Dismissed Patient in Texas

[paul.karen]

Well i have just been reading and not responding to this thread.

I am lucky to be doing home dialysis.  Cause let me tell you i dont wanna go to jail for battery.
If many of the things i heard nurse ratchet and Inara say happens in there clinic were to happen in the seat next to me.  Aids blood flying feces flying, jerkin the gherkin talking to a female patient about what a person would do to there child ECT ECT. i would for sure wait for these people and i ques they would get treated for dialysis at there local emergency rooms at least for a few days.
Cause i would throw them a beatdown to send them there.

Less they were mentally challenged and knew no better.

[plugger]

   Must be something they are putting in their units' dialysate.

As I said the patient in Texas is safe and secure - and now getting a lawyer.  We have decided in the interests of public safety to release the name of the doctor responsible on DialysisEthics, and we have found something already about the doctor that gives us concern:

http://www.dialysisethics.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5603

[cariad]

Excellent work, plugger. Well done. 

[BigSky]

 

[nursewratchet]

Great news! The patient in Texas has been assigned to a clinic and will be receiving dialysis on a regular basis. When I talked to the patient on the phone, I was told the patient was accused of clamping a line and causing air to back up into the machine - patient talked to manufacturer and manufacturer said that couldn't happen. Also the doctor expressed dismay that the patient wasn't reaching dry weight - patient says this was due to weight gain. We can be happy a tragedy has been avoided.

You can't cause air to back up into the machine by clamping the line.  The manufacturer is right.  You can however, back air up into the dialyzer by clamping the line.  That can kill you if not watched very closely. 

[Goofy]

Eek..............what a horrible situation Nursewratchet described.  When I start dialysis, I'm going to do the PD at home.  I would never do the things Nursewrachet described in my own home, let alone in a public center!!

I was wondering if there were specific centers where people who are causing problems go to?  Maybe the staff is prepared to handle patients like that.  And if the centers were far from their homes, maybe they would think twice about acting up.  This way you're not denying a patient of treatment.  Is their decision to behave or go elsewhere.

I understand some of the problems could be mental health issues so you would think all the more they would have somewhere for the patients to go that has staff that is trained to work with patients like that.  I'm not saying if someone is mentally ill, that gives them the right to do as they please but they do need help.

Now the guy with HIV is a totally different story and you're probably saying to yourself, misbehavior is misbehavior and who is the one to make the judgments what is and is not accepted.  But no one should be subjected to his recklessness.  HIV is a life or death issue.

[plugger]

When one patient is in danger, chances are there are more.

http://www.dialysisethics2.org/

[nursewratchet]

Can't see what happened.  What did the doctor do?  How does the doctor fit in?  I'm confused...

[Chris]

Your not alone nursewratchet, I didn't see anything. Just don't ask for my comments on web design. I'll just say there is a lot of repetitive coding that is not needed there.

[BigSky]

Can't see what happened.  What did the doctor do?  How does the doctor fit in?  I'm confused...

You arent the only one.

On this whole thing all I am seeing is a bunch of half assed innuendos and accusations without any evidence behind them.

If something happened the whole thing needs laid out and not a bunch of innuendo bs.

[nursewratchet]

Right!

[KICKSTART]

Fair enough for the ones that cannot behave like decent human beings , putting them in a room full of normal people with good manners is a problem. But dont forget i was Warned to be careful , because i asked if i could use the Snug because of my eyes. Now if patients cant be treated like that , why cant problematic nurses be removed ?  I overheard one the other day talking to a patient and saying she wasnt bothered if she had a job or not in the unit and boy doesnt it come across !!. I really think dialysis nurses should be a different breed , more like the Mc Millan nurses (they deal with cancer patients only) because unlike a nurse on a normal ward , they are not going to see us get up and go home , fit ,well and cured!

[nursewratchet]

True.  I have seen some dialysis nurse who have been in the job for years, and are wonderful... On the other hand, I'v seen some that after 1 month on the floor, should be told to leave.  Dialysis is BY FAR the most difficult job I have ever had in nursing.  It is one that many can't do, and do well.  I've told some just flat out "this isn't going to work and you need to go".

[plugger]

If something happened the whole thing needs laid out and not a bunch of innuendo bs.

Sorry, not what we do.

Let me tell you how this has evolved.  Years ago we noticed a very strong bias in favor of the clinic in these situations, we have countered it with a very strong patient bias (a bias that has been more often proven right in the end).

We don't get the clinic's or the doctor's side of things - we leave that up to the dialysis company and the networks.  We communicate back and forth with the company, CMS, and the networks.  Many times it is more cordial than you might think, especially anymore - they might have concerns about our friends: lawyers, journalists.  We haven't lost a patient in nine or ten years.

If you want the doctor's side of things, you can call him for all I care.  We did post his name, must we do everything.

We also don't release more than what the patient is comfortable with, however it looks like the patient just got a whole lot more comfortable.

[plugger]

The dismissed patient in Texas has decided to go public with her story:

In the "Patient Advocacy" section of our forum
http://www.dialysisethics2.org/forum/

[BigSky]

We don't get the clinic's or the doctor's side of things - we leave that up to the dialysis company and the networks.  We communicate back and forth with the company, CMS, and the networks.  Many times it is more cordial than you might think, especially anymore - they might have concerns about our friends: lawyers, journalists.  We haven't lost a patient in nine or ten years.

If you want the doctor's side of things, you can call him for all I care.  We did post his name, must we do everything.

So in other words you only go with half the story and do no even try to find out the whole thing before throwing out innuendos.

[plugger]

In other words, we play the odds.  And we don't put it up on the board if we aren't sure of our ground.

[kristina]

I envy patients in the USA who have a chance to complain
when they have been abused/mistreated by doctors and/or medical staff.
I envy them for the chance to be sorted out because
that gives them a chance to survive and get on with their life.
I envy "dismissed patients" in the USA
for an opportunity & chance to contact
an organization like"dialysisethics" to find support and help.
At least that gives them a chance to survive.
I wish we had an organization like that in England.

[plugger]

I guess with any system if you put people in it, there are going to be problems. 

Actually we do have a similar system to England's right here in the US: the VA.  I was just there yesterday, as soon as I got into the lobby I was given a free flu shot.  Then I went upstairs to see one of the VA's top cardiologist for a checkup, I'm in an experimental drug program (some would say that explains a lot!).  I'm having a hard time seeing a downside to government care.