I just read through 63 page of a report from the General Accounting Office concerning dialysis facilities, conducted in 2002, and the findings are scary. It just reinforces the need for patients to play an active role in their care.
For anyone who hasn’t seen the report and would like to read over it, you can find it here.
I’d be darned, but maybe that’s why some clinics rather not have educated patients in their clinics…they’d rather have patients who don’t know anything. Perhaps that’s why its hard to enforce the regulations…
P.S. Check this out! http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060526/ap_on_he_me/surgeon_s_blood
Gus wrote:
[b]P.S. Check this out! http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060526/ap_on_he_me/surgeon_s_blood[/b]
WOW Gus, thanks for sharing that link. Dr.Weinstein is definitely an amazing Doc. It is nice to read about Doctor’s who truly get into the medical field for the right reasons.
Another, absolutely amazing Doc, who lives about 25 miles from where I do is Regina Benjamin. They recently published a story about her in Readers Digest. Read the article and you will see why I say she is an amazing human being. 
After months of work, rebuilding with donations and the help of volunteers, Dr. Regina Benjamin was set to reopen her nonprofit medical clinic in Bayou La Batre, Alabama, on January 2, 2006. But at 5 a.m. New Year’s day, police called to say that the building was on fire. By the time Benjamin arrived, it was gutted. The cause of the blaze, the state fire marshal says, is “undetermined but not suspicious.”
It was the third time in eight years that the rural clinic has been destroyed, but Benjamin will rebuild again. “The patients keep me going,” she says. One disabled woman, with little money to spare, brought Benjamin a card with nearly $200 tucked inside. “Maybe I can help,” an elderly man offered. “I got a hammer.”
If you would like to make contributions to support the Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic, please send donations to the following address:
Regina Benjamin, M.D.
Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic
13833 Tapia Lane
Bayou La Batre, AL 36509
My gawd, does it sound to you like someone burned down her non-profit clinic? States its been 3rd time! :?
Gus wrote:
My gawd, does it sound to you like someone burned down her non-profit clinic? States its been 3rd time!
Actually Gus, two of the three times it was destoryed was due to hurricane related weather. She was just a day away from reopening the clinic from storm damage when a fire gutted the clinic.
She is truly an amazing person and well loved here.
She reminds me of Mother Theresa…you know who am talking about right?
RichnStacy
I just read through 63 page of a report from the General Accounting Office concerning dialysis facilities, conducted in 2002, and the findings are scary. It just reinforces the need for patients to play an active role in their care.
RichnStacy,
Thanks for posting this official report. Anyone who doubts there is a serious problem in American dialysis units needs to read it to come to terms with their denial. I read it when it first came out and spoke with a member of the GAO. He told m they were aware of the corner cutting units that honest nephrologists were very embarrassed/appalled about the bad eggs amongst them.
The 2000’ Senate Hearings on Dialysis were going on at the time which furthur exposed the situation. RichnStacy, and others, if you are interested in learning about that historical event it may still be possible to get the transcript. Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe it was available from the govt. publishing office.
I had read and saved a copy of the GAO report (attached).
Here’s a brief (5 page) description of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ quality initiatives:
For those of you who want to know what state surveyors look for when they survey a dialysis clinic, here’s the manual that explains the process.