Davita strikes again

[YLGuy]

I am in center at a Davita center.  I am 3 1/2 hours 3 days a week.  I have been on a 24R Dialyzer.  All of a sudden when I checked my dialyzer as I do EVERY time before I sit down I noticed that I had a 21R.  I asked about why I had the wrong Dialyzer.  My nephrologist had written a script for the larger Dialyzer.  The head nurse told me that Davita had everyone who had the larger Dialyzer had been switched to the smaller Dialyzer for cost savings.  Sure enough my labs came back and I am not receiving adequate dialysis.  I asked how can I get the larger Dialyzer back.  The nurse said that the criteria used to get the larger one was that I had to be running for a minimum of 3 1/2 hours-I am.  My Kt/v had to be at a certain level which mine is.  The last criteria was I had to weigh 90 kilos or more.  I fluctuate between 85 and 86 kilos.  This is ridiculous.  I do not want to go 3 3/4 hours and I do not want them cranking up the flow rate.  I feel like putting a 10 pound weight in my backpack and weighing with that every time.
 

[okarol]

Good idea!
Who can you appeal this to?

[noahvale]

^
 

[jeannea]

Start fighting. Keep fighting. Start with your doctor and if he can't hep you start with all those links Noah gave you. If you don't stick up for yourself no one will.

[kitkatz]

Put your complaint and why you want the larger dialyzer back in writing to the center management.

[Gerald Lively]

If your Doctor prescribed something and your dialysis center refuses to comply, you are in the wrong place. We are talking about your body, your health, your life and not the profit margin of DaVita.
 
If it were me, I would do something outrageous like arguing with the supervising nurse in front of other patients, or go back to your Nephrologist and demand he set things straight, or write down your issue and hand a copy to every dialysis patient in the room.

But you aren’t me.
 
I had a water extraction problem with my dialysis center and they decided to reduce the water outtake rather than have me barking at them.  It’s your body, hold it sacred.

Gerald Lively