Yesterday, June 22, I received a letter from Jessica key, patient
experience coordinator at Banner health.
It was dated June 19. Jessica
wrote:
Dear Mr. Muzika,
Thank you for bringing your concerns to our attention regarding her
mother’s visit to Banner by Medical Center.
Your feedback is very important to us and I appreciate you for taking
the time to share your concerns with us.
Your concerns have been shared with the appropriate leaders for review
and follow-up. Our review is currently
taking longer than we anticipated as it is important to us to be very thorough
in this process. When a review is
completed, you will receive a formal response in writing with the results of
our investigation. I apologize for the
delay and thank you for your patience and understanding.
If you have further concerns or questions please contact us at (623)
832-6657 or you may email Bannerhealthpatientrelations at@BannerHealth.com.
MY RESPONSE:
Dear Jessica,
I got your June 19 letter today.
I have no patience. I see my
mother deteriorating each and every day.
She is a completely different person since the ER experience of June 2.
I have reached out to social media and 28 area reporters about his
case. I have tried to get increased
caretaker hours for my mother since she can no longer walk or sit up for more
than 5 minutes at a time. Her speaking
now is entirely different, being with a weaker voice and much less
comprehension. She still retains her
sense of humor and says she does not want to die, because “living is so much
fun,” not said sarcastically.
For 27 years I was an animal welfare activist in the area of feral cats,
and now I am fighting for her life.
A do not resuscitate note on her file SHOULD NOT MEAN ‘TOO OLD TO
TREAT’. That is hos Banner-Boswell has
treated my mom, as too old to treat.
This is your DNR policy. This is
your Sarah Palin version of Death Panels in my POV.
She is too weak to be transported to a cardiologist to be transported by
car, or by a transport service with the wheelchair we just got because she
hasn’t needed one before.
Hers was a sudden deterioration, and your ER treated her like trash in my
estimation, and entirely discounted my pointing to her swollen ankles, sudden
loss of comprehension with confusion, sudden inability to walk.
Apparently B-B policy is to treat a DNR notice as a do not treat notice.
I really see that B-B is not taking my complaint as an active plea for
help, nor do I see anything about allowing for a re-exam and admit for
treatment coming out of your investigation. She needs a non-emergency transport
to the ER or a direct admit. I will be
receiving her ER records soon, and I understand her blood test results there
were much worse than those obtained by her nurse practitioner a week before.
The blood test taken at the ER on June 2, indicated that the D Dimer
test, with the normal high of 499, and a previous May 25 high of over 7,600,
was now over 12,000. This is the test
for clotting. Her BNP with the normal
high of 500, and which had read 1,176, at the ER on June 2, was 1,818!
How could she not have been admitted?
Was it your DNR policy? I
wouldn’t know because neither the doctor or the social worker gave me any
credible medical information as to her condition or Dx or the reason for
refusal for admission.
Yours Truly,
Edward Muzika, Ph.D.
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