August 3rd, 2011 by Happy Hospitalist in Opinion, True Stories
Tags: biliblanket therapy, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Charges, Childbirth, Cost, Expensive, Gender Discrimination, Global Delivery Charge, Hospital, Hospital Admission, Insurance, Insurance Claim, Jaundice Treatment, Medically Necessary, Midwife, Miscarriage Blood Testing Panel, Pregnancy, Pregnancy Tests, Progesterone Therapy, Routine Labs
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Childbirth hospital costs these days aren’t cheap. Some studies suggest the cost of raising a child exceeds $200,000, not including education expenses. Most insurance companies charge women of childbearing age more for their insurance because the actuarial tables say so. Mrs Happy and I now have a 3 month old Zachary in our wings. He is a cute little peanut. His two brothers, Marty and Cooper adore him.
Forty-two days after his April 21st, 2011 delivery, we still had not received our explanation of benefits from Blue Cross Blue Shield for the midwife charge. I had previously received a statement from them saying the charge was under review. Perhaps they believed that delivering Zachary was not medically necessary. I can’t explain it.
When I called to ask them why this charge had not been approved, they said they could not give me a reason why my explanation of benefits statement had not been finalized after 42 days. I pressed for more information, but to no avail. I was given no reason other than to say that they had a lot of claims to review. That’s not an acceptable reason to delay a payment of a claim. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The Happy Hospitalist*
August 3rd, 2011 by KerriSparling in Opinion, True Stories
Tags: Afraid, Big Babies, Children with Diabetes, CWD, Diabetes, Friends for Life, Jeff Hitchcock, Nervous, Pre-pregnancy Planning, Pregnancy, Pregnancy and Diabetes, Steel Magnolias, Type 1
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When Jeff Hitchcock approached me last year and asked if I would feel comfortable leading the Pregnancy and Diabetes session at Friends for Life, I was honored. But also a little confused. What on earth was I going to tell the session attendees? I couldn’t spout off medical information. I am not a licensed medical professional.
“I’m just a person with diabetes who had a baby. And my pregnancy was a bit of a tangled one, too!” I remember emailing to Jeff, wondering if they’d be better off with a doctor at the helm of that discussion.
He replied within minutes, telling me that was exactly why they wanted me to lead the session. And I grinned, but felt nervous.
Before the little bird joined our family, I did a lot of research about pregnancy with diabetes. Hard facts, statistics, and professional recommendations were available by the fistful. The problem was finding anecdotal information about managing pregnancy and diabetes at the same time. Before Chris and I left for Spain that year, knowing we were ready to try for a baby, I felt prepared. But when we came home and found out I was pregnant, I wanted nothing more than to find a room full of other pregnant women who had diabetes, so I could immerse myself in their support and say, “I have NO CLUE what I’m doing!! HELP!!” Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Six Until Me.*
July 28th, 2011 by AndrewSchorr in Health Tips, True Stories
Tags: Blood Clot, Blood Thinners, Cancer, cancer recurrence, Cancer Survivor, Coumadin, Deep Vein Thrombosis, Diagnosis, Drug Therapy, DVT, Leukemia, Lovenox, Remission, Treatment
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You know I am a cancer survivor – 15 years down the road from a leukemia diagnosis and enjoying a 10 year remission. So whenever something seems weird about my health it’s cancer coming back, right? Wrong! Just how wrong was proven last night. I am writing this from my hospital bed in Seattle.
The first symptom of a possible problem came three days ago when I had soreness in my right calf. A pulled muscle? Maybe. But I had not noticed straining it. Back at the gym the next day I had soreness again but thought it was no big deal. Last night it was worse. It hurt some to walk. I got home and, after my wife and son were asleep, got ready for bed. I had a slight fever and then noticed the right calf was not only sore, but swollen and warm. Very strange. I’d never seen that before.
Trying not to be stupid I called the 24-hour consulting nurse. She immediately began to focus on deep vein thrombosis (DVT), a worrisome condition that affects about two million Americans a year and can lead to a life threatening situation. She had a doctor call me. Normally those doctors would rather make a house call then send you to the more costly emergency room. But not this time. “Dr. Steve” urged me to go to the ER rather than let a DVT progress and endanger my life. An ultrasound exam would determine if it was really a DVT. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Andrew's Blog*
July 12th, 2011 by Emergiblog in Opinion, True Stories
Tags: Bad Behavior, Bullying, Children, Emergency Medicine, ER, Kids Gone Wild, Lack Of Discipline, Nursing, Parenting, Pediatrics, Psychiatry, teens
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Ah, the benefits of sand therapy!
Time for little Bettina’s daily afternoon face plant!
Not only does it appear my colleague is about to lose her grip on her patient, I’m concerned about her choice of body mechanics.
I predict a lumbar strain in 3…2…1……
(This photo is from the Library of Congress collection.)
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I love my pediatric patients. While it is hard to see children feeling sick, they can be bright spots in occasionally hellacious shifts.
I’ve blogged before on my observation that the kids seem to be the adults in the some families.
- They don’t want to undress for an exam, so they fight the parents who are helpless in the face of taking a shirt off a three-year-old.
- They have to be restrained so they don’t run rampant in the ER, and they slap their parent across the face. The parent doesn’t respond.
- They are told they need to cooperate with a procedure and they answer their parent with a loud, clear, “F*** YOU!” At the age of five. The parent retreats. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Emergiblog*
July 10th, 2011 by John Mandrola, M.D. in True Stories
Tags: Ablation, Atrial Fibrillation, Cardiac Electrophysiology, Hug, Smile, Translator
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The staff was concerned that she came to the office without her interpreter.
How would we communicate? How would I assess her symptoms?
“Should we get a translator from the hospital?” they asked.
I knew this patient well. I had done battle with rogue circuits in her left atrium more than once. I could even remember the fractions of the fractionated potentials–the squiggles of the squiggly line. I could recall my body’s joyous sensations when burning that precarious ridge of heart muscle steadied her heart’s rhythm.
“Got it,” we say.
Or Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr John M*
