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Life-Threatening Decline in Medical Care

Truth for Health Foundation’s patient advocacy team gets many calls from all over the country to assist with medical rescues of patients being denied appropriate medical evaluation and care in our hospital ERs and ICUs. This recent one describes a close call for a patient who sought help for leg pain and swelling, chest pain, and a history of markedly elevated D-Dimer September 2021 following the Pfizer Covid shots.

DrLee4America and the Director of the Covid Care Strategy Team for Truth for Health Foundation, Nicole Landers, RN, BSN, and legal nurse consultant, discuss the appalling decline in medical evaluation and medical care with a recent vaccine-injured 63 years old female patient in a Baltimore Emergency Room that nearly cost the patient her life.

The ER doctor refused to order a current D-Dimer blood test for the presence of blood clots — calling it “irrelevant” — even though the patient’s clinical presentation had clear signs of another blood clot in her leg. Only after confirming the blood clot in her leg with an ultrasound, and with continued pressure from the patient because of pain with breathing, did the ER doctor finally relent and order a CAT scan of the lungs — which showed more blood clots in the lung.

The doctor still refused to check more labs, or even admit the patient for proper anticoagulant treatment. Instead, she was sent home with a prescription for Eliquis to get from a local outpatient pharmacy the next day — which was then denied by the “Prior Authorization” process with her insurance plans. This is a shocking departure from the traditional standard of care for an older patient with multiple blood clots in her leg and lungs that could be life-threatening. 

The doctor just said to the patient, “We changed our protocol. Even if you were admitted, there is nothing more we would do for you that you can’t do at home.” He didn’t bother to find out that the patient was alone at home, had no one to check on her, and power at her home was out due to a storm. Our advocacy team arranged for her to be picked up by family and stay with them for someone to monitor her status and assist in getting her medications the next day.

The Foundation team arranged an emergency appointment with an outpatient physician on the Medical Advisory Council, who saw the patient the next day and arranged additional evaluations that should have been done in the ER. The bottom line: the patient had an overlooked thyroid mass that could be cancer, blood clots in the legs and lungs, and pneumonia with tests positive for both Mycoplasma bacteria and Coxsackie virus.   

This case illustrates the cavalier, calloused, and dangerous lack of medical care happening in many hospitals today and how critical it is to have a strong patient advocate or family member with you when you go to a hospital ER. Download our FACT SHEET: Steps to Take Before Hospitalization — Options to Save Your Life available at www.TruthForHealth.org.

Truth For Health…The Rest of the Story can be heard every Saturday at 10 am ET and an encore at 6 pm. Listen on iHeart Radio, our world-class media player, or our free apps on AppleAndroid, or Alexa. All episodes can also be heard on podcast networks worldwide by Monday each week.

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