I helped an old friend in a time of need with this blog. She’s ready to tell her story, in her name now. I’m a ghost writer who can go back to being a ghost … and a good friend.
I’ve been attacked for her. You have to kind of wonder why people took it out on the both of us for telling the truth.
Good luck T …
Rachel
Soon to come … FOIA’ed police reports. They show the cops came out and nothing was what was claimed by the doctor. It is odd how after the cops said that I can be on public property in the area, they checked it out and saw no violations (not even rudeness or cursing or bad signs), months later the bariatric surgeon’s office is still calling the cops on me.
Is this what you would expect when you get a surgeon?
Investigate. Knowledge. Its about getting the best for you.
not just in real life but on the web also. I’ll be exposing that. Here is my assessment on my surgeon and why you should want to pick or try to get the best you can.
Great staff. Excellent surgeon/cutter (concern over not putting in my records anesthesia problems).
Concerns with the other care:
1) Communication or personal style/attitude. I would not get some questions answered, some questions were met with resistance or anger. Most of those had to do with medical research, other options, etc. When the anger was in the tone/voice, comments like ‘I did what I thought was right’ (I’m paying for this, don’t I get a say?), ‘if you don’t like it, go elsewhere’, ‘I’ve been a doctor for 20 years’, or get up and walk out on me, doesn’t do positives for the relationship. Telling me, when I didn’t want to take a test (so much for my rights, put in writing by the hospital), ‘if you don’t do as I say, I’ll put it in your records, and other doctors will see it and wonder why’, got burned into my brain. I couldn’t afford a treatment and paying it for it has set me back ever since then. Other doctors & I have worked this out, except for his buddy. Conflicting instructions and then get mad at me for it. When coming out of the hospital, told to make an appt. for a particular date. I did. I got called back and noted in my records, he wanted another date, giving the impression it was my fault. I said it was X you said. “Well I don’t know what I was thinking”. Me either but DUDE don’t flag me in my records when you make a mistake. Got angry at me for trying to get his nurse on the phone once. I was making a cake to thank him and wanted to make sure he’d be in the office on the day I brought it in. When I took the cake to him, I said you got mad on this and I was trying to do it for you. He laughed. No apology for chewing me out on the phone, and he put it in my records I was being unreasonable. Just laughed at me.
Accusing me of mental issues (like ED’s) and its all in my head when I have gastroparesis, IBS, multiple food intolerances, and GERD/reflux, all but the gastroparesis happening after surgery, that’s a bit much. All the problems I had with food were due to that, but I guess no one was looking up the criteria for these diagnoses. Years ago when I was first diagnosed with gastroparesis, it was such a disaster the GI told me if I didn’t stablize that week, I was going to be hospitalized for nutritional issues. Telling someone that if they were “disciplined”, they could eat & drink, well I can’t find anywhere in medical research agreement with that assessment. I did a marathon within time limit at 100 pds. overweight but I have a discpline problem?
Sending lawyers and/or risk managers after me for speaking my experiences and showing people my records, the questions I have, not cool. Dude … no one is suing you or sending lawyers to you. Every other problem I’ve had with places, we dealt with things without lawyers, money and talked like adults over the issues. I’ve protested stuff before and we did it legally & respectfully, the business owner came and talked to over 30 of us: no cursing, yelling, etc. and we talked like adults and spoke with each other. Shook hands and got on with our protests. This group is NOT that way. The police get called 4 times by them when I’ve been out in the area on public property, and every time the cops said everything is legal, no crazy stuff. The police actually checked it out and saw I never trespassed, cursed, but was respectful. The first time the cops met with the doctor they told him leave her alone, ignore her. Yet I get lawyers and cops?
2) Said he didn’t know of global weakness after surgery in my records but there are research articles/papers on neuropathies due to nutritional problems. All of which (nutritional problems) I have in droves after surgery. I feel that should have been caught. Including gallbladder issues that 2 other surgical subspecialist opinions, an ED doc, my PCP at the time, etc. said its her gallbladder: ditch it. I was in pain for months from the gallbladder, finally the counselors at the insurance that I talked with every month (who knew I wasn’t crazy) talked to the insurance people who called the admin & the surgeon directly. All of a sudden, things changed and I got surgery.
I never did get an answer about what specifically was the problem with giving me surgery. If someone isn’t eating and getting rid of a gallbladder helps, why not do it?
3) Told me to go figure out how to exercise and my diet. So I paid for their nut (an extra fee no one else has in the area) and they can’t solve dietary issues after surgery? So I’m not a practicing MD or RD, and I can solve them or am expected to? Then when every doctor says to me you need nutritional help, and spoke with this surgeon’s office, the nut/other doc would not take the case until they spoke with him. Amazing how things changed & of course I didn’t get any care (and there is none in the area). Yet I was called “noncompliant” when their own nut asked on their support list for suggestions to help me. I got called “noncompliant” when the last notes in my records said I ate chicken, meat, etc.
4) Telling me at 16 months out I had no further surgical needs. Many doctors have disagreed. The ASMBS disagrees. I was never out of his office by 3 months at the most. Yet they treat people for problems that GI’s or PCP’s could treat at farther out than me.
5) If you discuss HIPAA or go to admin, you may not have care in the area. It is my understanding there is a non compete agreement between them and the other biggest group in the area, but no one wants to confirm this in writing. The reason why I say this is that I put up allegations of a HIPAA problem to the admin on 4/17/13. On 4/19/13, I was dropped. On 4/22/13 it was confirmed that an investigation was ongoing and the office knew of my complaint. On 4/26/13, the HIPAA office called me back (not in writing in 7 days as is advertised) and said they found nothing wrong. They have refused to confirm my phone records that this is a timeline or the timeline they were investigating. HIPAA law states no retaliation. I asked for the specific proof in the records of non compliance, etc. and have yet to receive any, nor the answers to the questions I’ve had regarding this.
6) His relative rated him on one area. Its been removed now AFAIK, but that bothers me.
7) One of the recommendations for a plastic surgeon (2nd one) was for a doc with a multimillion $ verdict for a patient who died.
8) I would review recommendations against medical research. Always …
9) I got dumped off the support group when its for people who are interested in surgery, and although I never posted on there, so I don’t know what the reason for me being dropped is. I’ve never said anything on the list about anything that has happened, and I do have friends there. I send congrats at times to people. Now what could I have done that deserves banning when I’ve done nothing against their rules? I help people out, and if I am able to solve nutritional issues without them, & they couldn’t, isn’t that exactly the sort of person you want on a support group? Are the patients paramount in priority?
10) When the records say I eat a lot of headaches, maybe its time to go back and investigate the autocorrect and/or the speech software. While funny, its a problem when you are trying to work with other HCP’s in your health. I had a lot of those types of HUH? that way. Another example: it said I was doing a “Patriot Challenge”. One there is no Patriot Challenge. There was a triathlon but not in the time frame mentioned in the records and you can google it on the internet (2012). A masters’ swimmer friend was doing a triathlon that I said I wanted to do (Rumpass in Bumpass). Trying to get records fixed so they accurately reflect, big hassle. I mean come on, if you tell my mom I came to during the surgery, put that in the records. That is an issue that I need followed.
11) Please make sure that you check the research before giving an opinion. Several options, like PICC line covers, were made that way and are publically available. Word to the wise: “you know I dont like it when you do that” is not exactly medical evidence that says I can or can’t do something. Some of us like to be reasoned with. I’m paying the doctor, and whether or not they like something or not is immaterial. I’m not here to please the doctor. I’m here to get health care and work with someone as a team, using research & the art together for my health. I’m pretty savvy and the medical librarians know me.
12) I was so traumatized after a few months of the constant dogging from “what are you eating” and weighing in, I won’t do it now at a docs office. Just the mental memories of that time frame and I can’t handle it any longer. When someone is losing weight and the whole world is ok with it but the bariatric surgeon, maybe a different tact than forcing someone helps. Telling them they push your buttons, probably not the way to get a patient to open up. That’s just me. I wasn’t even asked what the problem was and if I had said ‘you are so negative about it and you’re the only one that way, you won’t fix my gallbladder and won’t listen to me’, would I have gotten the same anger at me?
13) Having an office staff member not be available at surgery because “I had a party to plan for” probably isn’t going to win respect. I’ve seen some excellent work out of a few of the ladies there, but that one its not one some one forgets.
14) If you only do partial nutritional checks and you don’t go within research current definitions for nutrition, work with our docs office. Different docs were expecting them to do things which weren’t done or only partial bloodwork (an example) were done. So when I went back to my PCP, and this group didn’t run it because ‘we only run what is usual for us/patients’, and then you tell me you just take care of nutrition, well … the PCP’s don’t know about nutrition and they’re expecting you take care of ALL of it. Like you said!
15) He told my Mom and I that he would be back that afternoon to check on me, the day after the gallbladder surgery. My parents are over 70 years old. They have some major traffic areas to go through to get to the hospital. They had to leave, switch cars out at home and come back for me (my Mom did). So she waited there for 2.5 to 3 hours and he never shows. My dad got dinner later for nothing and my Mom had to scurry in rush hour traffic at her age because he didn’t come back.
16) Call me silly but I don’t think asking if a number of things are ethical of the ethics group and then I get a team that is at least half lawyers, is something that I think goes within the realm of needing to rethink that. Why be so heavy handed? I’m honest in that there are aspects of my care I disagreed with. Aspects that I don’t think should have been told to current docs but they were. Why lawyer happy?
I’ve got other examples. Please be careful and investigate aftercare and other situations very thoroughly. No care in the area, etc. and I’ve got health problems. Please be careful and research because I speak out so that no one ever gets this treatment (no care, cops, lawyers, etc.). That is what matters now.
I’ve not posted in a while. I’ll relay an interesting happening during that time in addition to this.
Any way, I have had the cops called on me by the bariatric surgeons’ office for being on public property, not yelling/profanity, flipping people off, or directing traffic or blocking traffic or anything else at the former bariatric surgeons’ office. The cops have come out every time and said nothing wrong with her. Here is actually part of what was stated in a FOIA’ed police report: “female is not doing anything wrong, not breaking any laws”. In addition, the cops actually monitored the situation for a while and said they saw nothing “concerning” etc.
I have some of my medical records and tell people to ask questions and take a look. The records, especially compared to others and the medical research, tell a different story. One that would help patients to know about complications, who may want a different style of physician. One who may look for all sorts of physical issues before they say you have mental issues. One who knows about complications and will treat them and has the ability to do so. One that takes responsibility.
Find that surgeon. I didn’t. I want YOU to have more education to make those choices for yourself. As I mention elsewhere, these things have a 40-45% profit margin. I make no profit off here but I do enjoy knowing that people have more education in terms of what they’re going to get.
This comes from:
http://www.medicalschoolsuccess.com/8-unorthodox-specialties-that-can-make-you-filthy-rich/
“5. Weight Management
Everyone wants to get thinner. The demand is certainly there. And when it comes to helping people lose weight, doctors have a definite advantage over personal trainers, dieticians, and other professions.
First, only doctors can prescribe drugs. Phentermine. Topiramate. Qsymia (combo of the previous two). This is very, very attractive to a population that wants the cure-in-a-pill.
Second, doctors are still highly respected for their knowledge. People trust a doctor more than any other profession.
During my third year of medical school, I rotated with a doctor who only deals with weight management visits. What he did was so easy, I could have done it as a medical student. And yet, he had a full roster of patients.
Not only does he get to charge for the office visit, he gets to upsell. This means he gets to sell products related to weight loss to an already captive audience (his patients). He sold protein shakes, protein bars, meal-in-a-can, etc. There are a million things you can upsell. “
What does this say about where they’re coming from? Watch out for YOU!
On 5/21/14, as I was going to sit in public property and hold a sign up about my blog & all, I found a guy smoking in a church parking lot on the way to the doctors’ office. I verified he shouldn’t be there.
Then, I have the security guard who is photographing me. Now you have to ask why they’re doing that? Outside of me stating to the risk managers’ that the doctors’ office was doing that from inside the office to outside on public property of former patients. All I’m doing is either sitting or standing with a sign. All legal by the cops, first amendment rights.
I noticed a couple of people sitting in front of the doctors’ office. Another lady drove in to the parking lot and greeted them and they talked until I packed up to leave. Then they started to. I stopped and fooled around and knew they were going to tail me so I waited around.
Next I know a guy on a bike is trailing me. I called the cops.
Ever heard of gang stalking?
What does this say about your bariatric surgeon if they do this? Research, research, research! Is this the type of person that you think will help you on a lifelong journey? Stick with you? If you have a not positive experience and you are honest about the facts, are you going to want to be stalked for asserting your first amendment rights?
Here is just one states’ listing of the definition of stalking using the following reference: Va. state stalking laws
Va. Code Ann. § 18.2-60.3. Stalking; penalty (2013)
A. Any person, except a law-enforcement officer, as defined in § 9.1-101, and acting in the performance of his official duties, and a registered private investigator, as defined in § 9.1-138, who is regulated in accordance with § 9.1-139 and acting in the course of his legitimate business, who on more than one occasion engages in conduct directed at another person with the intent to place, or when he knows or reasonably should know that the conduct places that other person in reasonable fear of death, criminal sexual assault, or bodily injury to that other person or to that other person’s family or household member is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.
B. Any person who is convicted of a second offense of subsection A occurring within five years of a prior conviction of such an offense when the person was also convicted within the five-year period prior to the instant offense of a violation of (i) § 18.2-51, 18.2-51.2, 18.2-51.6, 18.2-52, or 18.2-57 and the victim of that crime was the same person who is the victim of the stalking activity in the instant conviction, (ii) § 18.2-57.2, or (iii) a protective order, is guilty of a Class 6 felony.
C. Any person convicted of a third or subsequent conviction of subsection A occurring
within five years of a conviction for an offense under this section or for a similar
offense under the law of any other jurisdiction is guilty of a Class 6 felony.
D. A person may be convicted under this section irrespective of the jurisdiction or
jurisdictions within the Commonwealth wherein the conduct described in subsection A
occurred, if the person engaged in that conduct on at least one occasion in the
jurisdiction where the person is tried. Evidence of any such conduct that occurred outside the Commonwealth may be admissible, if relevant, in any prosecution under this section provided that the prosecution is based upon conduct occurring within the Commonwealth.
E. Upon finding a person guilty under this section, the court shall, in addition to the sentence imposed, issue an order prohibiting contact between the defendant and the victim or the victim’s family or household member.
A few links on gangstalking:
Predatory gangstalking
Stalking
How to stop gang stalking
Account
How to fight back
5/12/14
The items from several weeks to almost a month ago, in written communication, have not been addressed, in regards to putting items in my records. By HIPAA law, there is no time restriction.
I’ll pass on that your security guard photographs & logs me for asserting my constitutional rights to free speech, including the office watching me. The multiple times the police have gone out, they have never seen me do anything other than behave with dignity and respect. That includes how I treated a nurse politely with inappropriate questions & the bariatric surgeon following me on public property.
I have made it clear that I have no interest in money, being photographed, or lawyers, but in getting appropriate health care. Care that the bariatric surgeon appears to have been incorrect in saying I didn’t need, or that my other doctors have indicated I couldn’t use. All because I don’t want to see someone else also hounded and suffer for saying they are a human being who is worthy of respect and to assert their rights under the law and published policies.
((I also mentioned that more than a year ago, I had suggested to the office in an email, that they needed to educate other healthcare personnel in bariatric after care)).
5/8/14
I politely answered the nurse when they went at distance length from the bariatric group staff door to initiate questions about what I was doing/intent/etc. on public property (not considering that I stated I was not a patient any longer, so why I was being asked such questions on public property raises motive questions) & was followed onto public property multiple times by the bariatric surgeon in another instance. I received a letter that contains incorrect facts, from my records, among other things. Most sad, considering I was extremely impressed by another one of your physicians I met.
I do not have the information requested below regarding another source for the HIPAA privacy people, as they have not responded to my photography related request. Prior history shows a difference between published practices & practices per se. What practices can we expect from the Privacy people is what I am looking for from another source. The same can be said for you, especially as to why you need lawyers when I bring legitimate concerns, with no lawyer in tow, that have never been completely addressed, & you have been given multiple opportunities to do so.
Please see second paragraph below, they stated nothing could be done for me. If regular doctors can’t deal with/recognize it, an ER doctor would not either. None of the Nutrition Journals use bloodwork as main indicators since 2011 for malnutrition, nor did you when you {a person who isn’t a doctor and never examined me} made your medical assessment that I did not have malnutrition in 2013, compared to a physician I had a history with and medical research to support the assessment. Do you have further information on who has experience dealing with a complication of bariatric surgery since the bariatric surgeon appears to not have, & non compete and “buddy” agreements don’t allow for care in the area from bariatric healthcare personnel? Or who doesn’t drop care when payments can’t be made, which is why a patient couldn’t make an office appointment, contrary to stated your policy?
Because our bodies are very good at compensating during tough times, doctors have observed that blood tests and external measures of illness are inadequate: there are very few indications a body is about to go into crisis until the damage has already been done. Too many families find out only after a life-threatening or fatal episode how close a loved one was to death. In PCM, however, the lymphatic system can’t keep up with the leakage, and the stomach area begins to bloat with its own waste fluids.
Starvation can cause (amongst other things) low blood pressure and poor circulation; osteoporosis leading to possible fractures, deformities, and pain; anaemia; stomach shrinkage, leading to uncomfortable stretching and feelings of fullness when more than a small amount is eaten; increased blood cholesterol levels due to lack of oestrogen; nerve and muscle damage; low glucose levels, which may lead to coma; kidney failure; and death through heart failure.
Thank you,
5/X/2014
> I’ve started getting a higher temperature, burning up at times, legs cramping & chest pains, a lot of problems eating and tonight, couldn’t eat without pain. My skin is breaking apart, my MPV and platelets are high for me, indicating thrombosis. I’ve not been able to take medications since November because when the albumin is low, drugs have nothing to bind to and are free in the plasma, amplifying the effects.
> Some of my bloodwork is high/low for me, meaning the effects of malnutrition are starting to show in the bloodwork because I can no longer compensate for illnesses that weren’t diagnosed & my care disrupted.
>
> Find me someone else who can answer the questions since I’ve been told there is nothing they can do for me. I’ll won’t make it through this because of the bariatric surgeon without any care in the area. They said that ‘if you don’t do as I say, I’ll put it in your record, and other doctors will see it, and wonder why’. They wanted to damage my relationships with other doctors. They succeeded. As an office worker said ‘YOU’VE lost a huge chunk of your care.” There were right. I will pay the price for that, although I even asked that the administration do nothing negative to the surgeon, and I’ve seen that the suggestions I made regarding the practice were implemented.
Notes from the one phone conversation with the privacy group where my bariatric surgeon is located:
He called my work number. He said he was working w/a fellow employee on HIPAA violation, 5/31/13. I called back, w/leaving msg for him approx 1230 pm. He called back, phone messed up, I called him back about 115 pm.
He said he doesn’t want to go into it. No results of investigation could be given. Requested time line of what I submitted, as he said they didn’t give the results out. He said he was hesitant to do it, they didn’t do it, because of all the back and forth that has gone on between the doctors, etc. They had closed the case. The apparent indication was that they weren’t going to do anything because of the “back and forth”, even if it was verifying & stating when I called. “Too much energy had already been put into it”.
Its nice to know that you can get verification that a group TRUELY looked into your assertions when you can get NO information on what they did, what they asked, how they did it?
NO TRANSPARENCY. Always remember that.
When I asked the question (in a nutshell) whether the ASMBS was for the patient or the doctor I received the following response. If you can’t find out information, and you would be in this program if you have a center of excellent with the ASMBS, where and WHAT of your data, your private information, is going out?
——– Original Message ——–
Subject:
RE: Response – Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program
Date:
Mon, 17 Jun 2013 14:26:43 +0000
Dear Patient
I’m sorry I can’t be more helpful. Any participant in the Improvement Program must meet standards to achieve accreditation. The standards are included in our web site. Beyond what’s available on our web site, the majority of participants in our programs are covered by confidentiality provisions in our agreements with them. As such, we cannot provide further information.
Regards,
by the author of "The Paramedic Heretic" & "America's Dumbest Doctors"
Through the Eyes of a Medical Oncologist
The Physician Wellness Movement and Illegitimate Authority: The Need for Revolt and Reconstruction
"Sunshine is the Best Disinfectant"
Cognos tips, Cognos tricks, Cognos techniques: Cognos, Cognos, Cognos!
Bariatric Help 