READ THIS February 13, 2013 State of California Department of Health Services                                        

                                                                                                                        February 13, 2013

757 Metropolitan Dr. Suite 104

San Diego, CA 92108 (619) 278-3700

The letter below was hand delivered by me and mailed to Palomar Medical Center on February 7, 2013. I have had no response from Palomar and have been notified today, February 13, 2013 that on the 15^th of February my mother, Ione will be moved to custodial care status. This is a direct result of the fact that she is still not able to eat solid food because her new dentures are too painful to wear.  Please open a grievance for our case.

Palomar Medical Center                                                                                      February 6, 2013

2585 Citracado Parkway,
Escondido, CA 92029 (442) 281-1006

The purpose of this letter is to list the various actions that the Palomar Medical Center either took or failed to take that have resulted in the continuity of her residence and earned benefits being placed in jeopardy, and to ask for compensation.

In summary, she has recently been evaluated as failing to show progress and we see this circumstance as being a direct result of her inability to eat or speak normally due to the loss of her teeth at the negligent hands of Palomar hospital system and employees. The resulting weakness and embarrassment, in addition to her coping with the underlying difficulties actually attributable to her stroke, have confounded the chance for any objective evaluation at a very critical juncture.

We demand that Palomar compensate Ione in the event that she loses benefits or residence.

In specific:

The impact that the negligence and inhumanity that Palomar Medical Center imposed on my mother, Ione  (89 yr. old, 2 stroke survivor) has now further adversely impacted her ability to recover.  She has suffered greatly in probably more ways that I can describe. But, I have to do my best, as I am now her spokesperson; she had a stroke in November 2012 that left her with speech and cognitive difficulties. 

Palomar Medical Center threw away her dentures (that were soaking in the sink in an open, hospital supplied denture cup) on December 29^th, 2012. This has been stipulated by your own employees and you have agreed to replace them. This has since had further impact on her life. As a result of that loss, the Skilled Nursing Facility is reporting that she is not able to make progress. What that means is that she is in jeopardy of losing her benefits and her chance to recover to the best of her ability. 

Since she was not able to eat regular food for 30 days, she lost a lot of weight, about 20 pounds. With that weight loss, she lost strength and muscle.  With that loss of strength she was unable to participate in Physical and Occupational Therapies at the same level she was before the hospital stay.  I would have to say she was neither able to meaningfully participate in speech therapy as she was upset and depressed and inhibited from speaking clearly due to the absence of teeth. It impacted her self-esteem and confidence.  It took 30 days for her to receive her new dentures and now she is in day 5 and her mouth is full of sores (as the teeth are not completely fitted) and she continues to give up on eating due to this continued difficulty.

I contacted Deborah LaG. (442-281-2222) and advised her that I needed the Medical Center to expedite the replacement of the dentures and that someone at Palomar needed to apologize to my mother. I also requested a letter showing that some action was taken so that this does not occur again. I have heard from many other sources that this inhumane catastrophe happens all the time. I have not received any correspondence from anyone at Palomar Medical Center since.  And I did fill out and return the survey that was sent to us asking about our experience at the hospital in the mail.

It took until January 2^nd for Diane from Palomar to call me to tell me I needed to get someone to give Palomar a quote to replace the dentures. I said no, I am not going to do anything, you do it. I did not throw them away. I have enough to deal with outside of the denture disaster.

This has been a MAJOR inconvenience for the patient, and the entire family. We have had to suffer along with her, trying to find alternatives for her diet and constantly worrying if she was getting adequate nutrition to sustain life.  Which in most cases she was not receiving anything other than yogurt, and a few bites of oatmeal daily. We suspect that organ failure may have begun, but that hasn’t been confirmed medically. There were other issues that we suffered during the hospital stay at Palomar Medical Center; such as:

• The Emergency room physician, Dr. Leb., gave a cavalier diagnosis of COPD without performing an examination. The actual diagnosis found later was pneumonia.
• Dr. G., dismissed a request to consult with a respiratory specialist and suggesting hospice prior to understanding the cause of the respiratory problem. 
• It was finally, after the family insisted to Dr. H., that Dr. B. was brought on board and he discovered Ione, the patient, had pneumonia.
• Moving a STROKE patient (very disorienting) from the 7^th floor to the 8^th floor without notifying the family. Did I mention the document I have says it happened at midnight?
• At discharge, the nurse did not read the discharge order to continue IV antibiotics and she removed the IV. This required that a very fragile elderly patient had to in endure another IV insertion, which had to be delayed for an “expert” due the condition she was in at discharge.
• Repeatedly, after the move to the 8^th floor, the hospital caregivers in direct contact with the patient showed an unacceptably low level of concern for what was actually in front of them and were clearly more interested in processing the patient through as if her advanced age gave them license to ignore an adequate standard of care. 

The result is that she has been handicapped even further in an environment in which she has to demonstrate performance in order to survive. What is the hospital willing to do to compensate Ione for the dis-service they have caused in her life?

If she loses her Medicare benefits because of your negligence then the least you can do is provide compensation in same amount and a premium room with full comparable care, until her current skilled nursing facility has a long term room available. 

I will look to hear from someone within 5 business days. After that time I will need to take further action.

Sincerely,

NOTE: I have since received two letter from Palomar saying they are looking into this and they need 30 days. we don't have 30 days!!!!