Originally Posted At: Coalition Against HMO & Insurance Abuse
After all the following occured, I contacted the Rockledge Police Department, I found out there were 22 theft complaints against Wuesthoff so far this year. A few were things like car theft, but many had similar complaints to this one. When will someone investigate them? Karen Davila, Vice President of Wuesthoff Health Systems, has threatened me with libel if I tell my story. Well, this story is true, so here it is. Truth is not libel!
My mother, Mary Lucas, 72, was gravely ill and also suffered from dementia and was in Wuesthoff hospital in Rockledge, FL, Brevard County, for about a month through December (2002). During her stay, she had a battery of tests and was moved from one room and section to another many times. They made a fortune off of her from Medicare and Medicaid.
They never did tell us why she was so ill. Anyway, during the moves, various things disappeared. Items lost and not located in lost and found included all her clothing, her jewelry, gifts bought for her while she was ill in the hospital, and both her upper and lower dentures. I was in to visit her to sign a permission sheet for a heart procedure, and she had both dentures in at that time.
How do I know? They brought her supper to her while I was there, and she could not eat. I thought she needed to put her teeth in and was going to assist her, and she showed them to me but she was too ill to eat. It was at that time I noticed all her belongings were GONE! She was in a bare room with nothing but her gown. No clothing in the closet, nothing of hers in her room except her and her teeth.
My brother, Lloyd, assisted her at discharge and is a witness. At the time, the staff had to get clothes and shoes out of lost and found for her to wear home. At that time the staff that was present insisted the hospital was not responsible for missing items. They intimidated my family so much they just left without a struggle. When I heard about this, I got furious.
A friend of mine had the same thing happen to her husband (they lost his denture) and she suggested I take in an estimate since she was reimbursed for her dead husband’s denture. He died before he could get his impressions and she still received a check from Wuesthoff. When Kathy called Karen to complain about the treatment we got there, Karen told her that she should not have cashed the check if her husband had died! The nerve!
I went to the hospital in December of 2002 and was sent to four different offices before I found a person responsible for reimbursement. I did not want payment for anything except for the lost dentures at the time since my mother was in a nursing home and on social security (and medicaid will not pay for dentures anymore, thank you Jeb), and so there was no way she could afford to replace them. I did tell Karen Davila at that time that all her stuff was missing at discharge, but at the time I was not worried about the rest of it. She claims to be deaf about that part.
So, I hand delivered a written estimate for $1000 from Atlantic Denture Clinic to replace her teeth to Karen L. Davila, at 321-636-2211 ext 1509. She later wrote that the fact that the estimate was hand written by a business started by a deceased dentist made us suspect–hinting to people we were trying to pull something over the hospital…well, a lot of businesses have lost the original owner and are still operating…Wal-mart, for example. Much to her credit, Karen made sure that a check was written to that clinic to replace the teeth, acknowledging their responsibility for the loss (she later writes that she had the check written out of pity and not because of responsibility).
So, with a way to pay for her lost teeth, We scheduled and canceled many appointments to take my mother into the denture clinic because she was too ill to keep them. My brother and I finally got her to Atlantic Denture Clinic a week or so before she died, but my mom was being difficult that day. We could not get impressions, but left the check with them since we were going to try it again the next week. Unfortunately, my mother died (Wednesday) before that appointment.
The Monday following her death, I collected the check from Atlantic Denture Clinic (I had gone Friday but they were closed) and I went to Karen Davilla’s office and quietly told the receptionist that my mom passed away last Wednesday, and was it possible for a new check to be reissued to my father. The receptionist went back to Karen who I overheard explaining the situation, and suddenly, instead of inviting me into her office and sitting with her at her desk, instead of quietly explaining policy is such and such, instead she yelled at me from maybe 15 feet away that she was sorry for my loss but that she would not reimburse my father because my mother had died and no longer needed teeth. Then I heard her tell her secretary to take back the check, and at that point I left the office, since that check was proof that they acknowledged the loss and their responsibility to pay for it.
Well, this was just too much. I had just lost my mom, who I was with when she passed and even had to close her eyes afterwards; the Thursday before, I lost my mother-in-law who I had been taking care of since her stroke in January of 2002, and was with her when she passed; a week before that, a person I cared alot about passed away, and a week before that, my brother-in-law, only 38 years old, was tragically unrecognizably mangled in a tractor trailer accident, not his fault. After all this, I get treated this way. I told her I will tell people about this and she did not care.
I filed complaints with every consumer group and person I could think of, and then I decided to create this web site so no one else ever has to go through this–the reason is that no newspaper or reporter or television action teams would touch the story. My guess is Wuesthoff is a big advertising client and no one would break this story. No satisfaction has ever been received. But as word gets out, maybe someone will be spared the living hell we went through thanks to the vice president of Wusthoff Hospital.
Karen still refuses to reissue a check reimbursing my mother’s estate for the teeth they lost. She is hinting that we are trying to rip off the hospital to those who call or otherwise contact her in protest to this action of hers. I discovered that she was considering implementing a policy that all patients have to sign a document stating that anything that is lost is not their responsibility. Who reads all the stuff you have to sign at admission!!! And, an attorney told me that she can do this.
This is legal, but not ethical or moral by any means. My mother had dementia, and someone took advantage of this. This incident also raises a question of patient safety. Anyone can walk in and hurt a patient if all her belongings can vanish.
Sure, there is no value to teeth, except to the one who lost them. Without teeth, gums get extremely sore from trying to eat. All meals must be mashed up. We had to do a Heimlich on her several times because she almost choked to death. Great way to live. She lived that way for 3 months.
Non- the-less, my point is this. A hospital is full of sick people, many of them drugged and sleeping. Some are unconscious. For many tests, things such as teeth must be removed.
Thieves will have an open opportunity to steal and the hospital won’t be responsible for that if Karen makes everyone sign this new form she is considering. The form includes anything– teeth, walkers, glass eyes, prosthetics, anything missing will not be the responsibility of the hospital. Is this right?
My mom lost everything… the four silk flower arrangements I took to her over the month valued at $15-22 each; her clothing she came in with; a ceramic bear with a dress I paid $20 for; a $60 ceramic doll I bought her since she collected them; her shoes; a guardian angel pin I brought for her; at least 4 live flower and vase arrangements I bought from the gift shop at the hospital, and her watch and rings. None of these items were in lost and found, and thus assumed thrown away or stolen by someone, whether employees or visitors to the other patient in her room.
Also, there are moral and ethical issues here. She promised me that if the hospital lost her stuff, they would certainly be responsible for it. That is why after she investigated my moms records, she issued a check. Now she won’t take responsibility. This is a consumer issue. If this comes out publicly, maybe we will hear from dozens or more people who this also happened to at this facility and how often hey are getting away with it. I gave up on getting a check for my father, her husband. Karen made it clear she will not give in and reimburse us. But I won’t give up on warning people about this problem.
I just want word out that people may wish to use another facility in Brevard County if they don’t want the possibility of this happening to them, too. This new document Karen wants all admissions to sign gives thieves a free reign, and the hospital a way to not take responsibility for their facilities actions. And please, do not make the mistake we made… call the police to the hospital or nursing home if your items are missing. We just did not think of doing that. It would have made our case a lot easier.
We are not stupid. We did not bring in valuables like gold bars, diamonds, stacks of money, etc. But you would expect your teeth and the clothes you came with to be there at discharge, am I right?
By the way, I sent a letter to the board of directors and the President of Wuesthoff regarding this whole situation, and neither had the decency of a response. What great people to be working in the health related industry and with people.
I am so disgusted with Wuesthoff and their administration. Are you?
Arthur C. Lucas, Jr.
