My mom just got turned down

Well, to start off, my mom has been having severe back problems after she had a siezure 3 days ago. Well, tonignt we took her up to the Emergency Room at our local hospital. Well, they kept her for 20 minutes and my mom came back out. She had been denied hospital services because we dont have $100 for some sort of insurance! They also said that they dont consider a dislocated spine (suspected) a medical emergency! I believe her spine is dislocated because 2 days ago she was loading our dishwasher and she suddenly stopped for 5 minutes. She just stood there. After that she said that she couldnt breath for the first minute and the rest of the time she was paralyzed. Now she has extreme pressure in her back. UGH that doctor gets on my nerves!

Your mom dosent have health insurance??? :confused:

That seems a little odd, especially since she has epilepsy, and the medications alone cost hundreds of dollars a month!

I'm sorry for your mom. Sorry she was refused treatment at the hospital.

How sad. She should call her own doctor's office - assuming she has one - and most doctor's answering machines have the number to call for immediate assistance if needed, or they have an answering service that will page the doctor and get back to you.

Considering she has epilepsy and can't work, it's very odd that she doesn't have any kind of medical coverage, disability or medicaid.

Is she applying for anything like medicaid? She can apply for emergency assistance, and your family can apply for food stamps as well.

How are your asthma medication(s) paid for if there isn't any medical insurance?

Mom and dad really need to look into assistance.

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Originally Posted by jenn_librarian

Considering she has epilepsy and can't work, it's very odd that she doesn't have any kind of medical coverage, disability or medicaid.

Is she applying for anything like medicaid? She can apply for emergency assistance, and your family can apply for food stamps as well.

How are your asthma medication(s) paid for if there isn't any medical insurance?

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Yep, she has a lawyer trying to get her on meticade. I only have to take Cingular for my asthma, the same with my mom. I dont know how my dad pays for it.

Hee hee - Reggie, the asthma medicine is spelled Singulair - you spelled it like the phone company! ;)

I take Singulair as well, and it's not cheap, so I am always glad I have my insurance.

Yeah, I dont take Singulair, but I take Advair, which is pretty much the same thing, and yes it is very expensive.

My SIL Has epilepsy, and her medications would cost her roughly 400$ a month if she didnt have insurance.

The hospital I use told me they MUST treat you in the ER even though you have no insurance. I just called them to ask, out of curiosity. They told me it's the law.

You can download the forms for Social Security Disabilty and do the paperwork yourself. I didn't need a lawyer. Your mom is in worse shape than me and it only took a few months. Praying she feels better..bad backs are awful. Hopefully things will work out for you guys soon.

Make sure Reggie gives her tons of kisses to cheer her up!

By law, hospitals are not supposed to refuse treatment to anyone.

This is why I want to just smack some of the people I work with... we just negotiated a new contract for the next 3 years and they had a fit that we have to pay $20 a pay starting next school year for medical, Rx and dental. Our Rx plan costs us $10. a script, for up to 90 days worth. I swear they have no idea what it's like in regular workworld (I was there before, was without insurance before as well). Granted it was a lower co-pay before, and it when I started in the district we paid $8 a pay, and $5. for Rxs, but still, we still have a great plan now. I guess some people complain no matter what... sigh.

I hope that something works out for your family with the medical coverage. I know we can always make due when it comes to food (heck, I can live on grilled cheese, lol), but medical many times cannot be compromised.

That is horrible! And I really hope your mom doesn't have a dislocated spine..I can't imagine how awkward and painful that could feel. I hope something can be done to help her. Sometimes I think of hospitals so lowly because of the stupid decisions they make sometimes.

My hospital here is one of those hospitals that almost does more harm to people than good. Whenever I need to go to the hospital or outpatients for any reason, I drive a half hour just to go to a different and better hospital.

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Originally Posted by K9karen

You can download the forms for Social Security Disabilty and do the paperwork yourself. I didn't need a lawyer.

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Well, my mom has been turned down twice for a reason i do not know. Thats why we hired a lawyer.

She needs to go to another hospital possibly?? Some hospitals can not turn you down. :(

Do you have a health department there? With her medical problems, she needs medicaid or something like that. Is she legally on disability? I'm pretty sure she can get some type of help. Tell her to check into it.

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Originally Posted by Daisy and Delilah

She needs to go to another hospital possibly?? Some hospitals can not turn you down. :(

Do you have a health department there? With her medical problems, she needs medicaid or something like that. Is she legally on disability? I'm pretty sure she can get some type of help. Tell her to check into it.

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Well, our hospital, by law, cannot turn a patient down because of money. My mom has a lawyer trying to get her on medicaid because she has been turned down twice. I dont know why.

Reggie,

I'm glad your Mom has a lawyer. Trying to get Social Security Disability Benefits is a long process. It takes 5 months from the time you apply and they get all of her medical records, for them to decide whether or not she qualifies. My guess is that she does.

There are different types of hospitals. County hospitals have to take you, private ones don't really. Country hospitals deal with low income, Medicaid and people who have no insurance.

I know it took forever for my father to get approved for disability a few years ago. He's got macular degeneration, and has slowly gone blind (he's got the dry kind where the blood vessels dry up in the eye leaving large black spots). At this point he has practically no vision, can't drive or anything like that, or read anymore. He's got a a tape recorder thing that he can play special tapes on from the blind assoc. and also a special viewer for the TV, but he said even that doesn't do much. He really had to fight to get disability, so it's good your mom has a lawyer helping her out. It's a long and frustrating process.

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Originally Posted by jenn_librarian

I know it took forever for my father to get approved for disability a few years ago. He's got macular degeneration, and has slowly gone blind (he's got the dry kind where the blood vessels dry up in the eye leaving large black spots). At this point he has practically no vision, can't drive or anything like that, or read anymore. He's got a a tape recorder thing that he can play special tapes on from the blind assoc. and also a special viewer for the TV, but he said even that doesn't do much. He really had to fight to get disability, so it's good your mom has a lawyer helping her out. It's a long and frustrating process.

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O, thats bad. Im sorry to hear that about your dad

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Originally Posted by Marigold2

There are different types of hospitals. County hospitals have to take you, private ones don't really. Country hospitals deal with low income, Medicaid and people who have no insurance.

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The hospital we went to was our county hospital. I dont even think there is a private hospital in our county.

:mad: :( I'm so angry and sad that your mom has to struggle to get deserved health care. Don't even want to get started on that subject. Been through it with my parents, through a lawyer. What a shame. Hope your mom is feeling better. Praying for good things to come her way.

Well, now my mom has virtually lost use of her right arm because of her back.:(

Hmmm....I wonder if she and your dad would contact the newspaper...having her story in there is also a great way to speed things up. They should ask your mom's lawyer on this.

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Originally Posted by Reggie

Well, now my mom has virtually lost use of her right arm because of her back.:(

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At this point I would try another hospital!!

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Originally Posted by critter crazy

At this point I would try another hospital!!

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Our hospital is the local hospital for almost all the counties surrounding us, and the next nearest hospital is close to Atlanta and we cant travel that far. Its not that our car is not reliable its that we couldnt afford gas to get all the way down there. And my dad is spreading this story all over the web.

Take it from one who knows...your mom probably suffered nerve or disc damage. She must get to a doctor. Seriously, not to scare you, but I almost became paralysed. Can you call the hospital and find out from admissions or accounting WHY she wasn't admitted in an emergency, even without insurance? How much more seriously ill does she have to get? Man Oh Man! This whole thing SUCKS big time. I'm so distressed for you. *Tears*

Collin - I hope your dad and the lawyer can get some answers from the hospital! I hope your lawyer can DO something for your mom.