The Daily Bitch

Feb. 3, 2000 Vol. 4 Issue 2

Oh boy what a week it has been! Let’s see, I’m going to finish my last update the next time I do this, right now I want to talk about the state of healthcare in Rochester. As some of you may know, last week my fiancée Teresa (Tre) took a “header” up the stairs at about 9:30 am. Now when she fell she caught herself on her elbow/forearm (she doesn’t remember) and heard a loud POP when she did this and had immediate pain in the middle of back. So bad, she had to crawl the rest of the way up the stairs. Needless to say it dulled down after a bit and she went to work. As she drove she noticed that it hurt to turn her neck and while at school it continued, so she decided to only work a half-day. When she got home she called our doctor who made an appt. for her to come in at 4pm that day. Mind you I have no problem with our HMO with the possible exception of the whole “referral” thing if you want to see another doc or get a second opinion. Now at the doc’s office, after a quick exam and 11 (eleven) x-rays later, she came back to sit with me. About 10 minutes later the Doc came back out and kneeled down in front of us with a very serious look and proceeded to tell us that Tre had broken her neck. Now this is one of those weird things you hear about and never really see, but apparently the x-ray showed that she had broken (fractured) the uppermost neck bone (the one that connects your neck to your skull). So we all walked carefully to the exam room and she was immobilized to a backboard until an ambulance could arrive and take her to the hospital, that was about 4:30 (remember this time). At about 4:50, the ambulance arrived and the two EMTs (Larry and Moe, not sure where curly was) manage to get her onto their backboard and get her head immobilized in yet another little device. Finally at about 5:30, were on our way to the hospital at a mere 60 mph. Now once at Genesee Hospital they wheel her into one of the trauma (?) rooms while I wait out front (with visions of surgery, HALO headgear and paralyzed girlfriends dancing in my head) to give insurance information to the administration nurse/orderly/attendant. Now it’s about 6:00pm or so and finally I get to go back to the room and I’m talking to Tre trying to keep her calm, you know how this whole thing goes. Meanwhile, I’m calling friends and relatives, trying to get my son picked up from the baby sitter. So we sit for about another hour and this whole time only a resident (not a real doctor) comes in check her out and does the standard neurological spine trauma exam. Can you feel this, does this feel the same as this…blah blah blah. Well this resident says that they have her scheduled for a cat scan and they should be up soon to get her. Now I have to leave in order to get to my house to let my brother (whom I convinced to drive up for $20 – family, you have to love them) in so he can watch my son (his nephew). Now I leave the hospital at around 7:30 headed for my house, they still have not come to take Tre down to CAT scan. Believe it or not it takes me about 1.5 hours to sort shit around and get back to the hospital (what can I say, I got lost on the way back to the hospital – I’ve lived in Rochester 4 + years and still do not know my way around the city).

When I get back to the room it’s 9:00pm and the nurse tells me that she JUST LEFT FOR RADIOLOGY! I immediately start going off at the nurse, she laid there ON THAT BACKBOARD FOR ANOTHER HOUR AND HALF??!! THE WHOLE TIME I WAS GONE??!! I think the nurse was ready to call security, but she said that she had went in and sat with her for a little while AND we gave her something to calm her down along with some oxygen. This both calms me down and further irritates me for a bit, until they roll her back into the room STILL on the backboard. She is not happy, in fact she is freaking out and really close to hyperventilating. See folks it’s now 9:30 and she has been unable to move for 4 AND HALF HOURS! I can see the state she is in, and I’m REALLY not happy about this because she is in the middle of having a back spasm (she has these every now and then and now she is having a couple) and I ring the nurse to get something for her pain. The nurse comes in, goes and checks with the doctor, the resident comes in and I verbally beat her up for a minute while she decides what to give her for Tre’s back pain. Finally they give her something for her pain and I start bugging them for the results, and they keep telling me they (the doctors) are waiting for them (radiology) to read the cat scans.

FINALLY at 10:30pm, which by my count is 5.5 hours ON THE BACKBOARD, the resident comes in and says the results are in and there is NO FRACTURE OR BREAK!! I mean that in itself is such a relief but I’m still so pissed I can’t see straight. I start pulling tape and straps off her like its Christmas and she is the biggest package under the tree. The resident actually tells ME to be careful (yeah right, I’m getting her the hell out of this place) cause I’m in such a hurry. I respond by telling her I would like to speak to the head Doc and get some answers. The doc shows up and I start to tear into her about the length of time and so on, when she tells me “other people have to have cat scans done too..” This causes a little “pop” in my head and I know at that moment I HAVE to leave. I swallow the bile that is rising and bite my tongue; I look at Tre and decide I have to get her home. I walk her out to the car and we go home.

What I learned later:

1. Teresa (Tre) was classified a level 2 trauma case.
2. When the nurse that told me she sat in there, it was only for about 10 minutes.
3. Tre later told me that she had rang for the nurse 2 times and the nurse never came until the 3^rd time.
4. Tre had to be put on oxygen because she was having a panic attack (or a major claustrophobia attack).
5. After arriving home Tre found a lump on her head (about the size of a AA large egg) from laying on the backboard.
6. That if I’m ever injured to a point of needing an ER, I will never go to Genesee Hospital.
7. That because Genesee Hospital is located downtown, that they get a lot of “welfare” walk-ins and this has obviously effected them on the patient care side of things. Maybe if they starting caring about PEOPLE rather then CASES and INSURANCE things would go better.

Questions I want answers to:

1. If Tre was a level 2 case, WHY did she have to wait 4 hours for a cat scan?
2. If Tre was a level 2 case, WHY did it take the Radiology dept 1.5 hours to read the scan?
3. Why did the nurse not respond to the 2 rings and did on the 3^rd?
4. Does Genesee Hospital need more people in their ER?

I’m done for today. Consider yourself "Bitched at."