Discharged from the hospital without answers; the death of Jane Q. Patient

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Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.

found @ kevinmd.com:

[color=#2361a1]discharged from the hospital without answers; the death of jane q. patient

...the 48 year old native new yorker lived with her cat in a room off worcester common. she had been suffering terrible back pains over the summer and had been taken by ambulance to the university of massachusetts memorial medical center emergency room on four occasions.

each time she was discharged with some pain killers, but no answers.

the last time she went there she refused to be discharged and the hospital called the police to eject her from the er on the grounds that she was exhibiting drug seeking behavior. she was put in a cab and sent home. she called one of the few people she knew in the neighborhood. she said that she was in terrible pain and that she was scared and she didn't know what to do.

her neighbor called six primary care physicians before finding one who would accept medicare and could see her without waiting a year. this doctor found that cindy chapman had end stage cancer of the lungs, liver and spine. two weeks later she was dead...

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Specializes in PICU, NICU, L&D, Public Health, Hospice.

very sad case.

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very sad case.

Absolutely. But what does it say about the effectiveness of medicare in ensuring that our citizens have access to quality care, including preventative medicine?

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very sad case.

OR Government run health care at it's finest? No rationing there.

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Specializes in Psych , Peds ,Nicu.

If a patient has a condition that eludes diagnosis , the health care providers , will ( for the want of a better expression ) , tire of the patient and their condition . Unfortunately this lady got into that unenviable position and paid the ultimate price for it .

It would not have mattered what type of healthcare system she was covered by , once the healthcare community , views you as somebody who is not really sick , you are in a bad position .

I have personal knowledge of this situation . A family member was sick for 12 months , no diagnosis , psychiatric referral was made , psychiatrist saw them , ordered him to hospital , 2 weeks later he died of Cancer which had metastized .

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i had posted about this case when it was published in the worc T&G.......they claimed it was "back strain"!

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Specializes in OB, HH, ADMIN, IC, ED, QI.
Absolutely. But what does it say about the effectiveness of medicare in ensuring that our citizens have access to quality care, including preventative medicine?

What it says, is that the doctors in that ER were negligent, stupid, and I sure hope suspended, until they take their work more seriously! I have Medicare and know that there are docs who like more money than Medicare pays, but they can't refuse them all. When the Reform of Health Care bill passes, money hungry docs will wish they'd decided to become realtors.

Stop making people think that unless docs keep getting paid more than they deserve, patients with insurance they don't like, won't get care. That sounds like medical care must be ransomed.........:down:

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Specializes in OB, HH, ADMIN, IC, ED, QI.
if a patient has a condition that eludes diagnosis, then diagnostic tests should be reviewed, and more ordered. the health care providers , will ( for the want of a better expression ), try yearn for more money. i have a word for docs who sell their care to the highest bidder - whores! tire of the patient and their unknown condition that makes the doc(s) feel inadequate, which they were in the case referenced by the op, and that was a contagious situation, since the er docs seem to have agreed without evidence, that analgesics wren't actually needed by the patient. unfortunately this lady got into that unenviable position and paid the ultimate price for it. she was dying anyway, and died without finding out the cause, or having comfort measures given to her.

it would not have mattered what type of healthcare system she was covered by , once the healthcare community views you as somebody who is not really sick, you are in a bad position. i believe that the physicians who had been "caring for her" were the exception, not the rule. and a few rotten apples can spoil the whole barrel...... how many dying patients do so without a diagnosis?

i have personal knowledge of this situation . a family member was sick for 12 months, no diagnosis, psychiatric referral was made , psychiatrist saw them, ordered him to hospital, 2 weeks later he died of cancer which had metastized .

i trust that while on the psychiatric unit, your relative was medicated to ease his mind, if not the illness he had.

i know some people are stuck on keeping a doc who can't seem to do his/her job, to diagnose and treat illness. they'd probably switch mechanics, if that happened to their car. medicare patients can get 2nd and 3rd opinions, if they don't have a reliable diagnosis, based on their symptoms. along the way, somewhere docs convince patients that if they can't find an answer to the problems presenting, no one else can. wonder how that happens? it should unhappen.....

public health care should do that, as the money paid docs will be earned, and measures will be taken to assure their adequacy to practice medicine, since that won't be motivated by how much money they can get. instead, their unique ability to discover the cause of illness and treat it properly will be their goals. the problem that has existed in the past few decades, is that doctors lost sight of their more appropriate goals, and ethics.

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What it says, is that the doctors in that ER were negligent, stupid, and I sure hope suspended, until they take their work more seriously! I have Medicare and know that there are docs who like more money than Medicare pays, but they can't refuse them all. When the Reform of Health Care bill passes, money hungry docs will wish they'd decided to become realtors.

Stop making people think that unless docs keep getting paid more than they deserve, patients with insurance they don't like, won't get care. That sounds like medical care must be ransomed.........:down:

Who are you to say what doctors deserve?

And I'm not the one making people think they wont get care unless medicare pays up. Jane Q. Patient is.

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OR Government run health care at it's finest? No rationing there.

OR was definitely the wrong choice of words there. It's not an either or case scenario, sadly...it's both.

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OR was definitely the wrong choice of words there. It's not an either or case scenario, sadly...it's both.

As a response to the particular post OR is totally appropriate.

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Specializes in OB, HH, ADMIN, IC, ED, QI.
who are you to say what doctors deserve?

i am a registered nurse, public health nurse with 50 years of experience in nursing. i've seen doctors come and go, know the ones who aren't committed to their profession, and those who are excellent, responsible physicians who care about their patients!

who are you? :angryfire

and i'm not the one making people think they wont get care unless medicare pays up. jane q. patient is.

your post alluded to that, as well as "government" health care which doesn't exist in this country - yet :o

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