Radio Show!

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There is a radio show on every Thursday from 3pm to 4pm PST. It's run by a woman named Deirdre Gilbert and her mother. Deirdre has her own horrifying story of medical malfeasance and so do her guests. Let's support these women and get together to find some ways of getting the medical community back under OUR (patients) control. These medical people have had their own way for FAR too long and it time to show them who is boss. Here is the phone number for Deirdre and "Life Radio" (646) 652-2105 Press 2 just to listen and press 1 at any time to speak. Deirdre lost her precious daughter to a medical malpractice incident two years ago, so please, all you crazy health care people who have written such nasty horrible things to me, have a little compassion for the lady and don't call the show to display your heartlessness. I already know that a significant number of you suffer from narcissistic personality disorder, try to keep it to yourselves...

We need to do a number of things, but first on my list is ENFORCE INFORMED CONSENT LAWS. Anybody who knows me, knows that I feel that 'informed' consent with some teeth in the enforcement area is absolutely crucial to getting medical costs under control and saving us from medical over treatment and treatment which we know is detrimental to our health. Just think of all the money that can be saved if we can tell our doctors NO and have them comply with our wishes. That's the true meaning of 'informed' consent! This document has been bastardized by health care workers and morphed into a meaningless UNinformed consent. Actually nothing more than a vague, blanket "hold-harmless" agreement. Something to get the patient (or bystander for that matter) to sign by any means or subterfuge necessary. This must stop.

We absolutely have to do away with tort reform. Tort reform removes the last vestiges of control from our medical workers. They KNOW that they don't have to follow the law, or even be careful with their charges. There is no ENFORCEMENT of the law in any way shape or form, the only thing left to those of us who have been victimized by sloppy 'care' has been a lawsuit. These medical people wish to take that away.

Don't be fooled by all the hand wringing, moaning and crying about tort reform saving money and all that lying hoopla. Go look at states with tort reform. Notice any reduction in the cost of care? Any cheaper insurance? No? Because it's a lie. Your health care is going to go UP because you can't make these medical workers perform their job within the parameters you lay out! They are out to make the most money possible and if you can't sue them, what's to stop them? Nothing! They laugh and sneer at us for trying to take control of our medical costs. "What are ya gonna do about it, huh?" They already know, especially in the tort reform states that they can do anything up to and including MURDER without any reprisal. It's sickening. Leave it to some of the most under worked overpaid people among us to cry and whine about malpractice insurance costs.

The third thing on my list is DRUG TESTING! For far too long these medical workers, without any significant oversight have been able to get away with being impaired. Due to the above LACK OF ENFORCEMENT for informed consent LAWS and the tort reform keeping them safe from any lawsuits, they have also been able to get away with drug addiction. That's right, mentally impaired medical workers get to work on YOU without any problem whatsoever. Hospital administrators, eyeing only profit are turning a blind eye. Where I went the hospital CEO actually had the gall to state that the hospital "has no fiduciary duty to the patient." So druggies with unfettered access to 'the good stuff' for FREE along with sterile needles etc. are allowed to work on us. You like that?

Maybe these hospital administrators should also have some responsibility to us, the people who trust them with our lives, instead of simply the share holders? Keep in mind that in many cases the DOCTORS are the shareholders! What a conflict of interest.

Medical workers have had their way for far to long and they are bankrupting our entire country while performing shoddy work and in some cases KILLING people. (look at some of my other posts for statistics) We need common sense answers to this that cater to the patients instead of the rich medical lobbyists

Beware of THIS! Hospital NOT CITED for Violations!

I was searching through the Idaho Board of Health records for the hospital that *I* had my experience in, just to see if they were doing any better.   They are WORSE than ever.  However in perusing the many complaints I found one that is germane to the problem of being injected with Versed against our will.  Remember how those nurses simultaneously tell us to list Versed/Midazolam as an "allergy" while at the same time maintaining their right to decide for themselves whether it's REALLY an allergy and giving it to you anyway?  Here's the ABSOLUTE PROOF that even if you tell these medical workers that you don't want or need Versed, (or any other drug) that you deny them their favorite drug and tell them that you have an allergy, they will simply decide otherwise and IT'S ALL OK!  Unbelievable!  Here's the link; 

http://healthandwelfare.idaho.gov/Portals/0/Medical/LicensingCertification3/120412KootenaiMedCtrCX6.pdf

Here's the excerpt which is so shocking to me!  What happened to informed CONSENT?  The patient involved CLEARLY stated that they didn't want and didn't consent to Morphine...and yet...

"The Pharmacist stated that nausea and "flu-like" symptoms from Morphine was a side effect, rather than an allergy, and would be approved for patient administration.  The Director of Pharmacy provided multiple documents which demonstrated the review of medications and over-ride process before allowing those medications to be administered.

While the patient claimed to be allergic to Morphine, the Pharmacist had determined the drug was safe for administration to the patient."

So the patient goes into the hospital and states that she doesn't want Morphine, has an allergy to it, don't give it.  The personnel flags the hospital records so that the Pharmacy knows to choose another pain killer and guess what?  IT DOESN'T MATTER!  The patient has every RIGHT, BY LAW, TO REFUSE TO ALLOW ANYTHING THEY DON'T WANT!  So why is it just fine to deliberately and maliciously decide, unilaterally and arbitrarily, that the patient will get whatever it is that they DON'T WANT OR ALLOW?  What's the point of consent if this type of behavior is acceptable?  The Pharmacy OVER-RODE the patients wishes, and-they-never-got-in-trouble-for-it!  Clearly this patient did NOT give consent for the drug because she didn't LIKE it, whether or not it was a true allergy.  She declined its administration.  Why did she get it anyway?  Wow!  Can you see why I had so much trouble at Kootenai myself?  (shaking head in disbelief) 

I specifically mentioned Morphine as a drug that was acceptable to me, along with nausea medication.  I'm fine with Morphine.  Guess which drug I DIDN'T GET?  That's right, they wouldn't give me Morphine, oh hell no, patients can't dictate any preferences to THEM!  I guess I should feel lucky I didn't get Demerol, another drug *I* had refused.  I had no idea that this kind of forced medication, violating the autonomy of patients was actually just fine.  So where do we go from here?  How do we get COMPLIANCE WITH THE LAW? 

FYI here are the patient rights laws that were broken in the above example;
42 CFR 482.13 (a)(2)(b) "The patient has the right to participate in the development and implementation of his or her plan of care."
42 CFR 482.13 (a)(2)(b)(2)  "The patient or his or her representative has the right to make informed decisions regarding his or her care.  The patients rights include being informed of his or her health status, being involved in care planning and treatment, and being able to request or refuse treatment.

These violations of patient rights laws were substantiated by the investigation by the Idaho Board of Health, so why did they dismiss the charges as 'unsubstantiated'?  It's because there are no real patient rights.  There is no other explanation why Kootenai wasn't cited for a clear and egregious violation of several of this patient's rights.  It doesn't matter what some Pharmacist wants, decides, or proclaims is "safe for administration" the patient has every RIGHT to refuse!!!!

Radio Show! Call In!

DRUG & GAGS

Another Helpful Site

I was poking around the internet today and I found this site:Patient Advocate Directory: Linking Patients and Families to Health Care Advocates  This place is AWESOME!  I highly encourage you to go there, read the stories, take advantage of the directory, and find others who have been harmed by the medical community.  Remember that MEDICAL ERRORS ARE A LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH IN THE UNITED STATES.  You are far more likely to be killed or disabled by medical care than to die in an auto accident.  Great web-site, I highly recommend.

FYI on medical care being a leader in unnecessary deaths:  Happy reading!

Medical Treatment is the Leading Cause of Death in the U.S - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com

 More Treatment, More Mistakes - NYTimes.com

The leading cause of death and injury in the United States

More Vindication!

I got the following e-mail in my inbox today.  I love it when I discover that *I* am not a lonely voice in the wilderness.  (how's that for hyperbole?)  Here we have a carefully reasoned idea, complete with statistics, to do something I have been agitating for.  That is, DRUG TEST THE DRUG PUSHERS!

Here's the e-mail, just as I received it.  Don't you love it?  Call your elected officials no matter where you live and tell them we need this!  Make these health care workers PEE IN A CUP!  I have to as a condition of employment  and as a condition of being licensed AND SO SHOULD THEY! 

Jackie

It’s outrageous. A methamphetamine user convicted of a federal felony for drug dealing just won the right to treat patients again in one year.

Pilots would be grounded for life. Lawyers would lose their license forever. Doctors that use and deal drugs, like Nathan Kuemmerle, face little discipline or deterrence. That has to change, and you can help today by calling for reform.

The Los Angeles Times conducted a remarkable investigation that found widespread problems with prescription overdoses and a fundamental failure in California to discipline and deter drug-dealing and drug-using doctors.

This week, I talked with mothers who lost their sons to drug-dealing doctors and are ready to march on Sacramento for change. Will you help clear the road for them by asking your legislators to hold hearings, data-mine state databases about doctor prescribing patterns, and improve doctor deterrence and discipline?

These families have been devastated by the preventable loss of their children. The fact that their kids’ deaths were preventable is what is so frustrating for them and tragic.

How is it possible that drug-using and drug-dealing physicians, including the 71 identified by the Los Angeles Times whose prescribing has led to 3 or more deaths, are not known to the public and are nearly all still practicing without scrutiny?

Pilots must undergo mandatory random drug testing because they hold the lives of so many passengers in their hands. Physicians who operate on patients and are in a position to overprescribe or use narcotics themselves should undergo similar mandatory random drug tests.

Sacramento needs to put the issue of doctor oversight, discipline and deterrence on the front burner. Will you help by weighing in today?

Thanks for helping these families and sending a message to Sacramento.



Jamie

PS: You can read today’s Los Angeles Times story about our call to Sacramento and find the full investigative series here.