Complaints, promises, and then...nothing: KVHD dysfunctional

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord; He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword; His truth is marching on..."Battle Hymn of the Republic" by Julia Howe 1861.

Almost three weeks ago I made a decision which has changed me in every way: I decided to give the Kern Valley Healthcare District one more chance as my heart was palpitating and I felt weak one morning. 


However, prior to this January, visit, I had been complaining of health issues which apparently weren't serious to my primary doctor or PA, James Gutzman, of Sienna Wellness Institute.

Since these health issues were of concern to me, most especially the gastric as I have battled a weight problem for seven years now, and have been filmed at KVHD meetings weighing in at a childhood density of 85 pounds, so it was important. 


As I went back and forth to Sienna Wellness, owned by Dr. Robert Gross DO and wife, Holly Spohn Gross, and partner, Dr. Finstad, I found my concerns dismissed. I tried to express the problems in the best manner I could, but apparently, it fell short. 


But my concerns were becoming more emergent, so in December I was seen at the KVHD ER four times. One of, or part of the visit, was successful in that certain issues were found, and a medication temporarily helped my gastric issue. Then the second half of the day included the rudeness of Dr. Gregory Crawford, the doctor who has treated me like dirt but also treated my 90 year-old neighbor the same way. (there's more to this story, as I have found out a few things since my WWII veteran and I went to meet Tim McGlew and CNO, Mark Gordon after his experience)


I asked Tim Mcglew in an email and at the board meeting to look into Crawfords' behavior towards me and a child who was being seen the night I was there.


Now, McGlew has been very able to make promises of change, and that is great...except promises are not action. And allowing his subordinate, CFO, Chet Beedle to argue with a pre-teen at a meeting, yell at the public for questioning his numbers which were truly off (see story below), and demanding that we all form our questions to him in a positive manner (try being an employee of the Mt. Mesa Clinical Pharmacy and see how many positive responses they get in a day. Nor do they get paid near the salary, and they have lost FT positions, benefits, and likely peace of mind.): Beedle simply gets away with it all. 


McGlew is not acting as a manager or leader, simply a follower. But of who? (CM?)

As it stands with my healthcare alone, costs have gone into the thousands of dollars, yet, I have not received adequate care.


Should my complaint have been an alarm that there is trouble in the ER? That Sienna Wellness is not following its patients?


Currently, McGlew has separated himself from Sienna Wellness, indicating that there is KVHD and there is Dr. Gross and his clinic, whom he has sent me to regarding the discrimination complaints and inadequate concern. Though there was a conversation between McGlew, Gutzman and I over the phone, from there the finger is pointing at Sienna Wellness a provider who is part of the Medicare system. 


If McGlew were serious, could he have not finished this almost two month investigation? Could we have not saved the money from Medicare? I never heard back on this though I kept asking. As you will see in the email which contains his explanation also about the HFS engagement, and the slanderous tone Dr. Gross took regarding HFS's report, there is simply NOTHING being done. 


According to various agencies which investigate these sorts of cases, you must start at the hospital with your complaint. Then give them time, not your whole life-a reasonable limit, to fix the problems and aid you in any way they can to resolve lingering issues. 


Lucky for all of us who have complaints, certain agencies are receiving monies to increase their investigative powers over hospitals that are not in compliance, or are actually hurting or even "doing more harm than good" to its patients.


My last visit to Sienna Wellness, my body in severe pain, my emotions shocked, tears rolling down my face, and Jim Gutzman PA, father of two, announces to his office or audience, "does she have a gun?" He goes on to say that by the looks of me we can expect me to begin shooting people. He also brings in a neophyte with him, who likely will be a medical assistant, who knows nothing of me, but is hearing all about me.

Not only am I a bi-polar with a gun supposedly, but I am a woman who took "Armour" thyroid. Gutzman has expressed on more than this one occasion that it's us "women" who want to use this natural alternative thyroid supplement, and he, "the man" has to constantly try to get us to stop.

And apparently, he says, women doctors are out promoting this misguided thyroid therapy, and he has had to spend time treating these female patients who are taking advice from ill equipped "women doctors."

Women are inferior and then you add the fact that Gutzman, a self proclaimed expert in mental health due to six weeks he spent in a psyche ward, bi-polars such as myself who are not chemically restrained, are simply problematic.

In our communication or lack thereof, I feel always a necessity to explain and prove the veracity of my statements. I'm sure Chuck White has nothing to explain as people are treated at Sienna based apparently on their sex, political affiliation, or even their exploits such as the work White did to help the hospital try and garner 22 million in property taxes during the last election. White also runs "friends of the hospital."

Do you think they would dismiss him for being male or taking a medication others men are taking? You all know the answer.

Ironically, if Tim Mcglew had done what he said he was going to do to stop the insanity in that ER, Medicare and other agencies would not have to spend their money and time to come in and investigate what happened to me. It's obvious what happened...they said they would not mix politics with medicine, but they did and added some prejudice to boot.

I know there are communication problems, but explain to me what I've done to cause this? Should I have complained about Gutzman the first time he began his rants about women doctors and patients?

Should I have left it all alone and played along? Shutting my eyes and cotton in my ears?

On Christmas I fainted at my home and managed to crawl into my bed. An ambulance was called. This was before i took the new medication all should be afraid of, EXOGAL, and I left the hospital with the diagnosis of a "panic attack" and "unknown pain." I fainted from this? The nurse, Terry, some of you may have dealt with her, said, I was having drug withdrawal, so before I could ask what they were giving me, I was hit with medication in an IV I know nothing about.

I reported this to Sienna and Gutzman, only to have a shrug, and possibly a note in my records. And CEO Tim Mcglew knew too.

A dysfunctional hospital cannot be considered a safe place to get care. It's up to all of us, but someone who doesn't know me said, "you didn't go to the hospital up here did you?" The look on my face was enough of an answer. 


And finally, not only dysfunctional, but with no compassion, a 71 year-old woman who was also Gutzman's patient was in the ER Christmas night along with me. It as a slow night as Terry and Roy were obviously not happy about being there, ignored this woman who complained her daughter was taking over her house and money. I heard it though and told her I would giver her my phone number if she needed some help. 


I heard Terry ask Roy, "what are you gonna do about the old lady?" Roy responded, "if her daughter doesn't pick her up by midnight, I'll call the police and that will be that." 

I found the woman stretched out on the black chairs in the waiting area, even though there were open beds in the ER, she was moaning in pain, uncomfortable...it was Christmas night for crying out loud.

Merry Christmas from KVHD...I gave her my phone number.

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The EMAILS (edited to keep shorter)

From: Laura [mailto:hartofthekrv@msn.com]

Sent: Sunday, December 12, 2010 3:37 AMTo: McGlew, TimothySubject: Laura Hart/questions, complaint

Hi Tim:
Just wondering about a few things, such as any update on Crawford's investigation? Also, has there been a meeting set up with David Weinstein? And what are we going to do regarding retrieving some of the HFS monies back from the "whatever" they did which didn't sound like a lot. I had high hopes they were a company with some vision and good with details as they did with Sierra Kings, but I HFS has different people for different positions, which says there are some clunkers in the bunch too.

Is there anyway in the contract we can retrieve some of that money back? Court, contractual obligations, something along those lines?

We needed a good boost of ideas, we both know that, and I'm aiming at them now, because I don't think it's fair that we get nothing out of that money. Or, I don't know, could we ask for a redo with other members of their organization?

I don't know but I don't think it's fair to any of us.

Tim's response 12/17/2010:
Laura,

Sorry it’s taken me a while to get back to you. I’ve been out sick for a good portion of the week and my e-mails piled up. On the investigation, I am almost finished with it. I have two more individuals to interview.
As for the HFS money, there seems to be a real disconnect. (VIDEO different than what he explains here) As I prefaced my remarks regarding the strategic planning proposals, I stated that all three of the companies could do a good job with the assignment. If I didn’t think they could I wouldn’t have even put them on the list. There were others I researched who charged considerably more money. I narrowed the selection to those who had proven track records and were reasonable financially. There were unfortunately some negative comments that were made against HFS at the meeting. (Dr. Gross was lying then?)
The work that HFS did was substantial. They put considerable time into the project, most likely many more hours than they billed us. The original budget for HFS was capped $75,000. Approximately $37,000 was actually billed for the services provided. HFS did come up with a number of very good ideas that have been implemented as part of our turnaround plan. Were all of the ideas solid? No, not really, but enough of them were to be of assistance to the District. Was there a difference of opinion on some of the analyses? Of course, that happens. HFS is a reputable consulting group that does considerable work in the state and elsewhere. I have no intention of trying to get money back from them for the work they’ve done.
Tim

(I never received a response and wound up in the ER in January, hospitalized for five days, given medications without consent, transferred with probable discriminatory or inflammatory information in my records which lead to a serious traumatic event at San Joaquin Hospital. I Promise.)

More on this story: records that leave the ER...drug seeker and my WWII friend, an alcoholic? Doctors influencing other doctors...? Why didn't San Joaquin Hospital know what had happened to me? And the same hospital called my neighbor, WWII hero, a chronic alcoholic based on the records from KVHD (Dr. Gregory Crawford).