PHYSICIAN

I was contacted on July 27th by a female who had just lost her mother in the past week. She provided details of mistakes the physician and hospital staff made. I gave her information on the physician which included at least TWO wrongful death lawsuits filed against him in the past. (PUBLIC RECORD) Although the outcome of those lawsuits is unclear. This victim asked that I post this to make others aware. I am sure the identity of this hospital where this took place should be obvious.

AUGUST MEETING

I have planned a meeting the middle of August in reference to Abilene Regional Medical Center. If any of you have experienced problems with this hospital or know someone who has, please feel free to attend. Please email me at: gnr99a@hotmail.com and I will send more information. You do not have to share your experience. However, I will have forms from certain agencies that need to be completed if you choose to do so. I highly recommend this as you can remain anonymous.

STATE OF TEXAS HUGE MISTAKE IN 2003

Click on the following link and see how the medical malpractice cap in the State of Texas is placing the innocent people in Texas in danger. I am against frivilous lawsuits. However, this law is hurting innocent victims and families while physicians and hospitals that constantly make fatal errors are protected. This law which was passed in 2003 needs to be changed. Please read the story of Logan. It is a shame physicians and hospitals can get by with this.


http://www.crocswithsocsrocs.com/ind...es/Page539.htm

As a result, the state of Texas is flooded with physicians applying for a license to practice in the state of Texas. The reason, it is almost impossible to be sued. This is the reason the physicians at Abilene Regional Medical Center were quick to verbally yell at me when I asked a question, laugh, then ignore our questions leading up the death of our mother.

I don't believe it makes the State of Texas a safe place knowing thousands of doctors are applying to practice here just so they can avoid being sued. It is not unlike thousands of fugitives heading to Mexico to avoid prosecution.

HOW ARMC COMPARES TO OTHER HOSPITALS

How ARMC Compares to other hospitals:

Percent of Surgery Patients Who Received Treatment To Prevent Blood Clots Within 24 Hours Before or After Selected Surgeries to Prevent Blood Clots

Average for all reporting hospitals in the US: 75%
Abilene Regional 65%

Percent of Surgery Patients Whose Doctors Ordered Treatments to Prevent Blood Clots (Venous Thromboembolism) For Certain Types of Surgeries

Average for all reporting hospitals in the US: 79%
Abilene Regional Medical Center 67%

Percent of Surgery Patients Whose Preventative Antibiotic(s) are Stopped Within 24 hours After SurgeryThe rates displayed in this graph are from data reported for discharges July 2006 through June 2007.

Average for all reporting hospitals in the US: 78%
Abilene Regional Medical Center 63%

This information is from the Compare Hospitals website.

ARMC PHYSICIAN

One of the physicians involved in this case sent me a certified letter last year. He said he would meet with me under the following conditions:
1. I would be alone.
2. No notes taken.
3. No audio devices.
4. No video devices.
5. He could have an attorney present.
6. No other physicians present.
7. This would be the one and only meeting.
8. Absolutely no information shared with news media.
I will have this letter scanned and displayed on this blog. Of course, for now the name would be blacked out until I release all the names later.

ABILENE REPORTER NEWS

The editor of the Abilene Reporter News appears to be faithful to Abilene Regional Medical Center. Barton Cromeens has sent me numerous emails threatening to ban me from the Reporter News website if I posted a link to my blog again. However, on July 22nd at 11:49am, a comment was posted and listed a personal website. It has not been removed. Mr. Cromeens needs to do us all a favor and edit and proof the stories before they are printed and worry less about making some of his big shot buddies mad at him.

Can you trust YOUR doctor????

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/072008dnmetmesdoctor.39b31fe.html


This was in the online edition of the Dallas Morning News on July 20, 2008. This doctor had been accused of these actions before and very little was done to stop him. I believe his license should be suspended the first time he is found guilty.

Another blog

Here is a link to a blog that was started earlier this week.

http://bigcountryhomepage.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=11

Here is a post from that blog:

Thank you. I have contacted several local news stations. Problem is, locally they are real particular in reporting on "touchy" subjects. It is as though they don't want to make "certain" people mad at them. For instance, awhile back the SWAT team was called to a residence on South 14th Street. A young man was inside with weapons. He should have been arrested earlier but the police gave him a ride to his parents house. He was supposedly drunk and high on drugs and called his employer, ABILENE REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER, and made some type of threat. That is why the SWAT team was called. He eventually surrendered. The odd thing about the story is, the news media would not identify the young man. Could it be because his father is a PHYSICIAN AT ABILENE REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER?????? This young man also worked in a department at Abilene Regional Medical Center that deals directly with patients. He was employed there when my mother was there and I am attempting to find out if he had any contact with her. According to publicdata.com, this man has a lenghty criminal history. It appears ARMC does not run criminal history reports on applicants, or maybe they don't care. The young lady in the medical records department, that has received NUMEROUS complaints, also has a criminal history. IT IS ALL PUBLIC RECORD.

ABILENE REPORTER NEWS

On Tuesday July 15, 2008, the Abilene Reporter News ran a story about Hendrick Medical Center. A portion of the story mentioned Abilene Regional Medical Center. A part of that story is:

Abilene Regional Medical Center issued an e-mail response when contacted about comparable reports. Mike Murphy, chief executive officer, stated that the medical center is committed to providing quality care. (Photo on the right)
"We appreciate the opportunity to compare our quality scores with state and national benchmarks so we continuously improve the care we provide," Murphy wrote. "Now, through Web sites such as Hospital Compare, the public can utilize the information posted as one key measure in choosing a hospital for their care."

I commented on Mike Murphy's outrageous comment about being committed to providing quality care in the blog section at the end of the story. Within minutes, the story was no longer on the main page. The next day, on Wednesday, I contacted the editor of the ARN and asked why the story had been removed. He responded by email:

Gary,

The story is still there. The comment - I just removed after it was flagged by more than one reader.

http://www.reporternews.com/news/2008/jul/15/hendrick-launches-web-site-to-promote-quality/

The story is not on the homepage. It is on the local news page. Other stories have moved into the spot that this one originally sat in.

I know that you have a campaign going regarding healthcare.

Reporternews.com isn't the place for that campaign or your blogspot. Almost anytime healthcare comes up you bring up Regional. Consider it off topic. Continued posting will result in having you banned from the site.

Please consider our word final on what the Reporter-News and reporternews.com can do for you.

Barton Cromeens
Editor
Abilene Reporter-News

Barton stated: "Almost anytime healthcare comes up you bring up Regional."
Mr. Cromeens, your story mentioned REGIONAL. It was already there. I simply commented on Mike Murphy's comments.
The Reporternews would like to stop any negative comments regarding ARMC. If any of you have read some of the blogs, you have seen how hateful and mean some of them can be. Funny thing is, I get threatened with being banned from the site because of my comments about Abilene Regional.

ANOTHER RECENT VICTIM OF ARMC

HOW MANY VICTIMS IS IT GOING TO TAKE TO STOP THIS HOSPITAL???????


My mom too was treated badly at ARMC, which within a month led to her death, she was admitted with a blood clot in her leg, did not get her meds that were prescribed for a couple of days. To make a long story short she ended up with septicimia and altered mental status that is believed to be caused by "a lag time in oxygen" after 3 weeks in the hospital I was told that even if they could heal her septic condition that her mind would never be the same again, so I chose to put her in hospice, that was the hardest decision I have ever had to make! That hospital needs to be shut down!!!!

ANOTHER VICTIM

Well, I had been debating about starting a thread about this "joint", but you have opened the door for me, gnreed! I'm about to let it fly!!First, let me thank God for nothing this severe hurting us, and I feel sadness for the families of these victims. I will now site some things that have happened to us.About two years ago, my wife was ill with "something". I didn't know what. She was out of it, and not feeling well. I took her to ARMC e.r. All the would do is say she had an upper respiratory ailment, and wanted to send her home, and her totally out of it.I had to make them mad, which is no hard thing to do, to do a flu test. They swabbed her nose, and sure enough, she had a sever flu virus!! They sent us home with some flu meds, and she finally got over it. The fools should have tested her for flu FIRST, then asked questions later. Some smart cracks were made by a nurse about us having to live in an apartment. The dialogue of that, I cannot remember at this late date.Last fall, she fell in the bathroom, and taking coumadin, it caused a hematoma of the kidney. It took us two more runs to the e.r. for them to finally do a CT scan to find this. "Bruised ribs" was the malpractice "diagnosis" they first sent us home with. She could have easily died! It was my concern and not giving up that saved her life.June 13th, I needed X-rays of my neck. I have hearing conditions known as tinnitus (ringing noises in the ears) and hyperacusis, an abnormal sensitivity to sound. When I walked in the X-ray room, the tech practically took my head off and snapped, Well, what are we supposed to do?! She didn't even have sense enough to read the requisition from my physician. The next thing she did was DEMAND that I remove my ear plugs that I have wear to prevent my hearing problems from being worsened by loud noises.She would not listen to me when I told her I have these problems.I made the big mistake of cooperating, and to this day, my tinnitus has been much louder and disruptive to my life! I am some better, but will probably hear the scars from the loud noises of her banging those X-ray plates in my ears, for the rest of my life. She also got hateful with me because I have limited jaw rom, and could not open my jaw fully to suit her. This made her make me lie down which is hard to do with a hiatal hernia, more discomfort, more injurious noises to my ears. This incident is under investigation by the accredidation people.This past week, my wife became violently ill, we think now, from eating a can of mercury-infested tuna, sold right off the shelves of a prominent store on S. 14th.The first time to the e.r., they did pretty well, but after I took her back home, she got ill again. She has heart problems, and it scared me so I again, at nearly 3a.m., dialed 911. When we got there, we shouldn't have. The first thing the Dr. did was come in there and jump all over us for not filling a phenegren Rx at 2:30 in the a.m. I had to get her home, she was ill. I couldn't let her sit out in the car and throw up all over it in her grave discomfort. She needed to be in bed, not sitting for an hour in a car waiting for a Rx to be filled. She was already full of a phenergen IV Rural Metro had given her. Next, this "lady" came in that types in info on a computer in the e.r. She DEMANDED a valid reason for us returning. My wife told her she was still ill. This "lady" then turned around slowly and glared down her nose at me, not saying a word. I came unwound! I told her LOOK! MY WIFE IS A HEART PATIENT! I AM NOT GOING TO LET HER LAY IN OUR BED VIOLENTLY ILL AND NOT HAVE HER CHECKED OUT!! JUST LET HER LAY IN OUR BED AND DIE!! She said nothing more to me.I can site other examples of our being treated hatefully by this group. During the kidney injury last fall, they were catheterizing my wife. I simply asked the young lady why they were. She took my head off at the neckline. I AM ONLY FOLLOWING ORDERS!! This same little twit got smart with me on another e.r. visit when she was loading my wife into the car. She told me in so many words I should be out there doing that, not her. I told her "That is your job. They aren't paying me to load patients for this hospital!" I later wrote a letter of complaint to the head admin, but of course, no reply. Yeah, right!So, gnreed, that is but a small sampling of our very unpleasant visits to this ARMC e.r. Every single time we deal with that place, it results in them being hateful to us, or some very unpleasant occurrence, i.e., my hearing being hurt. Thanks for opening the door for me to let it out about this cold, heartless medical facility.IMO, they closed the wrong hospital, West Texas. I just pray it can be re-opened one day. We live farther away from Hendrick than ARMC, only reason we use it. But henceforth, if we aren't dealing with life & death, we should start using HMC.Again, my heartfelt thanks for exposing what has been covered up long enough.

MORE OF THESE WILL BE POSTED AS I RECEIVE PERMISSION TO DO SO.

EMAIL RECEIVED FROM ARMC VICTIM

I am so sorry to learn of what happened to you folks. That is tragic and was very preventable. That sounds so typical of ARMC. I'm afraid it's getting that way with a lot of hospitals all over the country.
I feel there is never room for rudeness or much less shouting at a patient or family member, but it should be just the opposite-caring, compassion, kind words. I can sure relate to the rudeness as my long post indicates.
I do hope their attorney is right, that they can one day, get that mess cleaned out. There needs to be a major league house-cleaning come off at their facility. We need two hospitals, really three, and I would rather see them clean up their act as to have to shut down.
Thanks for the e-mail address. I can't add much, but can re-tell what happened. The last e-mail I got from the accreditation (sp?) thing was they were on it, but weren't sure it fell in their area. That's been several weeks ago. So, my deal is/has also been under investigation.
This is ironic! My late mom passed away in their sister hospital, Brownwood Regional back in 1990. There was a case of negligence there as well. It is all foggy by now, but it had something to do with them not emptying her foley as they should have. She was in bad shape and was going to pass on anyway, but we will always feel that was hastened just a bit. All we got out of that was a free meal from an administrator! We had already consulted an Abilene attorney, and was told it wouldn't be worth all the pain of reliving all of that and not really get a penny. We didn't press charges.

ARMC EMERGENCY ROOM DEATH

Within the past two weeks, a female entered the emergency room at Abilene Regional Medical Center with symptoms of a stroke. Evidently, she spent several hours in the waiting room, never received medical attention, and died. If anyone knows this lady or a relative, please contact me.
The 75 year old emergency room physician at ARMC may have not had enough time to get to her.

PATIENT SAFETY AND QUALITY HEALTHCARE

ARMC CEO MIKE MURPHY, WHY DO YOU ALLOW THIS AT YOUR HOSPITAL?????


Acts that interfere with patient care
Medical intimidation can encompass behaviors that range from verbal insults to physical assault, say researchers who've studied the problem for years. The broad category includes the following specific behaviors, outlined in a medical safety journal.
— Profane or disrespectful language
— Demeaning behavior, such as name-calling
— Sexual comments or innuendo
— Inappropriate touching, sexual or otherwise
— Racial or ethnic jokes
— Outbursts of anger
— Throwing instruments, charts or other objects
— Criticizing other caregivers in front of patients or other staff
— Comments that undermine a patient's trust in other caregivers or the hospital
— Comments that undermine a caregiver's self-confidence in caring for patients
— Failure to adequately address safety concerns or patient care needs expressed by another caregiver
— Intimidating behavior that suppresses input by other members of the healthcare team
— Deliberate failure to adhere to organizational policies without evidence to support an alternative
— Retaliation against any member of the health care team who has reported a violation to the code of conduct or who has participated in an investigation of an incident
From Patient Safety & Quality Healthcare

THIS NEWS ARTICLE IS A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF ARMC PHYSICIANS

Hospital bullies take a toll on patient safety
Bad behavior by doctors and others undercuts morale, leads to errors
On MSNBC.com now: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25594124/

I am encouraged by the emails I have received from other physicians. It is comforting to know there are excellant and caring doctors out there. As in any profession, a few bad ones tarnish the reputations of the others.

It is still hard to believe a physician, such as the one at Abilene Regional Medical Center, could yell at a family member when one of their parents is about to die. It is also hard to believe a hospital could totally ignore questions a family has.

The simple explanation is: The physician KNEW a FATAL MISTAKE was made. His natural reaction was to yell and act like it was OUR fault.

The attorney for ARMC contacted me for the second time several weeks ago. I will go into more detail about that conversation later.

ABILENE REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER PHYSICIAN

A 75 YEAR OLD PHYSICIAN ADMINISTERED CYCLOPENTOLATE THAT HE THOUGHT WAS AN ANESTHETIC TO A 2-YEAR OLD FOR THE REMOVAL OF AN ITEM LODGED IN THE PATIENT'S NOSTRIL.

ONE OF MANY CONTINUOUS ERRORS OF ARMC PHYSICIANS.

PHYSICIANS VS PHYSICIANS

After the staff and physicians made the fatal mistake at Abilene Regional Medical Center, the physicians took turns taking verbal shots at the other physicians. Of course, we had to chase them down for them to even talk to us, but when they did, the physicians acted like criminals, WASN'T ME. IT WAS HIM. The infectious disease physician, who for some reason, acts like an expert on lawsuits, stated, "It was Dr. (Hendrick Physician) fault." He is the one you need to go after." This same physician during one of his lawsuit speeches in our mother's CCU room stated, "I don't know why Dr. (ARMC PHYSICIAN) yelled at you the way he did. I know he has had alot of complaints. They (ARMC) need to do something with him."
When we contacted Dr. (Hendrick Physician) he stated, "I hear they are blaming me for this and that pisses me off." This went on for weeks until her death in August 2007. There is more, alot more. Stay tuned. It gets worse.
As I have mentioned many times on this blog, other families have reported similiar experiences at this hospital. I am confident things are about to change.