Shoddy care @ St. Rose
A meaningful dialogue was struck up during the course of the debates on Health Insurance Reform in recent months which ended up reaching far beyond the issue of affordable medical care (and plan options).
For instance, a handful of committees raised questions about the wisdom of past insurance programs that were tied to gainful employment (or lack thereof), and subsequently, employers.
The general consensus?
Health Insurance reform has been long overdue on these shores.
Of course, politicians and industry-analysts have rustled up a lot of controversy (and the angry cry of the mob) along the treacherous path to that universal end.
To some, tinkering with government plans (Medicare, for instance) is not only objectionable, but has been signalling to a posse of concerned Americans, that the United States may be heading down a socialist path with the likes of wet-behind-the-ears politicians (President Obama) leading the merry way.
To most voters, socialism is a "dirty word", not to be uttered in polite circles.
Even though I was born and raised in Canada - where health insurance is available to all citizens on a sliding-scale earnings basis - I never turned out be a Socialist, Marxist, Communist, whatever (there's that word pollsters voted the most-hated this past week).
I am a half-baked Capitalist, if anything.
I cheer on the enterprising go-getters who want to strike out and rustle up a fortune - and a political system that allows it - but also favor government-backed programs that provide assistance to the needy.
In a civilized society, no one should be left behind, after all.
Even still, there has been a call to hammer out a health program unique to this country - and consequently - a demand that politicians turn their backs on any copycat versions of those in Canada, England, and elsewhere.
So, a host of lobbyists and analysts - on both sides of the political fence - have ralled to the cause in recent days with the ulimate aim of winning over the - pocketbooks, hearts, minds, and potential votes - of the skeptical (and prudent).
Over the past few months, there appears to have been an accord in most quarters in respect to the "need" for an overhaul of the insurance industry.
After a lot of wrangling on Capitol Hill, and politicking between the Repubs and the Dems, today it was reported that the toiling Congressional Committee endorsed its own blueprint for expanding insurance coverage down new avenues which is also ever-mindful of the need to pare down potentially exhorbitant costs.
A lot of razzle-dazzle by politicians - fancy footwork and double-talk - saved the day in the final analysis.
Unfortunately, the key players have focused primarily on "cost" (how & when the transformation will come about in practical and common sense terms, also)
But, the idea of quality care, appears to have been left out in the cold!
After chatting up patients that sought treatment recently in medical facilities - here (Las Vegas) and in Los Angeles (home) - I have determined that "emergency rooms" and "out-patient" facilities are in dire need of revamping, too.
One evening, after suffering through a traumatic dispute with a business entity, I suddenly found myself thirsty, dizzy, and short of breath.
When I popped into a convenience store to snatch up an ice-cold beverage, and get my bearings, alarmed clerks in the store pointed out that I appeared to be out-of-sorts (a bit incoherent).
Upon their urging, I aimed myself towards the University of Las Vegas medical facility just down the road, in search of a check-up by medical professionals.
At the admission desk, I found it difficult to jot down my name and address on the form, and suddenly realized I was in worse shape than I originally thought.
A short while later, I was whisked into a cubicle, where my vital signs were read.
At this point, it was determined that I was suffering from heat exhaustion and dehydration.
So, at the instruction of the doctor on duty, I was installed in a private sectioned-off area, and administered liquids (by IV).
A short while later, an employee at the hospital entered a cubicle in the section near me, and suddenly lamented to a patient:
"You pissed all over yourself."
In response, the patient was inclined to lash back.
Undoubtedly, the individual was admitted to "emergency" for a medical condition that caused the unexpected mishap to occur, so why the off-base remark?
Offended by the tirade - which the patient characterized as rude and insensitive - the insured patient asked that the nurse (orderly?) locate a supervisor so that a complaint could be lodged with administration officials.
Rather than leave well enough alone, the staffer worsened matters, by continuing with the abusive dialogue.
"Okay. I'll just leave you in your piss, then."
Imagine that!
Then, when the Afro-American nurse crossed paths with another worker outside the patient's curtained perch in the "emergency" back-room, he huffed:
"He says I'm rude."
Then, the mean-spirited hospital employee laughed wickedly and retorted:
"Our day will come."
The out-of-line remark was racist in nature, for sure!
A charge nurse arrived shortly thereafter, but was unable to offer any condolence.
So, the disgruntled patient noted he was going to file a complaint with the Director of the hospital and the State Medical Board.
Shortly thereafter, a doctor breezed in.
When the disgruntled patient attempted to express dismay over the revolting unprofessional conduct of the nurse, the physician waved him off.
"Don't get yourself worked up," he said somewhat dismissively.
Then, the good doctor proceeded to give the patient the bum's rush!
"Looks like an overnight stay won't be necessary. We're going to discharge you."
The patient was stunned.
Because he complained about the disorderly orderly, he was being kicked out of the facility as punishment!
As the Doctor started to head out the door, he smirked, and in a condescending tone of voice noted for the record:
"You're welcome to send letters to whoever you want."
The impression I got from the way it was uttered up was telling.
The doctor was basically saying:
"Fat chance. A lot of good it will do you."
What an arrogant son-of-a-bitch!
Did he honestly think that the patient needed his permission to complain about staff misconduct or to assert a patient's legal rights?
Elsewhere in Las Vegas, at the Desert Springs Hospital on Flamingo, patients languished on stretchers for over twelve hours (without much care or attention in the duration) until a bed was available.
One patient overheard an interesting conversation about the room he was slated to be installed in.
"It's ready. Number twelve will be going up in a few minutes."
Other patients rolled out from the back room in quick time, but his transfer was delayed for some inexplicable reason.
Angered by the lack of professional care he was receiving, he finally limped out into the main hallway, and queried the Nurse on duty about the hold up.
"You're going upstairs soon," she assured him with an edge to her voice.
After he dropped with a thud to the mattress, he was shocked to hear the employee in question ask another fellow worker why someone switched his room.
"Don't know," the other nurse quipped.
"Does it really matter," she huffed in a rude and insulting manner, on the heels of the admission that the patient was essentially SOL.
About a half-hour later, the patient suffering from severe chest pain, was finally wheeled up to a private room.
Then, nurses scurried to rustle up sheets, and make up the unmade bed!
Curiously, the following day (out-of-the-blue) the billing office put in a phone call to his hospital bed.
"Do you have insurance," the slightly annoyed office clerk probed.
When he noted that it was shown to admissions the day before, the clerk was stunned.
"That's odd, There is no record of it on file."
The doctor was also hindered with her prognosis the next day, too, because the tests results went missing in emergency.
Later, a nurse determined that a staff member placed the paperwork in the wrong patient file!
Was this a case of attempted identity theft or a bold-faced effort to spirit away a patient's insurance data without their knowledge or permission?
Or, was it just a case of sloppy record-keeping rife with error due to staff incompetence?
Meanwhille, at Sunrise Hospital on Maryland Parkway (near Flamingo) - a patient who was being observed and treated for chest pains - was rousted in the middle of the night and forced to walk down the hall to another room because a charge nurse was inclined to install an older man there so she could keep an eye on him at the Nurse's station.The nerve of that woman (!) - disturbing a fully-insured patient in the middle-of-the-night on a whim - with no regard for patient safety, comfort, or well-being.
Of course, there are many complaints being fielded these days, in respect to shoddy skills exhibited by Nurses on duty.
For example, because a handful of these young inexperienced Nurses have difficulty drawing blood samples, patients are often left with unsightly needle marks and black-and-blue bruises on their arms for days after they've been discharged.
In one instance I am familiar with, an IV actually popped out, and blood started to ooze out of the vein of a patient who happened to be suffering from low platelets and a blood-clotting ailment.
When the patient pushed the "buzzer" at his bedside for assistance, the Nurse wasn't inclined to treat the siituation as an emergency.
So, the patient was forced to walk down the hall to flag down a Nurse, as blood spurted all over the floor with shocked patients staring on in disbelief.
At St. Rose hospital in Henderson (NV), a patient in emergency was on a stretcher for hours suffering intense pain and severe cramping up and down his legs, but no treatment was forthcoming from the nurse in charge.
Finally, a technician - about to conduct an x-ray - noticed the patient sweating and grimmacing in pain.
A review of the doctor's orders revealed that the nurse had been instructed to inject the patient with a dose of morphine, but, she neglected to follow through on the directive for some inexplicable reason.
In fact, when the oversight (negligence?) on the nurse's part was discovered, she proceeded to lie, distort the facts, and engaged in a cover-up.
"The patient never told me he was in pain. No one told me to administer any pain killer."
In spite of the severity of the ailment, and the doctor's specific instructions, she had the audacity (stupidity?) to stride into the patient's cubicle on the heels of the accusations, thrust the blame the patient's way, then ask if he'd like a tylenol!
Suspicious behaviour, eh?
Maybe the Filipino nurse was involved in some scheme to squirrel away the potent narcotic for herself, a friend, or sale on the black market.
Who knows!
Today, it appears that staff (nurses, technicians, orderlies) are unfamiliar with ethics, professional standards of conduct, how to act in a medical facility with living and breathing patients in their presence (and under their care).
At Spring Valley Hospital (on Rainbow Blvd), staff were gossiping about a patient they just conducted a procedure on, in front of another patient.
They joked that the young man jumped up from the stretcher quickly, and surmised from this unexpected show of flexibility, that he was faking a bad (injured) back so that he could obtain a prescription for morphine (pain killer) for recreational (not medical) use.
Office personnel often breeze into a patient's cubicle or room - while the patient is half-dressed, in a lot of pain, and in the throes of being admitted - and proceed to pester the patient with irrelevant questions that frustrate the process and amount to an invasion of privacy.
OMG!
In view of the foreoing, it appears that the bid for Health Insurance Reform, is seriously lacking.
Barack, take heed, and head back to square one at the negotiating table.
Quality care at reasonable cost (with options) will rustle up support, not a slam-dunk slip-shod bill-of-fare like the one you and your political cronies (and lobbyist backers) are seeking on Capitol Hill currently.
Blurred reality in Emergency!
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