12 votes

Parents break teen out of Mayo Clinic

8 comments

  1. [2]
    stromm
    Link
    My daughter was 13, transferred late Saturday night from one hospital to a Children's for emergency removal of her gallbladder. It was 0% functional. Confirmed at the first hospital. A week later,...

    My daughter was 13, transferred late Saturday night from one hospital to a Children's for emergency removal of her gallbladder. It was 0% functional. Confirmed at the first hospital.

    A week later, CH had done nothing for my daughter except force her to stay in a room, guarded by city police and and sheriff. They refused to transfer her back to the original hospital (who on Monday demanded her back because their surgeon was back), refused to release her to us, her parents "because we think she is medically in danger" - even though they NEVER ran any test, didn't even run an IV (and if you know anything about being admitted into an ER/Hospital, you always get an IV tapped in). No ERCP, no dye test, no MRCP, nothing. They flat out told us they didn't care what "that other country hospital says". I was told by a city police officer I was no longer allowed in the building.

    Friday morning, I'm at home showering and two sheriffs (my county, not the hospital's) and an expensive suited lawyer, threaten me with arrest if I don't sign receipt of a 3" thick package. That package spent 800 pages or so stating how CH found nothing wrong with my daughter and determined everything is in her head. As I'm reading this, my wife calls crying because three psychologists just came in, having never seen our daughter and told her its all in her head and they are discharging her NOW. As in, the wheel chair was in their hands and they were already packing my wife's stuff up. Again, something never done so quickly. No paperwork, no go somewhere else, just "it's all in her head". What I was reading also had "peer review confirming the finding and that CH has done nothing incorrect, illegal or immoral during the patient's stay".

    I called the original hospital and they said "yea, we heard. Bring here immediately here. The surgeon will be waiting". Two hours later, her DEAD and rotting gallbladder was out and she was in recovery.

    FUCK Children's Hospital in Columbus, OH. My daughter is one of 200 cases where they kept transfers, did nothing and then threatened to sue. And blacklisted us with local doctors such that we had to go out of state for the next 5 years of medical treatments. Oh, yea, because they didn't remove the gallbladder for so long, it caused permanent damage to her GI system. She had to have her pancreas removed last year at 23.

    I understand they do great work and save many people. But when they fuck up and have to cover their ass, they bury anyone against them.

    14 votes
    1. Cliftonia
      Link Parent
      That is horrible. I wish it was possible for us common people to punish such monsters.

      That is horrible. I wish it was possible for us common people to punish such monsters.

      3 votes
  2. [2]
    patience_limited
    Link
    I'm familiar with instances where hospitals have been reluctant to release long-term or complicated care patients who have good insurance as a matter of policy, because their cases can be...

    I'm familiar with instances where hospitals have been reluctant to release long-term or complicated care patients who have good insurance as a matter of policy, because their cases can be extremely lucrative. I'd be curious if that was at issue in this case.

    7 votes
    1. sublime_aenima
      Link Parent
      Damn, my wife had the opposite happen to her. Our insurance is shit, so she got kicked out of the hospital early (according to her doctor) because the insurance didn’t want to keep paying. She...

      Damn, my wife had the opposite happen to her. Our insurance is shit, so she got kicked out of the hospital early (according to her doctor) because the insurance didn’t want to keep paying. She ended up back in a different ER the day after the first one kicked her out.

      4 votes
  3. EightRoundsRapid
    Link
    I don't have anything much to say other than that situation was thoroughly baffling to me. And somewhat concerning that a hospital/health care team would behave like that.

    I don't have anything much to say other than that situation was thoroughly baffling to me. And somewhat concerning that a hospital/health care team would behave like that.

    4 votes
  4. [2]
    Comment deleted by author
    Link
    1. what
      Link Parent
      That’s a very good point. While something like this should never happen, backstory is very important. There could be another side to this story (like you said, the fact that the parents did all...

      That’s a very good point. While something like this should never happen, backstory is very important. There could be another side to this story (like you said, the fact that the parents did all this is a bit strange, and could maybe be related to their mental health?) that went unheard. @patience_limited also mentioned that these patients can be very lucrative to the hospital, which could be another reason.

  5. ProfessorRiffs
    Link
    That article was an uncomfortable mix of sad, angry, and frustrating.

    That article was an uncomfortable mix of sad, angry, and frustrating.

    2 votes
  6. Cliftonia
    (edited )
    Link
    This is not a surprise at all. You're fortunate if you've never run into the evil side of doctors. Typically they consider us property and didn't like their cattle in other people's herds. So they...

    This is not a surprise at all. You're fortunate if you've never run into the evil side of doctors.
    Typically they consider us property and didn't like their cattle in other people's herds. So they might lie and say there's nothing wrong with you if there's no doctor in their network who can treat you. Outside their network, well, they just lie and say their are none in the area. I called my insurance company on them and I was black listed in the little town I grew up in. I was also "seen" by a psychologist I never met who diagnosed me with BPD, was suddenly considered a racist and a bigot, and my elderly dads prescriptions mysteriously stopped being approved by that office.
    This kind of thing was so widespread here that it was in the news. As far as I know it's like that everywhere.