Need Help Immediately Please

[Black]

This was posted on the PKD board and I didn't know what to tell the poor guy other than to contact his Network, and in the meantime, call 911 if he needs to.

"I have a very difficult problem related to my woman kidney doctor. 
> I had a falling out with my kidney doctor.  Bottom line is I told her
> to her face that she was not worth her M. D.  She fired me and has
> told every doctor here in knoxville TN not to take me because I
> was "non-compliant"  It has been a night mare for me.  I have had to
> dialyize through the emergency room.  I am suppose to dialyize three
> time a week but it costs so much that i go once a week.  This week I
> got so toxic that I had to be taken away in an ambulance.  This lady
> has given me a death sentence.  I told my regular doctor to call
> Hospis because I have been given a death sentence and instead of
> saying Art let me try to help he called them and then Hospis called me
> and wanted to come over. ..."

I thought about telling him to post here but at this point he may not be up to it.  I will definitely tell him about this group after the crisis is over.  But what else can I tell him to do now???

[Epoman]

This actually sounds very strange, did he not tell them his situation at the ER? They would have sent in a social worker and get him some help. We really need more details, I can't imagine one doctor having such control over other centers that he can't get in some place. If this is true the doctor is acting very unethical.

Topic Moved and Stickied to "General Discussion" Temporarily for better exposure. - Epoman, Owner/Admin

[Black]

This actually sounds very strange, did he not tell them his situation at the ER? They would have sent in a social worker and get him some help. We really need more details, I can't imagine one doctor having such control over other centers that he can't get in some place. If this is true the doctor is acting very unethical.

Topic Moved and Stickied to "General Discussion" Temporarily for better exposure. - Epoman, Owner/Admin

Thanks for the move. 

I'll try to get more details from him but apparently he called other nephs about changing to their practice and when they contacted his original neph he was "black-listed" as a non-compliant/difficult patient and they refused to see him.   His original center won't see him as the neph he left is the neph for that clinic.  The other centers will not see him without a neph referral.

IMO, even if this guy is non-compliiant that does not justify stopping him from getting dialysis, and his GP referring him to Hospice was an awful lapse in judgment.  After some of the incompetence I've seen myself I can understand blowing up at a stupid doctor, and there are probably several people here who can identify with this guy.  Also, I'm sure many long term dialysis patients have probably encountered the threats of being labeled "non-compliant" and felt that weird squirm in the pit of their stomach followed by indignation and anger.

I wonder if it would help to call Medicare?  or his insurance company?  He's so toxic I hate to send him out jousting windmills.

[kitkatz]

I think a good move would be an emergency room for treatment.  Then a good social worker and contact with a good lawyer.  Then a call to medicare systems and a complaint filed now.  There a places to report bad care in a dialysis unit and he should have been informed. 

The social worker should be able to smooth things out with a center and get him into regular treatments in his area.  He needs to explain the situation that got him booted and then prove he can be compliant for awhile in a center.  I do not think someone can refuse him treatment just because he and a doctor got into a shouting match. A sincere apology to the doctor (even if he was wrong) might smooth a lot of feathers and make things easier.  But before that a good lawyer and some legal eagle advice.  Then some ass kicking and taking of names!

[Black]

I think a good move would be an emergency room for treatment.  Then a good social worker and contact with a good lawyer.  Then a call to medicare systems and a complaint filed now.  There a places to report bad care in a dialysis unit and he should have been informed. 

The social worker should be able to smooth things out with a center and get him into regular treatments in his area.  He needs to explain the situation that got him booted and then prove he can be compliant for awhile in a center.  I do not think someone can refuse him treatment just because he and a doctor got into a shouting match. A sincere apology to the doctor (even if he was wrong) might smooth a lot of feathers and make things easier.  But before that a good lawyer and some legal eagle advice.  Then some ass kicking and taking of names!

   may I quote this post to him?

[kitkatz]

Quote away.

[BigSky]

I may be wrong but I will be the first to say it.

The whole thing sounds fishy to me.  Either its a troll or the person is less then truthful in telling what exactly is going on.



Between Medicare, Medicaid, and other state programs dialysis would not cost them too much.  As to price of dialysis in emergency room the cost would not matter because even if you refuse to pay the bill they cannot refuse you present or future service in the US.

Their personal doctor (GP)could easily refer them to another Nephrologist.  Especially in the Knoxville area where there are roughly 25-30 such practices and I highly doubt one doctor would have the power to "blackball"a patient with everyone in such a large area.  Not to mention that all doctors would open themselves up to possible liability by such a thing.  With so many Nephrologists in that area it would be no sweat off the docs back if the patient went to someone else IMO.

[redheadedangel]

I too am going to have to say that there is a lot more here than meets the eye. It is not uncommon for patients to change doctors because they either loose trust, don't get along, have differences of opinions or are not getting what they want from a doctor. Often it is that the doctor has caught on to their game if it is drug related (not saying this is just using this as an example)I could be as simple as a patient refusing to do as the doctor advises.Or personalities clash. We all know how we hate to go to dialysis but still go..well truth is there are some patients who push the limits. Who's to say that this is not the case. I was a trauma nurse for 26 years. and the ONLY blackball list I am or ever heard of that exist is due to drug abuse. And believe me That one DOES exist. Once a patients name gets on that list he/she has havoc of being treated. Legally I do not believe a doctor would place his license on the line as this guy is describing. I say there are some holes in the story. Sassy ( I just love that group hug!




EDITED: Fixed HTML tag error - Epoman, Admin/Owner

[redheadedangel]

Please explain what I did wrong here. This is all my own writing. Linda

[redheadedangel]

This is my writing. Why the tag issue. there is no tag.

[Epoman]

This is my writing. Why the tag issue. there is no tag.

Yes of course there is no tag error now because I fixed your post. Also i noticed you replied to EVERY thread I fixed, which is not necessary. Please do not do that in the future.

Here is an example of what I mean by "tag" errors:

http://ihatedialysis.com/forum/index.php?topic=1301.msg15949#msg15949

You have errors in your post. Do you see what I mean now?

[Sara]

Sassy, I think if you type the post first, then highlight the appropriate text, then hit the button for bold or underline or whatever, it won't give you the tag error.  You're probably used to MS Word where you choose the bold first and then type.  Hope that helps.   

[Rerun]

Sara this is correct (although off topic).  Another tip is if you highlight and bold then you have to highlight again to change color and then you have to highlight again to underline.

[Sara]

Sara this is correct (although off topic).  Another tip is if you highlight and bold then you have to highlight again to change color and then you have to highlight again to underline.

Well considering how it already went off-topic I figured I'd jump in there with the tip. LOL

[Epoman]

Sara this is correct (although off topic).  Another tip is if you highlight and bold then you have to highlight again to change color and then you have to highlight again to underline.

Well considering how it already went off-topic I figured I'd jump in there with the tip. LOL

Thank you Sara for helping out Sassy. 

[glitter]

When my husband was first assigned a nephrologist (the urologist recommended 2-we just picked one)everything was fine. Then he started having severe vomiting and BP spikes up and down-well after the neph wouldn't do anything (she said it wasn't dialysis related)we went to a whole bunch of other Dr.s he had every test known to man-(in and out of the hospital for three months)and four other Dr said it is BP related and kicked it back to her(the neph) she put him on 6 different drugs all at once (even though he is very sensitive to meds)and when it didn't help(in fact-it made it worse) -she said he needed a shrink.
   We started shopping for another neph-and every single one in our town (there are 8 others)refused to see him-his neph came in to dialysis and laughed and said 'now that you know-no-one else is going to see you,your stuck with me'-
 well he took himself of all the drugs she put him on-got his GP to prescribe a BP med that worked well in the hospital (neph didn't like that one)and got him to prescribe Fosrenol too. We were told by the kidney center that by law she wasn't able to drop him and leave him stranded without a neph, but she never had another conversation with him again-never asked how he was doing,just flat out didn't care.

The good news is we just found a brand new neph -new to our town,and young enough to still have a fresh open mind.

My question is if this fellow lives in the usa-he would presumably already have medicare-won't they pay for all three treatments he needs each and every week? wouldn't the ER keep him in the hospital if he were toxic? Don't they have an obligation to do so?
Would the ER assign a neph automatically if he doesn't have one? 

[redheadedangel]

Depending on what kind of hospital he went into .The privately owned ones have different rules than state and community hospitals. Learning and teaching hospitals have more lead way with government grants than private. Which might be his best bet. There he can get the help he needs. I am not familiar with the hospitals in his area.( ?), so can not reccomend one. A call to the state social service department could get the answers you are seeking. If I knew the area I would search for you the closest teaching university. Or if you know, you might try this. Sassy

[Black]

To everyone who posted on this thread.  Art is now confident that he has gotten enough info to work this out.  It may take a bit more work and some time for his treatment to get back to near normal and routine but he now thinks he can do that.  Some docs just get that "God complex" and too many other idiots back them up!! Grrrr!

[Epoman]

To everyone who posted on this thread.  Art is now confident that he has gotten enough info to work this out.  It may take a bit more work and some time for his treatment to get back to near normal and routine but he now thinks he can do that.  Some docs just get that "God complex" and too many other idiots back them up!! Grrrr!

You're welcome. I will unsticky this now that the situation is better. But yes I know FIRST hand some doctors think their excrement don't stink. 

[Black]

To everyone who posted on this thread.  Art is now confident that he has gotten enough info to work this out.  It may take a bit more work and some time for his treatment to get back to near normal and routine but he now thinks he can do that.  Some docs just get that "God complex" and too many other idiots back them up!! Grrrr!

You're welcome. I will unsticky this now that the situation is better. ...

  for temporary sticky    you're a good man to have available for emergency help. 

...But yes I know FIRST hand some doctors think their excrement don't stink. 

  Yep, most of us with much time spent in the medical community have that unfortunate experience.  I always hope they get a chronic condition which allows them to meet at least one of their own kind.

[bioya]

If this dude is admitted to a hospital and is receiving acute dialysis in the hosptial, he can NOT be discharged WITHOUT having followup care arranged. That is against all standards of care. We had a non-compliant patient as an in-patient for two months in one hosptial because the hosptial could not d/c him without him having a facility to run in. Granted, that facility was 75 miles away, but he still had a place to run 3 times a week. This statement sounds awful... ummm.. fishy.