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?
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?
posted by Watcher2300 at 2/04/2007 10:18:00 PM
19 Comments:
I don't have any recent "horror" stories from the main DMH campus but I do from their "satellite" Doctor's Family Practice on Water Street. I took my 2 year old son there last month for an ear infection because his pediatrician was out of town. The doctor (whom we had to wait two hours to see), prescribed antibiotics that my son had an allergic reaction to. That wasn't his fault but trying to get the office to prescribe a different antibiotic was a joke. I called the office twice. The first time the nurse told me that the new order would be called in to the pharmacy that day. Didn't happen. I called the next day and the nurse told me that the doctors only look at called in request during "their downtime." After three days of waiting for their "downtown" I finally gave up and went to another doctor who prescribed a different medication - by then my son had developed bronchitis and a more severe infection.
Oh, don't bother trying to make a complaint at DMH's Doctor's Family Practice. The receptionist will ask you to take a number and sit down. LOL That's what happened when my husband went in there to complain about their lousy service.
Does DMH's application for "Magnet Status" hospital fall into this category?
Magnet Status means extremely well qualified and experienced nurses -- something DMH does not have now.
Add to that the dangerous nurse/patient ratios - even the best nurse cannot give true quality care to 10 or 11 patients at a time - and any reasonable person would conclude that it is not safe to be a patient at DMH these days.
Can DMH "buy" this Magnet Status designation, too?
I took my 3 year old daughter to the DMH emergency room with a cough, fever (103.9), loss of appetite, vomiting, and because she slept all the time. She also cried every time we turned the lights on in her room. Went to the ER because it was a Saturday and her pediatrician (or rather the one taking call) sent us there.
A Physician's Assistant saw her and determined that she had an ear infection and prescribed an antibiotic.
Her condition worsened over the rest of the weekend. We saw her regular pediatrician on Monday and she was immediately was admitted to the hospital with pneumonia and meningitis. Oh yeah, she also had an ear infection, but that was a minor problem compared to her overall condition.
Will never again go to the DMH ER. I want my children examined THOROUGHLY by a DOCTOR who will take the time to order necessary lab work and really listen to what I have to say.
I have never taken a child (I have 4) to the emergency room before, and was horrified by the lack of concern showed by the DMH ER.
How does DMH get these awards? I am finally beginning to realize that they do indeed pay for these awards to enhance their image, but when it comes to true good care for patients, the patients lose.
Hey, JCAHO is at DMH this week, going through patient records, talking to staff members (who always have an administrator at their side while talking to these JCAHO examiners)and will determine whether or not DMH will be accredited again - meaning they will be able to get more money from Medicare and Medicaid.
How honest can employees be when there is an administrator at their sides while being interviewed by these examiners?
Wonder if JCAHO looks into financial records of the hospital, employee morale, etc.? Probably not.
Wouldn't it be nice if they would interview past and present patients to see how they feel about the care they received at DMH?
Wouldn't it be great if they looked at blogs like this one to see how people really feel about DMH?
Sadly, I think they just look at whether or not the counters are clean, there are no trash bags in the hall, and trivial stuff like that.
Am afraid DMH will again receive JCAHO's stamp of approval and add that to the list of things they can brag about.
Meanwhile patients and the citizens of Decatur receive substandard care and suffer the incompetence of DMH, it's bought and paid for doctors, understaffed floors, and the greed of administrators who care only about their own salaries and bonuses.
Too bad no one can let JCAHO know what is really going on at DMH.
C'mon. Will the FBI or other federal investigators really read these comments?
I pray that they will but am afraid that they will not see them let alone pay any attention to them.
My relative was treated by one of the two original Interventional Cardiologists that began the DMH Heart Program, who eventually left. He was replaced by another Interventional Cardiologist in 2003-2004 and lasted a year and a half. Then he left and was replaced by Dr Tansel Turgut. Does anyone know why the other two Interventional Cardiologists left and Dr Waters remained? Does anyone know where the other two fine physicians went? Are they local? They were both good in my opinion.
Read last week and saw on TV that DMH is building a new "comprehensive cancer center" across the street from the Y.
Didn't the cancer doctors (except for the radiation oncologists) leave DMH premises 10 or 15 years ago because Smithmier had his heart set on building an open heart program that the community did not need and wanted the space they occupied?
Are the medical oncologists now in the pocket of Smithmier too? I was so proud of them for having the courage to stand up to Smithmier and company.
Now I wonder. Just hope the oncologists continue to provide the outstanding care they have provided to residents of this area.
Hope they continue to do what they know is right for their patients and not let Ken run their practice.
Congratulations to Drs. Rademacher, Heim, Heimbrecht, and DiMondo for refusing to cave in to Smithmier and his cronies.
They are now affiliated with the Springfield Clinic.
Bravo! That convinced me to change doctors and get away from DMH.
Springfield Clinic, if you are listening, there is a wide open market for you here in Decatur.
Please, please, please Springfield Clinic, make your presence known here in Decatur and once again provide good care without forcing us to drive miles to get out of the greedy clutches of Ken Smithmier and the other administrators of DMH.
We deserve good care. We pay for it. We will gladly see Springfield Clinic doctors to get that good care.
With regard to the FBI:
It was proven that government servers were watching the Jacksonfile when it was the sole blog source for information on the DMH Scandal. It only stands to reason that they are watching this blog as well.
With the new investigator on the job, THEY ARE DEFINITELY watching this blog, among other places.
ATTENTION FEDERAL INVESTIGATORS:
Please finish the job soon. Our community's need for quality healthcare is being threatened by Ken Smithmier and his administration's actions. They must be stopped. If they've committed crimes, and that is fairly certain, then punish them to the full extent of the law.
short but sad and true story.
My father went to DMH ER with chest pain. He was seen by a PA and diagnosed as having heartburn, given prilosec and sent home.
19 hours, almost to the minute after DMH sent him home with "indigestion", we found him dead in bed. The coroner's ruling - death by massive myocardial infarction.
DMH ER is absolutely no place to go if you have serious health problems.
PA's see you there - not MD's.
Doctors Family Practice? What a joke.
My son, a police officer, went there because of ear pain. No fever, drainage or anything else that would indicate infection.
The brilliant diagnosis by a doctor (not born in this country) was an ear infection.
He was given an antibiotic. 2 days later after no improvement, he was seen by his own doctor. The real diagnosis? Ruptured ear drum most likely caused by the radio officers must wear on their shoulders. Absolutely no infection detected after cultures were done by his owm MD.
He was told by his own doctor that any first year medical student could have seen that ruptured ear drum simply by looking in that ear.
Quality care at DMH and its satellite facilities? What a joke!
Just more proof that if you pay off everyone (newspapers, TV, radio, politicians, city officials and so on) you can get away with anything.
There is no such thing as quality care at DMH.
Will someone please do something about this?
Everyone knows DMH is run by a group of arrogant greedy crooks who think they are above the law.
Meanwhile the people of Decatur suffer from their greed.
Question? If justice is truly served and Smithmier and friends are convicted of the crimes they have committed, will any of them ever see the inside of a jail cell? Will any of them ever have to forfeit any of the money, property, and other illgotten gains they have amassed while abusing the power they grabbed by bribing officials, forcing doctors to play by their rules, and providing substandard care to Decatur?
Will they be forced to return land that had been donated to DMH by people truly concerned about health care in this area (that they stole thanks to well paid lawyers) or will they or their families get to keep it?
Or have they managed to spread these assets out to long lost relatives or even put them in off shore accounts so the people of Decatur, the State of Illinois, the Federal Government, and insurance companies cannot get their money back or at least cut their losses?
Never again will I be impressed by so-called awards bestowed upon a hospital. Lincoln Award? Magnet Status? Means nothing if it costs the life of one person.
I can get an online degree as a minister or almost anything else if I have the money to pay for it.
It seems DMH can do the same thing.
Do they not have a conscience?
DMH has blackened the eyes of all health care providers.
We can only hope that the companies who keep choosing DMH as their preferred provider will finally see the light, realize that they are actually paying more for DMH's discounted rates, and place their contracts with another provider.
It would be cheaper for them in the long run - lower infection rates, lower readmissions for complications caused by substandard care, better preventative care, happier patients who do not feel they have to go someplace else for the quality care they are paying for.
Hey, I will personally drive the van (might take a bus) that takes Smithmier and his other administration crooks to jail.
DMH is all show - great landscaping and shiny new buildings, etc -
Too bad that what happens to real live patients inside DMH walls is extremely poor care, poor staffing, waiting hours for pain medicine, dressing changes that are not done, and so on.
My mother ended up in a nursing home because of "overwhelming infection" becauses DMH did not have enough nurses to change her dressings that were ordered by her doctors. Before her admission to DMH she was living in her own apartment, cooking and cleaning for herself, meeting friends for lunch and so on.
She died after having her leg amputated. It had developed gangrene because she did not receive good care at DMH. This was according to her doctor.
Her children and grandchildren blame DMH and especially Smithmier for her death. We miss her smile and common sense every single day.
Ken Smithmier - what is one life worth? Is it worth a mansion built on land stolen from land donated to the DMH foundation? Is it worth a 70 year old womans life?
She did not have a lot of money, but you certainly took the money from her insurance company without a second thought. Her insurance money was worth more to you than giving her the care she needed. Note I said insurance - not medicaid - she was proud that she had saved enough to take care of herself in her golden years.
Smithmier. how can you sleep at night? Do you not realize that you will have to pay for your crimes sooner or later. Either in this life or the next.
Please, federal investigators, do your job and put these criminals where they belong.
My uncle went to the DMH ER with chest pain. Like the other person who posted, my uncle was diagnosed with indigestion and sent home.
He dropped dead the next morning from a massive heart attack.
What good is their well advertised "comprehensive heart program" if people are literally dropping dead after a visit to the DMH ER?
Is the ER the problem? What's going on down there that people can't get the treatment they need.
St. Mary's ever-growing numbers of inpatients and ER visits is proof that the "quality" that DMH claims to have is only in the workmanship of the buildings they build. Providing good health care, providing a working environment conducive to keeping experienced employees, providing affordable insurance for employees, and paying administration and employed physicians in keeping with a balanced budget and national salary averages are ALL things which DMH does NOT do well.
My grandmother had open heart surgery at DMH in December.
3 weeks later she was back in the hospital with a massive infection. The incision over her breast bone actually opened and was draining huge amounts of pus.
She spent almost 4 weeks in the hospital with that infection called MRSA, receiving 3 different IV antibiotics and she had to endure painful dressing changes 2 or 3 times a day. She was sent home on IV antibiotics - actually she had to go into DMH twice a day to receive them and have her dressings changed. She just finished those antibiotics and now has to go back to see the infectious disease specialist (at DMH of course)because that is where his office is. It was quite an ordeal for her made worse by the fact that she had to go out in that freezing weather.
I have heard from several nurses who work at DMH that the heart program there has an unusually high rate of infection. They say almost all the infections are caused by a germ called MRSA - they say it is one of the "superbugs" that is resistant to all but one or 2 antibiotics. It is usually a hospital acquired infection, especially after surgery.
Doesn't DMH have an infection control nurse? If they do, why isn't she investigating this high infection rate after open heart surgery? According to my nurse friends, DMH should culture everyone who works in that department, because people can be carriers of this infection. If they do that though, DMH would have to pay for the antibiotics to treat anyone who is a carrier. It's like there are Typhoid Mary's at DMH, only in this case they are MRSA Mary's.
That would probably cut in to Ken's bottom line, though, and he might not get as big a bonus paying for healthcare that his employees need.
Quality care at DMH? Now that is a true oxymoron like House Ethics Committee, Pentagon Intelligence, and so on.
DMH is right to say that "Drive Time is Life Time" only the fine prnt shoud read "Drive 30 or 40 miles if you value your life and want to have surgery performed by experienced surgeons and be cared for by experienced nurses. Your life is at stake."
give the nurses at dmh a break. we have to work some where. the nurses i work with are professional and dedicated. we do our best to give all our many patient's the best and safest care. do i wish i had less patient's------you bet i do. so please remember when you are trashing the dmh staff thst we are trying to make the best of being understaffed and overworked. no one i know comes to work with the plan to give you or your family poor or incompetent care. we work in health care because we care and are trying to make things better for our patients.
Your point is taken, but I think what the others are pointing out is that everyone has their limits despite their good intentions.
No one is trashing the DMH staff. It is administration that is to blame for the poor quality of care at DMH these days. I work there, too. I agree that every day I go into work with every intention of providing the best quality of care I can to my patients. It is why I went into nursing. Unfortunately, administration makes it impossible. We are forced to take care of sicker patients with fewer staff. The patients suffer because of poor staffing.
Linda Fahey, the vice president of nursing, has told the nurses that "Nursing hasn't changed in 20 years." News flash for Linda - it has changed dramatically. I challenge her to come out of her office, take a full case load just like she makes the nurses do, provide quality care to everyone and still say that nursing hasn't changed in 20 years.
Why do I think this will never happen?
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