JoAnn,

I hope that Mom is recuperating from her surgery and recent heart attacks.  I am sorry to hear that it has
been a difficult road for you in dealing w/ the insurance company.  That is that last thing that you should have to experience at a time like this.  In addition to caring for your Mom, make sure that you take care of yourself.

I will keep you, your Mom, and your family in my prayers (prayers work!)

Brad

Well, after a very very long day of talking(fighting) with all of the administrators of the hospital, my mom is scheduled to leave Ellis tomorrw morning and go to Kingsway sub-acute rehab. I told them I wanted her out of there before they killed her. I asked for her medical records which I will get tomorrow. I also asked for a list of meds she was on. And here it is:

Potassium Chloride 40mg
Pepcid 20mg
Lovenox 40mg
Lasix 40mg
Colace 100mg
Avapro 150mg
Asprin 325mg
Lopressor 50mg
Spirinolactone 12.5mg
Zocor 40mg
Lisinopril 5mg
Coreg 25mg

Coreg 25mg was the one that almost killed her yesterday. If you google it, it is suggested that you start with 6.25mg and if tolerated you can increase it to 12.50mg and so on. My sister in law is a nurse and said that 25mg was excessive. I also "tried" to talk with one of the doctors from the cardiac group today. Dr. Coleman. He was an arrogant Bast*** in plain English. If I could only tell you everything that went on today, you'd be shocked. But it would take forever. But I do have documentation of everything.The doctor also ordered that the nurses get her up and walking and they never did.  I really wish that I could just bring her home, but she is way to weak for that at this point. So I am just greatful that she is leaving the place.

JoAnn, I believe you as my wife and I went thru a similar situation with her Mom after her heart surgery. Our prayers are with both you and your Mom and we hope she recovers soon.

http://www.dailygazette.com

Quoted Text

Study: Women facing heart trouble Death rate levels off for younger men
BY MIKE STOBBE
The Associated Press

   ATLANTA — For decades, heart disease death rates have been falling. But a new study shows a troubling
turn — more women under 45 are dying of heart disease due to clogged arteries, and the death rate for men that age has leveled off.
   Heart experts aren’t sure what went wrong, but they think increasing rates of obesity and other risk factors are to blame.
   The rates will have to be monitored to see if this is the beginning of a real trend. But if the data hold, the new study may be an early glimpse of the impact of escalating obesity and diabetes on U.S. deaths, said Wayne Rosamond, a University of North Carolina epidemiology professor and expert on heart disease statistics.
   “This could be a harbinger of things to come,” Rosamond said.
   To be sure, the overall trend is still positive: From 1980 through 2002, the death rate from blocked heart arteries was cut in half for men and women over 35. Improvements in treatment and preventive measures, including cholesterol-lowering medications, get the credit.
   But what’s going on with younger adults is startling, said Dr. Anthony DeMaria, editor of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, which is publishing the study and released it Monday.
   “We have a pretty rosy view of how things are going in the war against cardiovascular disease,” DeMaria said. “I view this paper as a wake-up call that says there is a very important segment of our population that needs some attention.”
   Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, killing almost 700,000 Americans each year.
   Nearly 500,000 of those deaths are attributed to coronary heart disease, in which fat and plaque clog the arteries feeding blood to the heart, sometimes called hardening of the arteries. Heart attacks are a common result.
   It can take many years for arteries to get dangerously blocked. About 93 percent of deaths occur in people 55 and older.
   But a combination of factors — including genetics, obesity and high cholesterol — are sometimes fatal for younger adults. In 2002, about 25,000 men and 8,000 women ages 35 to 54 died of coronary heart disease.  

  
  
  

Today was just another disaster. The alter ego doctor would not release her. Instead he ordered a bunch of useless tests for her. When I discussed this with the nurses, and administrators, they all agreed that he is just trying to pull rank (over me) and is trying to cover his a**. It is basically a battle between me and the alter ego doctor. I am basically watching her care through a microscope and they are not pleased at all.

I plan to sue both the cardiologists and the surgeons. I have documentation from day one. I will also obtain her medical records and requested an itemized bill when/if she is released. Actually the hospital has been helpful on directing me on what information my lawyer will need. I will also contact my mom's insurance company and give them my list of items that they should not pay. Such as the useless tests that they ordered today.

I also left a note with the hospital to place in my mom's chart stating that BEFORE any meds are given and BEFORE any test or proceedure is to be taken, they are to call me FIRST! They have aleady called me tonight before they gave her the 8pm meds. Which thank God they did since they had the wrong dosage for her Coreg. I told them to call me even in the middle of the night. I told them I EXPECT a call FIRST!!! As nothing else would be acceptable.

So I will be retaining an attorney and it will be the best one I can get and hope this brings to light all of the incompetencies that are going on in the health care field. And I hope it eventually hits the media!!

Good for you JoAnn keep on that doctor so that he can't do any more damage than he's already done.

FINALLY, my mom was discharged from Ellis today and is now in Kingsway Rehab!! Tonight when I walked out of Kingsway, I did not leave with a knot in my stomach, worrying that they would kill her through medication or incompetence.

My mother's doctor while at Kingsway is Dr.Panatin. He also runs the geriactric center at St. Clares. He came to see my mother within 2hrs after she was admitted and cut her Fosamax (for bone density) and Zocor(for colestrol).  He said that we will worry about her bone density ianother time and thought it was rediculous that she was even on Zocor. He kind of chuckled at the thought of putting someone who already has coronary artery disease on  that medication. It doesn't reverse it. He also said that any of these cholesterol lowering drugs(statin drugs) can cause achey and weak muscles along with memory loss. So this med would not be given while(if ever) they are trying to regain her strength back. He also changed her diet from no salt/no fat to "eat anything you want". He said that it was important to get as many calories as she can and he didn't care how she got them.

Before we left Ellis today, and my mom went by ambulance, I requested her discharge summery sheet and her discharge med sheet. I guess this has never been requested before so I had to sign for them.(someone smarter than I told me to request them) I have also requested her medical records from St.Clares from her first heart attack which she was also then under the same cardiac medical group. Next stop is to call her cardiologist's office and her cardiac surgeon's office and ask for those records as well. Steps an attorney wouldn't have to do.

Well, I thank God that she is out of Ellis and hopefully on her way to "some kind" of a recovery.

I would like to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving this year and to remind us ALL to be thankful and greatful for everyone and everything in our lives. And to try to be thankful for everyday that we are given. Our mortality is inevitable.(just walk through a nursing home once if you never have) So let us enjoy this one shot at the life that we have been given and not waste it or take it for granted.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

JoAnn, I am so excited for you. And of course your mom.  It sounds like you have a doctor who has some common sense along with a medical degree.  I hope your mom can now have a chance of recovery and you will finally get a decent nights sleep.  My very best to you and enjoy your Thanksgiving.  

Who would be a good attorney for this law suit? One that wouldn't be connected to every doctor and hospital.

This is the doctor who did my  mom's triple heart bypass.


http://www.ellishospital.org/depan.cfm

Quoted Text

Harry J. DePan, M.D. has been a member of the Ellis Hospital Board of Trustees since 2000. He and his wife, Ellen, are currently serving as Co-Chairs of the Ellis Hospital Foundation's capital fundraising campaign.


Dr. DePan is Chief of Thoracic and Cardiac Surgery at Ellis Hospital and has been a surgeon at Ellis since 1991. He has practices in Schenectady and Albany, NY .

Dr. DePan earned his medical degree from Albany Medical College and his bachelor's degree, with honors, from Washington & Lee University, Lexington, VA. He completed his internship and residency at New York University Bellevue Medical Center in New York City. His is certified by the American Board of Surgery and the American Board of Thoracic Surgery, and holds memberships in numerous medical societies, including the New York Academy of Science, the New York Society of Thoracic Surgery, the American College of Surgeons, The Upstate Society of Thoracic Surgeons, and the Cardiac Society of Upstate New York. Additionally, Dr. DePan has authored numerous medical publications and holds an appointment at Albany Medical College as a Clinical Assistant Professor of Surgery.    

My mom is doing okay. It's a very slow process but then she is only 3 weeks post-op. We are all hoping that she is at least strong enough to come home for Christmas and then we can bring her back to Kingsway that night for the rest of her rehab.

I requested my mom's itemized bills from all of her hospital stays, both at Ellis and St. Clares. Well the first one I received came in the mail today. It was from Ellis. And it was dated from 11/5 to 11/12. And her bypass surgery is included in this one. The grand total for this 7 day stay was $93,218.67.  20mg of pepcid was $50.20! How do they justify that one? This is so far just the hospital bill. It will be interesting to see what the physician charges.

I'm glad to hear your mom is hanging in there. How are you doing?  The bill for your moms stay is outrageous.  The worst part is everyone always says that and they say something needs to be done but nothing ever seems to happen.  I wiish I had an answer.  My deputy Supervisor just finished with chemo treatments and a five week stint in the hospital after an allergic reaction and she said the five weeks cost $140,000. It is out of control.

My mom is doing pretty good!! I'll tell you that the woman is my hero. What a trooper! She is almost 83 years old, and since Sept. 9th, she has had 3 heart attacks, with the last one being major, a triple bypass, with one failed graft and at deaths doorstep with the overdose of the medicine Coreg. Honest to God, she is doing great! Thank God!

I talked with her physical therapist today and she told me that my mom should be home by Christmas! I'm so excited! She said that she is doing very well. She is getting confused with some things. For instance she does NOT remember her home at all!! But you have to figure that she hasn't seen the outside light of day for 3 weeks. So this weekend my brother will be coming in from out of state and Saturday we have permission to take her for a ride. We are going to ride her past her house, my house, her grandchildren's homes, Rotterdam Mall and Bellevue Cafe where I took her once a week for breakfast. She is absolutely bored out of her mind. And that is a good thing! We tell her that she just has to hang in there and be patient.

I am prepared to stay home from work to take care of her if necessary, but the therapist said to wait, as my mom may gain enough strength back that I can still work at least part time and she can be at my home alone for a few hours. The therapist said that she has done so well in just 1 week that they feel she will do even better as the next 3 weeks go by. We just have to see how much stamina her heart will allow her.

So that is the good news up date and thanks for the prayers!! They just seem to always work, don't they?

And Rene I'm sorry to hear about your friend having chemo and her allergic reaction. My husband went through a stem cell transplant at Albany Med almost 9 years ago for his second bout of non-hodgkins lympoma which came back aggressive. He was in the hospital for 1 month. My husband had MVP and we never saw a bill. And he has been cancer free ever since. That's calls for another "Thank God"!

My friend had non-hodgkins also.  She was on deaths door, only 35 or so with a 4 year old little boy.  I read about the stem cell therapy your husband had, that is mind boggling to me.  And yet there are so many people against it....go figure.

As for your mom...... and one more

Rene, the difference with my husband's stem cell transplant was that they used HIS. They purged HIS stem cells and radiated them, to make sure there were no cancer cells left, and infused them back into him. I have  no problem with that method. I am not a proponant of embryonic stem cells.