Posted on 05/25/2018 8:40:38 AM PDT by Morgana
FULL TITLE: Dying anorexia patient, 25, is denied treatment for the disorder by her insurance company who claim 'it's a luxury' as her weight drops to 58lbs
A 25-year-old woman with a debilitating eating disorder is preparing for the possibility of an early death as her insurance company treats a medical program she requires to live on as a luxury.
Katrina Howard, who succumbed to anorexia nervosa in her early teen years, has been sent from hospital to hospital for treatment - but doctors fear they are running out of effective options for the young woman - who has whittled to a frightening 58 pounds.
Howard grew up in a low-income family and is insured by Georgia Medicaid, a modest medical assistance program co-funded by the state and federal government.
Her current doctor, Paul Robinson, of the Tallahassee Memorial Hospital, spoke this week about the troubling battle Howard has had with the company.
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(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Thanks for the ping.
Anorexia is a very difficult condition to treat. I don’t know what the success rate it, I read the entire article and it doesn’t have much information about anorexia in general.
I do have a friend who has had anorexia, and some very bad episodes, but is now doing well; I know she had some kind of therapy which helped, when she was in college.
Have you looked deeply into anorexia?
Imagine how many psychological problems women would have if men showed them the same level of interest that a women shows in an average looking male with an average income
If serious as this is I’ve seen patient s on an IV and naso gastric tube. This one: fed them Ensure in restraints. I cannot remember the legality, think this had to be done via a judge and patient was on a 5350( whatever the one year conservator-ship is, forget now) in a state hospital inside a SNF unit. pt did not die. I’ve seen bad brain stem injuries( etc0 where we just used a stomach tube and fed then. It sounds like this patient needs some legal deal so the hospital can treat her. Dumb but it’s a big deal if something goes wrong.
I have personal experience with someone I knew with this terrible mental disorder. It should be treated with insurance in the same manner as all sorts of other mental disorders including bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. This is very sad and disturbing.
It is just like a long time smoker or an alcoholic.
They know it is killing them, but they just can’t stop the bad habits.
Somebody explained to me this way, if you wiped your butt with the same hand your entire life and then all of sudden you have to use the opposite hand to survive.
How difficult would it be? And you probably wouldn’t be any good at it. And how easy it would be to just use the hand you’ve always used.
That is how hard it is.
Here is Richard Carpenter’s webpage. http://richardandkarencarpenter.com
It’s going on 10 years since he updated it, so I don’t know if the contact info is current.
She doesn’t need treatment. She needs a slice of pizza. I don’t need my insurance rates going up because she wants to starve herself to death.
Someone on a hunger strike is not a medical issue.
I suppose various psych drugs could be tried.....
some pts allow a tube feeding....
some will allow constant IV nutrition which is extremely expensive....
the "cure" for this problem lies strictly and solely with the patient....
One of the most powerful hormones signals the body to be hungry and eat — INSULIN. So they used to give anorexics shots of insulin — hunger too strong to resist.
Once a person has gone without eating for about 3 days, the appetite is suppressed - read this when reading about Gandhi hunger strikes. Giving a shot of insulin would interfere with the no appetite issue.
“Do you remember Karen Carpenter of “The Carpenters”? She had a beautiful voice and she died of this!!!”
The selfish nutcase. Deprived us all of that beautiful voice because she wouldn’t just eat a sandwich.
“...weigh in on this story!!!”
Strangely apt wording for the discussion.
This is the same narrative as the self-absorbed "alcoholic" industry. People focus so much on their "specialness" of being an alcoholic - ALWAYS an alcoholic - that they almost can't focus on anything else.
I worked with, supervised, such an "alcoholic," and that contrived status consumed her life. Going to meeting after meeting, even while out-of-town on company business, hamstrung her to the point that she couldn't function. It's a ready crutch to point to when you screw up.
AA is such a big psycho-babble crock!
“It is actually entirely “funded” by the taxpayers of Georgia and the United States of America.
The question for everyone here is, “do you believe the people who are paying the bills should have a say (through their elected representatives) over what they will and won’t pay for?” “
When I was in High School our Biology teacher had us do a report on illnesses . Was suppose to be on physical ones caused by organic means but I asked him before hand and got special permission to do a report on anorexia nervosa because it was so common at the time.
Now I ask you we will pay for sex changes left and right, gay men who screw around and get AIDS, drug addicts getting Hep A but not a mentally ill woman who is dying?
This is a mental illness. It’s very real. She thinks she’s fat, when she looks in the mirror she sees a fat woman. She sees fat that is not there. This illness is so hard to treat. These women, and mostly this attacks women but can attack males, so fear fat that they will starve.
I’d rather help her get better, save her life than have some kid change his gender because mommy wanted a girl and that child will end up killing himself one day anyway.
I have, but it was not at all necessary to perceive the dynamic going on here. No father present in the household, mother probably gave her zero attention until she started being sickly.
Now, becoming healthy again means all this attention time and money lavished on her goes away.
Probably time to kick-in a few carbs.
And I agree that mental health treatment is needed. However, it is equally important at this point to get some nutrition into this person. Even a pic line could help.
She will have to go to a mental health facility that will get food into her. Probably by way of IV if she refuses food. This is a mental illness. Now if she’s too far gone then yes a regular hospital and IV and maybe life support.
It can’t be ‘fixed’ medically.
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