How to get justice from an unprofessional hospital?

[Ksbanks1]

How to get justice from an unprofessional hospital?
My brother was in an Oklahoma emergency room because of liver and kidney failure. He has no insurance. They have transferred him out of state to another facility because they said that they do not specialize in the liver and the other Oklahoma hospitals are full. At the Dallas hospital. The doctor was not informed that he do not have insurance but tribal insurance and they said that the Oklahoma hospital had the equipment to treat him and should not had tranfered him. The Dallas hospital refuse to treat him with the proper treatment. He has went into cardiac arrest and feet and hands are swollen due to them not given him dyalisis. He is struggling to breath.The staff is awfully rude to him and the family. No one is taking our complaints serious. We have asked for a Hippa for since my brother can hardly stay woke to give his consent on things. He is 24 years old and my mother is trying to authority over him to make decisions. They do not even have him on a heart monitor or a machine that monitors your oxygen. A machine that any patient will be on in a hospital. No advocate has come to talk with us even though we have requested one. The rude staff refuse to give us their names. Please help on What can we do? We believe that the Oklahoma hospital should be responsible with transporting him back to his home state since they gave us false information.

 

[quincy]

What sort of "tribal insurance" does your brother have?

Your family can hire an attorney for your brother if you believe the hospital is failing to care for him properly. I certainly question the claim that all Oklahoma hospitals are full, if that in fact was the reason given by the original hospital for the transfer to Dallas.

 

[Taxing Matters]

Oklahoma borders Texas and Dallas isn't all that far, relatively speaking, from the border. How far away from the original hospital is the Texas hospital? One of the possibilities I can see is that perhaps there were no suitable OK hospitals that were closer than the Dallas one.

 

[quincy]

Of course it depends on where in Oklahoma Ksbanks' brother and family live whether Dallas is closer. But the reasons given for the out-of-state transfer had nothing to do with being a closer hospital.

Ksbanks, what is the reason for your brother's liver and kidney failure?

 

[Taxing Matters]

Of course it depends on where in Oklahoma Ksbanks' brother and family live whether Dallas is closer. But the reasons given for the out-of-state transfer had nothing to do with being a closer hospital.

I think we don't have the information on what the reason for the transfer actually was. What we know is what the OP believes the reason was, but the OP did not say how he/she came upon that belief. Did the OP hear that directly from the hospital administrator who was in charge of the transfer decision, from someone else in the hospital not directly involved in making that decision, from a relative who heard it from someone on the hospital staff, or get information some other way? And did OP or whomever talked to the administrator correctly interpret/convey the reasons given?

Even if the reasons given were correctly stated, the distance between facilities is relevant to the decision of what facility is selected and if it turns out the Dallas facility was the closest and was capable of providing the services needed that may have been the best choice (assuming the original hospital could not provide the needed) regardless of what reasons were given. That matters because if it would have been the proper choice because it was near, that will affect the analysis of any potential remedy.

 

[quincy]

Right. We do not have much information. Ksbanks probably would be smart to find an attorney for his brother.

 

[cbg]

Let us also please keep in mind that rudeness and unprofessionalism are not factors for which one can take legal measures.

 

[quincy]

Let us also please keep in mind that rudeness and unprofessionalism are not factors for which one can take legal measures.

I think there is more of a question about the treatment the brother has received (or lack thereof) than rudeness.

If the brother entered the emergency room with kidney and liver failure, though, it is possible that there is not going to be any treatment that will be very helpful.

 

[cbg]

I understand; however, the title of the post addresses unprofessionalism and it is mentioned several times in the OP so I thought it was worth mentioning.

 

[quincy]

I understand; however, the title of the post addresses unprofessionalism and it is mentioned several times in the OP so I thought it was worth mentioning.

Good point.

 

[xylene]

Shabby treatment because of Native American status is extremely telling.

 

[quincy]

Shabby treatment because of Native American status is extremely telling.

I was thinking along the same line when I read "tribal insurance" but there are not enough facts yet to make that leap.

 

[Zigner]

The patient went in to cardiac arrest and lived...but the OP is stating that they aren't providing "proper treatment". I believe that the OP is extremely emotional about this, which is completely understandable and expected, but it may be causing the information given to us to be incomplete and inaccurate. The patient has apparently been stabilized, as is required, and the hospital now wants him transfered.

As to the "tribal insurance", the first hospital wasn't even aware of it, and the second hospital doesn't have to accept it.

 

[quincy]

The patient went in to cardiac arrest and lived...but the OP is stating that they aren't providing "proper treatment". I believe that the OP is extremely emotional about this, which is completely understandable and expected, but it may be causing the information given to us to be incomplete and inaccurate. The patient has apparently been stabilized, as is required, and the hospital now wants him transfered.

As to the "tribal insurance", the first hospital wasn't even aware of it, and the second hospital doesn't have to accept it.

I think it clear that emotions are playing a role. The advice to get an attorney for the brother is still good advice.

 

[Taxing Matters]

Shabby treatment because of Native American status is extremely telling.

You are jumping to a conclusion that is not (yet) supported by the facts we have. It is just as likely, and probably more likely, IMO, that the "shabby treatment" is over concerns about getting paid for the care provided and not because of the race/national origin of the patient. I've seen hospitals ditch white patients that couldn't pay more readily than what this hospital has done. In my experience it's not the race that matters much in most hospitals — rather, it's all about the money.