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Home My WebLink AboutMINUTES - 12061994 - 1.151 Mr . Tom Powers , Chair RECEIVE® Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors 651 Pine Room 106 NOV I Martinez , California 94553 81994 [CLERK BOARD OF SUPERVISORS CONTRA COSTA CO. Mr. Powers: This is about a life and death issue and millions of dollars. I make no apology for the length of this letter because you need to know the situation and what needs to be said is important to you. You are welcome to write or call me any time. Respectfully yours, Mrs. Faith Simon ( 510 ) 686 6362 1029 Ridge Park Drive. Concord, CA 94518 v/ 1.15 10 - 14 - 1994 THIS IS AN EMERGENCY CALL FOR HELP! THERE IS ONLY ONE DOCTOR ON DUTY IN THE "EMERGENCY ROOM" AT MT . DIABLO HOSPITAL IN THE EVENING HOURS. ONE PATIENT WITH A CEREBRAL HEMORRHAGE ( I think this was mentioned) The rest I am sure happened. ONE PATIENT ON A DRUG OVERDOSE ONE PATIENT WITH A SPIDER BITE, HEART PAIN COULDN' T BREATHE ONE PATIENT 5 MONTHS PREGNANT COULDN' T STOP HEMORRHAGING AN INFANT COULDN'T BREATHE ONE PATIENT VERY ILL. UNSUSPECTING PEOPLE WHO BELIEVE THEY WILL GET IMMEDIATE HELP COULD DIE WAITING . . . . . IN THIS . . . . FORSAKEN EMERGENCY ROOM. . . . PEOPLE IN THE WAITING ROOMS THOUGHT THEIR LOVED ONES WERE BEING ATTENDED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . THEY "DIDN'T KNOW" . . . "THERE WAS ONLY ONE DOCTOR" . . . . . . AND HE WAS BUSY WITH "SEVERAL OTHER LIFE AND DEATH EMERGENCIES. " WHEN I MENTIONED THEY WERE INADEQUATELY STAFFED FOR THE PATIENT LOAD , THE NURSE SAID, . . . . . . . . . . THEY REQUESTED MORE HELP BUT COULDN'T GET IT. . . . . . THIS BREACH OF EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS SHOULD MAKE YOU FEEL COMPELLED TO TAKE LEGAL SANCTIONS. YOUR WISDOM AND CONCERN MAY SAVE LIVES! I did not write to Mr. Wall the Hospital Administrator. Considering the amount of money he makes , he should jolly well know what is going on. Also, since the nurse told me they tried to get more help, it is a good bet he already is aware but chooses to save money by not attending to this problem. There should be an unannounced evaluation. Therefore, I did not write to the Mayor of Concord since he works in the hospital as a pharmacist. I would appreciate a serious investigation without public attention drawn to the problem until after you have the facts and evidence for yourselves. Thank you! -1-- 11 - 17 - 1994 Mr . Powers: When doctors are under so much pressure to make second by second decisions and perform second by second procedures hour after hour, they can make serious mistakes. It was not just the patients who were like hostages each minute believing the. next minute they were going to get help, it was the acute realization that any member of my family or dear friends could have been one of them. I don't know if the baby who couldn' t breathe got saved. I don't know how it turned out for the lady with the spider bite, her husband said the doctor took one look and said she would be o.k. and left the room. His wife was still in there because she had horrible stomach cramps, and they were waiting for the doctor to come back. They were there 3 hours or more. I don' t know if the young mother who was there before we got there , saved her baby. Her parents waited for hours uninformed. It was a cruel and cold experience for them. Our daughter changed her medical insurance plan, and it wasn't transferred as it should have been. Because she did not have a new membership number she delayed making a scheduled appointment for a nasty cold or virus . She got really sick and over the counter medication did not help. We left the hospital at 11: 45 pm after 3 hours of waiting. She waited an hour and a half in one of the examining rooms with no one to see how she was. Although her case was not a life and death emergency she suffered needlessly. No keenex, no seat covers for the toilet , ( it is known that people with VD etc. use the hospital toilets ) , the people at the desk stayed in the back room talking so that people could not ask for any information about the patients . It was obvious they were keeping their distance. Our daughter never saw the doctor. (We had to sign a release. ) We did not mind any or all of the emergencies going first, they should, but there should have been more than one doctor. It scared me! My daughter could have been in a near fatal accident and she would have been one of those life and death emergencies waiting for hours. . . . . . . . . . . THIS FORSAKEN EMERGENCY ROOM HAS NO CONSCIENCE ! . . . . If they had told us it would take hours , we would have gone to another hospital to get help. She just couldn' t stand more waiting in another hospital, so she came home and had a miserable night. She went to Kaiser the next day. The doctor prescribed medication. An emergency room should be adequately staffed, whether the several emergencies come one by one, or several come from some headline news printing disaster. Cities and counties and perhaps state agencies go through practices for EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS, . . . (call the medics, ambulances , police and all related services, paint the patients with artificial blood) and call the press and t.v. media so they can observe how they are supposed to work in concert to take . . . "immediate care of critical emergencies. " . . . . THEN THEY SHOULD GO TO MT DIABLO HOSPITAL "WITHOUT ANY WARNING" WITH ALL THE VICTIMS OF THEIR IMAGINED EMERGENCIES AND GET A . . . . . . "DOSE OF REALITY" . . . AFTER "regular hours at night ! " before or after 8: 00 PM, AND WAIT THREE OR MORE HOURS NEVER KNOWING IF THE DOCTOR WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR THEM WHILE THEY BLEED OR SUFFER A HEART CONDITION OR STROKE, OR RISK THE LIFE OF A BABY ! LET THEM STAY IN AN EMPTY ROOM POORLY FACILITATED WITH NO ONE IN ATTENDANCE WHILE THE PEOPLE WHO BROUGHT THEM. . . " DON' T GET ANY WORD ABOUT WHETHER THE DOCTOR HAS SEEN THEM, OR . . THEY MAY HAVE BEEN LEFT TO DIE . . . IN AN UNATTENDED ROOM FOR HOURS. " . . . . . EXPLETIVES BELONG HERE APLENTY! LET THE PRESS AND THE T.V. RECORD AND REPORT IT ALL! Respectfully yours, Mrs. Faith Simon ( 510 ) 686 6362 1029 Ridge Park Drive Concord, CA 94518 The taxpayers in this hospital district and the medical insurance companies are paying for services at Mt Diablo Hospital (a public hospital in a city of more than 100 ,000 people and thousands of people more in the nearby cities who pay taxes for this the hospital in their district!) . . . . The mega thousands of dollars, probably millions is being spent ( in my opinion) on a "fraudulent medical facility. " What happens if there is a police shoot out, an explosion or fire, a plane crash, a toxic emergency, or even to you if you had an emergency while visiting Concord after 8 p.m. ? - 3 c. 151 SUGGESTIONS TO OBTAIN NEEDED EMERGENCY STAFF SOME ACTIONS MAY BE TAKEN TO FORCE IMMEDIATE ACTION 1 . NOTIFY ALL INSURANCE CARRIERS FOR PERSONAL, GROUP OR CORPORATE POLICIES , THAT MT.DIABLO HOSPITAL IS UNDERSTAFFED FOR EMERGENCY SERVICES AT NIGHT. 2. INVITE ALL SUCH INSURANCE CARRIERS TO WITHDRAW MT.DIABLO FROM THEIR LIST OF MEDICAL FACILITIES FOR INSURANCE COVERAGE TO THEIR CLIENTS. 3. THE HOSPITAL ADMINISTRATOR CLAIMED HE SAVED A CONSIDERABLE AMOUNT OF MONEY FOR THE HOSPITAL. THERE SHOULD BE A STATE AND FEDERAL AUDIT OF THE BUDGET, INCLUDING SALARIES , AND BENEFITS. IT IS POSSIBLE PATIENT CARE HAS BEEN COMPROMISED IN ORDER TO MAKE THIS SAVINGS. THE SERVICES FOR CRITICAL SITUATIONS ARE INADEQUATE WHILE THE SALARIES ETC . FOR ADMINISTRATORS MAY BE OVER BUDGETED. THE AUDIT SHOULD ALSO INCLUDE A LIST OF EQUIPMENT AND ESSENTIAL SERVICES PROVIDED AND THE RATIO OF MEDICAL STAFF FOR THE NUMBER OF PATIENTS ON EACH SHIFT FOR ALL DEPARTMENTS. THERE SHOULD BE A SEARCH TO DISCOVER IF THE PATIENTS ARE DENIED USE OF EQUIPMENT AND ANY ESSENTIAL SERVICES . 4 . THE HOSPITAL SOLD THEIR KIDNEY DIALYSIS EQUIPMENT TO PRIVATE PHYSICIANS BECAUSE THEY FEARED THE HOSPITAL WOULD LOSE MONEY IF THE STATE CAME THROUGH WITH A NEW HEALTH CARE SYSTEM. WHO KNOWS WHAT ELSE THEY DUMPED SO THEY WOULD NOT HAVE TO USE THE EQUIPMENT AND LOSE MONEY. THESE DEALS WITH PRIVATE PHYSICIANS CAME AFTER THE HOSPITAL WAS EVALUATED. THE PATIENTS WHO CANNOT AFFORD TO PAY PRIVATE PHYSICIANS FOR DIALYSIS , SIMPLY WON 'T GET IT. TOO BAD! MOST OF THE POPULATION WITH A MODERATE INCOME WHO HAVE PAID TAXES AND HIGH INSURANCE PREMIUMS FOR YEARS, JUST GET IN THE WAY OF THE HOSPITAL BUDGET SAVINGS PLAN. THE FINANCIAL GERRYMANDERING AND SELLING THE VERY NEEDED KIDNEY DIALYSIS EQUIPMENT TO PRIVATE PHYSICIANS WAS CALLOUS AND UNHUMANITARIAN. THIS HOSPITAL NEEDS A VISIT FROM THE MEDICAL ETHICS BOARD, NOT TO CREATE CHAOS FOR THE HARD WORKING NURSES , BUT TO RAISE THE CONSCIENCE OF THE HOSPITAL ADMINISTRATOR AND HOSPITAL BOARD MEMBERS . 5 . THERE SHOULD BE . . . "UNANNOUNCED VISITS" .'. . TO INVESTIGATE AND RE-EVALUATE THE HOSPITAL. ONE SUCH VISIT SHOULD INCLUDE NIGHT HOURS IN THE EMERGENCY ROOM. THEY SHOULD SEE PEOPLE WITH LIFE AND DEATH EMERGENCIES WAITING FOR HOURS FOR ONLY ONE DOCTOR TO ATTEND THEM. IT WOULD BE A HELLISH EXPERIENCE EVEN IF THE INVESTIGATOR OR EVALUATOR IS NOT THE PATIENT HEMORRHAGING, IN SEVERE PAIN, OR WAITING FOR FOR THE DOCTOR TO TAKE CARE OF THEIR INFANT BABY WHO CAN ' T BREATHE! . - 4 - 0 EA CONTRA COSTA TIMES' 8-5-1994 page 6A Hospital directors -voted -,unani- mously this week_to.sell'the unit be- �ti�y � 6 �C:) � cause changes in Medicare- reim- �titi bursements were expected to cause 0C, losses. More than 80 percent of Mt. Dia- ��ti blo's dialysis patients-are insured by the government Medicare program. Payments to the hospital were boosted by a differential known. as an "exception rate.".The extra pay- ment was because hospital patients l Concord were considered; more acutely ill ;than outpatients: HemOdlal S1S bUS1rieSS The degree of illness,._or acuity, y :of dialysis. patients nationally has ;1S SOICl. Off b. ;hospltal risen; while ,Mt. Diablo's has re mained constant, and the hospital Mt. Diablo Medical Center has no longer qualified for the differen- sold its hemodialysis'business Id'a tial,. said- spokeswoman..San& ` ra group"of doctors`for. $1.75 million:. Ryan-..The,hospital expected to-lose -:Diablo- -Nephf-ology. Medical $339,000 on dialysis, :rather than Group will continue operating l the earn $843,000;, once: th6-1:993._94. 44-bed unit in Concord, Walnut books:are:closed r I. "Creek and Pittsburg The'group in �{ rcludes five kldne s ecialsts `� ' `' me � s staff r-i rv?t` . _ 5 _