Comments on: Another life threatening illness misdiagnosed as psychological problem

By: Admin

Admin — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 08:39:13 +0000

I only wish “anon student in healthcare” had left his name so we could warn our readers to avoid his services in the future. Anyone who goes into health care with the expectation of protecting his license over his patients…well, that’s why we continue to exist. Carry on…

By: anon student in healthcare

anon student in healthcare — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 08:25:09 +0000

as a healthcare professional in training i have to comment … these problems are not unique to kaiser, but are definitely being magnified by the high load of patients and the open mantra of managed care. every healthcare organization, hospital or insurance company has to manage its financials… and decisions are made to force certain treatments or medications on their patients that may not be ideal but balance benefit and outcomes on a population wide scale, not on an individual basis. also changes in practice standard are made only to comply with regulations and retain medicare funding or comply with federal laws. in general changes are not going to be made proactively to be more “ideal” as long as everyone seems to be doing “fine”. i have seen severe mistakes by otherwise incredibly competent phsyicians NOT at kaiser, and these errors are covered up by uncertain diagnoses, vague speculations towards other causes, and physicians and the healthcare team supporting one another in avoiding outright blame to preserve the relationship with the patient…and i have seen physicians make very reasonable diagnoses and decisions, only to see a patient worsen… we are all human, and mistakes do happen, and every treatment has its risks and failures… so what would you do as a healthcare provider if after reviewing 100s of charts, you mix up a number, maybe mix up a patient, and a patient is harmed by your mistake… patient often recovers, or may have a complication… then do you throw your career away by admitting fault to your patient, lose their trust and end up in a malpractice suit based on one mistake out of the hundreds of patients you have saved– do you stop practicing? i am not saying one way is wrong or right, but there are realities…EVERYONE makes mistakes, even well trained professionals. honestly I am dreadfully frightened of being admitted to ANY hospital. even if you could afford fancier insurance and “better” care, mistakes can happen. and you might not even know. i whole heartedly call for reform and better processes to avoid medical errors… kaiser which is one of the largest employers in california is only just the tip of the problem and an easy target to focus on. all i know is that for now i am going to save as much as i can to pay for healthcare regardless of health insurance!

By: Anonymous Girl In LA

Anonymous Girl In LA — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 04:49:01 +0000

dear friends. I am saddened and at the same time thrilled to find you dear sweet people on this site. i have been sent home again and again every time i have a problem without treatment. i have a lasting problem because of it. I had no idea that they were doing this to other people. i must have known. I am confused though, that whenever i am with kaiser i am sick with no treatment LIKE THEY DON’T BELIEVE I’M IN PAIN. they withhold care and pretend i have a problem that is only in my head. I explain, why would i be missing work/school life to drive over here and be told there is nothing wrong. They are doing this. they are withholding TREATMENT. This makes sense. they have written things in my chart because i was sick for three years without proper diagnosis to make it look like i have psych problems, which i do not. Also, i was in level 10 pain for three years, unable to work and they would not help me or even suggest pain killers. This is insane. I’m angry and don’t want to tell you what happened because it’s a woman issue and i feel like a fool for letting them tell me i was nuts. as an example, they did a bladder procedure on me without anesthesia and then told me i didn’t need pain meds. i kept going twice a week for a two/three years and they kept saying nothing was wrong and what i had/have is completely easy to diagnose just by looking. they left me in pain for three years and not once tried to help me. i came to the urgent care every day after work for weeks and they would just look at me in an OB/GYN type way and send me home. i gave up many times but was too sick to not keep trying. i am much better than i was, but i didn’t realize this was a standard problem for everyone. Had they been properly trained, they would have seen and easily diagnosed me. i saw too many doctors to even mention before getting a proper diagnosis. I am sorry for all of us that we aren’t rich and can’t afford better coverage with doctors that care for us. i am sorry for your illnesses and the loss of your friends and loved ones and your children and parents. please know that you are not alone. I am here and I care about you and your frustrations even though i am not schooled enough to treat you. I just wanted to write you all and say, me too and thank you.

By: Susan

Susan — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 16:21:24 +0000

me too with kaiser..I had dysphagia(couldnt swallow, even gagging on my own spit all day ) the stroke likekind.. the doctor refused to referr me to an ENT (ear nose THROAT doctor)she even said “I dont even know the REASON to put into the computer WHY to refer you to an ENT) when all I was complaining about was my difficult swallowing… after almost THREE MONTHS of begging..she referred me… and HE found I was completely NUMB and ordered a brain scan… AFTER that… the neurologist said it was all in my head and gave me a print out saying so.. after a 10 minute first appointment with him..after reading the ent’s comments that I was numb he aaID HE “DISAGREED” WITH THE ENT.. AND THAT WAS THAT! i WAS HUMILIATED AND SCARED FOR MY LIFE… AND NEVER GOT ANYHELP AND NOW THEY ARE SUING me FOR NOT PAYING one months PAYMENT, AFTER $300+ A MONTH OUT OF POCKET WITH NO JOB.. AND FOR A MONTH THAT i never saw any doctors..SO NOW THIS IS PROMPTING ME TO SUE THEM. EVEN MY BLOODWORK SHOWED A PROBLEM AND THEY SAID ITS “NORMAL”THEIR DAYS ARE NUMBERED AND THEY KNOW IT AND PERFORM ACCORDINGLY.

By: kaiser_is_pure_evil

kaiser_is_pure_evil — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 04:38:52 +0000

Ever since I was 10 or 11 I’ve been doped up on drugs for depression, bipolar and schiphrenia until I was 19. Those years were the worst of my life and after I finally went off them and through withdrawal I developed a rare form of gastroparesis. I found out I don’t have any of those conditions from two outside doctors, so all those years are lost now. Now I haven’t been able to drink water for 2 years, among with other conditions including ptsd from the experiences in my past from the medicine, been fighting kaiser, but they keep sending me around in circles, refusing to pay for the hospital stay I really need. Now I have no future, thanks to Kaiser. They also drugged up my mom on painkillers and other pills at the same time to the point where she is so far gone I don’t know if she will ever get off them. Sorry is not enough. I want them to give me my future back.
My deepest sympathies to everyone else there being tortured by this sadistic company they call themselves healthcare. Yeah right. I think they get a kick out of this, honestly.
The one good doctor I had left after a few months, but she helped me more than anyone else in the last 10 years and i’m forever grateful to her and all the good nurses who’ve also helped so much.

By: Kaiser_Doesnt_Care

Kaiser_Doesnt_Care — Wed, 20 May 2009 14:58:02 +0000

My father in-law was semt home four times with Gangrene on his leg after a bus ran over it. Because there were no broken bones they felt no injury was sustained. The problem was that his leg was turning black after a few days. The doctors kept saying it was bruising and scabbed. Finally one ER doctor saw it and freaked out. He took pictures to make sure he was not held responsible. My father in-law lost the majority of the muscle, fat and tissue of that leg nearly loosing it to amputation.

By: Barbara

Barbara — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 16:26:00 +0000

Kaiser is like the judge who believes that all defendants are guilty until proven innocent. I do in fact have a psych history. I am a Manic Depressive not a psychotic. My primary presentation is rapid mood swings, not hallucinations. My IQ is probably higher than my doctor’s. Having said all this, I am routinely treated like a crock, a malinger, and in the hideous tradition of the Western Medical Paradigm a second order mutation of my male counterparts. Consequently, my menopause has been in Rimbaud’s words, “A Season in Hell.” Things that helped me were denied or taken from me and were replaced with over the counter crap. When I found myself in acute distress, I was denied care by an arrogant nurse who refused to give me a timely appointment with my GYN. There is no point in complaining to Membership, they just take the information and file it in the circular file. Kaiser is the greatest single advertisement for Holistic Medicine on the planet. It is a toilet. It would be best to clean it out with a large scrub brush and a truck full of Lysol.

By: julia

julia — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 16:40:49 +0000

please edit comment 49 to read if his parents do not let him have instead of let him have

By: julia

julia — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 19:29:59 +0000

It is outrageous to me that Kaiser refuses to test my son to see if there are any physical reasons for my 17 year old depression.When I took him to a regular physician because I am concerned about side effects of anti depressants the doctor informed my son .who agrees with meds ,that if his parents let him have the medication he can call child protective services.I am worried about side effects of medication and kaiser looks at me as a child abuser!!!!!! Iwould like to hear from any parents who had similar problems with Kaiser.

By: rlb

rlb — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 09:26:38 +0000

in Feb of 2008 my R knee selled up for no apparent reason. I went to work for a month before seeing treatment for it @ Kaiser. My primary dr. sent me to the urgent care clinic to see an ortho dr. and all they did was give me meds and said take these meds and elevate your knee and put Ice on it. I was in so much pain that 2 days later I was in the E R in Hayward that the drs.there gave me more meds and said that Vicodin and Percoset and a full leg brace those meds had no effect on me. they were supposed to knock me out but instead Hyped me up because of the severe extreme pain that I pissed off my son to tell me to shut the f up because the drugs had the effect of motor mouth. I got home fell asleep and 2 hours later woke up screaming in pain. I was seen by 3 ortho drs and was diagnosed with a torn meniscus disc with bursitis and tendonitis and they refuse to do the surgery. The first thing they did was you have gout without any blood tests. they took x-rays eventually they did an mri but the mri tech refused to do it because of a questionare that I had answered before having it done. I had to get a nursing supervisor and my personal dr. involved to have it done the same night. Finally after the diagnosees i had demand to see a ortho surgeon he comes in with an attitude takes a cusory look at my right knee and says “you have osgood-schlatters disease and walks out he did not even spend ten minutes with me. After all this it took me 2.5 months to finally get back to work. I still have pain in that right knee and now because favor my right leg I am starting to have pain in my left knee. the one thing that sticks in my mind as to why they have treated me this way is that they kept asking is this a workers comp injury? and as soon as I said no that is when they have refused me proper treatment and left me to suffer on my own. These people do not care they use minimal treatment they insult you and treat you like filth. my dog gets better treatment.