Here is what happened.... My husband had been having bad headaches for about 2 months. Then he started getting dizzy spells, hot flashes, neck pain and wierd pains. He has a degenerative disk disease in his back and is prescribed Methadone for pain and has been on it for about 2 yrs.
On Nov. 4, he was almost passing out, his head and neck were killing him. I thought he was dying, so I insisted that we go to the ER even though we don't have health insurance.
We got there and he started having like amneisia, and didn't know what was going on. His blood pressure was 169 over 112. The ER doctor came in and was really nice at first. Then as soon as we told him what medications my husband takes (methadone), his attitude changed. They did a CT scan of his brain and didn't find anything. The Dr. told him to go home and drink some Gatorade.
We think my husband was having a stroke, and they did NOTHING, and I think it's because he is on methadone. To futher prove my thought, I received....
2007-01-27 06:22:49 · 9 answers · asked by someoneoutthere 5 in Politics & Government ➔ Law & Ethics
the hospital bill today and it has 8 different drug tests on it for $28.00 each!
He didn't notify us that he was going to do them. I think he just thought my husband was a heroin junkie because he is on Methadone and didn't want to treat him! The fact that he did drug test isn't what bothers me, my husband was clean, he doesn't do drugs! The problem is that the Dr. treated him like a piece of crap and then did over $200.00 worth of drug test on him without saying anything! He didn't do anything to help him period, he didn't say anything about the high blood pressure, or what he thought might be causing his problems, NOTHING! And now we have to pay for these??
Do we have ANY rights here?
2007-01-27 06:26:34 · update #1
To ThyLawyer: My husband has had back issues since childhood, that is NOT the reason we went to the ER that day.
We went in because we didn't know what was wrong with him with the headaches, dizzy spells, hot flashes and everything else.
We don't have health insurance, we pay $55.00 every three months to see our family Dr. for the methadone. My husband picks up his prescription every month for it. The Dr. does this because we don't have health insurance, he doesn't make my husband come in every single month to get it.
Methadone is also cheap! It costs less than $20.00 for each prescription. Our family Dr. says this is why a lot of doctors use it for pain management, it's cheap and it works.
The doctor did not try to figure out was wrong with my husband, WE ASKED for the CT scan because our doctor told my husband that if he ever felt sick to his stomach with the headaches he needed to be checked for a brain hemorrage.
2007-01-27 06:49:23 · update #2
When the CT came back negative, the doctor should have done some other test to figure out what is wrong with my husband!
He is still not better, we sold our car so we can go get MRI's done on Monday to find out what is wrong with him.
I asked the doctor what should we do if he doesn't get better, he said to come back in LOL YEAH RIGHT!!! He didn't help in the first place!
I found this info on a lawyers website about medical malpractice:
Failure to perform medical procedures in a competent manner.
Failure to order necessary tests or evaluate test results.
Failure to possess or use necessary skills.
Diagnosing an incorrect condition and pursuing the wrong treatment.
Im not looking to sue, but I don't think we should have to pay the for the drug tests and I think the should check into that doctor.
He didn't order necessary tests to truely find the cause of my husbands problems! And we are going to have to pay someone else to find out!
2007-01-27 06:55:26 · update #3
Some signs of a STROKE:
Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding speech.
Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes.
Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination.
Sudden severe headache with no known cause.
He had all of these!
And we did go to our family Dr. first! He said if he was going to have side effects from the Methadone, he would have already had them. He has been on it for two years!!!
2007-01-27 06:58:38 · update #4
Quote: "The number of drug abusers that daily show up at the nations ERs is Legion. No wonder ER doctors get turned off so quickly."
We didn't go there to get pain medication, we wanted help, we wanted to know what was wrong with my husband, and left with NO answers.
2007-01-27 07:00:31 · update #5
Check with your state attorney general's office and see if there is a medical review board in you state. Make sure you explain in detail what is wrong with your husband and why he's on this medication. Furthermore,make sure you got the time,date and the name of the doctor who examined your husband.
2007-01-27 06:32:00 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
If you feel like you were mistreated, complain.
But I'll tell you, the signs and symptoms of stroke that you listed are also the signs and symptoms of someone who has possibly taken too much medicine. Anyone who comes into the ER with a mental status change gets a drug screen done, at least in my ER. And $28/per drug is fairly cheap--at our hospital, it's $64. You have to understand that people prescribed methadone often have a history of drug abuse, and wasn't unwarranted to consider that option when your husband presented with his symptoms.
A stroke would have shown up on the CT scan. If the report was negative, he was not having a stroke.
I understand that your husband isn't a drug seeker, or abusing the system. The problem is, so many people are. It jades the health care professionals into believing everyone is that way. It's not fair, but it is what happens. I'm sorry you felt like you didn't get appropriate care, but all you can really do is talk to the administrator.
And your husband needs to follow up with his family doctor. He'll have many more resources to help your husband than an ER will.
2007-01-27 14:01:35 · answer #2 · answered by Morning Glory 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Not really. If you are referring to possibly suing the hospital, you don't have any grounds. Being treated like dog meat in the E/R is not uncommon, especially if you are uninsured.
However, you do have a right to be outraged regarding the treatment you received. Your voice doesn't carry much weight as you are uninsured. However, if I were you I would still take the time to write a poison pen letter to the Chief Executive Officer, and also the head of Emergency Medicine at the Hospital. Your complaint about the Dr assuming drug abuse because your husband is using the pain killer methadone is a legitimate one. You also have the right to challenge the blood work bills as medically un-necessary in light of your husbands medical history, which the E/R physician appears to have ignored.
If your husband had a stroke, and was not treated for it, he would likely either be dead by now, or obviously physically impaired likely in a severe way - unable to speak, substantial loss of motor function, etc.
I hope there is help out there for your husbands condition - I know a guy who had 4 discs replaced with cadaver disks.....it's not a common operation, and it's very expensive, but it did offer my friend relief from chronic severe back pain.
Good luck....
2007-01-27 06:42:13 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Rights to what? More medical tests? Based solely on his symptoms? Where was he getting his methadone if he has no insurance coverage?
If the CT scan was negative and the other tests showed no heart attack, no sugar problem and no other obvious symptom of immediate danger, the hospital had no further duty to your husband. If there was a change in attitude because of the methadone, there should be an apology, but in terms of what they did, unless there was something you left out or they failed to do based on the presenting symptoms, there was no discrimination. Being a drug addict, even your husband was one, is not in and of itself a protected category.
And if he has been having this problem for 2 years and you two have done nothing about pursuing it, I think the problem does not lie with the hospital.
2007-01-27 06:41:44 · answer #4 · answered by thylawyer 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You need to be an illegal alien to get free health care in the US...go figure, you need to break the law to get free stuff.
I didn't know Methadone was a pain killer...this may be what the Dr. was coming up against also. I agree that his B/P was high, and they should have monitored him closer because of that...but drugs will make it go up too as can being dehydrated...but that doesn't negate the fact that your husband should have been monitored for it. You could probably try to argue the bill, but most likely you will be stuck paying for it because the Dr. will probably argue that he needed to know for sure what you husband was on so he could make sure that he wasn't missing anything, given his history. No, I am not trying to make light of this, because I have back pain too, so I do understand where he is coming from to some extent...I am just letting you know what most likely will happen.
2007-01-27 06:39:17 · answer #5 · answered by hera 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you do not have insurance, ER's are only required to do life sustaining treament on someone who comes in. Basically, they only have to stop you from dying.
It isn't unreasonable for them to do the drug tests once finding out your husband is on methadone, given that the vast, vast, majority of people on it are heroine junkies. And, yes, you will have to pay for them.
Most likely, after the CT scan, nothing was found. Since it was aparent to the hospital staff he wasn't dying, they did not have to continue to treat him.
That's the law. The doctor didn't do anything wrong.
2007-01-27 07:05:00 · answer #6 · answered by ? 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A two month headache?
Methadone may cause side effects.
drowsiness
*weakness
*headache
*upset stomach
*vomiting
*constipation
*loss of appetite
*stomach pain
*dry mouth
*sweating
*flushing
*difficulty urinating
*mood changes
*confusion
*vision problems
*difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep
*decreased sexual desire or ability
Sound familar?
Your husband had a headache for two months. Why didn't you go to the physician who prescribed the Methadone instead of the ER?
The number of drug abusers that daily show up at the nations ERs is Legion. No wonder ER doctors get turned off so quickly.
Its two months later, any signs of a stroke?
"dizzy spells, hot flashes, neck pain and wierd pains" are not stroke signs.
2007-01-27 06:54:52 · answer #7 · answered by Agent 00X 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The hospital should have what is called a "Patient Advocate" in house, the best thing you can do is contact that person. Just
call the hospitals main line and ask for that extension-if they don't have a patient advocate, the have to have a person in "Risk Management"--if this doesn't work, I encourage you to call your
congressman about he issue--Good Luck.
2007-01-27 06:34:16 · answer #8 · answered by Queen-o-the-Damned 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If it had been sudden onset (explosive onset) headache you might have something to complain about. Given the fact he'd been suffering for months with this headache there's not too much to get worked up about.
2007-01-27 07:34:11 · answer #9 · answered by Yak Rider 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋