Have you ever tweeted a story? I am going to try to tweet my 17 hours stay at Tufts Medical Center. The link will take you to my tweets #aAngryBlackLady
This is my story! My story about how multi-factorial –—age, race, ethnicity, gender, perceived alcoholism. perceived mental disorder, disability and racism resulted in discrimination and malpractice at Tufts Medical Center Emergency Department.
Data received from Tuft’s attorney exempt from public disclosure is shown. I received nothing from the court nor did I sign any form agreeing to such terms; I do not feel bounded by them. Moreover, why should their employees be protected and not me? I received my medical records with the names of the providers responsible for my lack of care in the ED redacted (crossed-out). Why? Clearly, they had reason to hide their names.
They LIED, and I did not know their identities until a month before an appeal hearing with MCAD. The crew who laughed mockingly at me knew all my identifiers and I was not allowed to know the names of the people who abused me in the ED at Tuft Medical Center.
Are health care providers not required to show their identity ? Tufts Patient Bill of Rights stated clearly all employees are required to identify themselves. Why was my medical records redacted to conceal the names of my medical providers?
Conflicting Stories Between Boston EMS and Tufts Medical Center ED
The EMS run sheet is available below. EMS documentation directly conflicts Tufts Medical Center ED.
EMS obtained a history and performed a physical without difficulty. Yet Tufts Medical Center ED so-called professionals was unable. The doctor and the nurse all lied stating they could not obtain a history because I was allegedly “uncooperative.” Then went on to fabricate the usual black stereotype history without knowing anything about me; based solely on my color, gender, age, disability, medications and the fact that I stated I had a glass of wine which meant I was an alcoholic.
An Aside: At no point in any corespondence did Tufts staff or any representative acknowledge or address me by my title, DR. I worked over 20 years in the EDs. MY CV enclosed. Also, in Littler’s (Tufts Medical Center Attorney) letter, I am not addressed or recognized as a physician. As a matter of fact, the crew in the ED became sadistic when I finally told them I was ER physician and hoped it would stop the brutality, but it did not.
The LIE Exposed
Tufts Medical Center sworn legal documents state I was “shouting” racial slang. How could I shout with shattered fractures on both sides of my jaw plus a dislocated of of my TMJ as well as a bleeding chin laceration.
Also, note that I am described as uncooperative, unruly, and belligerent. This is inconsistent with the ability to start a hep lock after multiple sticks, draw at least 5-6 tubes of blood including a type and cross-match for urgent surgery. Then send me to radiology where I was alone with the tech who performed a Head CT, a C-Spine, and facial films without sedation or difficulty. This is Impossible without sedation or restraints.
There are other contradictory statements by Tufts Medical Center, none supported by EVIDENCE–a fact ignored by the State of MA, represented by MCAD. More disturbing are the conflicts of interest and the lack of documentation or any investigation with a decision of insufficient evidence.
Had a full medical evaluation been performed in the ED as is routinely done, an admission to telemetry for syncope along with an EKG and a physical exam with a history would have detected my fatigue that day and recent onset of palpitations. However the crew laughed when I tried to provide that history. Then ignored me completely by leaving me alone without addressing my pain or wound.
Had I received appropriate care, a second admission would have been spared: A hypertensive encephalopathy with right sided weakness and aphasia. Even asimple discharge instructions could have averted this second admission which left me with residual symptoms. Discharge instructions that included holding medications until PCP follow up, blood pressure monitoring and communication with my PCP or neurologist at MGH.
I received none of that. I experienced why minority women regardless of education or status have higher infancy death rates than all of women despite social class.
#discrimination #malpractice #patientsafety #civilrights #patients #hospitals #physicians
Related Articles:
MY MCAD HEARING TODAY http://failuretolisten.com/2014/01/21/my-mcad-hearing-today/
LIES AND PERJURY: THE LITTLER DOCUMENT http://failuretolisten.com/2014/01/23/lies-and-perjury-the-littler-document/
WHICH CHART IS MY REAL CHART? http://failuretolisten.com/2014/01/16/which-chart-is-my-real-chart/
Link will take you to my twitter feeds — start on October 31, 2013 (bottom up).
Interesting, I could shout profanities with bilateral open fractures as well as a TMJ dislocation , all pointing to significant head trauma despite a normal CT scan and MRI. I could not open my mouth, they couldn’t understand why, they figured I must be drunk and abusing my medications. No one entertained any other diagnoses. No one re-evaluated me during my 17-hour stay at the Tufts Medical Center Emergency Department. And I do not care what documents they forge or conjure! But no one sees this but me…
They ignored me and when they didn’t, they laughed and made fun of me. Unfortunately I could not identify the nurses nor the incompetent Indian doctor in a line up. But their names are finally available to me after attempts by Tufts to deny me full medical records despite repeated request. After over year late, I received another record that was different from the first medical record as well as not inclusive of the first medical record. The following link is a video of me showing the difference in medical records. http://failuretolisten.com/2014/01/16/which-chart-is-my-real-chart/
A power point will follow later next week along with more information on Littler’s relationship with senior management at MCAD.
Revised 1/03/2015
Hi Angela,
In looking at the tweets, I am curious to know with whom are you having a dialogue. Obviously, you needed help and compassion. It’s strange that I no longer have such expectations, and this leaves me pleasantly surprised when I am the recipient of these basic human qualities. I think that it’s a shame that so many people have to live above reproach, while others can run “buck wild crazy.” This leaves me with the feeling that is an entitlement which some of us simply take.
Hi Kevin,
Good to see you!
I am speaking to Tufts and everyone who has and will be a patient.
I hear you and I do not normally expect much from people; however, I paid for their services and they ABUSED me.
I called their administrators while in the ER not once but twice. Not one of them returned my call or expressed concern.
This is the problem with our HEALTH CARE, too many people in the field DO NOT CARE and that is when they do HARM.
They were so focused on making me into an alcohol with mental issues that they didn’t get a history nor did they do a complete physical exam.
And then they lied to make me seem like a racist lunatic. Their attorney’s letter is an example of the mind of a racist.
Hi Angela,
Perhaps the Angry Black Woman has recorded enough to file.
and share… 😉
Health care has become an industry and profit has become the prime motive force and all the patients are its customers. This is happening all over the world
Hi Kadal,
I agree! You bring up a GREAT point.
In the US, we pay far more per capita than our Western counter-parts yet they have better health outcomes than us. There are too many stakeholders making money off the backs of patients.
The system is not balanced towards HEALTH CARE.
Better screenings of health care providers are necessary to ensure quality care, reduced cost and patient satisfaction.
-Angela
It’s so sad to hear what happened to you. I agree, there is something wrong with our society. You said they labeled you as someone with mental health issues, and then they just stopped paying attention or caring.
Did I get that right?
Because it does happen. Every single day. And it’s a known problem discussed in the literature on health care. If you have any kind of mental health diagnosis, you are at risk of being treated worse in every way.
I have family members with mental health issues, so I know how they are treated. It’s unfair. It’s wrong. And the stigma against mental illness leads to fewer people being adequately diagnosed. No one wants a diagnosis that will lead them to be treated like dirt.
Here is some information regarding that.
The first is from: Psychiatry Online: “Medical Comorbidity and Receipt of Medical Care by Older Homeless People With Schizophrenia or Depression”
http://ps.psychiatryonline.org/article.aspx?articleID=87332
Patients with chronic mental illness in general (1,2), and those with schizophrenia in particular (3,4), have high rates of underdiagnosed and undertreated medical problems. A recent study indicated that people with schizophrenia who had a physical illness were less likely to be admitted to a hospital during the early, less severe phases of the illness and more likely to be admitted when the disease was more advanced and more severe (5). People with schizophrenia who are hospitalized because of a myocardial infarction are less likely than members of the general population to receive state-of-the-art medical care (6).
Also read this excerpt from “Do deficits in cardiac care influence high mortality rates in schizophrenia? A systematic review and pooled analysis”
National guidelines are agreed that the medical care of patients with mental disorders and schizophrenia in particular is paramount (Department of Health, 1999; De Hert et al., 2009; National Institute for Clinical Excellence, 2009; Unützer et al., 2006). Unfortunately there is little evidence that this advice is being heeded. Indeed serious concerns have been raised about the quality of medical (and screening) services offered to patients with SMI (Mitchell et al., 2009; Lord et al., 2010). In spite of higher than average risks of physical ill health and premature mortality, individuals with schizophrenia receive as little as half of the monitoring offered to people without schizophrenia in some studies (Roberts et al., 2007). Our previous work found that they also receive less adequate quality of care for established medical conditions (Desai et al., 2002a; Redelmeier et al., 1998; Vahia et al., 2008). These disparities exist in some of the most critical areas of patient care such as general medicine, cardiovascular and cancer care (Mateen et al., 2008).
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2951596/#bibr8-1359786810382056
Also see:
Bradford DW, Kim MM, Braxton LE, Marx CE, Butterfield M, Elbogen EB. (2008) Access to medical care among persons with psychotic and major affective disorders. >Psychiatr Serv 59: 847–852.
Wishing you the best.
Hi Valeria,
I apologize if your comment did not immediately go through, not sure why…
Hi Valeria,
Thank you for that excellent review of yet another instance of discrimination in health care– people with Mental Illness, anyone with that diagnosis is taken out of the ‘medical system.’ The scary part is they are left in the hands of psychiatrists.
Yes, people WITH mental illness, and people SUSPECTED of having mental illness.
This could be two different groups, but they are often treated the same. Potentially quite a dangerous situation.
My reading of your tweets is that they suspected you of mental illness, so they could then simply justify ignoring your needs.
If I misread or misunderstood, please feel free to correct me.
You are correct, Vareria. They never entertained any other diagnosis yet had no prove like a blood alcohol to back up their claim. They could not understand off-label indications for my medications instead of contacting my sleep specialist or primary care physicians, they chose to brand me ‘psy.’ That caused significant harm and a readmission less than 2 months later due to medication that should have been stopped during the first admission….and other things.
This cannot be the first time a similar situation has arisen. How do you think something like that could be prevented?
If you were a consultant in charge of revamping ER procedures at Tufts, what recommendations would you make?
There were points at which someone could have made a better decision. What were these points and how would you create a “happy path” out of it?
This could turn into a white paper on hospital best practices. I’d love to help with the flowcharts and map the procedure with you, if you are interested — process modeling is one of my, ahem, hobbies.
Actually Valerie, this is the first time I had problems with my blood pressure and the first time I was really ill and in unfamiliar surroundings. No, I never experienced that kind of cruelty in the last 20 years. At one point, I thought about transfering to New Hampshire for treatment because I feared going to another hospital in Boston.
Valeria, to continue–yes, there were many points at which things could have ended well instead it ended in a misdiagnosis, re-admission and harm to me.
If I were to consult, I would need to first assess the current conditions at Tufts medical ctr. I have my theories; however, I need to understand the culture at Tufts medical center to truly understand why employees felt at ease performing in reckless and harmful ways. Obviously, this comes from the top down and is institutionalized there.
Contrast my experience on follow up at Mass General where customer service is highly valued. I have never felt like shit there…. There is definitely a difference in Health care.
Healthcare is helpless in the US; the system is too crooked and biased in favor of the greed many doctors and provider organizations over patients. I took care of both parents to their deaths and know first hand how bad it is. Patients are muppets.
The best thing to do is stay away as much as possible, self-educate and take charge of your own care, and only go to hospitals when there is no alternative.
We have a right to quality care, but need to demand it in a strong enough voice, collectively to be heard. But the system has become a monster that is beyond control, just like government, and the military and industrial complex.
Change is not possible, or at least very, very hard. There are too many vested interests. The only thing that would work is economic boycott. It is all about money for them and only if the people collectively boycott and hurt them in their pocketbooks would they listen and change could be possible.
Unless there is a paradigm shift in the conception of healthcare–i.e., get paid for keeping people well rather than getting paid for treating the sick–as in ancient China.
Your feelings echo mine feelings exactly–Chien-sheng Tsai wrote :
Healthcare is helpless in the US; the system is too crooked and biased in favor of the greed many doctors and provider organizations over patients. I took care of both parents to their deaths and know first hand how bad it is. Patients are muppets.
The best thing to do is stay away as much as possible, self-educate and take charge of your own care, and only go to hospitals when there is no alternative.
We have a right to quality care, but need to demand it in a strong enough voice, collectively to be heard. But the system has become a monster that is beyond control, just like government, and the military and industrial complex.
Change is not possible, or at least very, very hard. There are too many vested interests. The only thing that would work is economic boycott. It is all about money for them and only if the people collectively boycott and hurt them in their pocketbooks would they listen and change could be
possible.
Unless there is a paradigm shift in the conception of healthcare–i.e., get paid for keeping people well rather than getting paid for treating the sick–as in ancient China.
Angela, thank you for further demonstrating that the U.S. Health Care Delivery System is broken and in need of a “Disruptive Innovation” like the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Hi Carl,
Glad to see you here. I agree … The ACA is in jeopardy if providers are not screened properly… Individuals can ruin the most well-intentioned systems…
After waiting hours for pain medication, that dangerous nurse was going to withhold 1 mg of morphine unless I begged her. What kind of shit is that?
So sorry to read this. It is understandable why you’re angry. Every medical record should be signed by law. If they treated you and charted about the treatment a signature is required. Good luck with sorting this out. Paulette
Thanks Paulette,
Tufts medical center committed many irregular acts including redacting my medical records. In other words, I am not entitled to know the identities of the providers a.k.a. criminals who abused me while I was in the emergency room’s at Tufts medical center.
Thank you for your comments.
-Angela
Hi.
I’m not an attorney and of course, could be entirely mistaken, but I don’t believe it is a problem that the names were redacted.
If you file a lawsuit, you may be able to write in “John Doe 1” and “Jane Doe 1,” etc.
Once you have a subpoena, you can get the names of the parties.
Best of luck,
– V
Hi Valeria,
There maybe some legal technicality. For medicine, redacting the names YOUR care providers is highly unusual. In my 20 plus years of practice, I have never seen that!.
Notice Boston EMS names were not redacted.
Regarding your tragic experience with our inhumane and evil health care system it is with sincere compassion I greet you. Angela, it is unfortunate we live in a society where the mindset and internal thinking of man has been infected with incurable diseases diagnosed as stereotype, racist and hatred. Remain vigilant in your pursuits and may your emotions be tempered with delight knowing your efforts have already made a difference!! PEACE Dwayne O. Taplin
Thank you, Dwayne.
Something happened to our system.. We lost quality and with quality went health so we are lacking a healthcare system.
Wonderful reading your note this morning.
Peace,
Angela
Angela, time has served you well. Change has been very patient and gradual with you since our days at Cornell. Remain steadfast and faithful that righteousness has its place. PEACE!!
Unfair Dwayne! You can see my picture and I can’t see yours. I do recall two Dwayne’s at Cornell. Is this Tap?
Hello Angela, respectfully corresponding in this manner for comments designated to address a serious and significant issue of concern almost seems inappropriate. Yes this is Tap and it is unfair. What do you suggest?
Dwayne, you make that challenging. Please send me an email address using my contact form, in the ‘About Me and My Blog’ tab or Follow me back on twitter so I can send you mail. Looking forward to our conversation.
I was reading your note on what happened and I am stunned. I am stunned because (at least in California) you can request all medical records (albeit usually for a fee) that gives you all the names and all the story in the background. These forms are the ones I am working on now and filing all kinds of cases against the doctors, the hospitals, 2 pharmacies, 1 nurse, and 1 skilled nursing facility for the mistreatment of my mom–who died by the way on the 10th of April as a result of such growth negligence. She had serotonin syndrome and was treated for everything but serotonin syndrome. That woman had to endure treatment for schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s, psychosis, etc., you name it, they treated her for it and she had none of those. It is my anger of her mistreatment that made me start my blog cluelessdoctors.com on spreading the word. I will see if I can share your blog here on mine… This is beyond being clueless; this is downright racial in my mind, but that is part of how clueless the medical system is. They treat symptoms rather than cause–like you wrote no one ever asked WHY you fell they just made an assumption… this is true for the whole medical system today: no one ever asks or looks into why something happens… they just treat you for whatever symptoms you have.
Sorry your health-care betrayed you. Thanks for sharing your story. Canada is no better. You wanna watch out for that dreaded “uncooperative.” label, I got that once, while in a near coma, the “doctor” said, well you weren’t really responding you know. Here’s to accountable health-care with over-sight!!! Dare to dream with me!
Yes, the “uncooperative” or “combative” label. Those labels follow you as a patient and bias the care you receive.
What disturbed me most was the blind ears of the Board of Medicine and Health and Human Services. I recall voicing my concern about receiving a REDACTED chart, where all the names of the medical providers (doctors and nurses ) were blacked out. The response was that I did get eventually (2-3 years later) receive the full chart. The redacted medical record I first received utterly ignored.
The hospital ED diagnosed alcohol intoxication without an alcohol level, in the face of a head injury, the need for surgery, and a patient behaving abnormally. The Board did not even look into the care to see it was substandard.
It’s difficult when you receive medical poor care to report it let alone sue.
I think it’s pretty much standard operating here to withhold as much as possible, they’ll even use another patient’s records, I have audio, filed in court proving the public hospital and the gang committed fraud, it’s been in civil proceedings since 2013. After the court indicated I won on a summary motion against the hospital and the surgeon and head of urology was noted by the college, a year after the hearings, the justice declared my evidence moot and found for the 4 law firms and 14 defendants. The court of appeal, where it seemed I won as well, rubber stamped the decision below and now we are at the Supreme Court of Canada, they will advise if they will hear my appeal. I never imagined our courts and medical boards were above the law and without oversight, and as an SRL, I had to right to be shat upon…. never in my wildest dreams.
Yes, digital medical records made it easier to create multiple medical records for the same patient. The medical record you receive may not be the record submitted to regulators when they investigate the hospital. I was surprised to see a hospital administrative risk management department engaged in fraud, openly without any fear of the law.
I’m amazed you experienced similar in Canada. Part of the problem in the US is that regulators often come from hospitals they now oversee, they exchange hats. Another problem is that malpractice lawyers as greedy now play in the sandbox with the hospitals and their lawyers, making it impossible for ordinary patients harmed by the medical system to find malpractice lawyers willing to sue on a contingency basis.
I looked at your blog site; I was impressed at the level of organization and details about the court proceedings. Good luck! I learned when you fight an entity much larger and more powerful than yourself; it’s better to attack them on multiple issues that will involve investigation by various independent agencies. Such an enemy is difficult to defeat in open combat.
If that makes sense to you, let me know if I can help. Persevere!
Thank you Angela! I too am constantly surprised by how our public, and your “for profit” (trust me, ours if for profit too!!) health-care have so much in common. Here they too will commit fraud without much risk of prosecution or even accountability. Worse, our public, our universal (ya right!, try marginal) health-care, once that maims you, you’re on your own, our public tax dollars will fund the trough for the other sides’ defence, to make sure you never live to see a dime, from your public health-care, that sucks up about 50% of our taxes. Thanks for the advice, I certainly will, thank you for your support. If there’s anything I can help you with, drop a line.
This was lovvely to read