Main Content of Nov. 17th, 2003 E-mail to Orange County Board of Commissioners I am writing to you on an issue of great importance. It entails our civil right to life and the pursuit of happiness and privacy. It entails patients' rights in Orange County, Florida and also the waste of your county funds. On November 14th, according to court records, the County Board of Commissioner was billed $100 for a guardianship case # 48-2003-CP-002836-O for the appointment of a professional plenary guardian: Rebecca Fierle. This has to do with case Number: 48-2003-MH-001161-O which was filed on October 28th by Carol Paris, risk manager of Orlando Regional Medical Center [ORMC]. {I have not seen the pleadings, but have been in contact with next of kin, Kimberly Niedzielski}. It appears that ORMC may be attempting to have Joseph Niedzielski declared totally incapacitated or even declared mentally ill. The appointment of a paid guardian - "plenary" [not his wife] is also envisioned. There are, however, several problems: 1) Joseph Niedzielski may be brain damaged, but from all reports is not totally unable to communicate his wishes and is definitely not mentally ill. 2) He has a loving wife and three children in Ocala, where he is a legal resident of Marion County. Joseph was flown to the Orlando trauma center on April 13th after a motorcycle accident. Kimberly, his wife, followed him by car and was then introduced to ORMC hospital procedures, which appear to be in strong contrast to their advertisements. She was never informed of the condition of her husband and was not allowed to see him on that day. She was left sitting in the waiting room waiting for a report on his condition without even having been told that he had been transferred to ICU. Being a nurse herself, she was more aware of what should be done than the general public. Since that time, she has continuously been left uninformed about her husband's condition and rights and has had unbelievable problems with ORMC. Kimberly has been attempting to remove her husband from what she considers substandard care of this hospital ever since an aspiration event on April 17th. The hospital appears to have done everything to stop the transfer and appears to have destroyed medical records. On May 5th, the hospital invited Kimberly on a ruse to come and discuss her husband's medical condition. However, on arrival, ORMC had the police serve her with a no trespass order on May 6th, forbidding her to visit her husband. It appears, she visited the Orange County courthouse to protest this action. Some clerks erroneously told her that she needed a lawyer and $10,000 to do anything against the trespass order not to see her husband. I have been told, that the clerks also did not want to give her copies of the case records on November 14th until she threatened to call a judge. Kimberly does not have the funds to hire a lawyer. Yet, she is entitled to the same rights as every other citizen. Kimberly is lawful wife of Joseph and as a licensed practical nurse [LPN], has the ability and knowledge to care for him. Interesting here is the fact that in 1996 an accident nearly killed Joe. The medical profession, at that time, declared that he would be a vegetable at best, if he survived at all. However, he recovered with the help of his wife and family. He even took over his daughter's little league team and found a job. Humorously, Joe introduced himself after recovery to the doctor as Mr. Broccoli. His wife has his interests at heart and as his legal guardian should have the right to make healthcare decisions during his "incapacity." ORMC and their professional medical staff have denied her these given rights. They have denied Joe's loving family access to him in the hospital. The importance of love as a healing nature especially with brain injuries is a well-known fact. I have been told that ORMC has refused to release him to care closer to his family and does not even communicate with the wife. It is my understanding that one can only be involuntarily committed for mental care if one is a danger to himself or the public. Joseph Niedzielski is bedridden and is incapable of being a danger to anyone. I point out to you that by making a case a " mental issue, " hospitals and physicians are able to make access to medical records extremely difficult if not impossible. In any case, it appears that ORMC wants to strip any rights of the patient's wife and family in favor of a non-blood party. It appears that the hospital has already been cited by AHCA for deficiencies in care and possible Medicaid fraud. I point out to you commissioners, that ORMC has an interest in trying to achieve this mental health status in order to hide medical records from public scrutiny. In any case, through this action, they wish to take all powers of decision away from Joseph's concerned LPN wife. I cannot understand, how a loving wife can be excluded from vital information concerning her husband. I've spoken to Kimberly and know that she has the interest of her husband at heart and is extremely frustrated by this peculiar and heartless violation of patients' rights and separation of family. She is genuinely concerned about her husband's welfare at this facility - especially under the described circumstances. Can you, as a commissioner, believe that your local hospital and physicians ignore the wishes of the wife, who is normally the best guardian of the patient's interests? Can you believe, that the county should pay for a professional guardian, when competent guardians - many next of kin - exist for an out of county citizen? According to Kimberly, although the husband has been in the hospital for months, no rehabilitation has been attempted other than facial reconstruction. She questions the problems of crushed bones in his back and the lack of any other rehabilitation. She is upset by having been pressured early to sign a do not resuscitate order. {She did not sign it}. To be declare a persona non grata by this hospital because of her genuine concerns is unbelievable. It seems to support the recent Pittsburg Gazette series about how hospitals suppress constructive criticism of their very own staff - this time with the patient's concerned family. Joseph is alert and responds with motions according to the family. Nothing has been done for speech rehabilitation or his back. She is understandably upset by the hospital actions towards her and her husband. In this hospital action, the court has appointed a lawyer to represent indigent Joseph. As reported to me this court appointed lawyer has not even spoken or return calls to any family member to date! One can question the value of such a lawyer, who does not even consult with the family involved - as if they had nothing to do with Joseph. Unlike the Terri Schiavo case, there is no family problem with the guardianship. All family members are upset with the manner in which the hospital is treating - or not treating- Joseph. It is not understandable how this hospital is allowed to violate patients' rights in the extreme as shown by this case. It is hoped that the commission will step in immediately and forbid the misuse of county funds in such a scandalous matter. Allowing County funds to be spent to appoint a paid guardian, when competent legal guardians exist would be disgraceful. Allowing a healthcare facility like ORMC to violate with impunity the rights of patients and their families with the use of county funds would be irresponsible. It is not understandable, how in the case of Terri Schiavo, a husband with an obvious conflict of interest is granted total guardianship against the will of Terri's parents. Now in a different county court, it appears the guardianship of a spouse in good standing with her husband and family, if not the hospital, does not count as a legal guardian. ORMC it is supposed be a nonprofit hospital. However, it appears that someone is always making a profit and that patients' rights are violated here in the same manner as in many for-profit institutions. K.B. Forbes of Consejo de Latinos Unidos has recently criticized ORMC tactics used on their uninsured patients. When one considers Florida Statue 744. 312, the only guardian, which can be appointed is his wife Kimberly. The hospital appears to have violated the patient's rights to the extreme, by creating a situation in which normal visitation rights and the right to choose a facility and physicians for health care treatment has been totally denied to the Niedzielskis. The hospital then, in a Catch-22 action, causes both hardships to the family and cost to the community. It falsely portrays Kimberly as having deserted her husband. Thereby, her wishes were clear from the beginning. She wished the best treatment for her husband. After the early hospital events, she decided that ORMC was definitely not the place, where she wanted her husband. This was based on her professional experience and the location of their home. From the description of Joe's state, the plenary guardianship as requested by ORMC's risk manager at county expense, cannot be granted. This requires an adjudication of the person as incapable of handling any personal decisions money and property. According to the family, Joe is aware of what is going on and is able to make motions and hand signals. Under normal circumstances, the rights of the patient and family would have priority in the hospital situation. No one should be better qualified for guardianship under normal circumstances than the LPN wife of this patient. However, this hospital appears to go to extremes to hide the question of their care and the hospital behavior to the patient's family since the admission on April 13th. The hospital has never obtained a proper admission form from the family, although Mr. Niedzielski has been in the hospital for seven months. The hospital has continuously ignored Kimberly's transfer attempts. Now under unknown circumstances, it appears to apply in bad faith for a costly guardianship. This appears totally unnecessary if they would comply with the family wishes of discharging the patient to a different facility closer to home. I really feel for Kimberly, since she is the victim of the modern health care industry, which is able to disenfranchise normal civil rights through questionable privacy laws. Lack of enforcement of patients' rights has given hospitals this abusive power. It is hoped that you as commissioner will not allow such a waste of public funds and will investigate as to how this hospital has been capable of holding the patient prisoner for so long against all family protests. It is further questionable if the proper venue has been followed for a former veteran and a true resident of Marion County. It is hoped that you will do something to prevent the trashing of patients' rights by this hospital under the false pretense of placing Joe's interests above their own. The history of the treatment of this patient and his family is the epitome of health care gone wrong. Please stop the waste of public funds for such unnecessary actions in the interest of the your fellow citizens. I beseech you as a commissioner to stop this waste of public funds in the violation of patients' rights. I ask you to investigate this case to determine how this hospital is able to massively violate the rights of the patient and family in this manner and then attempt to get the county to pay for such abuse. Only by addressing these issues can you assure that the Orange County public will receive quality affordable and humane medical care. Please stop this abuse now. Very sincerely, Carol Stronstorff, VP SPCP - The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Patients is a non-profit patient's rights organization. Bradenton, FL 34209 Phone: (888) 492-5856 (voice) / 941-794-1634 Fax: 775-257-6489 www.spcp4u.org _________________________ March 15, 2004 The Honorable Tom Bordeaux 132 State Capitol Atlanta , GA 30334 via FAX (404) 463-2044 sent 11:10 am Dear Rep. Bordeaux: Thank you for your sanity against arbitrary caps on med-mal settlements. Your quote on physicians: "And by and large, they're very well compensated for that job. To say they should be immune from legal responsibility because their job is hard, I think that goes against everything the justice system stands for." could not be more accurate for a patients' rights activist. I wish we had a few more legislators like you in the state of Florida. I became a patients' rights advocate by witnessing the horrendous care of my Medicare mother. Immunity leads to increased malpractice and corruption, since many crimes go totally unexposed. The "non-economic" value appears to have a direct relationship to the medical care given by unethical healthcare providers. My organization, unfortunately, has come in contact with several, who place profit before their oath to "Do no harm." There is a recent case in Fulton County, which I am currently working on. The current system sacrifices patients for profit. Medical errors should be eliminated and then there will be no lawsuits. This is the way to go along with reforms in the insurance industry. Limiting damages to the least fortunate, who could possibly be picked up by the taxpayer in their despair at a later date is certainly not the way to go. Thank you for recognizing this! You may wish to glance at my web med mal site to find more support for your position: I wish you great luck in fending off your challenger: Pearl Persad. She might be good for healthcare providers, but for the community of patients [to which we all belong], it would be disastrous. Very sincerely, Carol Stronstorff, VP SPCP - The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Patients is a non-profit patient's rights organization. Phone: 941-794-1634/ Fax: *** www.spcp4u.org and http://spcpi.homestead.com _________________________ Office of Attorney General Charlie Crist August 20, 2002 State of Florida The Capitol PL-01 Tallahassee, FL 32399-1050 via fax: 850-410-1630 sent 4:05 pm Dear Attorney General Crist: I am writing to obtain an explanation as to why your office has given me no response to my concerns regarding the legality of certain corporations in the state of Florida as well as the enforcement of given law and administrative procedures. I find it highly unprofessional and very disappointing. I understand, that your position is highly political. Nevertheless, you were appointed to be a public servant and as such to uphold the laws of the land. As you are most likely aware, the grand jury report of 1998 designated Florida as a "fraud friendly state" -- especially in the area of health care. As we both know, the situation has not improved. I happened to witness an example of this through the "care" of my mother, Zoe Stronstorff, in January and February of 1999. I then discovered the Florida laws, which do not allow medical malpractice suit following medical malpractice in the case of death of a widower, who has no dependents under age 25. I also discovered, through personal nightmarish experiences, either the corruption or total incompetence of the health care agencies, which are supposed to be there to ensure quality affordable health care. The fraudulent manipulation of facts and medical records through extensive corporate multi-personality disorder is amazing. I am now past the stage of naively believing that this abuse is unique to Florida The problem is not with the laws, but with enforcement. I would appreciate it, if you would address the following issues in the interest of health care in general and the constitutionality of the right to life and due process. I would like an answer as to why certain health care connected entities are being allowed to violate state laws. It is my understanding that the Department of Health does not offer special contracts to the following facilities listed below. It is my contention, that they are required to fulfill federal , state, and local law in the same manner as the remainder of the population. I have already registered a complaint to you about L L and B Electrocardiograms, which is not licensed to do business in Florida nor in the city of Bradenton [ I understand, they have recently moved outside the Bradenton city limits]. Why is no legal action being pursued in this matter? As a concerned citizen I would appreciate responses to several questions I list below. I thank you in advance for taking the time to respond to them. Why is L L and B allowed to break the law with impunity? This company has submitted a bill for payment of a claim in my mother's name, which it cannot document, thereby giving the suspicion of strong indication, that the bill is fraudulent. I , (and I believe you as well) would feel an investigation was in order. I would also like to know why Blake Medical Center, being owned by HCA Health Services of Florida Inc., is still carried by the state of Florida under the name L W Blake Memorial Hospital for purposes of Medicaid payments? Why are they allowed to use various names, not registered with the state in their business operations, which actually hide their consumer liability? Why is P L Physicians' Laboratory allowed to perform laboratory tests on Florida and nursing home patients without having a licensed fictitious name or corporation name registered with the Division of Corporations in Florida? How is it not possible for skilled nursing home [SNF]: Integrated Health Services of Bradenton to provide an itemized bill for the patient Zoe E. Stronstorff for her true stay from 2/2/99 through 2/13/99? (My several requests to receive one have been repeatedly ignored.) How is it possible that the Agency for Health Care Administration and the Department of Health were able to postpone the investigation of Dr. Unaeze for over a year until the facility changed the name and ownership back to the facility name under which Medicare was billed for the SNF stay? How could it exist that this state, in your division, supposedly started an investigation into the possible abuse of Zoe Stronstorff, yet stopped the investigation without ever consulting or notifying the patient's personal representative - the complainant? (Why was it that the inspector wanted to ignore the issue of fraud at all - although both actual facilities and medical professionals involved are connected to the Medicaid program of Florida, so that Medicare fraud is also important to Florida?) (Mr. Steve Iglesias informed me in March, when I contacted the Tampa office, that case # 99-03-02-0064 [Zoe Stronstorff] was closed on December 29, 2003.) The last time, I had spoken to Investigator Hanna, he had not yet acquired the subpoenaed medical records from the hospital. Mr. Iglesias gave the impression that my mother's age [88] excused everything. Unfortunately, statistics in this case were not typical. She was always in relatively good health , and her mother reached age 105 fairly easily, and the current fraudulent records are not backed up by physical evidence. I would like to see both the Medical records used for this investigation and make a public records request. I am the personal court appointed representative of my mother and had a durable power of attorney at the time of her questionable "care". Furthermore, I requested information under the Sunshine Law and the federal FOIA and Privacy Act as to the required MDS form for my mother's nursing home stay before her death on 2/13/99. AHCA has refused to give me this information as well as the entries in the CWF [data base for inpatient hospitalizations] related to her Florida hospitalization. AHCA has also responded to my request stating that 107213 is not a provider number, yet in the Florida official investigations, this code is constantly used for investigations of Blake Medical Center under it's unknown to the Public numerous invalid fictitious names. In the name of justice, I request an investigation into the fraudulent answers provided to me by your investigative agencies. "Scrivener error" cannot be acceptable with the number of times it has occurred over years. By falsely reporting a patient in different hospital areas, hospitals avoid reporting their true safety/result record to Medicare and the public. I am aware that the heads of AHCA are normally corporate friendly and expect little from the new Agency head, Alan Levine. His strong ties to HCA and the Florida Governor are well known. It is regrettable that the welfare of the majority of the people appears to be ignored by allowing actual harm to come to patients in the interest of profits. The cover-up appears shameless. Please visit the web site: www.spcp4u.org and from the home link take a look at the DOH report on Dr. Unaeze. Are investigations handled with justice and objectivity in mind in this state? Again I am requesting that you please answer the above questions and arrange for me to see the obtained data used in the "investigations". I thank you for your cooperation in this matter of great concern. I certainly do not wish to be handled by healthcare providers in Florida in the true manner as my mother was. I certainly do not wish to have government funds squandered for my "care," as I witnessed being done on my mother and have heard of through other adult children of dead Florida patients. Very sincerely, Carol Stronstorff |
03-12-03 Fax to Florida and NJ House Representatives urging to vote no on caps on noneconomic and punitive damages in MedicalMalpractice settlements Re: H. R.5 - malpractice caps/frivolous lawsuits Dear Representative: I am writing to ask you to consider these facts, when voting on H.R. 5. I have founded a nonprofit patients' rights organization in Florida based on my knowledge of the treatment of my mother, Zoe, a deceased Medicare patient. Her death occurred over four years ago. The exact facts of her hospitalization, nursing home stay and in the Medicare billing are still unknown to me, despite an enormous effort at trying to get to the bottom of this issue. It is an issue, which affects all children of parents, who appear to have died in an untimely death, while being given care by health care provider. Since Medicare and health care in general consume a proportionate large part of our resources, the message of Zoe's case should not go lost. You are voting on limitations of legal rights of redress, which affect the lives of many and the very quality of health care in the United States. May I remind you, that your blood flows not Republican or Democrat. The blood in your veins cannot be controlled by the money, which healthcare and insurance lobbyists offer you. Consequently, before voting, think of the lesson of my mother, Zoe. Zoe entered Blake Medical Center, a Florida hospital of the largest hospital chain in United States-HCA. She was a stroke victim - blind before this stroke - now unable to walk or talk distinctly because of left-sided weakness, yet in stable condition. She was totally unable to leave the facility without help, but then I was with her to make decisions in her interest. The problem was that I had no knowledge of a stroke and was dependant on the healthcare providers for input. But they had no interst in informing me of my options and expected outcome. They collectively falsified/destroyed medical records - laboratory reports, x-rays and physician reports. This was done to fraudulently collect government and private insurance money and guard their reputations. Her treatment was a disaster violating basic medical rules and her rights at every turn. In alert condition, she was automated without any medical necessity -catheterized; totally starved for three days nurse and then had a plastic tube shoved down her nose. Extreme pressure was put on us to have an unwanted stomach tube operation [PEG]. Her entire treatment was geared to make money and not in the interest of Zoe at all. After the second refusal of the PEG, Zoe received medications in lifethreatening doses. [In a hospital there are supposed to be controls. There is the doctor, the nurses, the pharmacy and the laboratory. Yet no one caught these problems]. The diagnoses reported given to Medicare are totally fraudulent - either having no basis in fact or possibly being true but not found in her known medical records. In this hospital, I was forbiddden to read my blind mother's records, although I was legally designated as her health surrogate. In any case, the only treatment for Zoe which would have been appropriate was home health therapy in Zoe's own home, where I was living. This would have meant less profit for the hospital, the nursing home and the doctors. Zoe was sacrificed for profit and massive fraud was performed on her medical records to justify a claim. Where was my mother for treatment by whom? We still do not know. All we know is that there is one conflicting report after another. Two complaints were made-one to the Medicare Peer Review Organization [FMQAI] and one to the Florida agency for health care administration [AHCA]. The first complaint was made, all my mother was still alive in the hospital. The second was made after I discovered that Florida already has an unwritten cap on malpractice cases: The Wrongful Death Act. [This relatively unknown law translates that if a malpracticed individual dies and has no spouse or dependent under the age of 25, there is no malpractice suit]. This law is a real incentive to bury medical mistakes in order to avoid a malpractice suit. One can see if one believes that there is a medical crisis as falsely portrayed by health care providers and insurance companies, Florida with its elderly population should reflect this cap with lower insurance premiums. I believe Zoe was murdered [intentionally made sick and allowed to die] in order to avoid a malpractice suit and the discovery of violations of the federal Medicare contract by the hospital and physicians involved. A living Zoe would have been proof of these violations. A dead Zoe would and did end all normal possibilities of legal recourse. I attempted to obtain legal redress on my own- "pro se" - after I received no help from the government investigative authorities. There is some indication that these authorities received fraudulent information from the HCA Hospital. None, however, decided to report this obvious obstruction of justice further. Consequently, we have a system of checks and balances, which allows corporate crime to flourish at the expense of the health of our citizens. As I mentioned, Zoe was in stable condition, when she arrived at the hospital noon. In the fraudulent records for the complaint investigations, Zoe suddenly arrived at night in highly critical condition with major heart problems.There are two possible scenarios: 1) the HCA Hospital has created a totally fraudulent record to justify a hospital admission and the Medicare claim [highly critical patient - heart failure - unresponsive - aphasic]. 2) there was an adverse incident following admission involving unplanned cardiac emergency care, which the hospital chose not to disclose to either the State of Florida or me. They just restarted the hospitalization with the hospital induced adverse incident - the second emergency became the first. Both scenarios are morally wrong and both cause harm to the patient and family and to the taxpaying public. One would expect that some kind of punitive damage would be forthcoming, but to date there has been none. The unknown cap [Florida's wrongful death clause] eliminated private legal help. The first peer review [FMQAI] report found nothing wrong, yet it's results - based on the medical records from the hospital conflicted with their second review and that of AHCA! And then I found out that although Blake Medical Center is the only licensed hospital found in the list Medicare hospitals, Medicare Florida does not process any claims under the legal name but uses to different expired fictitious names and as of the January 31st, even still uses this since five years expired HCA corporate name. There is no doubt in my mind that these phony names are used to hide and manipulate medical records to show care that was not given and to hide adverse incidents. You must think of me being at the hospital many times every day - never having been told what was going on or what was available and to be expected. Can you imagine discovering that the hospitalization was one big lie? If my mother's condition was as bad as supposedly in the unseen investigative reports, there was only one place, where she should have been and that was in her home with me. Yet at no time was home health mentioned. All efforts were for an unwanted operation and for transfer to a skilled nursing facility. The transfer to the facility was dependent upon receiving a PEG operation. Can you imagine, going to the hospital and being dependent on doctors, who refused to give you access to your mother's records and lie about her condition and do not inform you of your options? And at the nursing-home, wouldn't you be appalled, when you discover that the medical records had been so altered to show treatment, that your mother never got and to show your mother dead one day before she died? Would it bother you when you realize, that your mother had been denied emergency access care and that she died over the course of two days without ever having had a decent painkiller Would it bother you to find out that the hospital showed what you thought was to be emergency care as only a regular clinic visit and showed different arrival times in their medical records? Would it bother you to find these records under a different name and without the identifying number of the physician? Would it bother you to find out that with your mother's wrongful death, all the wrongdoings, which were committed in the name of Medicine are wiped out from any legal recourse? I think that Zoe was tortured to death unnecessarily to hide medical wrongdoing. The massive cover-up backs this up. The unknown wrongful death clause allowed this to happen. This 100% cap hasn't solved the insurance crisis. No caps will solve it. Think of Zoe, when you vote. There should be no caps on punitive damages. This makes crime too lucrative for amoral corporations, whose only duty is for profit to their shareholders. Zoe was incapable of walking out of the hospital by yourself and was counting on me to take care of her. I was never given a chance. Zoe was sacrificed for profit. I hope, you think of your parents and of your aging self before you vote. Very sincerely, Carol Stronstorff Founder of The Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Patients, Inc. a nonprofit Florida pateints' rights organization |
E-mail to Florida Senators Campbell, Geller, Hill and Klein September 23, 2003 Dear Senator Campbell, Senator Geller, SenatorHill and Senator Klein: I wish to thank you all for your courageous position on the "malpractice crisis" vote. I may have met you personally, while I was in Tallahassee lobbying against caps. You were the only ones to stand up for patient' rights in the end! This vote came at a time, when it was unnecessary, since the governor had appeared to back down. You had already shown that the ploy was only for profit-making insurance companies and profit-making healthcare groups. Under oath it was determined that the whole crisis had been nothing but lies and false propaganda. There was no need to dessert the patient public at this time. My own Senator, Senator Bennett, whom I strongly supported deserted the patients, although he was subjected to tremendous personal attacks. This attack might slightly exonerate him, would it not be that he has done nothing to help me personally in obtaining the information on my mother and FOIA information regarding health care providers and review of the peculiar death of Zoe, my mother. The issues pertaining to Zoe, pertain to every elder citizen and visitor in Florida. Is malpractice condoned without any serious investigation of events simply because of the patient's age? In this case, it appears to be true. The issue of intentional malpractice to cause death to end liability is another issue raised here. See http://www.spcp4u.org/zoescandal.html and http://www.spcp4u.org/zoebeforeandafter.html. It is surprising that you are so few. I heard strong speeches by some of your party members, yet they appear to have voted for the Physicians' campaign contributions. I would like to hear that Senator Wasserman Schultz missed the vote because of her pregnancy/ healthy birth, since she seemed so sincere on this issue. I applaud you loudly. It is very easy since there are so few to praise. No one person or group should be allowed special privileges. This is universal "civilized " law: all men should be equal before the law. My mother's case indicates massive fraud by top physicians {Two were/are hospital chiefs-of staff }. To date I have not received the itemized bill required to be given to patients/their personal representatives by both Florida and federal law. Fraud is obvious to all but the control authorities, who appear to be in the hand of money-giving amoral corporations and other irresponsible healthcare providers. Physicians are not Gods. They are mortals like you and me, and we all know there are good ones and bad ones. We also know that like us, they have good days and bad days. To fraudulently hide the mistakes of their colleagues - often ones, who should seek a different profession - as shown in this case does nothing for improving the quality or cost of health care. Thank you again and please help to continue to work against undeserved special privileges for one class above another. Patient Joe Public is the loser. Also those responsible healthcare professionals have their profession tarnished by the opportunists among them. Very sincerely, Carol Stronstorff, VP SPCP - The Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Patients is a non-profit patient's rights organization. P.S. I have attached a copy of my SPCP NewsOldsLetter to my fans and members. I increased the font of the area, which pertains to you. |
07-09-03 Fax to Florida's Senate President offering praise and comments The Honorable Senator James E. King, Jr. URGENT! Office of the Senate President, Capitol Ste. 409 Tallahassee fax attempt to 850-487-5844 July 9, 2003 Dear Senator King: I wish to thank you for your July 2nd letter to the governor. I was able to see and hear you at the last session. I appreciate your work for patients' rights. Gov. Bush has been extremely insensitive to victims of malpractice. He has done nothing to promote safety for the elderly population of this state in the face of facts of tremendous abuse under the wrongful death clause. I would like to comment to some of your points in particular: I am glad you believe in " access to health care, protection of patient rights and the culpability for serious malpractice mistakes. " This should be the essence of the issue. 1) The 6 million cap is certainly more acceptable than a $250,000 cap. This will allow for victims of a malpractice to find a lawyer - not for those, who fell under the wrongful death clause [adult children]. However, a one-size-fits-all will never work and many cases will fall back onto the taxpayer. Consequently, wrongdoers are not held accountable for their damages, but are dumped on the public. This is certainly no long time solution. 2) Bad Faith - I am not qualified to take a position on this. However, judging from the cases, I have encountered, this would be sheer lunacy for patients and doctors. If all the medical records - which is seldom the case - has been made available, then 90 days should be adequate. 3) As to protection for emergency room and trauma personnel with the $250,000 cap, I am thoroughly against it. The majority of admissions to hospitals are from the emergency room. These doctors and personnel fall under the "standard of care" guidelines, which should be adhered to at all times. A highly critical patient is very different from the patient, who was perfectly stable on arrival at the hospital: i.e., a completed stroke/ TIA - broken bone. It appears, that the hospital/physician connection at this stage of hospitalization allows for falsification of true facts, surrounding a particular case. The issues of medical necessity, " bad outcome " would be determined by the documentation of the caregiver at this point for all future hospital events. In my mother's case, the medical records were falsified indicating a later arrival time than was the truth to hide the hospital/physician created heparin adverse incident - heart damage? Brain damage? Two different emergency physicians are used - one to Medicare and AHCA and one to me. The only problem is that each physician has a totally different diagnosis, so they cannot be the same incident. This is no problem for AHCA. I believe, you can be sure, that this kind of sovereign immunity would result in increased fraud in the medical records to limit any future mistakes, committed by physicians and hospital personnel. I ask you - not in this session, of course- to work on increasing the penalty for falsification of the legal documents - medical records- from a misdemeanor to a felony. I also ask you to find out, why the state agency for health care administration [AHCA] is not enforcing current state law. 4) Hospital board powers are there to protect the hospital and not the patient. Bad doctors are a plus for the hospital - increasing income as long as there is no accountability [Wrongful Death Clause]. This is the current status in this state of Florida for the majority of its citizens. The majority is elderly. With the wrongful death clause, a "free kill" is a way out for healthcare providers of questionable ethics, who are afraid that their negligence may come to light. "We need a more even playing field if we are to rid ourselves of those few physicians who should not be able to continue to practice." This statement is music to my ears. Dr. Polanco was nominated as one of the top-10 doctors at the HCA hospital - Blake Medical Center in Bradenton. He never informed me of the true condition of my mother after heparin initiation. He apparently allowed for a second [? may be even more] set of records to be kept in some name variation of my mother. He harassed us for an unwanted operation. He prescribed medications against all warnings and dangers and did not order necessary tests her conditions. He portrayed medically induced fluid overload as a case of pneumonia. The hospital loved him. He and his company may have been instrumental in her strange death over 1 ½ days, which is not properly documented. His actions were covered by other highly qualified physicians, by writing false or incomplete reports and possibly a[many] totally new set[s] of medical records under a fictitious name for the patient and the facility. Bad doctors are profitable for such institutions. Good doctors appear to become "bad doctors" in covering for their errant colleagues' wrong doings. I am still in the process of uncovering incredible intentional oversights in my mother's case and I wager to say, and this happens every day in American hospitals. It happens more often in Florida hospitals because of the elderly patients and Florida's laws and especially the lack of enforcement by AHCA. Just yesterday, I found a kidney specialist citing a protein deficiency as a Medicare reported diagnosis, yet there is not one single laboratory test to identify this condition. We have many "psychic" physicians at HCA hospitals. By the way, the laboratory reports are required to be in the medical records, yet they are missing and AHCA finds this fine and Manatee County courthouse will not enforce it's own court orders to give them to me. 5) Equal access to medical information is extremely important. However, the peer pressure on practicing physicians is enormous. One only needs to look at my mother's medical records to see just how peer pressure works on their professional knowledge. Rather than to whistle blow on the many negligent factors involved, cover-up is used. Peer pressure is tremendous. And by the way, I still do not have the medical records pertaining to the heparin of admission night and the cardiac care involved at this time, but Medicare was billed according to Florida Medicare [FCSO]. AHCA reported that it began on 1/13/99 [sic]. It began on 1/11/99 and Zoe was in highly critical condition for two days - not found in the medical records. The heparin is found in the one bill in the incomplete facility name as having started on 1/11. 6) "frivolous" is a word that is used very often for an unpopular suits. I like the idea of a review panel. At the same time, with Florida laws, the elderly are still left out because of Florida's wrongful death clause. My pursuits after the truth have been called "frivolous" by the other side, yet the clear violation of law is visible for everyone. 7) The St. Mary's issue: I am not versed enough to comment on this. 8) The Center For Excellence Initiative: On paper this appears to be an excellent proposal. However, my own experience has great fear of "electronic records." These were the apparent basis for the first AHCA investigation. The records did not match the hard copy medical records available to me or AHCA. Electronic records are easily falsified. Handwritten copies can be tested for handwriting, and ink and date tested. These electronic ones cannot be tested. Judging from Zoe's HCA hospital records, I would guess that there are employees involved in the active falsification of medical records by whitening or blackening out parts of the record. On August 16, 2000, I pointed out to the Florida Commission on Excellence in Health Care in Fort Lauderdale, the importance of accurate medical records in determining the value of the medical practices involved. Since the majority of the commission is made up of health care professionals/providers, this message went lost. Dr. Brooks avoided the issue of heparin and falsified radiologist reports by passing the buck back to AHCA. AHCA is withholding all information on the case of Zoe Stronstorff. This appears to be because of obvious Agency nonfeasance and malfeasance. The patient public is the one who is suffering because of this. My investigation into my mother's wrongful death seems to indicate that AHCA is supporting the healthcare industry against the patient public. The consumer interest in quality affordable care is truly subjugated to the number-one industry of Florida: healthcare. It appears that the agency allows paper facilities in this state and even has the nerve to use taxpayer money to investigate these nonexistent facilities. The wrongful death clause - the zero cap for widowed Medicare patients - allows for such malfeasance. OPPAGA has reported the waste in Medicaid by AHCA. No one reports the waste in Medicare. These federal investigations are performed by AHCA. Our governor is aware of these problems and is ignoring them as he is all malpractice victims. 9) The competitive insurance market does not exist. The market is basically controlled by a few companies that they are not subject to antitrust regulations. The creation of the universal self insurance fund with a five-year sunset is indeed a wise temporary alternative for the medical profession. Looking behind-the-scenes, the question of the entire insurance crisis may have been fueled by insurance companies themselves to increase their own profits on the backs of the poor patients and unwitting doctors. When one further investigates the health insurance branch, one is further appalled to discover that the medical expenses at age 65 are turned over to the taxpayers - Medicare. The insurance companies, however, pass on the tab for administration of the Medicare/Medicaid program to the government. They also perform the fraud investigation, yet are not independent from the health care facilities. Providers can change their "administrator" - intermediary/carrier - at will with 120 days notice. One must wonder, if there might not be a conflict of interest with a fraud/quality of care investigation and their possible connection as liability insuror of the facility/physician involved. 10) I do not understand the consequences of Fabre, but I respect your concern of the issue. Since my mother's hospitalization and short nursing home stay leading to her death, I have been dealing with issues surrounding malpractice - 1) physicians, nurses, speech pathologists, hospital management, nursing home management, medical records, itemized and no bills. 2) lawyers and courts and their judges and the laws of Florida and the United States - especially the wrongful death clause. 3) "enforcement" agencies like AHCA and FMQAI 4) laws, which are eyewash, and have no teeth for enforcement like patients' rights- informed consent, right to an itemized bill and explanation thereof and right to the complete and accurate medical records - falsification of medical records as a misdemeanor vs. felony 5) medical necessity - are we getting what we need and want or are we being abused for profit? Fiduciary responsibility? The fear of horrendous lawsuits is a possible cause of the sad state of Medicine in United States today. The bottom line is profit, whether for the healthcare providers, physicians, lawyers or insurance companies. Please glance at the quote from Dr. J Michael Wynne beneath my signature. This Australian doctor has written more on corporate health issues than any American. Unjust caps are not the answer. The zero cap of the wrongful death clause has not improved health care in Florida, but has allowed negligence to flourish - totally unpunished. Please continue supporting the rights of patients, which is potentially every person in the state of Florida. Florida ranks forty-fourth in physician discipline. The United States ranks number one in costs yet 37th in quality for healthcare worldwide. I ask you to investigate AHCA. It appears to allow multiple licensing of the same facility without informing the public of the consequences. This allows the use of fraudulent medical records from nonexistent facilities and undermines the entire health care of Florida. Any dirt is just swept under the carpet. This is not the way to improve health care for the public. I ask you to address these problems in the interest of all. Thank you. I am willing to offer my help in any way to improving health care in Florida. We all need your help and are thankful for it. Very sincerely, Carol Stronstorff, VP of SPCP SPCP - The Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Patients is a non-profit patient's rights organization. SPCP Bradenton, Florida Tel: 941 -751 -1069 Fax: 775-257-6489 ---------------------------------------------------------------- We must work to restore trust between patients and their physicians. The system now is broken. Part of extensive web site on HCA and IHS corporate crime by Australian doctor,J Michael Wynne Http://www.uow.edu.au/arts/sts/bmartin/dissent/documents/health/nhc_refs.html __________________________ ------ [NOTE:the above link is to only a part of Dr. Wynne's site : this link is the beginning of his work: http://www.uow.edu.au/arts/sts/bmartin/dissent/documents/health/central.html -note not in original fax to the honorable Senator King - Carol] -------- "Everything we do carries unknowns and risks; much is complex and with the best intentions in the world we all at some time stupidly make a hole in something and someone will die and this can be when we least expect it and have not warned of it. The difficulty is first of all in the doctor being honest with himself and secondly being honest with the patient. Both can be very difficult - particularly the former. Being in that situation yourself is very different from being outside looking in and sadly this is the way we humans normally behave. I can recall occasions when it took me a long time to stop justifying and rationalising. I have never had any difficulties when I have been open with the patient and explained to them exactly what happened and where I went wrong then set out as best I could with help from colleagues to put it as right as possible. My experience dealing with people who have had adverse outcomes is that their grievance is as much about the way they were treated as about what happened to them. They can cope with this when y[o]u deal with it together. It has probably become even more difficult to do this in a country as litigious as the USA. Your insurer would not cover you and the lawyers would advise against it. We all have families to feed. My gut feeling is that somehow we have to get back to medicine as a community service - for the community to take it back from politicians and the market then run it jointly as a series of integrated open not for profit services where overall monitoring, accountability, and responsibility would be shared with the professions. We might need a conciliatory mea culpa process like South Africa's "Truth Commission" to set it off!" TOP |
concerning Practices of Orlando Regional Medical Center Bradenton City Council/Mayor Correspondence Scandal -Sept.2003/ongoing Fax to Tom Bordeaux, Patients' Rights Advocate, March 15, 2004 Fax to Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist August 20, 2004 |
__________________________ SPCP - The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Patients is a non-profit patient's rights organization. We are here to aid you in furthering your health and reduce your health care problems. Founded on a deadly experience with no recourse, we strive to prevent further occurrences of such medical abuse in the interest of profits. SPCP Bradenton, FL Tel: 888-492-5856 (voice) 941-794-1634 e-mail: spcp4u@netzero.net Home: www.spcpi.homestead.com Fax: 775-257-6489 |
e-mail to all Florida Senators and Press on 7/15/03 Honorable Senator: Some of you are being attacked and pressured into an arbitrary cap on malpractice settlements. You know that "non-economic damages" are very important to those families of malpractice victims, who have no or little "economic damages." An arbitrary cap will harm these low and non-income victims. Not only the victim but their entire family is affected by the unfortunate event of malpractice with a serious damage, which affects their way of life - unable to think or walk/talk/act or live normally again. When their money and energy runs out, they will join welfare recipients. This is no long-term solution in the public interest. What about human dignity? You now have through the public knowledge of the political pressure by our Governor Jeb Bush. His office seeks questionable support from the largest corporate owner of United States hospitals - HCA. HCA is one of the worst corporate criminals in history. HCA appears to be running the politics in this sunshine state. One can see here the power and interest behind the scene. Do doctors profit from the insurance cap as much as unethical hospitals? HCA has just recently settled with the US government fraud and criminal charges to the tune of 1.7 billion dollars. This settlement does not include the cases of Zoe Stronstorff and Alma Linden as mentioned in the site: http://spcpi.homestead.com/MalpracticeVictims.html [cases #1 and #4] This does not include the possible thousands of Florida mal practiced Medicare patients that fell by the wayside under Florida's zero cap: THE WRONGFUL DEATH CLAUSE. These two case have become known only through the "dogged persistence" of the adult children of these two victims. Florida under AHCA is doing nothing to protect the elderly of this state. They can be victimized by such companies as HCA. Our governor has invoked HCA to put our politicians in line, i.e. Senators Bennett and Jones, among others. The extreme power of the HCA hospital corporation is seen now with the Levine e-mail. It is shown on site: http://medicarescandal.homestead.com/AHCAsFault.html This site shows how requests are granted by AHCA to HCA. AHCA allows for fraud and abuse of patients and the healthcare system. The failure of our state to investigate cases like Christa [case #2 on the malpractice site] shows how all citizens of every age suffer from agency malfeasance and fraud. Is it not time to stop this abuse and get the health of Florida citizens, your constituents to the forefront? It has been called to my attention that: 1) Florida no longer requires a review of Medicaid or Medicare levels of care. State Sen. Ron Silver, D. Miami, introduced the bill and it was passed as a total package to streamline AHCA. Florida is the only state that allows this to happen. It was a direct result of an investigative series and they wanted to keep it out of the reporter's hands. 2) The HMO in Miami of former AHCA head Ruben King-Shaw had a finding of $1.8 million against it pending in criminal proceedings, which were abandoned after questionable behind the scene activities. Ruben King-Shaw stopped the investigation of Zoe and lied about it: http://www.spcp4u.homestead.com / http://s |