| Author | Subject: Disabilities Act.....Family Leave Act........Malpractice |
| Dallas Worker Bee | Posted At 08:41:14 07/26/2000
The mail has just arrived at my house. The item that has caught my interest the most, today, is the "Texas Legislative Update" from State Representative Elvira Reyna. This piece of.......mail has printed upon it 15 supposed legislative reforms. I find Reform #12: Lawsuit Reforms of particular interest. Here's why: About a month ago, my 16 year old son, who I dearly love, became ill on a Friday evening, about two hours after supper (dinner, for those of you North of the Mason-Dixon line). Since he had symptoms of indigestion, we treated him for such. Saturday morning, I awoke to fine that he had vomited all over the living room. Naturally, as a parent, I was concerned. I asked him (thinking maybe I had poisoned him with barbecue) "what did you eat, Son?" The answer came back: "Two barbecue sandwiches, fritos, three quarts of chocolate milk, two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, a '57 Chevy, yada, yada, yada. (He weighs 130 lbs. at 5' 11"). "Aha" , I say, "indigestion" Just to be sure, though, I made use of a service provided by my insurance plan that allows me to talk to a nurse. (We've had some scares in the past, so I tend to be very cautious). The nurse seemed to agree that he had either a stomach virus, or some other such ailment. I didn't want to drag him around, in his condition, only to sit in an emergency room in misery, without much relief, and the nurse was in agreement. She gave me instructions on care and signs to watch for that would indicate a need to take him to the emergency room. Meanwhile, I talked to two of the three pharmacists in town (I'm near Dallas), getting more instructions, anti nausea medication, and fluids to keep him hydrated (non caffeinated soft drinks and Gatorade). Everyone was in agreement as to what was proper. He seemed to improve a bit, and his stomach (at the solar plexus) quit hurting as much, and he was keeping some liquids down. Sunday evening, he was running a temperature of 104, which dropped to 99 within thirty minutes of a dose of Tylenol. (guilt, guilt, guilt, if you're a parent, you've experienced this). We waited, observantly, until the next morning (Monday), when my wife of some twenty years took him to the nearest doctor. This son of a biitch (sorry, Lassie) didn’t even lay a hand on him (palpitate his belly), take his temp, or anything. He just glanced at my son, turned around and wrote out two prescriptions, and sent them on their way. This after being informed of the high temperature and other symptoms by my wife, and stating that "this bug does that, don't worry" She got him home, filled his prescriptions, and he went to sleep on the couch. Tuesday, he wasn't much better, just slept a lot, still holding down minimal fluids, still running a high fever, intermittently (104 again). My wife called the doctor's office, his dumbass nurse informed her that the illness was just running it's course, to keep medicating him, and everything would be alright. Wednesday morning, he looked like a Holocaust survivor, dark circles under sunken eyes, sunken cheeks, etc. We decided this boy needed to see a real doctor. We got him to another doctor, who examined him, and in less than five minutes determined he had symptoms of appendicitis, and had us admit him into the hospital for testing, with instructions to do the bloodwork, and the CT scan before he was taken to his room. We were informed that his appendix had burst, and the situation was very serious, they had to operate right away. I was informed several times, by several doctors, that my son probably would have died, had we waited until that night. My son spent fifteen days in the hospital, being CT scanned several times, and having several abscesses drained that were a complication from the burst appendix. He had to be treated with an antibiotic, not yet approved for use on children because it is suspected in stopping further growth (something about sealing the ends of the growth plates), to save his life. We spent the goddamned Fourth of July hoping he would be released from the hospital. He was on IV antibiotics (through a PIC line, near his heart) for two weeks after he was released from the hospital. On the day he was released (July 6), I was on the way to work, and some old guy pulled out in front of me (from a left turn lane, and totaled my car. almost in front of my place of employment Luckily, neither of us was hurt. That night, a home care nurse gave us a short class to introduce us to the procedure to maintain the PIC line. Although I had kept my supervisor informed of all the details, including my need to be there for the first day because of the PIC line, he gave me some shit, sending me to the hospital twice that day, with chest pains. I stayed in the emergency room all that night, missing the second, third and fourth times my wife had to administer the IV medication. I knew she was very nervous about this, and that knowledge didn't help matters any. Somehow, we made it through the weekend, and Monday morning, I informed my HR department about what had happened, and that I had to go see a cardiologist that day, and make an appointment to be treated for stress,that I would let them know how thing were going as soon as I knew. The next time I saw anyone from my company, they fired me, before even finding out if my heart was OK (luckily for me, my heart is fine). So, naturally, when I'm reminded that GW Bush has signed off on a bill to limit my ability to sue the quack that caused all this, I'm very, very, pissed. I'm too responsible of a person to follow my basic instinct to load up my AK 47 and go remove a certain quack doctor from my town, before he almost kills somebody else's kid. When we get word from the lawyers that we have the unadulterated medical records, I intend to supply all of you with all the times, dates , phone numbers, and addresses of everyone involved. I will also give all of you the details of how my ex company, which I served very well, violated my rights under the American's with Disabilities Act of 1990, and possibly under the Family leave Act. Screw the GOP, and screw any employment at will state. |
| Kay |
Re: Disabilities Act.....Family Leave Act........Malpractice (Currently 0 replies)
Posted At 12:07:05 07/26/2000 Dear Bee, My heart goes out to you. Thank God your heart is o.k and I hope your son has recovered fully. My husband has a central line in his chest(something like a PICC line) but his is permanent. I(with help from our dear sons) am his 24 hour caregiver to to treat his seizures with i.v. medication. His seizures are caused from a compensable, job re-lated traumatic brain injury (TBI. He is totally and permanently injured and cannot work but gets no disability compensation from Oregon's corrupt workers system. One of our sons recently was operated for appendicitus. The doctor nicked his liver and he was bleeding internally for two weeks before they figured out what was wrong. They put a tube in and drained off a gallon of old blood. It was a miracle that he didn't become infected. By the way, when my husband had his first seizure while he was at work, they fired him. Then the insurance company denied his claim, lied and said that he wasn't in the workforce when his condition worsened. They held us up for a couple of years on that one.After more than ten years, we are still trying to get the nursing care my husband needs so I can return to work. The workers comp carrier (SAIF Corp) pays him 55cents an hour for homecare. Registered nurses cost about $30.00 an hour and they call us greedy. The other option they gave us was a nursing home. We are trying to live on SS disability. We are lucky because we still have our home. We were young when my husband was injured. The accident nearly destroyed our lives and the workers comp system has tried to finish the job. They will never succeed. God Bless you in your struggle. Please keep in touch and please do join injured workers to change this horrible system which is an industry grown fat from the flesh and blood of honest, hardworking taxpayers for the benefit of business, insurance companies, bureaucrats and workers comp lawyers. Sorry if this is a mess. I am so angry I can hardly control my fingers. lawyers |
| Dallas Worker Bee |
Re: Disabilities Act.....Family Leave Act........Malpractice (Currently 0 replies)
Posted At 00:47:58 07/27/2000 My heart goes out to you, I thought I had problems. I'm lucky I can still work most days. Wish I could help. Never give up. |
| Lorita Odd |
Re: Disabilities Act.....Family Leave Act........Malpractice (Currently 0 replies)
Posted At 11:49:00 10/09/2000 I'm going though a problem now. I got hurt on a gov job in 96 and they say it's a old injury and won't settle. I had to go back to work after back and hips surgury.Now they want me to park 60 yards from entrance.I walk on a cane and believe me it's hard. I'm fighting them.I can't giveup. For over a year I was without work.Nothing was mention about Family leave act.God Bless us all. |
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