Why is the social worker working against us?

[LoraJ]

I posted the otehr day about my boyfriend's dad and how we've been told he needs hospice care. We've been in the process of trying to get him Medicaid and before that SS disability. For the medicaid we are waiting for a copy of his birth certificate to come plus some other stuff we need. We've been advised to work with the social worker at the hospital to get things going as quickly as possible.

This woman is just totally useless. We went to the hospital the other day and had her paged. She was in a meeting and they told us she would come see us when she returned at 2:30pm. At 3:00pm I went to the nurses station and asked about her. She was right there and someone told her we were waiting for her. She said soemthing like "huh" and the nurse said she'll come see you.

45 minutes goes by and I go out to the hall. I see her get up and think maybe she's coming to see us, nope, she goes home. I have the nurse page her again and she tells her she's done for the day. I was livid. We took off work so we could talk to her and this is what happens? Nurse said even she heard her being paged earlier for us and calls her back and puts me on the phone with her. This woman just could not be bothered with me. She was snippy and rude. I told ehr we had been told about hospices and she said since he doesn't have insuarnce he could only have it in the home. And then I asked about Medicaid and she said too late it takes 5 months to process and quickly got off the phone with me.

I called around to hospice services and they have all told me the social worker should be working with us to get him emergency medicaid. So why is she not even mentioning this? My boyfriend's cousin is a social worker at a hospital in the New Orleans area and I talked to her on Friday. She gave me so much great advice on where to go and who to call and she said she would talk to the social worker. So I called the social worker and told her that the cousin would be calling her just to help out. She calls me later in the afternoon all snippy again "you called me this morning,what did you want?" or something like that. I told her we would not be able to do home hospice care because his dad needs more attention than what we can provide for him. She said "well haven't you spoken to the doctor, he said he is keeping him in the hospital". What the doctor really said was, he will keep him in the hospital until we find a place for him to go. Which means we still need Medicaid. But she didn't want to hear it. The doctor also agreed with us that she is useless. It's hard working with him though because he has a heavy accent and we can't understand him most of the time. And he doesn't listen to what we say because he goes off on these political tangents about how BF's dad has paid into the system and should be taken care of and we need to contact the media.

Should we file a grievance with the hospital about her? We're almost afraid to complain at all because the last time we did this, we had services cut off (my boyfirend complained about the visiting nurse who did nothing but yell at his dad when she came over after his first hospital stay).

It's bad enough that my boyfriend is dealing with the fact that his dad is going to die that we have to also deal with this woman. Luckily the other day we found a wonderful nun who helped us get so much done (PoA notraized and we made a new living will). We're going to see if she can help us from now on. I don't think it's even her job.

Another thing, while we're getting this all sorted out, I want to get his dad some sort of counseling. He's not dealing with all of this very well, understandably. Being told he may never go home again is heart breaking. ANd his daughter left him a voicemail yesterday crying and telling him how much she loves him. But he just couldn't deal with it. Any tips on where to turn to for this? Would the American Cancer Society have a list of people?

 

[S. C.]

Can you ask for a different social worker?
And/or talk to her supervisor.

 

[PrincessKitty1]

I am so sorry for what you all are going through.

It sounds like you have done everything you can, but you definitely need to speak with a competent social worker who can tell you if there's anything else that can be done to expedite the process of getting Medicaid for your boyfriend's father.

I think the best course of action would be to call the social work supervisor and explain that the social worker has no-showed to scheduled appointments with you and refuses to assist you, and that you need to speak to another social worker immediately. I would not approach it from a "filing a grievance" standpoint since that will not help your situation. I would approach it from a "we have been put off repeatedly and we need someone to help us NOW" standpoint.

In my hospital, this would get you help immediately (and the original social worker would definitely get a talking-to by her supervisor).

 

[kimmikayb]

I'm so sorry you have to deal with this stuff while dealing with someone you love passing away.

Are you familiar with Gilda's Club? I know they offer counseling for both the patient and the family. Do you have one in your area? They were very kind to me while my dad battled cancer.

Sending you lots of

 

[LoraJ]

Can you ask for a different social worker and/or talk to her supervisor?

I talked to her supervisor the other day and he's not much different. Both of them try and make us feel like we never see his dad. I don't know why they imply this. We are there every single day for 3 - 5 hours. On Friday I was going to try him again after we got the snippy phone call from her, but he was already gone for the day. We'll try again on Monday.

 

[clh2]

Does the hospital your BF's dad is in have any type of department for Patient Relations?

The hospital I work in has a Patient Relations department, and if I was having the sorts of issues you are having, I would stop by there. The Director of Patient Relations in our hospital is a "tough as nails" kind of person, and as an advocate for the patient, doesn't tolerate hearing about the type of issues you are having.

 

[lsyorke]

Most hospitals have a patient advocate. Contact them! If you still don't get the support that you need, then go to administration. In addition to your BF's father, it's in the hospital's best interest to get him to a facility that is appropriate for his situation, since they are not getting insurance reimbursement at this point. Make some noise!

 

[LoraJ]

Thanks for the info about Gilda's. Not sure if they have what we need but I emailed them asking for a referal.

I have already tried to contact the hospital advocate and he hasn't returned my calls. I'll see if they have a patient relations department, that may be where the advocate works?

 

[abaldacci]

call the ss and ask for a case worker and explain what is going on and give her name to them and tell them you want someone that will work with you other than that useless saltblock. Some are bad and some will do everything for you. I guess that is the same as any service work.

 

[Quinn222]

You might also want to go to the finance department of the hospital and explain that you are trying to get medicaid for you BFs dad so that they can get paid but that their social worker is refusing to assist you. They have a vrested interest in gtting this straightened out and maybe they can get the ball rolling.

 

[lsyorke]

Thanks for the info about Gilda's. Not sure if they have what we need but I emailed them asking for a referal.

I have already tried to contact the hospital advocate and he hasn't returned my calls. I'll see if they have a patient relations department, that may be where the advocate works?

Then go directly to Administration! The fact that the advocate hasn't returned your call is atrocious! That is their JOB!!

 

[Stitchfans]

She is so unproffesional, cold and rude. That really stinks that you are at the mercy of the system just because of the lack of insurance. There must be someone or some place you can get some help. Good Luck.

 

[AllyandJack]

I just wanted to give you . My Nana had two different insurances and the hospice social workers treated us like the scum of the earth, too. We saw them for 20mns the day before my Nana died. As my Nana was dying, they never responded to our phone calls and, despite their promises that we wouldn't be alone when she died, we were. Then, they billed her insurance over $1,500.

Do you need the social worker for this? Why not go right to the Medicaid office or call them directly? My best friend went on Medicaid when she was pregnant and she just went right to the office and they worked everything out for her without the help of the hospital's people.

 

[PrincessKitty1]

Then go directly to Administration! The fact that the advocate hasn't returned your call is atrocious! That is their JOB!!

I agree--at my hospital the social work supervisor or the patient advocate would have hopped to it for any complaint like yours!

Plus, it's true that the hospital is not going to be reimbursed for BF's father's care so it's in their best interest to get this all resolved so that he can go to a facility that accepts Medicaid.

Whatever happens, DON'T agree to take him home if you cannot take care of him. If this is suggested, let them know it's impossible for you to provide the level of care he will need.

 

[LoraJ]

I just wanted to give you . My Nana had two different insurances and the hospice social workers treated us like the scum of the earth, too. We saw them for 20mns the day before my Nana died. As my Nana was dying, they never responded to our phone calls and, despite their promises that we wouldn't be alone when she died, we were. Then, they billed her insurance over $1,500.

Do you need the social worker for this? Why not go right to the Medicaid office or call them directly? My best friend went on Medicaid when she was pregnant and she just went right to the office and they worked everything out for her without the help of the hospital's people.

That is so awful that you had to deal with that with that.

We're definitely going to go directly to the Medicaid office. We were just hoping to get some kind of help from the social worker making sure we had all the proper documents, and my boyfriend wasn't sure how to answer a couple of the questions. My BF is working with someone from an agency who is working for SS disability, he's going to call her tomorrow and see if there is anything she can do.

 

[barkley]

if he is applying for social security disability, the application should suffice for both programs (cash and medicaid). if you go onto the social security web site there is a wealth of information on the application process (and i believe in your situation his son can actualy apply for him over the phone). the sw is being incredibly unprofessionaly, but honestly all she will do as far as the application process is concerned is perhaps mail off the application to social security who may indeed take upwards of 6 months to grant (this is why it may be better to go directly to social security and request "expidited services")-but if granted it will go back (in the case of a terminal illness) to the date his application was signed (they will refer to it as the "begining date of aid"). you might contact your local social services agency and see if they have any elder assistance services-these folks are greatly informative and can realy help you navigate all the procedures.

as for the sw and the sw's supervisor-in all likelyhood they are employees of the hospital (and not under the supervision of any social services agency)-i would suggest calling the director of personnel for the hospital, explain what has occured, advise that you wish to have a meeting with sw, sw/supervisor and the head of hr to discuss the entire plan of action as far as your bf's dad's situation goes (and bring any documentation from his doctor regarding what the current plans are pending his release)-be up front that should you determine that any retalitory action be taken by any staff member (including but not limited to delayed process of paperwork) based on your complaints you will contact the department of health and social services to file a formal complaint (the hospitals generaly have to be approved by these agencies to allow the sw's to even handle the paperwork, and allegations of improper processing-or misinforming a patient/poa are taken very seriously-in fact NO sw or sw/sup should ever make any statement regarding potential eligiblity to a cash or medical based program-they are not trained eligiblity staff and do not have the program expertese to advise).

 

[tagmom]

Im so sorry you have to go through this. I know just how you are feeling.
My father has been in about 6 or 7 hospitals in the last 2 years.
Would this happen to be the va you are dealing with?
My father was declared permanetly disabled by the va with in the last year and its been nothing but a nightmere. They are rude,snotty and the social worker well, lets just say what social worker.

 

[SueM in MN]

if he is applying for social security disability, the application should suffice for both programs (cash and medicaid). if you go onto the social security web site there is a wealth of information on the application process (and i believe in your situation his son can actualy apply for him over the phone).

We actually have a person who helps the social workers out in our hospital by doing this sort of thing (assisting patients' families to apply for aid). And our patient advocate is very good - the hospital you are dealing with doesn't seem to care much about customer service.
If you apply thru Social Security, the application is just for that. If you work thru your state or county department of Social Services, they will fill out an application that applies for both.

Good luck.