.'On another occasion a company clearly stated in a meeting that
they had ""paid for an approval.""'About half way down, we see pyridostigmine was
up for approval but did not work against the nerve gas that Saddam Hussein was
using, and in fact increase mortality rates for the nerve gas he was using. But the
reviewer who made objections was replaced before he could make his report with
someone who would approve it, and a waiver for informed consent was approved so it
could be used without telling providers of the dangers.""Of late I have been
thinking a great deal on social media etiquette for patient advocates and our
colleagues. I addressed quite a few point in this blog post. Please read and
consider commenting and sharing. Thank you.
http://reginaholliday.blogspot.com/2012/07/media-and-message.html?
showComment=1343333251609#c7987502032909145173""Those are both poignant and
practical suggestions about social media use - and they're particularly relevant
for our group. Thanks for the post, Regina."I had Scarlett Fever when I was 5.
Luckily it was in the 1970s when they had much better treatments.PS: Very good blog
post. Capture many things I've struggled with particularly in terms of tone and
managing my reactions to advocates who haven't reached the 6th stage."I had not
heard of the so-called ""6th stage of grief,"" that Regina Holliday referenced in
her blog post. Here's the link to the column by Trisha Torrey, where she apparently
coined the term: http://patients.about.com/od/medicalmistakessafety/a/ProactiveSurvivorship-The-Sixth-Stage-Of-Grief.htm."Regina's excellent guidance is the tool
with which to temper our contributions.I am glad I can help this incredibly vibrant
community do its good work!"I agree with the 6th stage of grief. After you have
taken care of yourself (as much as possible), it's time to take care of others and
others in the future by doing something! Don't just quit processing the bad event
when you can go no further for your own healing. There is more to be done that one
can do for others. Don't let anybody advise you to retire and fade into the
woodwork like an old stain.""Thanks, Garrick Sitongia. I'm curious what others in
the group who have suffered patient harm think about this 6th stage of grief. It
might be constructive for people who are in one of the other five stages of grief
to hear your thoughts. Anyone willing to share?""I think the concept of the 6th
stage of grief,describes how I live when I am at my strongest, and most involved in
medical reform. When I am able to tell my story in a way that empowers people, not
in a way that frightens them, or causes them to feel pity for me, I am living the
life my daughter would expect of me. That is when I can get people to listen, and
feel strong enough to tackle they system, even with baby steps. I think its a
wonderful concept.""On National Patient Safety Day, please take 61 seconds to watch
the Peggy Lillis Memorial Foundation's public service announcement and then click
""Share"" below to help prevent other families from losing a loved one to
preventable Clostridium difficile infections.""A beautiful piece, Christian. I
remain very sorry that you have had the occasion to learn about C. Diff. As you
have said, The price is unacceptably high for many of us, including you, who have
joined the ranks of patient safety advocates.""Very nice video, Christian John
Lillis. Thanks for sharing it. Sorry for the loss of your mom.""This is one welldocumented but rarely-discussed-with-patients risk factor for C diff: overuse or
misuse of proton pump inhibitors (drugs like like Prilosec, Prevacid and Nexium...)
this is a blog entry but there are numerous papers on this issue:
http://skepticalscalpel.blogspot.com/2012/06/overuse-of-proton-pump-inhibitorsis.html""Thanks, Noel. I've been looking to update our site with more information
about PPIs. Oddly, my mother never took them.""There are lots of ways to get C
diff. These PPI drugs are just one risk factor. Most inpatient cases of C diff
are preceded by an antibiotic and many outpatient cases are too. Some C diff cases
are mysterious and it's hard to know why they occurred or what could have been done
to prevent them or catch them early. The most interesting right now to me is
potentially focusing on early and effective treatment in addition to prevention.
This treatment seems odd, but there are indications that it may work better than
anything else in the current armamentarium:
http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2011/10/24/8419332-sounds-gross-works-great-fecaltransplants-cure-nasty-c-diff-infections?lite Getting over the ""ick"" factor may
be the biggest barrier to widespread use."
http://kingvalley.wordpress.com/2012/07/25/second-opinions/An anonymous Patterson
Dental representative has had just about enough of me."���Dr. Darrell Pruitt, to
answer your question, we have stated several times that there are many factors
which need to be taken into account on the topic of safety of both paper dental
records and electronic dental records.���OK then, Patterson Dental. I���ll
bite. Please share with me and my friends the factors you say must be taken into
account when comparing the security of electronic dental records to paper dental
records.���""We started our Facebook page to bring our community together online
to discuss advancements in dentistry and issues facing the industry today."" Prove
it. ""We would like to keep our community open to all view points and for everyone
to be able to participate. However, if you can't respect the community we've
created here with our employees, vendors, customers, and other industry leaders, we
will block you from further participation.""Remember. This started out as a simple
question about the safety of your product. But rather than address dentist and
dental patients' concerns, you would rather hide the danger of identity theft in
dentistry.Now let's have a look at those other factors that make the risk of
identity theft from paper dental records greater than from Eaglesoft products.Cc:
Dental Geeks Linkedin group and others. (Block me if you want, but the discussion
will continue without you).And what is the name of the anonymous Patterson employee
who is threatening me?""Patterson chooses censorship over truthRather than reveal
mysterious factors which an anonymous Patterson employee promised would prove that
paper dental records put patients at a higher risk of identity theft than Eaglesoft
EDRs, she chose to simply block me from the Patterson Dental Facebook. I guess I
didn���t realize Patterson Dental was such a sleazy company.""What I find
humorous about being kicked off Patterson Dental's Facebook was their reason: ""We
would like to keep our community open to all view points and for everyone to be
able to participate.""Isn't that a hoot! Did anyone notice people standing in line
to comment on the Patterson Facebook? I had no ideal I was in their way!""Dr. Larry
Emmott, do electronic dental records expose patients to a higher risk of identity
theft than paper dental records?""In the wake of the death of 12-year-old Rory
Staunton at a New York hospital, I collaborated with my ProPublica colleagues
Charles Ornstein and Tracy Weber to ask why medicine can't seem to fix simple
mistakes.Would love to hear your feedback on the topic!""...another reason to
enlist a professional or family Patient Safety Advocate to check lab values and
escalate the need for attention if the patient exhibits signs & symptoms of Sepsis.
To help prevent wrong-site surgery, insist that a Time-Out Confirmation is part of
the Informed Consent.""This is a good suggestion to follow IFthe doctors will
listen to the advocate. In our case, not only would no one listen to me (the
advocate), but the medical records showed they wouldn't listen to their own doctors
who recognized the need for action.So, it's a good suggestion IF someone is in
charge of the case.In our situation, the hospital was not in compliance with having
a patient complaint policy and procedures in place, which is a condition of
participation for Medicare. This gap was identified in a top-bottom survey
conducted on Medicare's behalf in 2010, a year after my daughter died of sepsis
from an undiagnosed spinal infection.So, it's a good suggestion IF the hospital has
a mechanism to interact with the advocate and to respond to the advocate's
concerns.I become concerned with the emphasis on civilians being encouraged to
believe that their advocacy can save their loved ones' lives. Under limited
circumstances, an advocate can make a real difference, and there were times in
other hospital episodes where I, as advocate, did make a difference and perhaps my
actions did extend my daughter's life, e.g. my noticing a drop in oxygen sats
before the staff did and my finding a nurse led to a Code Blue and successful
rescue during a medical emergency in another hospital.But ��� advocacy failed in
the end, because the culture of that last hospital was to placate, not act. Even
when those speaking up were their own staff members. No advocate will succeed
under those circumstances.We can advocate for change in hospital culture, but, in
the end, it is the hospitals that must take responsibility, and my experience is
that while some hospitals will respond to gaps in care with making changes ���
at least on paper ��� most will need outside pressure to become safer. It's a
situation similar to what happens in the airplane industry or the automobile
industry: safety
weighed against profit.And my impression is that hospitals are not even as
responsive as the airplane industry when it comes to safety issues."
"Congratulations on your success as an Advocate. Enlisting a professional or family
Patient Safety Advocate is not a guarantee of perfect outcomes but does positively
affect outcomes, as you found. If your physician and hospital do not provide
services to your standards find the ones that work for you."Some interesting
feedback and robust discussion taking place on this story on the ProPublica
website: http://www.propublica.org/article/why-cant-medicine-seem-to-fix-simplemistakes#comments"Thanks to Marshall Allen and the other writers. It ALWAYS helps
when those not intimately involved in the errors report on this ""phenomenon.""
It's always more useful---more believable to the public. So thank you, and I'll
save this article.""Too many hospitals still use the old hook-and-toss method to
lift and move patients rather than invest in proper lifting equipment and training.
Bad for patients, bad for nurses (who have many times more musculoskeletal injuries
than construction workers). NIOSH has been on this for years. Using proper lifting
equipment prevents injuries and saves hospitals money (reduced lost work days,
workers comp). The failure of hospitals to change is a disturbing indication of
institutional resistance in the face of strong, consistent evidence in study after
study. Shouldn't nurses' backs matter?""for us laypersons, what's the hook and toss
method?""Grab the patient under the arms to haul them from one location to another,
such as from a chair to a bed. For more info, here's the CDC webpage on it:
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/safepatient/""Patient Safety Day World National
Globalwww.patientsafetyday.comWorld Patient Safety Day Moment of Silence July 25
annually safe quality health care medical error prevention reduce cost of health
care save lives Lucian Nightingale Codman award..""Patterson Dental employees Jamie
Vee and Jim Sieg evade questions about the safety of Eaglesoft:Isn't there anyone
from Patterson Dental who can answer this dentist's simple question? Are dental
patients more likely to have their identities stolen through electronic dental
records than paper records. It's a simple question that doesn't require a paragraph
of evasion, Jamie Vee and Jim Sieg. Yes or no. Quit hiding.
https://www.facebook.com/pattersondental""This statistic in records security
breaches is understandable considering a medical culture which considers errors and
accidents ""risk factors."" It isn't a stretch then for medicine to consider
general incompetence in everything to be just a risk factor."I know of no other
business in the nation which can point-blank ignore customers' questions about the
safety of their product."I continue to question Patterson Dental���s ethics,
Facebook to Facebook��_Dear Patterson Dental officials: I know of no other
business in the nation which is allowed to ignore customers' concerns about the
safety of their product. Since EHRs are arguably medical devices, I think the FDA
should be informed of your carelessness. And if you cannot provide evidence that
Eaglesoft offers a return on investment for dentists, I think the FTC should be
informed about deceptive advertisements as well.Please answer the question: Are
dental patients more likely to have their identities stolen through electronic
dental records than paper records?""So what is your response, Patterson Dental?
This customer is waiting.""Still able to practise despite the NSW Supreme Court
today ordering him to pay more than $1.7 million in damages and finding him guilty
of professional misconduct. Mark Phung, whose practice is in the south-west suburb
of Beverly Hills, saw patient Todd Dean 53 times in one year after Mr Dean was
struck on the chin by a piece of wood in a workplace accident in 2001.
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/17m-fine-for-cheating-dentist-patient-had-75000-ofunnecessary-work-20120725-22q04.html""Today is National Patient Safety Day. Please
remember those who have died or been harmed because of unsafe healthcare, and at
the same time honor those health caregivers who give their all to provide safe high
quality care every day.""So many more ""patient safety soldiers"" are now on the
front lines of helping others protect themselves from avoidable harm...I commend
everyone that continues to discuss the somber and sometimes embarassing issues in
an effort to educate and keep the dialog going.""So it's never considered good form
to get too controversial online, especially when the controversy's centered on
group participants. Rather than post my reflections herein, I'll link to them:
http://www.hospitalpatientadvocate.com/?p=1666"If your goal is change then you need
engagement and good medical professionals should be considered allies. Some of you
discuss the House of Medicine like it's a single entity worthy of disdain. That's a
simplistic view. The system is broken but the people involved in health care are
overwhelmingly caring and competent."You make a good point, Tom Bouthillet. I talk
to doctors and nurses all the time who realize the system is broken and are doing
what they can to bring about reform. Much of the time they're frustrated because
there are so many things that impede their efforts. And you're right that we do
need to ensure that comments in this forum are not painting medical providers as a
whole in a negative light. I think it's a challenge when so many people have been
harmed, then ignored, shunned, etc. But it is possible to do and important to
remember in a forum like this, which includes members of all different
backgrounds.""Just a reminder that you can find our guidelines about the
constructive tone we're trying to set in this facebook group in the ""files""
section of this page. The document is called ""How to Participate...""""I agree and
have said to others on here that we need to be careful not to paint with too broad
a brush regarding the medical community. That said, my mother's death makes me
enormously empathetic toward those who feel like the system as a whole is against
them and, in far too many cases, there is collusion within and between bad actors.
For that reason, I think it's important that we are all sensitive to the very real
pain and suffering that contributes to some patient advocates' hostility toward the
healthcare system writ large. This is made worse by the very real power imbalance
wherein the healthcare industry is overwhelmingly more powerful than patient
advocacy groups. While we do not want to perpetuate or amplify such
generalizations, I also worry that we might overcompensate and reinforce the belief
that those who are harmed are being ignored or dismissed.""As a victim of
fraud,cover up and abuse I have a different view. I no longer see medical
professionals as people who should ever be trusted.""I would advocate ""trust but
verify"". The best patient advocates I know are medical professionals.""Patient
advocates are hired by hospitals to protect the hospital. During my illness none of
them did a thing. In fact, they were bent on protecting the hospital.""KariAnn Having three doctors and two nurses in my family as well as many other docs and
healthcare workers among my friends, I can assure you that there are many
physicians who are trustworthy. OTOH, the experience of my mother's death makes me
very sympathetic to your feelings. I think that's where Tom's urging that we
""trust but verify"" is the way to go. Another patient advocate that I know
recently said that she thinks most harm (not all but most) is the result of
mistakes, errors, and omissions not purposeful. To me, that means that we have to
be clear that all the HCWs that we interact with are fallible (yes, a few are
malicious or sociopathic) and for both reasons we have to vigilant about our and
our loved ones care.""You've had bad experiences and I'm sorry. But I'm not talking
about the job title ""patient advocate"". I'm talking about the Atul Gawandes and
Peter Provovosts of the world."Christian John Lillis Exactly. We need to learn from
industries like aviation to reduce error. Human beings aren't perfect but we all
expect perfection from medicine."Kariann, what were the patient advocates who you
engaged titles and roles? For instance, social worker, RN, risk manager, chaplain,
mission director?""Christian, at some point in a hospitalization gone bad due to
omissions, commissions, errors, and the entire systemic experience turns a corner,
like a ship flipping over or a theatre gone dark. The patient-family experience
seems/becomes systemically purposeful, and we then may have trouble working through
the causes. For instance, I distinguish between people who might deal with me
honestly as their own person, distinct from dishonestly as a cog in or
representative of a system. Huge difference what I may be faced with in some moment
as an advocate for a hospitalized loved one. My sister, a retired Newborn ICU
nurse, was more outraged and devastated by the details and totality of each of our
parents terminal hospitalizations than I was. I see our jobs more as calligraphers,
needing to paint bold strokes with strong brushes that spell out clear messages
without smearing the canvas.""Bart - I don't disagree and have had my share of bad
experiences with hospitalizations in my family but I do think we need to
distinguish between sick systems where we need to pressure externally and provide
support to individuals who share our vision for reform, and individual bad actors
who through incompetence or evil intent cause harm.""Overall the system is
inherently and in fact quite good! It saves and adds decades to lives. The trouble
is in risk management; twice bitten, a zillion times shy.""I think
the system allows individual bad actors, and cadres of bad actors to co-exist with
the good with the two rarely crossing paths. The medical system is a case of the
right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing. The system should be reengineered specifically to make this situation difficult to create or exist.A
patient who was medically injured and who represents the possibility of a large
financial threat will be handled and not be told the truth. They are funneled to
specific doctors who are the cover-up patient experts. Or if the injured victim
chooses a doctor independently, that doctor will recognize medical malpractice and
will find out the story behind the injury, and will use a technique to manage the
patient and not tell them the truth. The techniques doctors use to manage us are
what we victims perceive as abuse.""The system from my standpoint becomes very
flawed once damage is done through error, finding people willing to help is beyond
challenging and even if you do then finding resolution becomes an impossibility it
seems or at least that's what it feels like.... there are a lot of factors involved
and from what I noticed even the best attempts do not succeed when there is a lot
that was done to keep mistakes hidden or at bay. I believe advocates truly care
and want to see help or change come and I am sure there's several things that can
affect resolution whether the hospitals or doctors involved are more powerful than
the team you have trying to get resolution, it can be frustration, it can be
intentional ..... There are so many factors that leave patients who are injured not
knowing where to turn who to trust who will really help and not give in due to
pressure or if it's too challenging.....this whole healthcare system, process,
structure scares me....we need to start seeing real changes while the patient is
still alive, while there is a chance to help.....we need to believe in hope, of
possibilities , of options, a way out or up, errors being fixed, voices given to
the silenced, we need to see change.....all of my life I believed you can change
your circumstances, you could work our way out, think a solution up, make phone
calls write letters, you could fix the wrongs, I have tried everything I could do
with my own ability and they ( a combination of doctors, hospitals, etc who make
the mistakes and much worst the ones who don't fix or turn a cheek) in my opinion
rule the arena, control the market, own the playing field.....I pray for the day
when there are more ways to help or change the system or level the playing field.
There are so many good doctors, honest healthcare personnel, etc but there's so
much of the opposite and so much damage being done that its hard to see it.
Nothing should be painted with a broad stroke that is correct it's just a very
rough situation for so many of us especially if you are one of the ones that can
still be helped. We are constantly reminded of the good Samaritan story in the
bible there are so many good Samaritans out there now we just have to get them
together with the patients/ injured and try to change the damage hopefully in time
when possible and for when it's too late implement the change that could have fixed
the error.""Garrick Sitongia, I assume you mean that if a patient chooses a doctor
independently, and that doctor will find out the story, the story will be told by
the injured patient to this doctor. What if the patient chooses to not say one word
about the circumstances that lead to the injury or about the previous doctor? How
would this silence affect the technique used to ""manage"" (I really dislike this
word and the implication) the patient?""This is the flip-side to a litigious
society. When the lawyers get involved you're not going to get cooperation. I'm not
saying that malpractice doesn't happen, and errors most certainly happen, but
process improvement doesn't generally involve the injured patient unless it's part
of a settlement. It's not ideal, but that's the reality when scumbag personal
injury attorneys advertise on T.V. I personally think it's helpful to involve
patient advocates before an error happens at the policy or system building level.
For example, Jan Vick from SC Voices for Patient Safety is actively involved with
the SC Hospital Association and the SC Chapter of AHA Mission: Lifeline. Her twin
sister died from a medical error. Having a patient representative in the room helps
cut through narrow turf wars, political barriers, or business interests that do not
necessarily align with patients interests. I'd like to see more transparency as far
as how hospitals address clinical quality and error prevention. This would
accomplish two things. First, more people would know that there are a lot of very
caring and competent people working in clinical quality already, and second,
hospitals would have to invest more in solutions and commit to implementation
beyond what is required from JCAHO, CMS, and state regulatory offices (which
already require a lot of reporting, including sentinel events).""Malpractice injury
is quite a different in diagnosis than natural disease or accident. The patient may
not say anything, but the doctor is not naive that litigation might happen if the
patient is given evidence of malpractice by the doctor making a correct diagnosis.
It doesn't matter how many caring competent medical people are in the room with the
injured patient. Each of them is caught between conflicting loyalties. Their wish
to help the patient and the real consequences if they betray their profession. I
have read a few stories of medical people having their careers cut short from
helping the patient. The hospital opens an investigation on them, exaggerates or
manufactures claims of incompetence against them, and lets them go. They now have
that on their employment record. A few weeks ago there was someone in this group
who related how that happened to her. Here is a re-post from one of these forums.
http://www.wvrecord.com/news/225508-former-employee-sues-select-specialty-hospitalcharleston-for-unlawful-termination""For every horror story posted on the internet
there are a thousand stories of compassion, caring, and curing that you don't hear
about. It matters very much how many competent and caring medical professionals are
in the room. You may think a monstrous, health care boogeyman lurks behind every
shadow but the reality is that nurses advocate for patients every day and most of
the time the people working in the clinical quality department are nurses who will
not automatically take the physician's side if the physician has acted
inappropriately or incompetently. This is why physicians derisively speak about the
""brief case nurses"" who are ""taking over health care"". There are two sides to
every story but in health care there are probably a dozen sides to every story. To
put it another way, the truth is complicated. Nurses complain about staffing all
the time (and I agree with them most of the time). That doesn't mean that a nurse
who complained about staffing was fired unjustly.""Garrick hit the nail right on
the head....even when you dont have a lawyer even when the patient just wants the
situation resolved, the threat of or the possibility that somethig could be done
actually inhibits getting help, I have tried not telling them what is wrong, I have
gone in with a blank slate after being seen by 30 doctors when we knew what was
wrong and couldnt get help....it still didnt work, whether they dont want the risk
themselves to get involved or they dont want to be the one to confirm the injury
further I have seen and heard more than I ever would want to or any patient ever
should. I think if we had people who could and would tell our stories (of course
after they can be verified) I think people would be shocked to see sometimes what
is allowed to go on...we hear after the fact we hear after death how about follow
someone going through it? how about see it happening maybe that would
help........its not only the injury its what occurs for years after that its like a
bad nightmare you cannot get out of.......there are so many good people and doctors
out there, so many good advocates its a matter of bringing it together........I did
everything I begged for help I didnt scream I let them figure it out I went through
years of being told I had anything and everything else, most people dont want to
sue most people just want help. I am in the process of hopefully telling my story
and I pray that it opens some eyes but does good; first is to get me help thats
going to be a hurdle itself its been attempted several times but theres always
politics or something that interferes with resolution but my dream is to bring
patients and the healthcare personnel.system together, open our eyes to whats not
working. There is so much good out there .....there are so many amazing doctors
but there is so much preventable illness injuries occurring that if they dont kill
the patient are slowly taking their lives. We can meet in the middle both sides
just have to open their eyes and see it from both sides....and want it to change"
"Thanks for the comments, Tom Bouthillet, but I do have to wonder how the wonderful
care provided by many doctors and nurses, and their advocacy on behalf of patients,
relates to the hundreds of thousands of cases of preventable harm suffered by
patients. I'm not sure if you saw my recent post on the OIG investigation into
Medicare harm, but their review of records found harm to about one-in-four Medicare
patients. And then they followed up to find that a mere one percent of those cases
was reported to state sentinel event and HAI reporting systems, because hospital
administrators said the preventable harmful events were considered mere
complications. I'm not sure how one would define a ""monstrous,
health care bogeyman,"" but a reasonable person could say that this ongoing,
systemic situation would qualify. Your thoughts?""The devil is in the details. I'm
a big fan of both Atul Gawande MD and Peter Pronovost MD who have helped reduce
preventable harm. See ""The Science of Safety"" on YouTube for example. Do you
remember in the 1980s when aviation started reporting near misses? You couldn't
turn on the news without hearing about two jets that almost collided. You'd think
aviation was incredibly unsafe! As more patient safety experts start redefining
what preventable harm actually means, and more reports come out showing infection
rates, the more conspiracy theorists will equate doctors and nurses with Jack the
Ripper. In a perfect world no one would get sick and no one would die. But human
beings do get sick and they do die. Human beings are prone to making mistakes
(Pronovost makes the comparison to pilots -- they get tired and pull the wrong
knob). The difference is that in aviation this still happens a lot -- but they
catch it. Building safe systems is definitely on the radar in health care and there
is a patient safety movement that builds momentum every day. I agree with those who
have said this is about risk management. Whether we call them ""complications"" or
""adverse events"" or ""preventable infections"" doesn't matter as long as it is
being measured. I did not intend to take the position of ""defender of the health
care system"" because the reality is that I am a critic. Friends of the health care
system cannot afford to be flatterers of the health care system. Having said that,
change can only come by working within the system, however much we would like to
dream of tearing it down and starting over from scratch."Preventable deaths in the
aviation industry in 2011 = 0."Tom Bouthillet, you are right, the aviation stories
were in the news. Each one of them. And it worked. But in the medical industry I
doubt 0.1% of preventable deaths make it into the news. The aviation industry had
to improve because of the bad publicity. When an accident happens in the aviation
industry, perhaps hundreds of people may be seriously affected. The medical
industry has a different situation. The preventable death of a single person spread
out and multiplied over the country 250 times a day isn't reported. The medical
industry safety record hasn't noticeably improved over the last 10 years, because
unlike the aviation industry, there is little real pressure in the form of
publicity to make it improve."Garrick well said. We are all looking for change and
truth be told yes medical error is occasionally being reported but nothing compared
to how often it's happening. The medical error/mistake is one point what happens
after I believe is a whole other entity."If you want better public reporting of
errors then you should advocate for tort reform. A lot of the reporting is done
internally through the quality assurance process and is not discoverable in
litigation. That's different, you will note, from not reporting errors at all."Tom
- Tort reform as a solution to medical errors is a red herring."Where did I suggest
that? It's not a ""solution to medical error"" but the constant threat of a medical
malpractice lawsuit is a barrier to transparency which is indispensable for process
improvement. Human error is complex but there are tools to deal with it (for
example, the Human Factors Analysis and Classification System or HFACS). In any
other enlightened industry human error is decriminalized to encourage reporting and
solutions are non-punitive. It's a real problem and calling it a ""red herring""
does not make it so."I didn't say you suggested it. It's a time worn talking point
for those who want to protect large corporations and institutions from legal action
by individuals - one of the few options left in a political system largely run by
corporations. Your position assumes that transparency should be a choice rather
than a function of regulation.Here's a reality check. If you punish people for
making mistakes they will become really good at hiding mistakes and deflecting
blame. If you think you can change that through regulation you are sorely mistaken.
"That's not a ""reality check"". That's perpetuating a series of myths that are
really good for institutions, really bad for people. There are mistakes and then
there are patterns. In Infection Control, it's not a mistake that 50% of doctors
don't wash their hands between patients, that's a cultural problem that needs to be
addressed not by removing the right of patients to sue for harm caused to them by
individual's poor hand hygiene but by making the costs of not washing higher than
the taking the 20 seconds between each patient to do so. There are many, many
problems with our healthcare system none of which tort reform will fix.""That
problem is being addressed in a much more effective and constructive manner than
lawsuits. Tort reform is not a panacea but process improvement must be non-punitive
to create the kind of culture that lends itself to patient safety. In other words,
there are many problems within our health care system that lawsuits will not fix,
and many more that lawsuits make more difficult to fix.""Process improvement should
not be related to lawsuits at all. It should be done to prevent deaths, injuries
and billions in extra health care costs. I have three doctors in my family. None of
them wants to infect a patient or leave a sponge in a patient. In far too many
states, tort reform has already severely limited patients and their families
ability to get justice and compensation for harm. That it takes lawsuits to spur
improvement is a more stunning indictment of the status quo than I could levy."
"There are times that a legal remedy is appropriate and an injured party's only
course for justice. On the other hand, malpractice lawsuits are often a source of
significant injustice for doctors and hospitals. Feel free to consult the doctors
in your family on this point. I'll be astounded if they don't agree. Defensive
medicine is expensive for patients and health care in general. The rights of
patients have to be balanced against the rights of health care professionals and
justice should be served for everyone involved to whatever extent possible. Health
care is in need of reform but no one wants to give an inch. In my opinion, tort
reform does not (or should not) mean that patients ought not be allowed to sue but
that judgements should be based on medical science and not emotion, and damages
should be reasonable. I don't blame physicians for getting out of medicine or
talented students for choosing other fields. It can be adversarial and demoralizing
and people expect perfection. It's easy to judge. So easy.""I am going to get a lot
of slack for saying this but hey what the heck......today compared to 10 years ago
there are less errors reported, less malpractice suits and even when they are filed
the percentage where the patient wins is disgustingly low i believe the reported
percentage was under 5%- it feels like we are unprotected, un American definitely
not the land of the free and brave and thats when the system is in the
doctors/hospitals favor but years ago there were more errors reported, more
lawsuits were allowed and patients won more.. there were less complications....I
get what you are saying that if you punish someone for mistakes they will report
them less but truth be told the evidence supports something else...when they were
punished it actually was more effective,,, I think its a direct link to being given
more freedom to do what u want...sorry sounds terrible who would want to believe
that human beings could live with themself or operate like that but dont shoot the
messenger analyze the facts........ when they changed the laws in 2002/2003? all
they did was make it almost impossible to see any kind of justice done, give
freedom to doctors with little governing body or authority over them, basically the
only ones that make out are the patients who get the doctors that truly love what
they do live and breathe it and are amazing at it....listen its not just doctors
its that way for everything in life we just pay a higher price with doctors....if
you go to a subway and order a sandwich and that person is tired or having
relationship problems or arrogant or just there because they need a job and dont
care what they are doing you are likely to get a crappy sandwich and if he had a
boss that didnt care or see that their duties are met it kicks off a series of
adverse reactions...they dont clean the store up, wash their hands, make proper
sandwiches, etc so you get a sucky sandwich, you get treated poorly when you are
ordering, the food in the sandwich may not be fresh and you can get sick and if
they dont wash their hands you may get bacteria, etc etc etc see the point ????? I
just pray something works and soon......""A study by the Office of the Inspector
General for the Department of Health and Human Services has found that doctors and
hospitals are reporting only 14 percent of their mistakes when caring for Medicare
patients, raising disturbing questions about accountability and quality of care in
the nation���s medical facilities.A Clear Attempt To Avoid ResponsibilityTo err
is human. The problem is, unlike most professionals, when doctors mess up, people
die.""Also like most people, doctors don���t like to admit their
mistakes���and the stakes of taking responsibility for negative outcomes are
much higher than for your average office drone. Doctor error can expose health
workers to millions in liability for malpractice and wrongful death, so they have
even greater incentive to brush their ���oops��� moments under the proverbial
rug. Indeed, last week���s survey results made it clear that under reporting of
error has
reached epidemic proportions.""Unfortunately, it���s not just the victims who
suffer and die when mistakes get covered up. Ultimately, anyone who might pass
through the hospital in the future is put at risk. ���The reporting of medical
errors leads to corrective action to prevent future similar mistakes,""Actually,
KariAnn, the OIG found that hospitals were only reporting about 1 percent of cases
of patient harm. I wrote about it a few days ago on this site. There's a link to
the study, too. The problem, in part, was that hospital folks considered the
preventable harm to patients complications of the procedures.""The numbers are
dropping if people start doing accurate reporting and investigation....it all goes
back to its just people talking until someone dives in does the research and
reports on it. the numbers thrown out there were 10 percent and then like Marshall
wrote in his article when they did the study and researched further they were
reporting only 1 percent of errors do we get the magnitude of that? One out of a
100 that's unimaginable, unacceptable, unthinkable but yet it exists How is it our
fault that they are not reporting or lying 99 percent and does that finally show
people how unsafe it is. Something else to show its not the patients/people's
fault someone had suggested it could be because of the threat of legal
ramifications well I had seen an article someone had posted recently and I am not
exact on the numbers but close without having it in front of me but the percentage
of patients that were injured by error/malpractice that were able to bring a suit
was 10 percent or under and only 4 percent are successful so 96 percent of allowed
reported malpractice got away with it and 90 percent of injured patients as a whole
are unable to do anything about it.....do u have any idea what it does to a
patients life? Their family? The patients after them......if I had the money if I
had a dream I would do a documentary right now, a tv show....there's a major
epidemic going on and the affects it has moving forward is unimaginable what about
the children in those households of the ones who died? My household others
households where the children have to suffer from it or where the children are
injured and the parents have to watch the person they love most suffer.....this
isn't just mistakes.....mistakes happen and I do know here are amazing doctors,
nurses, etc but in my opinion it is the minority or that's what it seems like I
don't know what the answer is but I do know more focus needs to be put on it, eyes
need to be opened, education needs to occur, if u re confident in life u would want
to know if u are doing something wrong, should want to improve, what happended to
being the best at what u do, striving for excellence, putting smiles on people's
faces? Medicine has changed and it can't be taken lightly we need doctors we need
nurses we need surgeons......we need help.....""I agree with Tom Bouthillet that
legal liability is a major reason for hiding data, falsification of records. I am
sure it is why my own medical pathology report about my injury was ""lost."" And it
is why I get a ""wall of silence"" when I try to get help from doctors about my
injury. But the lawsuit is the only remedy our culture provides victims with today.
If there is to be tort reform, there darn well must be something else in addition
to the lawsuit to help victims get access to medical repair and compensation than
they get today.""Actually we don't need ""tort reform."" And that phrase is
misinformation. What they want is more accurately termed ""litigation
discouragement."" What the public needs is an easier, more sure path to discovery,
diagnosis, and recovery due to medical malpractice. Victims will get what they need
without using the legal system. And then the legal business will have fewer cases
to cherry pick from, without restricting lawsuits.""Has anyone ever shared an
experience with you about their medical care and asked: What can I do to make the
system better? Have you ever felt helpless or vulnerable at the doctor���s
office? Have you ever thought: If you could just get together with others and
learn what has worked for them, you would feel more in control at the doctor���s
office and in a hospital?Well now you can! Start a Cautious Patient Community and
become informed and involved! Here's how
http://www.cautiouspatientcommunities.org"Samaritan Hospital defends disgraced
former doctor as negligent-credentialing trial nears.
http://www.answersforlisa.blogspot.com"""banned from performing medical research on
humans after he and a colleague were accused of experimenting on dying brain cancer
patients without university permission.""""Just answer the question, Patterson
DentalJamie Vee, Patterson Dental territory representative out of the Minnesota
branch, this dentist has no more patience for evasive representatives. So please
don't attempt to brush me off with dead end links again. All I ask of you is an
answer to this simple, straightforward question: Will electronic dental records put
my patients at greater risk of identity theft than paper dental records? Yes or
no?""You can read the introduction and the book from this link. Powerful.
http://www.furtherfield.org/friendsofspork/tlc.html""Thank you for posting this. I
wanted any interested person to be able to read this book, whether or not they had
money to buy the book. For those who prefer to hold a book in their hands, The
Last Collaboration is available at"http://www.sporkworld.org/Deed/tlc.htmlThank you
for writing this book with Millie and sharing it with everyone. I could not stop
reading it and was shaking my head throughout. All healthcare workers should read
this book."Demanding transparency in dental careIt���s my opinion that when
ANYONE advertises their electronic dental records to attract new patients, ethics
as well as the Hippocratic Oath demand that potential customers be warned about the
increased risk of identity theft over paper dental records. From my experience, I
don���t expect anyone to attempt to argue against such common sense in
dentistry. Not long, anyway.""Metro Dentalcare, a huge dental franchise corporation
which operates more than 40 offices in Minnesotahttp://www.metro-dentalcare.com/,
purchased four internet press releases advertising the franchises��� electronic
dental records. Only one of the paid venues, GNT (Generation of New Technology),
permits comments following Metro Dentalcare���s ad. Andrea Goodall is listed as
the company���s contact person, so I contacted the PR specialist hard:Dear
Andrea Goodall, Metro Dentalcare in Minneapolis, Minnesota:I just read your article
""Transition to electronic dental records and digital x-ray improves efficiency and
accuracy, providing seamless patient care across locations.""http://us.generationnt.com/metro-dentalcare-transitions-electronic-record-keeping-digital-press3667961.html Isn't it true that Minneapolis dental patients are at a higher risk
of identity theft from electronic dental records than from paper records?Since this
is an important question, I'll email it to you in case you don't notice it here,
following your article.D. Kellus Pruitt DDS""We in this group have a particular
focus borne of real experiences. Here in Colorado many of us find ourselves
tangentially touched by the Aurora Theater Shooting, suddenly in the company of
people whose friends were among the victims. Here's a more uplifting medical story
from that place: http://wp.me/pvbjj-aa"CJ&D on apology and early offer programs...
"4th World MRSA Day Kickoff Event & Global MRSA Summit Sept. 29th in Chicago.
Keynote Speaker Dr. William R. Jarvis - leading world renowned MRSA expert and ID
specialist, formerly with the CDC. An event that brings the community and
healthcare industry together to unite in raising awareness to the global epidemic.
For more information: http://www.worldMRSAday.org""Amid reports the actor/producer
accidentally overdosed on pain medication, his mother has spoken to the New York
Post, revealing she tried to talk her son out of having five teeth removed in a
day, two weeks before his death""My letter to the editor is the second one down. I
am hoping to get the message across that Davita does have a history of harm and
dismissal of patients. Why would we want them in Maine?
http://bangordailynews.com/2012/07/22/opinion/monday-july-23-2012-lepages-commentsdavita-and-gay-marriage/""A really strong letter, Kathy. It is concise, yet
includes all of the essentials. Finger crossed here for a positive outcome to your
efforts."Patient advocates like Kathy Day willingly stand up to protect our family
members and our community against profiteers that are tone-deaf to patient harm.
Support Kathy Day and insist on healthcare that is affordable and responds to
human need."Thank you for establishing this much needed group, for myself
personally, for the million women who have contacted the HERS Foundation about
medical abuse they experienced at the hands of doctors who were enabled by
hospitals.One in three women undergo hysterectomy by age 60 in the US, and 73% of
hysterectomized women's ovaries are removed during a hysterectomy. The ovaries are
the female gonads. Removal of the ovaries or testes is castration. Watch the
informative 4:45sec trailer of HERS Conference to hear what hysterectomized women,
doctors and lawyers talk about the outrage everyone should feel that this is being
done to another woman every minute of every day. Rarely - if ever - are women
provided with the information required for 'Informed Consent'."It is also important
to know that of those women who need to have a gyn surgery for cancer almost 35%
will develop PTSD and of those who have gyn surgery for a benign condition up to
15% will as well. This surgery is traumatic emotionally as well as physically."I
had no idea the stats were so high. On another group, we're discussing how uterine
bleeding is caused by serotonin drugs and their increased use since 1987, esp in
women. Excuse if this was covered in video."
http://www.alive.com/articles/view/23507/bridging_the_divide"Lawyers in Samaritan
Hospital 'negligent-credentialing"" lawsuit battle over prior cases against former
doctor. http://bit.ly/LsDlr8"This is exactly the kind of information people need to
have. Thanks for posting this."After reviewing x-rays and patient charts, that
dentist concluded Duyzend had done ���fraudulent root canals on almost every
patient in the practice��� and that many were done poorly. More than 200
patients have filed malpractice claims against Duyzend."IF NO ONE STOPS OR AT LEAST
INFORMS PATIENTS OF DENTISTS THAT ARE ON PROBATION FOR REPEATED GROSS NEGLIGENT
CONDUCT YOU MIGHT BE JUST ANOTHER VICTIM OF A DENTIST'S HARMFUL PATTERN.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Pass-Tinas-Bill/"PPPHC folks: Like Joleen I sent
an essay to the Mayo Clinic to enter their forthcoming healthcare social media
conference scholarship. If anyone's so moved I'd appreciate your ""like"" and tweet
or other broadcasting the effort to qualify. First round based on social
likeability and commenting; final round judged on the essay's merits by Mayo
personnel. Mine's up at http://socialmedia.mayoclinic.org/?p=2642""to Like, go to
the essay link and use the like button below the essay :)""Nice job! I was
fortunate to be able to advocate for my mother and was the one who initiated the
hospice process, not the hospital staff or physicians, when she had metastatic lung
cancer. I was able to bring her home where she was able to make decisions regarding
her care and was able to die on her own terms. Although helping her through the
dying process was difficult for me, it made her happy. I will never regret having
her at home on hospice when she was finally at peace.""BTW - you got my ""LIKE""!"
"Thanks Julie! I think I can understand the difficulties in helping a loved one die
at home. Altogether, tho, magnitudes easier than the stuff of a hospitalized
demise.""Lots of new info on CMS' Hospital Compare and Nursing Home Compare
websites. Inappropriate imaging usage in outpatient settings, inappropriate use of
anti-psychotic drugs in nursing homes, and nursing home deficiency reports are all
now posted. Likewise, there's updated infection, adverse event, readmission and
mortality data posted for each hospital. There's still a (long) ways to go to
improve the site to my liking, but it looks like the agency is trying to broaden
its attention to transparency.""Cheryl Clark - there are plans in the works to
migrate the individual ""Compare"" websites to an even easier, integrated format on
data.medicare.gov""Have you ever seen a ""Top Doctor"" plaque on your doctor's
wall? It's a sham! They paid for the plaque! There was no vetting, no look at
that doctor's track record. Even criminal doctors have them!""DON'T BE FOOLED BY
""BOARD CERTIFIED"" EITHER...DENTISTS THAT ARE BOARD CERTIFIED CAN ALSO BE
PROBATIONER DENTISTS on probation for harming several patients with repeated gross
negligent conduct."http://abcnews.go.com/Health/top-doctor-awards-deserved-abcnews-investigation/story?id=16771628#.UAVgE7Se6S_Interesting Johns Hopkins Walls
are covered with TOP DOTOR PLACQUES. Some of those doctors are so stupid it is a
disgrace that they are allowed to call themselves doctors."Did you research your
cell phone plan more than your surgeon? The information is now easily obtainable:
Medical school accredited? Time from graduation to start of residency, advanced
certifications, history of licensure, admitting privileges ever suspended, history
of malpractice filings, national criminal background check. This is about the same
level of vetting for any new employee.""Did you know my former dentist's actual
history of repeating gross negligent conduct to several patients and fraudulently
billing patients and Medicaid was NEVER even on a website...I was supposed to just
accept an apology from the Dental Board executive now that I'm irreparably damaged
facing surgery 5 and with no hope to restore. Corruption and conspiracy keeps
incompetent, drug/alcohol addicted, grossly negligent dentists licensed in my
experience. Sorry Doug Hall not every dentist is forthcoming and the Dental Board
fails too."Again: it does no good to research the information on any surgeon if you
are having surgery in a teaching hospital because you are NOT going to be operated
on by that already-practicing surgeon. You are going to be operated on by a
resident trainee."When discussing your procedure with your surgeon make it a point
of your Informed Consent that you want only your physician to perform the procedure
and that no students, interns, residents, manufacturer's representatives or lookyloo's are to be present during the procedure.""and this must be done in writing,
with signatures and dates."This is exactly why I believe cameras should be rolling
at the place of treatment during the treatment...I will never ever trust a dentist
again and no matter what the Informed Consent Document represents the fact remains
too many professionals I've trust failed to be honest."In my sub-section of
healthcare, dentistry, it is the recommendation of a crown when a filling will do.
It is the intent to ""find"" a maximum amount of work on each patient. It is the
diagnosis for deep cleaning where a regular cleaning would do. ""Aggressive
diagnosis"" is also a survival response""I'm not endorsing this type of up-selling,
especially in healthcare, but healthcare is a business and the doctrine of caveat
emptor applies - the buyer has a responsibility to understand the terms, need and
outcome of the transaction."So you believe selling irreversible dental procedures
is equal to the caveat emptor used in the process of selling a car Doug Hall? The
law clearly states ethical reasons why caveat emptor is not acceptable...Patient
and public safety measures are written into law so that professionals don't abuse
their position by deviating from the paramount interest for patient and public
safety.I tell them what I will accept...or I don't go back...end of that story!I am
always learning - can you cite about that which you are referring??"If some greedy
professional deviates from the priority of patient/public safety measures they lean
on their financial ability to ""lawyer up"" and find an ""apparatus of compromise""
to keep them licensed and no matter what...they act in concert to deviate from the
law as they conceal their actual misconduct from the public."Senate B&P 1601.2
"Marshall asked me to describe my work to the group, specifically my book, Notes
from the Waiting Room: Managing a Loved One���s (End of Life) Hospitalization,
and how it relates to harm. I���ll make this a two part post. First the
backstory, then the book. I prefer shorter posts in these forums but don���t
know how to do this as a soundbite.Notes from the Waiting Room���BackstoryNotes
is based on my experience as a patient-family member and proxy during each of my
parents ~3-week terminal hospitalizations: Mom (80) January 2005 and Dad (84)
April-May 2006. The book���s genesis occurred during these events. Dad happily
scootered himself in for elective pacemaker eligibility testing, thinking to return
to Colorado to finish his life near us (today I���d question the whole notion of
pacemaker from a range of perspectives; then I didn���t know enough). Medical
harm was part of Dad���s demise; he had crashed medically associated with
pacemaker eligibility testing and contracted nosocomial urinary tract MRSA due to
wrong-size catheterization. His bloodstream became infected; it lodged in his
wrist. The worst aspect came when we abandoned treatment; draining the wrist
infection required general surgery due to his greatly compromised heart (two bypass
op���s starting 19 years prior). We viewed the procedure as logical and nonheroic. Dad stipulated no intubation (Mom, suffering sudden respiratory failure,
had lain intubated for her entire hospitalization (ICU) and he didn���t want to
end up that way). The several anesthesiologists declined but failed to fully
explain why, citing only ���it���d violate our principle of ���do no
harm.��Ȋ�� Too stunned and naive in advocacy, I failed to say ���you���ve
just handed me Dad���s death sentence.��� The lead, who acted as liaison for
his colleagues, failed in other ways: not asking what was behind the no intubation
stipulation���senseless on the face of it assuming one knew that intubation was
standard operating procedure���which we didn���t know. Nor did we know that
DNRs are suspended for surgeries and that post-op SOP stipulates reintroduction of
life-support technology for anywhere from 2-48 hours post-op depending upon the
facility. We didn���t know these things because we���d not been presented with
a surgical release form, which I would have read closely and questioned. The doc
failed to inform us and failed to offer a post-op time-based trial approach (a
phrase I encountered only months later while researching and writing Notes).
Neither the unit nor the facility asked why we were leaving. Nor were we asked,
during the otherwise careful 3-hour hospice intake, why we were entering hospice.
All the players failed to go the distance, myself included (I was, and we are, part
of ���the system���). I feel unendingly stupid, retrospectively. On the other
hand, by the time a patient-family has endured the day-in day-out nature of a
critical hospitalization where, for example, your loved isn���t being fed and
watered because of insufficient monitoring, and 10 days in you google ���end of
life symptoms���
out of curiosity about the odd behaviors your loved exhibits (but have not been
seen nor mentioned by staff) and find them listed on hospice websites as associated
with dying���well, weeks of this sort of stuff takes its toll on a patientfamily���s acuity. So Dad lucidly enrolled in the on-site hospice and more
quickly than expected became unavailable, so I never got the opportunity to say
goodbye; he died after 4 days. He was one of the 35-45% who are hospice patients
for only 4-7 days, a period of bodily active dying.And I���m not even going to
detail the nature of Mom���s hospitalization in a very callous ICU. The litany
spanned a gamut from small but annoying (slamming doors and too-loud nurses in
mom���s ICU) to medically dangerous (dropped items placed back in service) to
emotionally brutal (ill-timed, inept physician ���communication��� around
treatment and resuscitation choices in the context of making immediate decisions
with life and death implications that could, and should, have been discussed days
earlier, and which blunted the family���s ability to act as proxy in those
moments. And more���but members of this group are familiar with the type and
range of commissions and omissions that together form a hospitalization.We were a
small (the folks, my NICU-nurse sister, and me), cohesive, advance-planned family
who wound up in these circumstances regardless due to chance, naivete, and normal
human impetus."very sad that these are your last memories with your mother and
father. beyond sad really. thanks for sharing with others..."Yes, Robin, I carry
sadness over the overall nature of my parents' demises. It's tempered, however by:
��� it's nearing a decade since their demises��� we brought our own baggage to
the party (this in no way accommodates systemic/provider failures)��� I learned
a wealth of lessons to apply personally and at least try to share with the world
(see my related thread below, Notes from the Waiting Room���The Book) and
offered me a new direction in life��� it could have been far worse; as rough as
those sets of ~3 weeks were, at least neither my folks nor the family endured
months to years of decline.""It will recede to a regret, and who knows what else
after that. Ultimately, V, it's a seed.""@ veronica, i know the pain of what you
went through to some extent. my father dropped dead instantly with a massive heart
attack and i never had the chance to say goodbye. but in the case with your mother,
i just can't imagine how you deal with such pain; especially since the hospital
caused the injury. i am so sorry. your wound will never heal completely. i think
bart is correct in that your sadness will change over time. it will never go
completely away and probably shouldn't. you will always have the scar to remind you
of the wound...""V, painful as it is, remember all the conversations you *did* have
with her. I'd bet, as with me and my father, they far outnumber the several that we
might have had. Outlook rules. Budget your energies."budget your energies is good
advice. that's how i've make it through many traumas. i always think of the 'prayer
of serenity' and i try to focus what energy i have on those things i can do
something about and not on something i cannot change."How effective is the security
of encrypted, cloud-based electronic dental records?Stolen medical identities sell
for $50 each. That makes $25,000 for 500 EDRs a tempting heist, which takes a
hacker or dishonest employee only a few minutes to silently download.""Even though
offsite, encrypted storage of EDRs is arguably safer than the dentist transporting
a backup to and from the office every day, it���s still not as secure as deidentified dental records. Before handing over patients��� records to a cloud or
Software as a Service (SaaS) Business Associate, dentists should be ethically
warned that the Ponemon Institute recently reported that third-party mistakes
account for 46 percent of data breaches.
http://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/ponemon-study-says-data-breaches-cost-ushealthcare-65-billion-annually Because of federal and state breach notification
requirements, if a BA hires a dishonest employee who steals over 500 patients'
identities from a dental practice, the unfortunate incident must be reported in
local media. From the perspective of the dentist���s pissed off (former)
patients, it might as well be the dentist who negligently entrusted their welfare
to a thief.As far as I can tell, the very best in encryption software is provided
by all SaaS providers. Now the bad news: None of their encryption is secure.
According to John Markoff���s article ���Flaw Found in an Online Encryption
Method,��� published in February in the NY Times, ���A team of European and
American mathematicians and cryptographers have discovered an unexpected weakness
in the encryption system widely used worldwide for online shopping, banking, e-mail
and other Internet services intended to remain private and secure.���
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/15/technology/researchers-find-flaw-in-an-onlineencryption-method.html?_r=1 James P. Hughes, an independent Silicon Valley
cryptanalyst, worked with a group of researchers led by Arjen K. Lenstra, a widely
respected Dutch mathematician and professor at the �_cole Polytechnique
F��d��rale de Lausanne in Switzerland. He told the NY Times: ���This comes as
an unwelcome warning that underscores the difficulty of key generation in the real
world. Some people may say that 99.8 percent security is fine.��� It turns out
that the cryptanalyst and I consider 2 chances out of 1000 risky. If it were your
family���s privacy at stake, I���d guess that you probably tend to agree. If
even encrypted identities in my family are fumbled, ethically, I deserve to know
the details as soon as possible. I don���t want to hear afterwards that HIPAA
doesn���t demand accountability from those responsible for encrypted losses. I
cannot imagine anyone preferring not to be bothered about a breach, even if
encrypted��_ Two out of 1000. On second thought, I ESPECIALLY want to know if
encrypted PHI is fumbled. False security is always worse than no security because
it favors the cleverest of thieves. Eventually, most dentists will come to the
common sense conclusion that de-identification of EDRs is the only security
solution which will make digital records safe enough for our patients. So what are
we waiting on? ADA leadership? Hell. In the last 2 minutes you���ve learned
things about EDRs that ADA Delegates and Trustees won���t hear about for another
3 months. I���m telling you, this is the ONLY internet venue where EDRs are
being openly discussed. It���s certainly not happening through the ADA. What a
shame. What a waste of talent and resources. By the way, Doc. The ADA recently
announced that there will be a dues increase in January.D. Kellus Pruitt DDS""the
attorney who i thought was going to take over my case telephoned yesterday to
advise me that he will not be. he says there is no question that my doctor stole my
organs without my consent so i can prove liability easy enough but... i cannot
prove damages. is appears that most people are of the mind-set that women's sex
organs are disposable even though they support all other pelvic organs, even though
they produce life-sustaining hormones that tell every other organ in a woman's body
what to do and when to do it and even though they define a woman's very gender,
identity and sexuality. anyone have an idea how i can prove damages? it would seem
to me that the fact that i was knocked out and all six of my healthy sex organs
removed would be damage enough on many levels. it is not - at least not in the
legal world of medical malpractice. looks like i will have to turn to you tube for
justice... i can't allow the monster who stole my organs and ruined my life and
health to get away with what he did. there is no way i can live with what's been
done. any suggestions regarding proving damages would be appreciated."I am so sorry
for what u are going through.....it seems I possible or beyond difficult for many
of us to get help....this is insane I am going trough hell too and they just go on
with their loves like nothing happened.yes they do... they go right on leaving a
trail of utter destruction behind them"Your experience -- which is truly horrific
-- provides a perfect example of how flawed the malpractice area is. In many
instances, suing is a blunt instrument that does little good. And often, the
regulatory agencies aren't a lot better. Nonetheless, if you haven't done so
already, you might consider filing a complaint with your state's medical board
and/or state department of health. If your complain is founded there, it might at
least inconvenience the surgeon.""Even in Buffalo, NY, where legal fees are often
modest by NYC standards, few -- if any -- lawyers will accept a case worth less
than $1 million."Even then it's hard.....I have a foreign body pathology confirms
its. Foreign body and it appears ome is still in there.....my case for an attorney
would be high money I had a six figure income it's made me disabled the medical
bills are close to five million but between what the doctors lie about and how they
play with time anymore the whole burden falls on the patient......robin we are in
very similar situations a bunch of us are on here and we are trying to go at it
with media avenues....I need a surgeonto do a laparotomy they send me to a hospital
they run tests confirm its a foreignbody set up surgery nd cancel last minute
that's happened multiple times last one was for June 28th the others try to say
there's no foreign body for years we didn't know it was there even though it
started righ Afer my csection they convinced us I had an autoimmune caused by
pregnancy then treated then ruled it out
then said it was MS then sarcoidosis this was for 7 years then someone suggested
an abdominal infection retained from the csection then they ruled it out then we
found my records and one said foreign body so we started getting tests and it said
no....to make a long story short in January 2011 we picked up a ct scan and it said
retained surgical material like cotton or gauze and metal products my life has been
hell they went in we're supposed to remove and didn't and another one went in for
an hour removed a clip and what he said was suture and scans show the foreign body
still in there and metal no one will do the laparotomy and even if they say they
will they cancel. Robin and others keep fighting it makes a difference.......the
doctors right now seemcovered by politics and most lawyers seem just to give
up......it's sad"Hi Melissa DelMastro Seminara, so sorry to hear your difficult
story. I was wondering if you are uninsured, or if the $5 million is after what
insurance paid.""The 5 million is what the insurance paid, then my loss of income
totaling 8 years out so far I was up for a vice presidency position had signed the
contract and then ended up back in the hospital and had to go out. It's been hell"
"Ah, I see, so there has been a lot of lost income.""@ Rachel...i have talked to
probably no less than 50 medical malpractice lawyers since my surgery in 2007 so i
know how difficult it is to get one to take your case. ohio is one of the worst
states in the country due to tort reform. and, t...he particular county i had to
file in is the worst in the state. the plaintiff rarely ever wins no matter how
obvious the malpractice so lawyers are not inerested in my case for that reason
alone. @ melissa, i am so sorry for what you're going through. i had something
similar happen to me but everything worked out. when i had my first child in 1985,
my doctor was in a hurry to get to a golf game and let a sponge or packing in me. i
went home and developed a fever and began to go into toxic shock. luckily, my
mother insisted i go back to my doctor's office and they removed the packing. if i
had not been living with my mother, i would have died. i have a feeling that if
that happened today, i would be dead; especially after hearing your horrible story.
what is happening with you is beyond wrong or unethical. it's criminal or should
be. like you, i lost my income too and have to depend on others to pay my most of
my bills. i worked from the time i was fifteen until january 2010. i finally had to
give up because it got to the point that i could only work maybe 9 hours a week or
so. also, the loss of estrogen to my lenses caused me to develop cataracts so i
can't see to drive; especially at night or in bad weather. my bladder dropped to
third degree prolapse after the surgery so i was in the restroom every ten minutes
at work which cause an issue. plus, i sitll have the original condition i sought
treament for in the first place. i look like i'm 8 months pregnant and have to wear
maternity clothes - going on five years now. my stomach suddenly grew from 29"" to
48"" within a matter of a week in july 2007. people are alwys asking me when my
baby's due and if i've picked out a name, etc. that gets very difficult to deal
with for many reasons for me. it's still that way and no doctor has any clue why.
i've even been to cleveland clinic... i just live with it now. i won't go to a
doctor or hospital for anything or any reason. the only doctor i will go to is the
one who puts in my hormone implant. that's it. i don't know how you even have the
courage to keep going to doctors melissa. @ Martha, I did file a complaint with the
medical board, the nursing board, the joint commission on hospitals and even with
the hospital where my surgery was performed. additionally, i filed a comlplaint
with the oh dept. of insurance and with united health care and with the governor of
ohio. i know from my ast experience of having my two youngest children abducted by
their father that filing complaints with various agencies does little good. it was
not until my story was on tv that anybody cared that a tx judge helped my ex take
my children. she was removed from office at least.. @ Rachel... what happened to
your mother is beyond words. i don't know how you dealt with it or even deal with
it now. so wrong! your poor mother. thank you for responding to my question about
damages. the problem is that, in ohio at least, you have to have an expert to
testify about each and every damage. in my case, that will cost anywhere from
$50,000 to $100.000; making my case not worth it for a lawyer and any lawyer i've
talked to wants me to pay for the experts. i have .72 in my bank account right now.
obviously, i can't nor should i have to pay all that money. in ohio, very very few
lawyers will 'front' the money for med mal cases. sometimes in the case of death
they will... it's very sad that a site like this even exists. none of us should
have these horror stories to tell. this is so wrong. the media is our best hope of
putting pressure on the system. even then, it's so big and so protected, i'm not
sure the media can help. thank all of you for sharing what you've been through and
are still going through.See More56 minutes ago �� LikeUnlike""btw, sorry for not
using paragraphs. the computer i'm using is from 2004 and is so messed up i can
hardly use it. it often does its own thing - like posting my comment before i'm
ready or deleting it altogether. the keyboard is the original too and many of the
keys don't work. if i decide to make videos for you tube regarding my case and what
is going on in general, i will have to borrow money to purchase a new computer."
"Sometimes damage can be concealed...Be careful in trusting your radiology reports
people. It's a little game that can be played and most people don't know what is
happening. You have pain from the damage but the reports may be coming back as
normal or past reports are changed. I had 4 radiology reports changed and the
original reports were gotten rid of.. Not a coincidence. Look for wording on the
changed reports like ""possible"" ,""questionable"", ""incidental findings"" etc..
or if the report comes back as normal then you may want to get the tests done in a
different country. If their is fraud involved then concealment may follow.."
"records are often changed or altered too. i ordered a copy of my medical record
within a couple of weeks of my surgery. by the time i hired an attorney eight
months later, my record had been 'altered'. i have both copies. don't need them
though because my doctor boldly admitted he altered my record. he said that he
alters records all the time and he also said that he has never timed or dated a
late entry or alteration. my doctor's depo should be published.""Yes Olga luckily
we have really good insurance I pray to God that continues because my medical bills
have been insane....lost income was great, even now with the drastic reduction of
incoming money we still put between 500.00 to 1000 extra a month on top of what the
insurance covers.....its just been devastating. I consider myself one of the lucky
ones because some have no money coming in and n insurance my heart goes out to
them. I had an idea for a show kind of like they did the extreme makeover home
edition and the body edition maybe eventually someone will do it but theres so much
out there especially help but if the stories are not heard the help doesnt
come..... hopefully we can get this right soon or at least help some.""I imagine
short videos condensing the years events into 10 minutes, of people who get treated
with obvious denial and coverup by doctors for the injuries they caused. The videos
would tell the story to the public. Maybe they would be classified under both
horror and documentary, and that would be correct.""Robin your story is devastating
and its actually puzzling me you say you had the sponge removed now the interesting
part is mine is still in there or lets call it a a foreign body for now since thats
all that has been confirmed its a presumed sponge but it could be a towel or
gauze.....anyway so my body is still doing all the horrible things and its
attacking its invader but a lot of what you said is currently going on with you is
the same as me my abdomen in larger than when i was pregnant i am double my normal
weight and completely malnourished my weight is and was normally 120 to 130 i even
lost all the baby weight but then in 45 days my body swelled so large i gained 80
lbs and the damage to the liver and surrounding organs is increasing i guess
inflammation....have you had any scans or anything done to see whats going on in
there? i just have a feeling there may be something left in there maybe even a
piece see i know at this point especially in the last few months more than i care
to and unfortunately not many doctors in the US know much about this theres a
chance that sponge broke into 2 or actually 3 or when he went to remove it a piece
could break off and despite what they tell you that it wont do much damage thats
crap it could go without having adverse affects but you are having symptoms so
something is happening mine is actually now in either 2 or 3 pieces and once they
break it apart and dont remove it it spreads it throughout your body not always
blood it can be via other fluids or tissue just research intra abdominal infection.
I pray you get better and if you want there are things natural i am taking to try
and keep the damage at bay or trying to do homeopathic things until i am able to
find a surgeon who knows what they are doing to remove it or one that doesnt keep
backing out. I am completely disabled and quality of life is poor but i am
alive...... i am shocked when they pulled out and confirmed sponge no lawyer would
take it but then i guess nah not shocked.....it
shows how little they know they think retained sponges are minor cases but
depending on the damage its done to your body what its cost you , the medical
expenses they took your life.....that shouldnt be a minor settlement.....sad very
sad.....i am so sorry you are in my prayers God willing i want to tell my story and
get better and hopefully help so many others.....there is a company that created
these sponges that are supposed to prevent this from happening and it didnt do as
well as they had hoped because people in politics or healthcare managed to convince
them its not necessary therefore not mandatory if they could get a high profile
case and see how 10 to 15 hospitals 100 radiologic studies missed it on one patient
how many doctors failed to diagnose or misdiagnose and this could be out there for
everyone to see i would think that company and maybe another one could make it
mandatory for a major change to be incorporated. surgeries are done everyday and
many people can ignore it but at one point their mother brother sister or child
will need a surgery and as long as its in its current state a sponge a towel a clip
anything can be left behind and with our methods of finding it that are in place
good luck and once its not found right away even if the patient lives their life is
changed forever and chances are they will be diagnosed with everything else but
whats re4ally in there and a simple fix could be done to remove it unless its in
there for a long time the surgery is more involved but instead of putting patients
through sepsis and organ damage or involvement heart failure kidney failure etc
from infection they say is not there....etc anyway i hope people get my point this
is huge issue in our country right now how many people do you know that were sick
after a surgery whether it was weeks months or even years and they never knew what
was wrong???????""Dear Robin-- Well, obviously you have been through the mill with
your health and also your children. And you are right that sometimes there seems
to be nowhere to turn except to the media. I hope that the support you are getting
here gives you at least the comfort of knowing you aren't alone and -- who knows?
Maybe someone will have an idea or know of some leverage which could be used. I
really appreciate your telling your story here. Thank you.""melissa, i have been
to well over 200 doctors and no doctor has been able to figure out what's wrong
with my abdomen. i went to every type of doctor i could think of. i even tried
acupressure and i cut wheat, dairy and gluten out of my diet. i've tried everything
but sell my soul to the devil and i still look pregnant. wearing maternity clothes
is very dpressing; especially after five years as i'm sure you can relate to... i
did not consider suing the doctor who left the sponge in since i ended up being ok
after taking many doses of antibiotics. while giving birth to my second child (one
of the ones who was abducted in 1998), i was given too much spinal block and i
could not push my baby out or even breathe without oxygen. the doctor had to pull
him out with forceps. we didn't know if he had any brain damage or not at first and
the feeling didn't come back in my legs for a couple of months. very scary... i
ended up back in the hospital. again, i ended up being ok and so was my baby so i
didn't consider suing. my oldest son who is a write in new york now was run over by
a police car while walking home from school when he was in the 7th grade. he ended
up getting ok. i could have sued the city for all it was worth but didn't give it a
thought. i'm not the kind of person who just wants to sue. but after being knocked
out and having all of my healthy sex organs stolen... i'm the kind of person who
just wants to sue. if i could get my organs back and get well again, i wouldn't
sue. but, that's not the case. what was done to me is irreversible and it has
disabled me for life in many ways; mentally, physically and financially. there is
no way i can let this one go... i will be praying for you too. we are all on this
site due to much suffering; either suffering ourselves or due to the suffering of
someone we love.""Robin, I live in Ohio so I know what you are talking about. This
is the organized crime capital of the midwest. Lawyers are only interested in
accepting cases that will make themselves a bunch of money. Selecting cases has
nothing to do with truth, merit , or justice. It is about money. Certain groups of
people do not tally up enough ""damages"" on the scale lawyers use to determine
what a case is worth financially: housewives, single over the age of 25 with no
dependents, the elderly retired, prisoners, people on public assistance, etc. That
is why doctors target people from these groups for their worst violations: we are
essentially ""free kills"". Anything at all can be, and is, done to us because the
doctors know something essential about our assigned place in life that we don't: no
matter what they do to us there will be no consequences. Anything goes. Too, the
lawyers get paid not to accept certain kinds of cases. It is free money they do not
have to do a lick of work for. From what you have written about your case, it
appears to me that your case probably falls into that category. Ohio has a Statute
of Repose; until it expires the doctors will ""see nothing"" no matter what
manifests.""you are exactly right about ohio being the organized crime capital of
the midwest and about lawyers not taking cases unless there is big money and about
doctors going after certain people. i agree with everything you said. i've
personally seen it for myself. another thing i've learned about ohio is that it is
mainly catholic. even the police dept. is catholic. the police near where i live
when i'm in ohio came to my home last august and arrested me for being depressed.
they said someone called them and told them i was depressed. since when is being
depressed against the law? over half the country is depressed and on medication for
it. i was taken from my own home against my will to middletown oh to the atrium. i
went through pure hell for 24 hours. it's a miracle i got out. a doctor talked to
me for five minutes and decided i was delusional; among other things and he tried
to force me to take a very dangerous drug. my nurse told me to refuse it. she said
that she knew there was nothing wrong with me (except mental 'injury'; not mental
'illness') and she and my social worker looked up my web site and articles about
the taking of my children on the net and they went up against the doctor and forced
him to release me. they helped me get out and they both thanked me for my web site
warning othes about what's going on. my nurse cried when she thanked me because she
said she had been praying for god to show her whether or not to have a
hysterectomy. her doctor had been pressuring her to have one. my nurse was black
and that's a group that is targeted for hysterectomies. she was my same age. she
told me that meeting me was an answer to her prayer. so i guess something good came
from my being in a living hell... i filed a complaint against the police dept. but
it went nowhere of course. anyway, i know that something very strange went down
with that whole ordeal. when they arrested me, i was fine. i told them that they
could contact my doctor and he would tell them that i suffer from ptsd from what
happened to me at mercy hospital in 2007. they would not listen to me even though i
was rational and articulate, etc. they were determined to take me and they were
cruel to me beyond reason. they would not let me change clothes (i was still in
pj's) or take anything with me or even leave a note for my boyfriend and let him
know what happened to me. he came home and saw my things and could not find me so
he knew something happened to me. he called my mother in ky and she was worried
sick of course. he ended up calling 911 and learned where i was. they would not let
him see me though. i have seriously wondered if the police were told to do this to
me. i truly believe all of my lawyers have been paid off due to my surgery taking
place in a catholic hospital. i have been very outspoken about what happened to me
and about how catholic hospitals are the worst offenders in regard to performing
hysterectomies while they publicly pretend to be pro-life. if i told you what i've
been through with my case since 2008 and how many lawyers i've been through, you
wouldn't believe it. something is going on. that much i know. the atty in dayton
who hasn't agreed to take my case did go to the hearing this morning. i looked online and saw where there is an august 20 date set to either dismiss my case or set
it for trial. i have not spoken to the atty yet, so i don't know the details. he emailed me and said he planned to phone me tomorrow morning. i'm curious to hear
what happened and what was said. i can only imagine what the judge in my case must
think at this point. he's seen lawyer after lawyer come and go. from what i've
been told by everybody in the legal world in ohio, i have the best and most fair
judge i could have gotten. that's good but it doesn't help me if i can't get my
case to trial:(""""He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he
who helps to perpetuate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is
really cooperating with it"" - Martin Luther King Jr""Evil has no problem finding
willing cooperators. Evil couldn't exist without its cooperators. When I first
began researching this L.C. atrocity I was amazed at how many willing, dedicated,
ice-cold cooperators there were. Some even reveled in it. What the cooperators
don't know is that evil considers them the most disposable of all because evil
knows that the same warped personality/character defects that make them willing
cooperators with evil are the
same defects that will cause them to change sides when the power base shifts. They
are also the most easily replaceable...""Robin Karr: A well-known lawyer from
Kentucky called me one day, said he had to be in Ohio for business and asked if,
after his meeting was over, could he spend the afternoon at my house because he
wanted to talk to me about something. He drove two hours to my house after his
meeting. He told me a few interesting things but the most interesting of all was
that Ohio is controlled by two mob factions: One controls from Columbus upward and
the other controls from Columbus downward--organized crime divided the state in
half and each faction has its own portion. One of the factions you have already
mentioned. I believe what you have said about the police here because they have put
me and my family through the wringer too. Sometimes a squad car will sit outside my
house for hours at a time. Another time they arrested my son and extorted around
$1,000. from us--money I had saved over a period of months to get something I
needed. Long story. When I said ""bile duct injury"" in front of my surgeon for the
first time he sent a psychiatrist pal of his into my hospital room, without my
permission, and she verbally abused me and wrote up a false psychiatric report
saying I was ""psychotic with somatic delusions""--something that cannot be
determined in one short visit without proper testing. The liar. Then she prescribed
a drug it is well-charted I am allergic to under it alternative label hoping I
wouldn't recognize it. One of my associates was sent to prison for two years on
trumped-up drug charges when she would not obey the medical mafia's order to shut
up about a hospital killing her husband. I was told ""shut up or get locked up""
and only because an insider tipped me off months in advance did I manage to thwart
a plan to have me arrested too on trumped-up drug charges. What you say about Ohio
is true.""The sad thing is that we're not talking about a rogue pervert physician
here and there. Rather, we're talking about an institutionalized psychopathic power
trip that hints at the way conventional medicine is carried out across the United
States and the world. It reminds me of the Milgram experiments where students were
very easily trained to apply deadly levels of electroshock jolts to innocent
victims merely because they were ordered to do so by an instructor. Those
experiments served to substantiate that 70 percent of people will torture other
human beings if encouraged to do so by someone in an apparent position of
authority. A great book about evil and even 'group evil' is 'People of the Lie' by
Scott Peck. We have seen throughout history via wars and the holocaust (for
example) how entire groups of people will go along with evil. Why would the medical
field be an exception?""Ohio has no laws, no actual laws--not for murder, not for
anything. It is all a facade. A homicide detective told me this years ago but I
didn't understand what he was talking about then. I do now. We only have fiat
administrative codes. A signature makes the contract and gives them authority they
did not otherwise have before; sign nothing.""i did not KNOW this about ohio but i
felt strongly that i should not sign anything at the hospital before reading it
completely. i read the consent form completely and realized that they had changed
the surgical procedure i agreed to in my doctor's office two days prior. (that
consent curiously enough is not in my hospital record even though there is a
written note on it which says it was faxed to the hospital that same day). i
refused to sign it. it's blank where my signature should be. and yet, they went
right ahead and performed surgery anyway. they didn't even perform the surgery
listed on the consent. they took out an extra organ. but who cares right?""by the
way, i agree. sign NOTHING!""i went up against this same kind of thing in texas
when my children were taken. i was arrested for crying in court. front page
headlines the next day... the court-appointed psychologist said i was border-line
retarded even though i graduated from college with honors. the judge presiding over
my case started a rumor that i was a drug dealer. a local newspaper editor told me
this. there was literally a whole group of court-appointed individuals who all
attacked me in every way you can imagine. i was afraid and i wanted to run but i
didn't. (you know tx if famous for killing people right and left via the death
penalty). i began to document everything and i recorded conversations with these
gov't people. finally, i gathered enough evidence that channel 8 in dallas was
prompted to flew to ky and film my story. after my story aired on tv, the judge who
took illegally took jurisdiction of my children was removed form office. i never
wanted to go through anything like this again. then i met the surgeon who would
change my life forever. once again, i find myself really too sick to fight. but, my
personality is one that just won't quit. i have to speak out no matter what the
cost to me personally. unfortunately, i find myself in yet another state which
seems like the 'twilight zone'. i've lived all over the country but tx and oh are
bad bad states to live in. i've written to governor kasich about tort reform and
about what's going on in ohio with regard to medical malpratice, etc. his office
says they are investigating my claims... i'm sure they are. not really...
nevertheless, i can't say that the governor is not doing something about this issue
if i can't at least show he knows about the issue. that is my reason for writing to
him. at least tx warns people... all throughout the state, you see signs that say
'don't mess with texas'. believe me. they mean it. ohio doesn't have such warning
signs. i found out about ohio the hard way. i know that the evil and greed which
has taken over medicine is widely spread throughout the u.s. but there are some
offenders worse than others i think...""Patients can anticipate being attacked,
discredited and demonized.To avoid taking any responsibility for their errors,
actions or behavior, doctors--and their governing bodies--will often employ the
same tactics that communist countries use to quash political dissent. The patient
will be labeled ""difficult"" or ""psychiatric."" Such pejorative labels are given
to divert attention away from the negligent, incompetent or malpracticing doctor or
doctors.In attempting to pursue justice through the legal system, patients often
find that the door is closed to them. Additionally, doctors are protected by the
government, as well as by their professional and legal associations. Patients do
not have any protection. Because of the medical profession���s CODE OF SILENCE,
the public is often unaware of physicians��� corrupt practices of covert
rationing and blacklisting patients. Many patients are afraid to speak out about
these abuses, because they fear RETALIATION by the medical community. Retaliation
is a legitimate fear. It is imperative that there be legislation requiring full
disclosure and mandatory reporting of all medical error, injury and/or harm to
patients and that patients be informed of such and receive proper redress.""It is
all one big happy ""club"". Doctors and lawyers are not adversaries no matter what
mainstream media tries to project. Everybody has their hands in each others'
pockets and work to keep the big money circulating at the top, within their own
""club"" membership. The ""club"" works to keep us outsiders under control and each
part has its role to play: the lawyers/courts protect the doctors from consequences
and in exchange the doctors don't use the lawyers or their family members for
experiments, student training, drug testing and such. They place their own
membership in key position in government. Mainstream media helps hide all their
dirty-work. We are livestock to these people. They call us: ""cows--to be milked
dry"" and that is what they do.""i was prepared for corruption in medicine after my
experience with the family court system. otherwise, i think it would have taken me
a lot longer to 'get it'. it is truly horrifying when you think about it. i try not
to... i was totally prepared for the 'good ole boy club mentality'. unfortunately,
not my first rodeo. the doctors and lawyers are not enemies by any stretch. they
are laughing all the way to the bank. i agree completely elizabeth. @ kariann...
the games have already begun in my case. just as you have described, i have already
been called every name under the sun. they have brought up what happened with my
two youngest children. and what exactly does that have to do with my sociopath
doctor operating without medical indicatio or consent? of course it's my fault my
organs were removed. my doctor went as far as to state when asked if he believed it
was below the standard of care to operate on somone in the way he did in my case,
he said 'on anyone else yes, but not her'. he then looked at me and chuckled. what
an evil b*****d. it's my fault i showed up at the hospital that fateful day in
september 2007. i get it. nobody forced me to walk through the hospital doors. that
much is true. it's like hotel california though. you can check in but you can't
leave. at least you can't leave until you have been destroyed in a variety of ways.
best not to ever check in."I found in my records made up trash to try and make me
look bad. This is the kind of stuff we are subject too once negligence has
occurred."Something similar happened to me: a strange and unusually verbose entry
that mischaracterized both the conversation I had had with the author of the entry
and also falsified the facts. This entry was present in the medical records when I
requested them several days after my daughter's death. However, the records
weren't made immediately available.
(In New York State, providers have ten days to act on any request.) The medical
records clerk actually told me that all records had to go through a risk management
office before being released. Really. And to what purpose? Pages weren't numbered
in that section of the record, so a page could be inserted at a later time if
someone wanted that to happen."so sorry martha for what you've been through with
the death of your daughter and then with trying to obtain the 'real' medical
records. that's so wrong..."Thanks, Robin. What was particularly fascinating about
this is that I am a psychologist and have served on the Psychologist panel to
settle disputes over medical records in NY state for many years. My training on
access to patient records made me pretty effective in obtaining Millie's records
for previous hospitalizations. If she was inpatient, we generally were able to
leave the hospital with records in hand especially if follow-up care was needed (it
often was) in another city.
The important point, though, is that no one should
need special training in order to persuade a medical provider to follow both state
regulations and safe patient care.""Robin Karr, your comments here return to me
during the time in my day I have to spare. Many of us have had the same patterns. I
really appreciate and I am impressed your tenacity and determination at what you
are doing in response to the injury and abandonment the doctors and the legal
system have piled on you.""Marshall Allen my son is a MRSA Survivor. Here is the
article published by our local paper, we were able to get Front Page. I'd like to
talk with you more as we are trying to get a Bill pass here in Michigan for
Hospital Acquired Infection Mandatory Reporting pass thru Legislation. We need
reporters like you that can help us keep the awareness. I hope you call me 269363-6953http://www.heraldpalladium.com/news/local/an-end-tosilence/article_dfce31d4-fc89-50c4-b527-b6431d902464.html#.UAV2KXemr9k.facebook"
"Skin and bone donated by relatives of the dead are turned into everything from
bladder slings to surgical screws to material used in dentistry or plastic surgery.
""We are more careful with fruit and vegetables than with body parts,"" said Dr.
Martin Zizi, professor of neurophysiology at the Free University of Brussels."
"There is big money in human tissue. ""The Body Brokers"" was a famous series on
the subject from the Orange County Register years ago. Funeral home staff has been
in the news often in recent years for trafficking in human tissue removed for sale
without consent. What people don't know is that tissue and organs removed at
surgery is also sold to tissue companies. The ones who do not respect us and our
rights in life will not respect us after we are dead either. No surprise there."
"Yes, be certain about the origin and certificate of the bone grafting material a
dentist may suggest is necessary prior to any dental implant procedure. It's a hard
lesson to learn after the bone grafting fails.""my father died two years ago with a
massive heart attack. he was not an organ donor. yet, my brother donated all of his
organs - even his eyes. when i saw my father, he was unrecognizable. i will never
be able to get that sight out of my mind. anyway, i wondered how my brother could
donate his organs when my father was not an organ donor. i called a friend of mine
who owns a funeral home and she told me that there is a law in most states now that
requires hospitals to contact whoever in the state handles donor organs and let
them know that they have a patient dying or dead. then, these people talk grieving
family into donating organs. my friend told me that at least half of the people
they receive at the funeral home now are missing most of their organs. i had no
idea that this was going on until my father died. there seems to be no end to
snatching organs in every way possible. this is so wrong. i will never forgive my
brother for donating my father's organs. we have not spoken since the funeral. my
poor mother is terrified that my brother will donate her organs. i have promised
her that he won't as long as i'm around. it's really sad that my sick mom has to
worry about something like tihis...""Here is a video on the subject below the
article. One of the reasons I suspect that is possible for my medical malpractice,
in which 1/2 cm of my nasal septum was removed, not part of the operation, and
without my consent, is that it was donated or sold to someone else.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2175006/Skin-bones-tissue-sale-How-deadused-grisly-trade-human-body-parts.html"what have we become? what is even more
disturbing than the article are the comments... it appears that most people have
lost sight of what's right and what's wrong. reminds me of 'situational ethics'
which became popular when i was in college working toward a degree in education.
nothing's absolutely right or absolutely wrong. it all depends on the situation.
that's a dangerous slippery-slope..."As with so many things made, or kept, black
and white, organ donation ought to be graded. As always, the terminology confuses
from the start. So, we all ought to distinguish between various levels of donation
from skin to organ, tissue, and body. Next, the sacred cow of donation ought to be
finessed, with levels, perhaps only two: donation and sale. All these distinctions
illuminate what controls would be required at the various levels.""What people are
not told in those organ-donation pleas in the mainstream media is that the socalled brain-dead living organ donor is NOT ANESTHETIZED. They strap them down and
cut. The donors squirm, grimace, show signs of distress and pain, pull away,
etcetera. Those profiting write these responses off as insignificant and call them
reflex but who really knows but the people it is being done to? People who are
truly brain-dead would not respond to pain. Of course nobody comes back to tell.
New Medicine's utilitarian ethic can justify anything, always seem to have a ready
answer on hand. The nurses and such are debriefed after. The experience is so
traumatic to some that they have quit nursing, suffer PTSD from what they witness.
Hospitals collect placentas and sell them to the cosmetics industry. The plasma
centers sell plasma to the cosmetics industry. So much goes on that the public is
not aware of."criminal minds..."I left my comment in the Dailymail article, and it
is this:The problem with money in harvesting body parts is this: A patient has
become a financial liability due to medical error and malpractice. The choice is to
save the patient and face the possibility of getting sued for the patient's brain
damage or other medical injury, or let the patient die and thereby cover up the
malpractice, and turn a financial profit by selling the body parts. Of course, the
larger the profit the more likely the second situation will occur. For those naive
people who think the morality of doctors is next to God and Christ, I've got news
for you. Doctors have less moral development than average people do, and studies
have shown this.""Garrick, pls cite the studies.""Garrick Sitongia: New Medicine's
half-baked utilitarian ethic of ""eat what you kill"" supposedly cleanses them of
wrong-doing when they turn their dirty-work to any kind of good after-the-fact.
They believe this conscience-salving feel-good crap is just as good as having the
restraint to not commit the crime in the first place. Left completely out of
consideration is their victims, of course--the victim's rights, wishes, feelings,
losses, damages, suffering. Anyone who thinks they can turn the heart of a
sociopath is naive; these people are hard-wired with a ""me-first"" mentality that
will not be denied. See, want, take...After we are injured another of New
Medicine's half-baked utilitarian ethics kick in: ""you can't break what is already
broken"". This ethic gives them blanket permission to use up, until there is
nothing left, of the people they have injured and vacuum up as much of the victim's
resources as possible.""Bart Windrum, Google medical school morality decline.
Example:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12668541""There was a case of a woman in
California, I think, who woke up from surgery without her nose. Of course nobody
present had any idea what happened to it. She claimed ""they stole my nose!"" but
nobody seemed interested--it didn't happen to them.""At one point I noticed stories
in the mainstream news detailing the number of doctors, nurses, and other medical
professionals who, instead of just getting a divorce, would simply murder their
unwanted or irritating spouse--I started collecting these cases and came to the
conclusion that some people cannot reconcile the depersonalization skills they have
learned and practiced in the workplace and then turn it off at home. At work if
someone gets in their way they have blanket permission and support to abuse into
submission the irritant by whatever means necessary and if nothing works, kill it.
Eventually some lose the ability to compartmentalize home from work. In July of
2000 the problem of doctors killing their irritating spouses caused the
Massachusetts Medical Society to send out information packets to its members
offering free councelling. A friend of mine who worked in a hospital told me he
knew a doctor who took in unwanted horses, not because he was an animal-loving
humanitarian but because he would relieve stress by shooting them. I also collect
information on Pavulon death clusters and the so-called ""mercy killings""--not
what people are misled to believe. Deadly Depersonalization is an insidious and
unpredictable process.""this is the problem. nobody is interested or gives a s**t
unless it happens to them. this happens more than people would imagine. i get so
many e-mails from women
via my web site wherein they tell me how they wake up to learn that extra organs
were removed; organs they did not consent to having removed. who cares? i remember
after my surgery when i began contacting law firms, i was told by one lawyer that
once you give a surgeon permission to cut you and go in for any reason, they can
take any organ they want and there is nothing you can do about it. (of course she
didn't even give me a chance to tell her that i did not consent to any surgery at
all...). i hung up in total disbelief. much to my horror, i've come to learn that
what she said is more than true. my friend who committed suicide a couple of years
ago due to the aftermath of hysterectomy did so largely because they took organs
she didn't agree to which caused much damage. due to nerve damage caused by a
hysterectomy she didn't even need, she was going to have to have her leg amputated.
that was the end for her. she killed herself. she could not lose one more piece of
herself. she sent me her story to put on my web site before she took her life.
sometimes i wonder how her doctor sleeps at night. he had been her doctor for 19
years. she trusted him... unfortunately, i'm guessing her doctor sleeps just fine."
"@ Elizabeth... i know that what you say is true. i've read many accounts regarding
how medical students are trained to do what they're told and what they 'have to
do'. and, they learn to keep their mouths shut too. it becomes second nature. very
scary but true. you can go on nurse blogs and nurse anesthesia blogs and read what
they say to each other and you can clearly see this is what they become.""When a
person signs a medical consent form only their signature is on it; the other party
doesn't sign. This is called a unilateral contract. Type unilateral contract into
your browser and look at what comes up--very educational. In a unilateral contract
the person signing agrees to perform every word on that contract BUT since the
other party did not sign they have promised NOTHING. We promise everything; they
promise nothing. When we are admitted into a hospital we sign an admission form;
since it was signed first it trumps anything else we sign while under their roof.
On the consent forms there is usually a piece that says something to the effect of
we give permission for the doctors to do ""whatever they deem necessary"". But
they never specified ""whatever they deem necessary"" is necessary for US, did
they? What if, on that day, they are training green residents and ""whatever they
deem necessary"" is bringing in a green trainee who has never once performed your
surgery and will be starting with you? Or that someone is doing a study of some
kind and needs a snip of this or that? I know a man who went in for back surgery
and came out missing one kidney and half a lung...I know another man with epilepsy
who agreed to a ""brain biopsy"" and awoke to find they'd removed half his brain
because the doctors were doing an experiment on that and knew if they told him up
front what they really intended to do he would not have agreed to it. They also
knew something he didn't know beforehand: that they would get away with it."i had a
pituitary tumor when i was fifteen. i was referred to an endocrinologist in
lexington ky. this doctor was a wonderful caring doctor. he told my parents that
many doctors would opt to perform exploratory surgery but he said that he looked at
me as if i was his own daughter. he said that brain surgery is much too serious to
'explore'. he opted to wait until a medication was available in the u.s. that would
shrink my tumor. i was one of the first people in the u.s. to take this medication
and it did shrink my tumor. i realize today just how 'blessed' i was to find a
doctor like that. omg! i could have been operated on and i could have ended up a
vegetable or worse. those doctors do not exist in conventional medicine today."I
had one for a short while but he was in his 80s, old-school doctor who actually
cared what happened to me. Then he died and the world lost one of the last real
doctors it had left. He asked me to do what I am doing right now: expose them, tell
people the truth. I have done what he asked me to do to the best of my ability."my
doctor is dead now too. those doctors who took their oath to 'first do no harm'
seriously are long gone. we have doctors now that take an opposite oath... 'first
do harm'."I got my first taste of what kind of people are working in the health
care system when my first child was born: she was born breech because she had
hydrocephalus and spina bifida. Agonizing birth experience and the doctor used no
anesthesia whatsoever for the cutting, not even a local. I am on the table moaning
""no, no, no..."" and the nurse starts laughing! Yes, laughing like a hyena and
can't seem to stop. Like this is the funniest thing she has ever seen. Idiot. At
the time I wrote it off to one person's craziness shining through but have since
met many just like her--and worse.""omg elizabeth! that is so tragic. that nurse
sounds purely evil. how cruel! hopefully, she will reap that. you stating that the
nurse actually laughed hits close to home. the nurse who told me that i was in
recovery after the surgery that was performed on me in 2007 stated very coldly 'you
have nothing left' and walked away. i told my first attorney what she said and he
didn't belive me. and, he told me not to tell anyone else what she said because it
makes me look bad; not credible. he said people want to believe nurses care about
us and that they are good. well... it is what it is. i want to believe in santa
claus too. and your point is...""Hi Elizabeth Eugenia LaBozetta - I'm the social
media producer at ProPublica. As you may have seen, someone flagged your story
about med students beating dogs with hammers. We like to give everyone here the
benefit of the doubt, but this isn't a place for unfounded rumors; it harms the
constructive tone of the group. If you have any more questions, feel free to
message me privately or email me at [email protected].""If the post
offends people I will take it down (the part about the dogs). But I stand by the
statement that it was a doctor who told me this. As for ""unfounded rumors""--I
suppose anything any of us say here could qualify if the only criteria is that it
offends someone and we don't have a video of the perpetrators actually performing
the act we speak of. The Tuskeegee Syphilis Study was an unfounded rumor until the
perpetrators themselves decided it was time to address it--decades after, of
course, they'd already gotten what they wanted from the people they'd damaged. But
I have a question here and would be interested in receiving an answer: why is it,
when I have worked day and night for 20 years collecting concrete evidence of an
atrocity of Buchenwoldian proportions (people used up training laparoscopic
cholecystectomy)--supported in mainstream media and in the medical trade journals
written by the perpetrators themselves no less, collected hundreds of victim's
stories, and it gets no more than a yawn...but interest ignites when I mention
dogs. Solid evidence involving people...nothing. ""Unfounded rumor"" involving
dogs...NOW people are interested. Why?""ADA leadership opens MouthHealthy.org to
answer their favorite dental questionsIf Americans want trustworthy information
about their dentists��� electronic dental records, who can they turn to? One
naturally assumes the American Dental Association would be a logical choice ���
arguably less biased than patients��� dentists who might have invested tens of
thousands of dollars on their electronic dental records.""Today I visited
MouthHealthy.org - the ADA���s new public-accessible website specifically
intended for consumer questions about dentistry.http://www.mouthhealthy.org/en/aztopics/d.aspx When one searches ���electronic dental record,��� here is the
sum total of what the ADA has to offer: ���Today, many dentists are making use
of computerized systems to maintain patient dental records. Electronic records have
great quality and patient-safety benefits.���The anonymous ADA employee adds,
���If you have a question about dental records, ask your dentist.���Dentists,
as you can see, ADA experts appear to be surprisingly incapable of answering even
basic questions about the safety of EDRs. So if a patient were to ask you,
���Are digital records more dangerous for me and my family than paper records?
��� what would you say? ADA leaders are telling them that you know the answer.
So what is it, Doc?Let���s end anonymous leaders��� need for evasion. Deidentify EDRs now.D. Kellus Pruitt DDS""Unintended Conseq. dept. PPACA may hurt
hospitals it was supposed to help. Safety net providers may have a tougher time.
Mitch Katz weighs in too. My column today. bit.ly/Qd5UKU"A decent JAMA article
ostensibly about hand disinfecting but actually about a countermeasure to medicine
outsourcing its responsibilities to patient-families.
http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1148155"Very interesting
article, Bart. I think most patients can relate. I'd ask the nurse to wash her
hands anyway, I think....": )"1. We like to think so, don't we?2. Wrong, wrong,
wrong! Martine. The correct request is to ""disinfect"" not to wash. Language
matters, everyone. It frames everything."...it's always the patient's faultYou're
right Doug!"I've actually done it--took my daughter to pediatrician, pediatrician
in with two coughing kids across the hall. She walked directly into our exam room.
I waited for her to wash her hands. She didn't and went directly for my daughter. I
stopped her. I asked politely if she would wash her hands before touching my
daughter. There was eye contact between us for a second too long. She washed her
hands. Was it worth the discomfort?
YES!""M, thx for reminding us that it's not just in-hospital that matters, it's in
any clinical environment.""When I received this from one of my Patient Safety
colleagues today, I wondered...how many more articles will I read about asking
health caregivers to wash their hands before they touch me or other patients. TONS
of money has gone into the effectiveness of handwashing, and it alone will never
stop infections. But, it is the #1 method and the easiest of all to help prevent
them. It does not take an MD or a BSN or any other degree to know this. Yet,
patients are still instructed to ""ask your caregiver to wash their hands?"".
Asking that question can set a patient up for retaliation, anger or worse. Even if
the request is from one healthcare colleague to another it is often not well
recieved. IT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF CAREGIVERS TO DO THIS WITHOUT PROMPTING FROM
ILL AND SOMETIMES IMPAIRED PATIENTS!How about this idea.....GREEN FOR KLEEN. If
patients or their advocates started handing out $1 bills for clean hands....would
handwashing compliance improve? Money talks, bacteria walks...on the hands of
health caregivers.Suzan Gordon will be the keynote speaker at the 2012 Patient
Safety Academy in Portland ME on Sept. 7. I look forward to meeting her.""Hospital
asks judge to exclude testimony about former doctor's license revocation, criminal
conviction http://bit.ly/LsDlr8"that's nice..."Thank you for establishing this much
needed group, for myself personally, and for the million women who have contacted
the HERS Foundation about medical abuse they experienced at the hands of doctors
enabled by hospitals.""Just FYI. This bill would defund the part of CMS that funds
the Partnership for Patients (the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation mentioned in the article) and eliminate (so I'm told) the Agency for Healthcare
Research and Quality, which is identified in the Affordable Care Act as the agency
that is supposed to work on quality and patient safety improvement as the law
(""Obamacare"") is implemented. Go figure.""Your daily vote/comment/Twitter/'like'
until August 4, powers my advocacy for safer implanted medical devices. Many
thanks! http://bit.ly/PakhxV""I recently filled out a Patient Harm Survey on
behalf of Millie Niss, my daughter, who died of an undiagnosed spinal infection in
a community hospital ICU while recovering from Swine Flu, November 29, 2009.
Millie was 36 years old and had been chronically-ill with Behcet���s Disease for
many years. Behcet���s is an inflammatory disease that attacks blood vessels
anywhere in the body. Behcet���s is rarely a fatal disease, but treatments
often leave patients immune-suppressed and vulnerable to infection.But Millie was
not defined by her illness, although her illness, with its unpredictable
emergencies, did teach us to be patient advocates. Millie was primarily a web
artist and poet, widely published, and we often collaborated on installations.So
when Millie���s rheumatologist, who was not involved in caring for Millie at our
local hospital, reviewed Millie���s autopsy report with me several months after
her death, both he and I were astonished to discover ��� actually, I was
devastated to discover ��� that Millie���s actual cause of death was a spinal
infection that had gone undiagnosed, and hence, untreated. Had it been discovered,
it was a treatable infection.My book, The Last Collaboration, began with that
revelation and was undertaken as the book Millie would have written, had she been
here to do so. Millie���s notes, emails, treatment logs, and conversations are a
prominent feature of this multimedia fatality review. About me: I am a retired
psychologist with experience in governance and social action ��� and a full-time
writer and poet. Member of Consumer Union���s safe patient advocacy network.
Further description and excerpts of The Last Collaboration are available on the
website Millie began in 2001 and that I continue:
http://www.sporkworld.org/Deed/tlc.html""I'm looking forward to checking out the
book, Martha Deed!""Thanks, Marshall and Robin. You and many others, I hope
[smile].""as i researched the drug 'versed', i came across a nurse anesthesia blog
site at www.nurse-anesthesia.org it's quite the eye-opener. everyone should go on
the site and read what these anesthesia nurses have to say about their patients. i
suggest going to one place in particular. Type in 'Crazies' in the search box. then
click on 'Crazies' thread. you will find that these nurses joke about wanting to
'smack their patients in the head since they won't remember it anyway' and they
joke about 'wanting to use duct tape on patients' and also about 'placing a pillow
over their patients face and pushing down"" after reading just this one blog site
about those who administer anesthesia, i won't be going to any hospital again for
any reason - at least not voluntarily.""There have been many published cases where
women (and men) have been molested and raped when under anesthesia; I am sure many
more go unpublished. One of my friends who worked in a hospital told me this one
doctor used to call his name as he was passing by, then would flip down the draping
on anesthetized/sedated women and flash their breasts real fast ""as a joke"". Then
there is always student pelvic and rectal exam practice, without informed consent,
on anesthetized patients: students line up, gloves on, and one after the other
violate your privacy and practice exams you never consented to. Depersonalization
reduces patients to an object and as it slips down the slope people stop asking the
question: ""Is this the right thing to do?"""i have decided that m.d. stands for
'medical degenerate'And it is only going to get worse.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/14/dont-get-sick-in-july/"The
administrative law judge initially recommended that the surgeon���s medical
license be revoked but instead placed the surgeon on administrative probation for
three years. The surgeon had at least eight medical malpractice claims filed
against him from September 2009 to May 2012. Also unknown to the woman was another
case in which the Medical Board of California, through the findings of an
administrative law judge, decided that the surgeon had committed gross negligence,
had failed to maintain adequate and accurate records, and had failed to obtain the
written consent of a 66-year-old woman before removing her uterus."YET ANOTHER
PROBATIONER DOCTOR THE MEDICAL BOARD REFUSED TO ADEQUATELY INFORM THE PATIENT ABOUT
AT THE PLACE OF TREATMENT...SHE WOULD HAVE CHOSE SOMEONE ELSE IF SHE HAD KNOWN THIS
DOCTOR HARMED SEVERAL PATIENTS AND A JUDGE STATED HE REPEATED A GROSS NEGLIGENT
PATTERN."I check the license of every doctor I see AND I Google them. This won't
always protect us, but it's the best we can do right now. I think it's a shame we
cannot see who has had complaints filed against them via the medical board, even if
they were found to not have done anything wrong. I think a pattern of them would
be quite telling."I checked my former dentist's license too but the Dental Board
failed to post his Probationer Dentist status and I'm now on surgery 5 still trying
to work on his repeated gross negligent pattern - the suggested treatment this time
is remove some of my hip bones to replace bone and teeth.The bottom line is if you
are going into surgery its at the place of surgery/treatment that adequate/proper
notification should be provided prior ot signing an Informed Consent Document...we
don't have surgery or treatment on a website or over the phone so its ridiculous a
fact sheet isn't at the place of treatment if the Board is placing a dentist on
probation for harming several patients with a pattern.I found out the doctor who
did my csection and left this foreign body in me had 29 counts of malpractice
against him and he is the chief of the department"Those titles (chief or head of
the department) mean nothing as far as quality goes, just like it doesn't matter
where they went to med school. Those titles are all based on internal politics,
not anyone's skill as a clinician."I know now it means nothing as far as skill and
quality......to make it worst I just had a chief of a hospital 9 months ago say he
was going to go in remove the foreign body clean it up etc I got sick again after
the surgery we found out he went in for an hour removed a clip never took the
foreign body out the scans show the two areas that were in there before he went in
are still there it was like oops I forgot or I couldn't reach it but now you are on
your own too bad.....a chief at a major hospital? I just don't get it and yes the
politics are worst because they are being protected for their title it's like a
free pass to do what's want.....for my daughters sake I am determined to find a
good surgeon who is willing to do the right thing and help me and more importantly
the skill set and ability.....doctors in two other countries have the knowledge and
offered to help but due to my health I can't make that far of a trip and he's not
licensed to operate in the US it's just sad the difference between our doctors and
other countries."One other thing....why aren't hospitals expected to have a doctor
on staff in intensive care units, 24 hours a day?""Umm in this country they do,
they dont have to be in the room itself but certainly within the confines of the
hospital. so can be in the unit within 1-2 min"There is a difference between acute
care hospitals and long-term acute care hospitals."I am specifically referring to
acute care hospital intensive care units (medical and surgical) where a doctor is
not required to be on staff and working the shift with nurses. These units have
the illest patients. It is where a doctor should be all the time. As a result,
nurses make huge
life changing decisions constantly. And, especially during the midnight shift,
they hate to call the doctor at home to wake them up...So, many are resistant to
make late night, early am calls. I think a doctor should be a part of the full time
staff 24 hours a day on every intensive care unit. What do you think?""As an RN
who worked ICU for 20 years, most of them on the night shift, I always had a
physician in house if I needed them. Critical Care nurses are trained to notice
subtle changes and act swiftly to intervene and contact the physician with those
changes. Most physicians that I know hold Critical Care nurses in the highest
regard because they are so knowledgeable and experienced.""Yes, I totally agree
with you, and I am absolutely positive one of the critical care nurses saved my
father to live at least another week. Plus there was a great team of other
professionals there as well, including respiration therapists, people from the
labs, and some other experienced nurses who all did an amazing job. But, that
wasn't the case everyday. And when the not so good nurses were there, and there
were a number of them, I felt my father was at high risk for dying. I am just
saying a physician should be an active and integral part of the staff in any ICU 24
hours a day. The ICU's require constant and intensive response to critically ill
people. I don't think it is enough in a hospital to know you can call a doctor from
somewhere else. There is always a doc in the ER,...there should always be a doc in
ICU, 24 hours a day....as a procedural requirement.""Choose a hospital with 24/7
intensivists or at least hospitalists - and not a student, intern or resident as a
fill-in.""Keith and I discuss the danger of electronic dental records to patients
on Dental Geeks Linkedin group:I���ve been beaten up on the internet enough to
be aware that few dentists ��� especially those who have invested in electronic
dental records ��� are ready to consider that HIT in dentistry was poorly
planned. I contend the naivety is not the fault of colleagues who actually treat
disease. It���s the fault of well-meaning leaders who hastily grabbed stake in
the popular EDR ���mandate��� - basing reckless decisions on the future of
dentistry on political correctness and CDT royalties rather than common sense and
the Hippocratic Oath.""Long ago, Ponemon Institute studies began revealing the
growing number of data breaches from providers��� offices. Perhaps because of
leaders��� pride and/or investment of careers into HIT, they resist transparency
about the products they promote. In the absence of a trustworthy source of
information, pervasive vendor-friendly bias makes my opinion very unpopular on a
(decreasing) number of dental industry venues. It���s also why your assumptions
concerning EDR security are wrong, Keith.���The only thing a thief could want
from a dental chart would be the financial information. If you have a password
protected system and all the other safeguards in place this should be almost
impossible for someone to steal.���Impossible to steal? Ponemon estimates that
96% of healthcare organizations have experienced reportable data breaches in the
last two years. Between 2010 and 2011, the number of breaches doubled, and may
double again by the end of 2012. Medical identities go for $50 each on the black
market while financial identities only bring $5. This means thieves are targeting
health insurance coverage. And when a medical history is altered to suit an
imposter, it can easily put the victim���s life in danger.���With paper
records someone simply has to break into the office and copy that info down from
records.��� Identity thieves of course prefer digital over paper. For one thing,
nobody has to decipher bad handwriting before entering it on a computer. Secondly,
filing cabinets make far more noise than hackers. What���s more, if a burglar
steals a computer from a dentist���s office, passwords are no better protection
than the Maginot Line.���The biggest problem in our area has been vandalism of
the office after the thief did not find money or drugs(what most of them are after)
Imagine coming in to the office and having a couple thousand charts tossed around
the office.��� That���s the first time I���ve heard that one. Don���t
forget the danger of paper cuts.���With the electronic record if they did steal
this information there is a good chance of knowing which records were accessed and
when, you can not look at a paper chart and tell this.��� When a computer is
stolen, usually ALL the dentist���s patients are instantly involved. Once again,
nobody steals paper dental records.James Pyles, a widely-respected attorney who has
fought for patient privacy rights for years was quoted in a FormTek.com article
yesterday. He describes the difference between paper and digital: ���We now have
electronic disclosures of patient privacy that are entirely different from
disclosures of paper records. You can get a paper record back; you cannot get an
electronic record back. You can disclose millions of electronic records
simultaneously; you cannot do that with paper records.���
http://www.formtek.com/blog/?p=3099Want a solution? De-identification of EDRs is
far better than even encryption. If dental patients��� identities are not
present in a stolen computer, nobody has to be notified, and a computer is all it
costs ��� not lawsuits, HIPAA fines and one���s reputation in the community.
Once we take ownership of our blunders, corrections can be made and we can move
toward safer, real advancements in dentistry. Remember: Patients��� unnamed
dental histories have no black market value. D. Kellus Pruitt DDS""From
ProPublica's charts is a $9.69 billion reminder (just since 2009) of fraudulent
pharmaceutical activities - that the AMA and FDA will *never* be capable of
policing their own ranks. From Natural News, another source in addition to
ProPublica wrote, ""According to court documents, GlaxoSmithKline had actually
developed a network of 'speakers' (i.e. primarily doctors receiving kickbacks for
writing prescriptions) totaling 49,000."" There's systematic patient harm for you."
"For more on this topic, check out ProPublica's Dollars for Docs project.
http://projects.propublica.org/docdollars/. The stories detail the influence of the
drug industry and the database allows patients to look up the $761 million in
payments and gifts made by 12 pharma companies to doctors.""Thanks, Marshall. Very
helpful!""Notes from the Waiting Room���The BookThe experiences of my patientfamily backstory lead me to recognize and espouse a different view, or type, of
harm beyond medical error. Our ~6 weeks in hospital with my folks dying were filled
with what I came to characterize as extrinsic shock and harm. ���Extrinsic���
means ���not part of the essential nature of something.��� In other words, a
loved one���s dying is intri