Truth In Advertising - Vol. III

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As the office nears completion, I thought it only fitting that this be the third installment to the Truth In Advertising line. How long will this "hospitalist" fiasco continue? Until the money runs out and/or the FBI get rid of some bad apples.

Truth In Advertising - Vol. II

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The idea for this version of the DMH BS Billboard came from the sister of a friend of mine. It would have been more timely last week.

I would love to see a comparison between the two heart programs concerning infection rates, survival, how long the patient had to stay in the hospital, and so on. Anyone know if this information is made public?

Truth In Advertising - Vol. I

Have you ever wondered what the BS DMH Ads would look like if they were forced to print the truth instead of propaganda? Here's what one billboard might have looked like:

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Mail-Order Awards and Patient Anger: True Marks of Quality

I'm sure many of you who venture out on the east side of town have seen the big billboard on 36 near Staley's. It's the one with the big silver cup on it. DMH claims to be an "award winning hospital."

Sources inside DMH say the "award" amounts to a mail-order certificate. Sort of like those Who's Who books that you can send off for with your name in it and buy (ie. pay the "processing fee") so that you can then say you were in the Who's Who book. It might have been easier for DMH administration to have just created their own award of excellence and then awarded it to itself. That would be more in keeping with Ken Smithmier's totalitarian style of rule.

From the comments on the last post, I don't see how quality is being maintained by inexperienced personnel, too few personnel, and overworked, underpaid, insurance-premium-gouged veterans who can't escape or who are close to retirement. From what I've heard from my customers and former patients, the quality is going down hill and fast.

One lady told me that the DMH-ER claims to see patients in less than 15 minutes, but she waited 6 hours to be seen on a not-so-busy Tuesday afternoon before she saw the "P.A." I told her she must have missed the fine print. Yeah, they "saw" you walk in, but you were ignored for six hours after that. She said she will NEVER go back to DMH.

A co-worker related a story of when her uncle was seen in the DMH ER for pneumonia. The man had walked into the ER with a cough and slight fever, but ended up with two CAT scans, a spinal tap, four individual blood draws, an EKG (the guy had no heart history nor any heart-related complaints) and an order to get an MRI the next morning! The man was admitted to the medical floor, but the ER doctor (yes, doctor) didn't even order anti-biotic medicines for his pneumonia! His own doctor had to order them the next day. Is this the silver cup winning quality that the billboards are talking about? No, the billboards describe fiction, or what Ken Smithmier would like to you to believe is going on. In reality, it's a hell hole filled with grossly overpaid administration, grossly overpaid employed physicians, and unfortunate employees who are getting screwed over on a daily basis while they are trying to do the best job they can in the conditions they are forced to work in. They have a lot of pretty buildings, but they are filled with empty promises.

We've heard from some employees of DMH. Now, what about you patients out there. What kind of stories do you have for the FBI to read about today?