First time asking but prayers are needed...UPDATE#3...it gets worse.

[nliedel]

Cold water here. My boys were in the hospital for a long time and so was I (8 weeks) within the last year and a half. Yes there are government programs but you are not elidgable to sign up for them until you have been in the hospital for thirty days. If you are then they will pay back to the beginning (we made too much but just barely). Check with the Patiant Advocate (she should be anyway) about this but I am pretty confident with my info here. With preemies you get pretty comfortable with the procedures etc.

 

[Disney Doll]

Thank you Disney Doll. You explained alot and it really makes sense. I'm going to print out this info and send to my sis and hopefully they qualify for some assistance. Please do not think I was complaining about level of care based on insurance or not. I do not think that was an issue. Sis was very upset (and vented to me) how the hosp/dr/nurses didnt seem to take bil pain seriously. I feel like something should/could have been done sooner within the first 34 hours of being admitted. The delay is my only complaint so far. I have not spoken to sis yet today but I will keep posting updates.

I wasn't thinking that you were complaining about the level of care necessarily. I was advising you based on my experiences as a nurse. When part of a patient's hospital stay is bad, some folks tend to color the whole thing as bad, when that might not be the case. And I know from experience, that if there is a complaint made and it is realistic, which your family's seems to be with regard to the delay, that it only works in your favor to mention the good with the bad. My supervisor has been known to listen to issues from patients and come back to us and say "Well, they are unhappy with XYZ, but they also said that the nurses have been great, and they like the food, and they have been very happy with physical therapy" or whatever. And it truly does make everyone want to help more if we know that some of what we're doing is appreciated. Otherwise, it's kind of like "if you think the whole place stinks, where do we start??" The more specific you can be with the complaint, the better, because then we know where to start. At least, this is the way we work it in my hospital. Patient complaints are taken very seriously.

 

[nliedel]

"Well, they are unhappy with XYZ, but they also said that the nurses have been great, and they like the food, and they have been very happy with physical therapy" or whatever.

Anyone who says they like the food needs to be there! ACK! (like I said I was in the hospital for 8 weeks. I was trying not to have a 24-32 week preemie. By the end I was begging people to bring my anything but that stuff. When I had little JJ I am pretty sure there was a party on the OB floor).

They do take complaints seriously, very seriously. A few weeks ago I was in (bile duct thing) the ED (emergancy department) and one of the docs tried to give me a script of morphine. I am deathly, anaplactic, allergic to Morphine and most of the opiates (darn it all anyway). He was not supposed to hand write the script. They are supposed to put it through the computer which is designed to catch allergies like mine. I was pretty sick (I need surgery but not an emergancy) but told him that he needed to check my chart. He took the script out of my hand and was really nasty about it.

The next day my husband called and complained. He was careful to relate how much the doctors I had seen earlier were great and we really thought they were listening till this guy came along. Long story short he got into major trouble. As he should have. One of the nurses witnessed it and relayed what happened. They do care, they do listen. Just don't sound like everything is horrible.

 

[Aidensmom]

I just saw this thread. I am praying that he recovers very soon.

 

[Disneyglobegirl]

I'm sending prayers to your BIL also! I hope that everything turns out well. Keep us posted.

 

[Southern4sure]

UPDATE: I just received a call from sis. The hospital was going to send bil home this past Monday but he starting to run a fever. They then had him trying to eat solid food like lasagna which he could not, it burned his throat. Bil had a hard time trying to speak. He would speak about 5 words then be winded and in pain.

Wednesday morning the nurse staff tried to get him up and walk but he yelled in pain and kept complaining of pain. He was taken off morphine earlier on Monday but given regular tylenol. He was told the pain was because he wasn't walking. Bil finally stood up and nearly collasped from pain. A x-ray was taken about 11 am but nothing was said to sis if the x-ray showed anything.

Well late last night (almost 36 hrs after the x-ray on Wed.) a dr. came in the room about 10 pm and was very apologetic. The x-ray was just brought to his attention he said but it turns out bil was using less than 10% of his left lung capacity because of fluid. The dr. put him back on morphine and told him it was too late to do anyting about the fluid and he would take care of it in the morning (today). So this morning, a tube was inserted on his left side near his rib cage and 800 CC of fluid was drained.

My bil is only 25 and until he was admitted to the hospital he was a very healthy man. He has a huge incision from the exploratory surgery which should not had happened. He had an appendix attack and it should have been a minor thing. There is no telling when he will be able to return to work. The social worker at the hospital says there isn't any programs/assistance they qualify for to help with the hosp. bill but suggested my sis apply for food stamps.....

It is so fustrating seeing a normally healthy young man in this condition and at the mercy of this hospital. Something just doesn't seem right.

Please keep my sis and bil in your thoughts and prayers. They really need it.

ETA: Sorry this is so long!

 

[escape]

I"m so sorry your BIL and family are having to go through all of this.

Sending prayers and well wishes his way.

 

[Sandcass]

Prayers for your family.

 

[Virgo10]

First prayers to your family and especially your BIL. If your sister is able to she needs to document all of this and try and get copies of the various reports. Put me on the lawyer bandwagon. What's going on here is just plain wrong!

 

[Southern4sure]

First prayers to your family and especially your BIL. If your sister is able to she needs to document all of this and try and get copies of the various reports. Put me on the lawyer bandwagon. What's going on here is just plain wrong!

Want to hear something else strange? Sis asked for bil medical records but was refused even though she is the wife. Reason being they can only give records to the "patient" through written request. I do not know if bil could hold a pen right now, he is that bad of a condition.

 

[debbiedoo]

I am so sorry to hear about this --- very sad --

and prayers to you and your family

 

[BriarfoxinWA]

First off I'm adding my prayers for you Bil's speedy recovery. I'd certainly recommend that your sis get an attorney ASAP and second get him out of that hospital and into another one. It sounds like they just keep doing all the wrong things - the level of care he is getting sounds horrible.

 

[figment52]

Want to hear something else strange? Sis asked for bil medical records but was refused even though she is the wife. Reason being they can only give records to the "patient" through written request. I do not know if bil could hold a pen right now, he is that bad of a condition.

First - prayers and pixie dust for a full recovery.

Second - Get a notary and two witnesses and have your BIL sign a request for release of any and all medical records to your sister. She needs to seek assistance of an attorney now.

 

[PrincessKitty1]

Prayers said for your brother-in-law.

Speaking as a nurse, I could not give better advice than Disney Doll.

I also think a smart Risk Management Department would speak to your B-I-L's attorney and offer a settlement right away (that should include payment for hospital bills). The attorney for the hospital where I work says they do this routinely when they know the hospital has made an error.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

I didn't have time to read all the post, but I do have experience with hospital stays w/o insurance. My DH is self employeed, & we don't have insurance. When I had my back surgery, we had to pay out of pocket. By the grace of God, we had been saving for a downpayment on our home & had enough in the bank for the downpayment, the doctor, & hospital bills. I had my surgery at UCH & received a substantial discount on all the bills. They charge self pays a lot less than those with insurance. This was great for us at the time, but I couldn't help but think that if they didn't charge insurances so much, we could afford to buy it. Anyway, that's another subject, for another time. I will say a pray for each of you. Let me know, if there's anything I can do to help.

 

[icebrat001]

I am so sorry your family is going through such a difficult time. I truly hope everything works out for the best.

Lots of prayers.

 

[C.Ann]

I also think a smart Risk Management Department would speak to your B-I-L's attorney and offer a settlement right away (that should include payment for hospital bills). The attorney for the hospital where I work says they do this routinely when they know the hospital has made an error.

-------------------------------

This is so true.. My DD had a very bad experience with a local hospital about 2 years ago.. When they realized that they couldn't worm their way out of what went on (it was all on video) and DD's attorney not only threatened to sue, but to also take it to the news media, DD and her DH received a written apology and didn't have to pay a dime for her hospital stay.. If they had persued the matter further, there's no doubt that they would have received some sort of monetary settlement, but it was so exhausting for my DD (not to mention she had to be re-admitted to another hospital) they felt the best thing to do at that point in time was just accept the apology, accept the fact that they wouldn't have to pay for her hospitalization, and WARN EVERYONE THEY KNOW about what happened and why..

There is no excuse for what is happening with your BIL.. That hospital sounds bad enough that it should probably be shut down before they kill someone!

 

[FreshTressa]

3 DAYS TO READ AN XRAY ABOUT FLUID IN THE LUNG????


I am horrified!!!

 

[MerryPoppins]

What a horrible story! I'll keep them in my prayers. Give updates when you can.

 

[nliedel]

Look they need a lawyer now. This is horrible and delaying the tube in the lung is, it's absolutly criminal. That fluid could have been badly infected and not believing his pain? Not good at all.