Posted on 01/10/2014 6:31:12 PM PST by cableguymn
Go easy on me. I hope "chat" was a good place for a vanity.
So, The other night I woke up with a killer pain in my chest. Having prior heart troubles and dealing with high blood pressure I thought the worst.
Jetted off to the hospital with the wife (we are a 20 minute drive and figured that is where the ambulance was stationed. there was one there) and got in the door, told um chest pains and right in to a room I went. Did vitals, ekg, blood drawn and all that. Not a heart attack. Given a GI cocktail (yuck) and was told it was a full house and it'd be a while.
With the pain down from "OMG I am gonna die!" to "damn this hurts" I settled in for what I figured would be a hell of a wait. Few minutes go by and the admitting girl shows up. We give her the insurance card (nope, not on zero care ;) ) and she clicks away at her computer. Nope, can't verify it here, lets try this site.. Nope.. Hmm maybe this one..
Finely, she gets it verified. Asks about my co-pay and says it does not really matter because they would see me regardless in the ER. I said if you can take plastic, I'll pay it right now. So I did.
As she is leaving, the DR comes in. Apparently this hospitals idea of a long wait is about 10 minutes ;) Asks me a few questions about where it hurts (right where you'd give me CPR as I point to the area) and he said hmm.. pushes a bit right under my right rub cage and I about pop out of bed..
"I'll bet it's your gallbladder" he says.. Gives me something through the IV for pain. "lets see what the blood tests show". He's back 15 minutes later. He says since my blood is ok, the pain is down to the point where it's under control (feels like a bee sting) that i should make an appointment with my PC doctor asap. Total time spent in a "packed" er was about 1.25 hours.
On the way out we stop at the admitting desk and ask if they can make the appointment. I get the first appointment that morning. 7 am.
Go home, take a little nap..
long story short. By 10 AM after a ultrasound, I am told the gallbladder has to go. Looks like I go under the knife first part of next week.
So far, so good, there was a TON of "new" paperwork to fill out, much of it to do with HIPPA (and likely the waving there of for the Zero admin) but my experience at the hospital was top notch. I figured it would be but with a hell of a paperwork problem due to my insurance company changing my plan completely, and the fact that the ink was still wet on my new card.
I think this was a great time to get my gallbladder out, sadly, in 2-5 years, I'd probably die waiting my turn in line.
I also go to the VA in NC Florida and have always gotten great care, no complaints really. Better then some private hospitals I have encountered in the past.
There are alternatives to gallbladder removal. You need it.
Thank G-d you’ll be OK.
Speaking a former EMT and current pharmacy student, if (G-d forbid) there is a next time, PLEASE call an ambulance! Ambulances don’t have to stop for red lights, and if you code on the way they may be able to do something about it.
GMTA!
Again, ERs are not meant to be clinics. The problem you describe should have been seen in Urgent Care, not the ER, where they would have triaged your complaint right away and, if it was as bad as you say, you would have been treated or hospitalized as soon as a bed was available.
You talk about your complaint but not the outcome. Did the problem resolve itself or did you have it seen somewhere else?
I agree that the VA in Gainesville is top-notch and I am grateful to be able to get my medical needs attended to there.
Any medical provider in any department of the VA hospital, outpatient or inpatient, knows what your current status is and what complaints you are being treated for and where, including when your appointments are and what medications you’re on. That’s because their computer system is comprehensive and has all of your pertinent medical history and treatment available for perusal by the staff. They call to remind you of your appointments, as well as write letters to confirm the appointments. I can call or go online to renew my prescriptions and they mail them to my home. The private sector care was much more fractured and disassociated from one another.
My doctor runs behind on her appointments sometimes and I may have to wait awhile to get into my own appointment, but on the other hand, she is very thorough, spends time discussing your problems and answering all my questions. She doesn’t shuttle me in and out like a factory system in the private sector, where 10 minutes is the average visit time with the doctor. In the private sector I had to drive to different facilities for lab work or x-rays or MRI or pharmacy and then wait for those results to be forwarded to my personal physician before I could make an appointment to see them. At the VA, everything is done right on site and the results and known, in most cases, the same day.
It may not be the best care there is but it is the best I’ve ever had.
If you pay cash and pay immediately see if they will give you a discount. Always best to ask.
By crash, I meant his heart stopped beating.
He has insurance.
And second of all, stop worrying about the damned money.
No one, and I mean no one has to go bankrupt over this stuff. Do some research: if you pay your insurance, they will pay for the ambulance. If you cannot afford the remainder, they will send it to collections, but no one is going to put a lien on your house or attach your savings for the difference.
Yes, it will be annoying, but if you have that little money...you have been down this course before.
You should hear some of the crazy stuff people call ambulances for. The people in the ambulance would much rather be dealing with an honest poor person than some of the dregs of society they deal with every day.
Please, everyone, do not be cheap or stupid about this. You do not want to have your heart stop beating with your elderly wife driving the car. Why would anyone do that to someone they love.
I get your point, but where I live, we dont really have stop lights. Those are for city folks. I think there is one where we cross the interstate.. but that is it.
Ok. You win. Have fun dying in your car. I am sure your wife will love you puking, pissing, and crapping all over the front seat.
I know it’s direct, cold, and crass. But your screaming, and the glory of your passing on to the other side will be something your loved one will treasure for all time. They can pass it on to your children and grandchildren. It will be your legacy. Your agonizing death will be what they remember. And your wife will have the joy of re-living in both her waking hours and in the joy of her cold bed at night.
Get it yet?
You push the ambulace ride and that is fine. However you where not here. You are not a doctor. I felt well enough to drive myself if I wanted to.
You can call the ambulace any time you want just as I can chose to drive myself. Its what makes our country great. You can do your thing I can do mine.
God help you when you drive off the road and kill someone.
You my friend are a lucky fool.
I could have died waiting on the ambulace to arrive to leaving my wife to always wonder should I have driven him?
Quack watch is funded by the pharmaceutical industry and written by a nut with no credentials.
I did the flush and got rid of my gallstones. It cost about $10 and 17 years later I still have my functioning gallbladder. I also know of 3 other people who did it.
What do you have to lose...? $10? Your call, but I wouldn’t hesitate. It’s been around for more than 25 years I’m aware of.
Or, you can have a surgeon cut out your good gallbladder and suffer.
Follow up...
Dated December 22, 1999, the Harvard affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital’s Neurology Web Forum published on the Internet an article under the title :”PAC” Money for “quackwatch”. It reveals that “the FDA and the Pharmaceutical Advertising Counsel (”PAC”), which represents some 35 major drug companies, have formed and co-founded a corporation under a joint letterhead, calling itself the National Council Against Health Fraud (”NCAHF”).” Stephen Barrett, MD, who publishes “Quackwatch” on line, William Jarvis, MD, and others, are paid by PAC “ to publicly discredit as unscientific or unknown any of all viable herbs, vitamins, homeopathic remedies or non-allopathic therapies, particularly those that are proven to have the most promise and present the greatest threat to the PAC members”.
“it might also have to do with people like yourself who spent a good deal of time on this website badmouthing Romney in 2012;”
[FRFS - Free Republic Fix Service is included in your membership. There is no additional fee to have your posts corrected to avoid embarrassing posts like the one quoted above.]
“it might also have to do with people like yourself who spent a good deal of time on this website telling the truth about Romney in 2012;”
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The VA in Dallas doesn’t have an “urgent care” section that I’m aware of and if they did, it wouldn’t be open after hours. I understand that you are or were a hospital administrator, but do you really have detailed knowledge of EVERY hospital in the United States? That’s like me saying that as a recruiter, I’ve seen every candidate’s resume in North America. And of course I had it dealt with, or I wouldn’t be alive today.
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