Sewing Sunsets

Today, I am still quite angry with Denton Regional Medical Center because they have continued to refuse to do the right thing and pay the full amount to replace my elderly mother’s hearing aids.  Of course, as I have said before, I think they lack compassion for people, but they have a real passion for preserving the bottom line–their profit margin. 

It is interesting to note that Denton Regional Medical Center, an HCA owned company, seems to have a new job opening.  I find this rather amusing.  I believe the job title is  Director of Service Excellence.  The duties of this particular position seem to include such things as analyzing patient survey satisfaction results, providing consultation to improve patient satisfaction results, and other related duties.  The main goal seems to be to improve Denton Regional Medical Center’s customer satisfaction rate.    Perhaps I am not the only “customer” who has not been satisfied with Denton Regional Medical Center recently?  Hmmmm……….

This hospital has had more than ample time to decide to do the right thing in this case, but they keep stalling and trying various tactics in hopes that I will stop fighting them on this issue, but I can’t.  My 83 year old mother’s well being is at stake and she is the one who is paying the highest price for Denton Regional Medical Center’s lack of compassion.  That angers me every more and makes me much more determined to fight for my mother’s rights.  She has the right, and deserves, to be able to hear clearly on a daily basis, but because of Denton Regional Medical Centers passion for preserving their profit margin, she is being denied that right on a daily basis.  Shame on Denton Regional Medical Center!

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Unfortunately, today’s post is still not about sewing.   However, after spending some time on my new time consuming project trying to strongly enourage Denton Regional Medical Center administration to do the right thing and pay to replace my mother’s hearing aids, I do plan on going to JoAnn’s for a little fabric therapy.

As you know, I have an on going battle with Denton Regional Medical Center about a pair of lost hearing aids.  They just seem to refuse to understand that they need to do the right thing and pay to replace the hearing aids.  It is my belief that a hospital employee threw them away.  One thing is certain; my elderly, ill, bed ridden, incapacitated mother could NOT have gotten out of bed and thrown them away!  In the hospital setting, it should be the caregiver’s responsibility to ensure that each patient’s  adaptive devices, such as eyeglasses, hearing aids, and dentures are kept safe.  This did not happen in my mother’s case, unfortunately.  And now, the hospital, an HCA owned, for profit hospital simply refuses to do the right thing and pay the entire cost to replace both hearing aids.  Their latest stunt seems to reflect that they only want to pay for one hearing aid.  So…. I guess my mom is only allowed to hear out of one hear, huh?!  Of course, my mother needs two hearing aids.

There is a commercial that is currently airing on tv right now that has a great line.  This commercial shows people in various walks of life helping people in a variety of small ways.  In the commercial, it may be a simple act of kindness such as holding the elevator door open  or moving a cup of coffee away from the edge of the table so it won’t get knocked over.  At the end of the commercial, the narrator says the line “When it’s people who do the right thing, they call it being responsible……..”  I like that line and I think Denton Regional Medical Center needs to take a lesson from the company who is running this commercial.  Denton Regional Medical center needs to learn how to do the right thing and show true compassion for its stakeholders–patients and patrons who utilize this for profit hospital.  Unfortunately, so far, they have simply demonstrated passion for preserving their precious bottom line–Denton Regional Medical Center’s profit margin.

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It is now Saturday morning here in Texas and I’m still angry–angry to the point of being livid!!– with Denton Regional Medical Center.  This hospital is owned by HCA and is a for profit hospital.  What is interesting about this hospital is that when we first moved to this town about a year ago, everyone we met told me to avoid going to Denton Regional Medical Center because either they, or a relative, had received poor care while in the hospital or had been given incorrect medical advice.  When my mother was first hospitalized at Denton Regional, I wondered why the hospital had such a negative reputation in the community.  Overall, the  folks who simply work there do display compassion and try to do a good job.  However, the administration at this hospital is a totally different story and I highly suspect that other people have had as much of a negative experience with Denton Regional Medical Center’s hospital administration as I have recently.  I now see why this hospital has such a negative reputation in the community.

As you know, my elderly mother was hospitalized at Denton Regional in January.  It is my belief that a hospital employee threw away my mom’s hearing aids, and from the beginning I have made it very clear to the hospital that I expect them to pay the full cost to replace the hearing aids.  The hearing aid company is giving the hospital a discount and this discount makes the cost of replacing the hearing aids Lessthan the original purchase price of the hearing aids.  My mom only had the very basic, low end, no frills hearing aids, but they allowed her to have a better quality of life.  Because Denton Regional Medical Center has displayed such a lack of compassion for my mother’s situation, she is continuing to experience a diminished quality of life.  I hold Denton Regional Medical Center totally responsible for my mother’s diminished quality of life.

So far, Denton Regional Medical Center has refused to pay the full replacement cost for the hearing aids.  At one point, they offered to pay half and I said that was not acceptable  and that I would continue to push  further until they decided to do the right thing and pay the full cost.  I had told them repeatedly that I would NOT drop this matter until they agreed to do the right thing, but apparently, they didn’t quite believe me.  I think I finally convinced them that I am not going to drop this matter, so instead of ignoring me, hoping I will go away, they are employing what I call the “bait and switch” tactic.  I got a call from the hospital, stating that they were prepared to issue a check in the amount of $2000.   I questioned why the amount was so low and stated that I expected the full cost of $3588 to be paid.  At that point, I was told that “it clearly stated this was a partial payment”.  To me, that meant that the hospital was choosing to do this the hard way and pay in two payments.  I also wondered why they were not paying the hearing aid company directly since that would expedite the whole matter.   I requested something in writing, stating that the balance of the cost–$1588–would be paid in the near future.  Once again, it was the “bait and switch” tactic because the letter that I was handed stated that they would pay a portion of the cost in the amount of $2000.  I’m not sure what it’s going to take to get this hospital to understand that I will NOT accept a portion of the payment as payment in full!!  I think they must have collective memory loss!  I told the hospital employee that we were not done and that I would continue to fight for the remaining $1588. 

As I have said before, I don’t believe Denton Regional Medical Center  administration has compassion for improving human life or improving the quality of human life.  They certainly aren’t concerned about that with my mother because, in effect, she is being held hostage  in a world marred by significant hearing loss by this hospital since they continue to refuse to do the right thing and pay to replace her hearing aids.  I know for a fact that the hearing aids were in my mother’s ears one evening when I walked out of the hospital and nowhere to be found the next morning.  She was incapacitated, ill, and bedridden, so SHE is NOT responsible for losing the hearing aids.  Caregivers should have been more careful and paid more attention to what they may have been throwing away, which is what I believe happened in this case.  The only right thing is for Denton Regional Medical Center to pay to replace the hearing aids–the FULL COST  of replacement–and then put policies in place that will reduce, and perhaps even eliminate incidences such as this one.

There are other issues that occurred during this hospital stay– a large nasty looking bruise on my mother’s upper left arm (I showed this to four different nurses, but I suspect it never got documented.  In this case, I don’t think anyone was deliberately mean, but I do think this bruise should have been clearly documented.), a catheter was left in for the entire three weeks and I never fully understood why that wasn’t removed sooner; no social worker/case manager was assigned to help with discharge planning until the eleventh hour, and that was only after I pitched a fit and discovered that the nurse on duty that day had once again not done her job properly.   This is just the tip of the iceberg……

As I said earlier, Denton Regional Medical Center administration doesn’t seem to display true compassion for people in general, but they certainly do display a passion for preserving their precious bottom line—-Denton Regional Medical Center’s profit margin.

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Today, I am beyond livid!!!  My mother was hospitalized at Denton Regional Medical Center a few weeks ago, and I believe that at some point during that time, a hospital employee made a huge mistake and threw away her hearing aids.   Another hospital employee told me that the hospital would “make it right”, which I  interpreted to mean that the hospital would pay the full cost to replace the hearing aids, but I have been engaged in a battle of epic proportions to get this hospital to agree to do the right thing.  They have refused to pay and I have battled on on behalf of my mother. She NEEDS those hearing aids!!!  I have written letters to the parent company HCA and received no communication from the parent company headquarters in Nashville.  Last week, I met with a patient advocate at the hospital and advised that person that this was the hospital’s last chance to do the right thing before I started pushing even harder.  Yesterday, I got a phone call from someone at the hospital.

You would think that the phone call would have brought the news that the hospital had finally agreed to do the right thing.  At that time, that’s what I thought, but once again, I was wrong. Denton Regional Medical Center administration still can’t seem to understand.  The hospital employee who called me yesterday told me that the hospital would be issuing a check for a certain amount.  I asked this person why the amount was so low because that was not the full payment, which is what I expected.  The response I received was that a document clearly stated that this amount was  partial payment.  I interpreted that to mean that the balance of the payment to replace the hearing aids would be forthcoming.  This morning, I went to the hospital and asked for something in writing to ensure that the balance of the payment would be forthcoming and was once again met with something entirely different than what I expected.  Evidently, the local division of the parent company HCA,  is still trying to only pay for part of the total replacement cost of the hearing aids.  In fact, in the copy of the letter that I received, it keeps referring to a hearing aid, which reflects that either there is a lack of understanding that my mom wears and needs two hearing aids (plural), or they still think that if they pay part of the replacement cost, I will stop fighting.  Well….I will NOT stop my fight for Denton Regional Medical Center to decide to do the right thing and pay the ENTIRE replacement cost of the hearing aids.  Today, I am beyond angry; I am simply livid!!!!!

And it also makes me angry that instead of spending some quality time sewing this weekend, I have to write more letters and file some formal complaints in several different areas.  What will it take for this hospital to finally decide to do the right thing and pay the TOTAL cost of the hearing aids?!!! 

I want to encourage all consumers to fight back when something isn’t right!  Too many times, people are faced with issues such as this and simply give up and go away instead of continuing to fight.  This means that the large corporations continue to win these type of battles.  I am going on record here, stating that I am not only going to win the battle, but I will win the  figurative war.  Denton Regional Medical needs to pay the entire amount of $3, 5888 to replace my mom’s hearing aids.  They seem to think that $2000 will appease me, but it will NOT!!  I will continue to battle for my mom.

For those of you who will actually get to sew this weekend,

Happy Sewing!

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Denton Regional Medical Center continues to play “pass the buck”.  Yesterday, I finally got the name of the Risk Management person and when I called, that person claims to have no knowledge of the situation with my mom’s lost hearing aids.  This person informs me that the CNO has the final say, but I find that rather odd since it seems to me that the CEO should have the decision making power, but the CEO is also choosing to ignore me, hoping I will go away.  I won’t!!  My elderly mother’s well being is at stake and I will continue to battle this as publicly as I can. 

This morning, I contacted someone at AARP in my area and he gave me some very good advice.  For those of you with elderly loved ones, please fight for them because many of them can’t advocate for themselves adequately–especially if they are in any stage of dementia as my mother is  now.   Sometimes when just one person stands up and fights for what is right, others have the courage to do the same thing, and change occurs.  I am hoping that Denton Regional Medical Center in Denton, Texas will soon learn that they should always opt to do the right thing instead of trying to ignore complaints, pass the buck, and show a lack of compassion for humanity. 

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Most of the time, I write about sewing, but lately, “Real Life” has been quite hectic and has often interfered with my sewing.  Of course, I have tricked real life lately and I have actually done quite a bit of sewing.   I’ll show you some of my projects at another time.  Right now, I have a few other things on my mind.

As you know my 83 year old mother was hospitalized for three weeks recently.  During the course of her hospitalization, it seems that a hospital employee may have thrown the hearing aids away.  Of course, the hospital administration doesn’t want to admit that it is possible that an employee may have made a mistake.  However, they can’t prove that this employee did NOT make a mistake, and I can’t prove that the the employee MADE a mistake. ( What can be proven, however, is that my 83 year old low income income mother has been forced to face each day without her hearing aids for almost two months.)  However, when I walked out of the of  hospital that night, January 19, 2010, the hearing aids were in my mother’s ears and nowhere to be found the next morning.  I am 100% certain of this fact! My mother was bedridden and very ill that night so she definitely could not have lost those hearing aids.  I have asked repeatedly for the hospital to do the right thing and pay to replace the hearing aids, which I contend are medically necessary devices that allow someone to function on a daily basis,  but the hospital has continued to refuse to do the right thing.  Of course,  they did the standard Public Relations move of offering to pay  half of the cost, but my husband and I said no to that offer because both hearing aids were lost and that would only replace one.  Plus, my mother is low income and does not  have the financial means to replace hearing aids, which she did not lose. I, however, refuse to take “No” for an answer, so I will continue to fight on behalf of my poor low income elderly mother, who is the one who is paying the highest price in this situation.

My main reason for writing my thoughts here is to encourage consumers to fight back when it becomes necessary.  In situations like mine, too many people throw up their hands and deal with it on their own, rather than fight for what is right.  My particular case involves advocating for an elderly person because in all of this mess, as I said earlier in this post, my poor mother is the one who is paying the high price and is suffering because a hospital administration lacks compassion  for a low income elderly woman.   In fact,  Denton Regional Medical Center and their parent company,  Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) seems to lack compassion, esepcially in this particular case.  However, they seem to have one thing in common, and that is passion–passion for the bottom line, that is, their profit margin and the almighty dollar. 

Another passion that Denton Regional Medical Center and HCA seem to share is the passion for ignoring complaints such as this one.  I have written letters both to the CEO of Denton Regional, and also to the CEO, President, and Chairman of the Board of HCA, but they apparently continue to ignore my complaint.  I’m sure that the hope is that I will go away and stop fighting for the hospital to pay to replace my  mother’s hearing aids, but I can assure them that the fight has just begun.  This whole issue could be resolved quickly and easily if Denton Regional would simply fax back the contract that Beltone sent them at the beginning of this whole mess.  Sometimes, you should just do the right thing, and in this case, Denton Regional Medical Center should do the right thing and pay to replace my mother’s hearing aids.

Carrie Underwood has a great song on her new album.  It is entitled Play On  and has a great message.  The lyrics encourage us all to “play on” and keep going even when we are facing difficult times in life.  Here are the lyrics to this great song:

Whatcha gonna do when the show is over?
Whatcha gonna sing when the song ends, yeah?
How you gonna cope when there is no closure?
Where you gonna reach when the goal gets higher?
How you gonna make it through when you think you lost your chance?

Play on when you’re losing the game
Play on ’cause you’re gonna make mistakes
It’s always worth the sacrifice
Even when you think you’re wrong
So play on, play on

Even when the floodgates swing wide open
Never let the current take you down, no
Even when you’re not sure where you’re going
Swimming through a mess and you can’t get out
Just going through the motions and trying not to drown

Play on when you’re losing the game
Play on ’cause you’re gonna make mistakes
It’s always worth the sacrifice
Even when you think you’re wrong
So play on, play on

Even through a storm on the darkest night
Don’t you ever give up the fight
Even when you feel you’re all alone
Play on, play on

Play on when you’re losing the game
Play on ’cause you’re gonna make mistakes
It’s always worth the sacrifice
Even when you think you’re wrong
So play on, play on

Play on
Ooh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Na, na, na, na, na, na
Na, na, na, na, na, na

It may look like I’m “losing the game” at this point, but I can assure you that my mother’s well being and ability to function well every day is well worth the sacrifice.  And I will also assure Denton Regional Medical Center here in Texas and HCA that I will indeed continue to “Play On”.

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