Posted on 07/09/2007 8:58:19 AM PDT by WestTexasWend
-After county won't test victim's blood for viruses, good samaritan left wondering if she was infected-
When Wendy Lee saw a man get hit by a truck that night in May, she had no second thoughts about what she should do.
Lee stopped her Suburban to help 64-year-old Juan Vega, who had been trying to cross Williamson County Road 172 near La Frontera in Round Rock when he was struck by a 2000 Chevrolet pickup. Lee said she could see Vega's cowboy boots lying in the road.
"I called 911 as I was walking up to him, and they walked me through the first steps of CPR and chest compressions," Lee said.
Vega's eyes were open and moving, and he was gasping for air as she put her lips to his and breathed.
The next moment, she was spitting his blood into the grass.
Vega died on the way to Brackenridge Hospital in Austin. When emergency workers saw that Lee, 38, was covered in Vega's blood, they sent her to the hospital to be tested for HIV and hepatitis.
The tests came back negative, but because Williamson County didn't test Vega for those diseases at the scene, Lee is left wondering whether she was exposed to viruses that might affect her health later. Doctors say that six to eight weeks after exposure is the most important time to test for HIV and hepatitis because both viruses take time to show up, but Lee said she cannot afford to get retested.
And more than a month later, she's stuck with almost $3,000 in medical bills.
"When I opened that bill, I wanted to cry," said Lee, a single mother of two teenagers who is a human resource manager at Triple Crown Dog Academy in Hutto. "I kept thinking to myself, 'Didn't I do the right thing?' "
Eric Strelnieks, a staff physician at St. David's Round Rock Medical Center, where Lee was taken after she tried to help Vega, said she was given a shot to prevent hepatitis B, a virus that attacks the liver, and was prescribed medication that slows the development of HIV.
Lee said she stopped taking the medication after a few weeks because it made her nauseated and dizzy.
Lee's health insurance paid a portion of her hospital bill, which was just under $8,000. But she said she can't afford to pay the remainder.
"The way life is right now, $50 is too much to pay," she said.
Testing Vega's blood for diseases could have put the questions to rest, but Williamson County doesn't require such tests unless it is suspected that alcohol or drugs were involved in a fatal accident, said Steve Benton, the justice of the peace who was called to the May 15 wreck.
The driver, an 18-year-old Round Rock man, was not charged.
"I sympathize with (Lee), but if we did a toxicology and blood test every time a fatality occurred, then it would cost the county $2,000 for each test," Benton said. Lee said she asked for Vega's medical records but was told by a state trooper after the accident that they were not available to her because of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, a law that prevents patient medical records from being made public.
That might not be the case, said health law attorney Leah Stuart with the law firm Vinson & Elkins. She said Lee would have to make an open records request to any hospital or physician that Vega may have visited, and the health provider would then decide whether to release the information.
"It's a catch-all exception in the (HIPAA) law that pertains to someone whose life has been threatened. Hers could be in this case," Stuart said. "For (Lee) to get those records is a big hurdle."
Lee said that between work and caring for her children, she doesn't have time to deal with paperwork or open records requests.
Socorro Vega, Juan Vega's daughter, met with Lee last month and told her that her father was not sick. But she did not know the last time he had been tested for communicable diseases.
"She was an angel for my dad that moment she stopped. She really just wanted to save his life," Socorro Vega said. "I just hope that she gets help to pay the bills or gets the help she deserves for her good deed."
According to hospital officials in Round Rock and Austin, emergency technicians and first responders who are exposed to patients' blood receive the same testing and medication that Lee received, but their employers' insurance covers the cost.
Lee said she helped Vega because she and others had failed to help the victim of a car accident in front of her Round Rock home this year. She said she later learned that the man lying in the middle of the road had died, and she vowed to help the next person in need.
"I could never regret what I did (for Vega) because I know it was right," she said. "I just wish someone could tell me what to do."
This is a subject my husband and friends and I have discussed much of late.
When my car’s oil needs changing, I can take it to my mechanic or to the local Jiffy Lube-type place. The Jiffy Lube-type place will charge me $15. My mechanic, because he’s full-service, will charge me more like $30.
But the oil will cost the same, and will be roughly the same price as if I bought it myself at O’Reilly.
Why is it, then, that the two Advil my husband was given in the ER cost us $42? I could buy literally hundreds of Advil caplets for $42.
Why is health care so erratically and illogically priced, and how do we solve the problem?
But he wasn’t at home either - he was in the middle of a road.
Unsurprising, really.
That's a key reason that most 911 dispatchers aren't allowed to give medical directions. My wife is a certified EMT as well as EMS/Police/Fire dispatcher. It is city policy that no medical advice is permitted. The phone and radio traffic is taped as a legal record. The liability for bad advice would be substantial.
He needed medical attention, but since he was gasping for air he clearly did not need CPR. I applaud anybody who takes the time and effort to learn how to properly assess the situation and perform CPR when it is needed. I think EVERYBODY should do so (but I do not think it is the governement's place to mandate that anyone do so). It is a shame that after the situation the woman referred to earlier in life where she did not attempt to help someone in need of life-saving assistance she apparently did not take a course to learn HOW to give that assistance if the situation were to arise again. Had she done that, she would probably not be in the situation she is in now.
So you’re saying she deserved the bills because she didn’t know that CPR wasn’t needed, but if the guy really did need CPR, that would be different and the state should pick up the tab? I doubt your sincerity on this, you are focusing on a technicality. I think the woman was probably badly advised by the 911 people but that’s the kind of error that happens during an emergency. Should she be second-guessing 911 because she doesn’t have as much knowledge as you? And if everyone should take CPR classes, what is your feeling about making the state pay for it. Fact is, if everyone had your attitude, we’d have people stepping over the dying and walking on, not wanting bills and therefore not seeing a thing. That the kind of society you want? If so, I hope you’re the first victim.
I'm not saying that at all, and if you bothered to read my posts on this thread you should be able to figure that out.
you are focusing on a technicality
What "technicality" am I focusing on -- the fact that someone breathing doesn't need CPR or mouth-to-mouth recusitation? That is a tad bit more than just a technicality.
And if everyone should take CPR classes, what is your feeling about making the state pay for it.
There are A LOT of things that everyone SHOULD do but should not be forced by the state to do so and should not expect the state to pay for it. Further elaboration on this point should not be necessary given my previous post that it is not the government's place to require people to learn CPR.
Fact is, if everyone had your attitude, we’d have people stepping over the dying and walking on, not wanting bills and therefore not seeing a thing.
Actually, the fact is if everyone had my attitude then they would know when and how to administer CPR and would step up to help someone in this situation. If everyone had my attitude then they would take a CPR course and take a refresher course from time to time if they could not remember the ABC's of CPR and the appropriate breath to compresssion ratios both for one-person and two-person CPR.
That the kind of society you want? If so, I hope you’re the first victim.
Doubt my sincerity if you wish, but I sincerely hope that if you ever find yourself in need of emergency CPR there is someone on the scene that knows how to determine what level of CPR you need and is competent to perform it either until you are revived or until EMT's arrive to take over.
She also had to pay for the HIV and Hep medications.... Medications is one of the places where medical care gets really really expensive... Especially HIV medications.
The answer is to do the right thing.
When the bill comes, pay it.
No way would I step over him. I took care of guys like him (and his dopey daughter) for ten years as a nurse. I couldn’t have continues to take care of them if I got seriously hurt physically or financially in doing so.
The guy should pay for the caretaker. All logic is lost when it comes to this simple medical expense fact.
When it comes to the bill - prevent it. Step right over the dying man like cattle. That’ll ensure no bill. That the kind of world you want to live in? If so, I hope it happens to you. I certainly wouldn’t risk a $3000 bill for the idea of trying to save you, not with that attitude. I’d step right over you and walk on by, not seeing a thing.
You’re avoiding the issue, not confronting it directly.
Anyone who tries to render aid to someone in need should not have to pay through the nose through it. That goes for doctors who try heroically to save a human life, they should be immune to getting sued. That goes for people who try to rescue someone, they should be immune to traffic tickets or being sued. That goes for this lady who had to get tests because the state didn’t bother to test the dead body and find out what this lady might have been exposed to. It goes for anyone trying to help. There should not be a built in incentive for someone trying to help to not help, to walk on by, just to be sure to avoid a bill. The kind of world you are proposing that we live in would assuredly mean that no one would take unnecessary risks to save others. To heck with that, I hope the next time you have a heart attack in the road, get into a boatin accident, fall off a cruise ship or get hit by a car, tyhat that very lady sees you lying there, maybe waving your arms seeking help and walks on by and says she doesn’t want to pay any sort of bill for your sake. It would be EXACTLY what you deserve.
I did’nt question your answer which is correct, it’s just that some people will think otherwise.
Have a geat day.
I was the one who requested the post be deleted. This woman’s personal work phone number is posted nowhere else on the internet other than in your post. I have no objection to posting an address for donations, but a phone number, especially posted to such a busy forum as this, just invites crank calls.
And I still hope if you find yourself in need of assistance that someone who has taken the time to get educated in offering that assistance is available and competent to help until you no longer need the assistance or emergency medical technicians arrive to take over. Have a nice day and a nice life.
Sounds like the operator just went through the CPR technique without thinking. When my dad had his heart attack, I went on auto and it didn't really register that he was breathing until I got to that part of the CPR. Then I realised that I just needed the chest compressions.
So, you are saying you would let another person die for $3,000? And yet, if I understand your sentiment correctly, you think I am heartless and cruel.
When somebody is needs help, help them. That is the right thing to do.
When the bill comes, pay it.
I didn't say anything about walking by without helping.
From previous posts, it appears that Kitten Festival would advocate that either the state or the medical bill fairy should pay for any medical bills that ensue as a result of attempting to render aid. We can call the authorizing legislation the “Good Samaritan Medical Bill Fairy Act”
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