[Blindtlk] FW: B-F LINDA'S BATTLE, AN UPDATE

Tue Apr 8 22:55:19 CDT 2008

Thank yu! I fully agree. 

-----Original Message-----
From: blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of David Evans
Sent: Tuesday, April 08, 2008 8:01 PM
To: NFBnet Blind Talk Mailing List
Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] FW: B-F LINDA'S BATTLE, AN UPDATE

Dear Trish,

WE always try to negotiate before we litigate, but obviously the staff here
is very insensitive to these people feelings not to mention their rights.
They need to know that these rights have been violated and the law only
gives you a certain time period in which to file, both for a civil suit or a
civil rights suit.
The powers that be need to know that you are serious and you aint going away
quietly.
Otherwise, they don't need to do anything because you aren't going to do
anything.
If the threat is not there, as an option, the hospital is not going to do
anything to change its habits.  Why should they.  To them nothing happened,
therefore, no action on their part is required.
The interference with this man's right to take his guide dog with him could
be up to a third degree felony in some states with jail time and a fine.
Most of what was done to Linda and her husband was just plain insensitivity
and can be changed with an awareness and sensitivity program.  Hospitals
have to comply with the ADA too in all programs and services offered to the
General Public.
I don't think that this will go to a law suit, but the powers that be at the
hospital need to think it might to ensure they take action to fix this
before someone else gets the same treatment.  Some bad publicity will stur
them to action.

What would you do?
I am open to suggestions as to how you would ensure the hospital changes its
ways.

David Evans, NFBF
MV Transit
Consumer Advocate

----- Original Message -----
From: "trishs" <slosser at metrocast.net>
To: "NFBnet Blind Talk Mailing List" <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, April 08, 2008 4:42 PM
Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] FW: B-F LINDA'S BATTLE, AN UPDATE

> Hi group.  My name is Trish.  I'm a new member, and thought I'd
> jump in right here.  To me, this is part of what Truly Does need
> to be fixed in our health care system.
> I get it about Linda's ill treatment.  I just don't "see" where
> threatening to sue turns this into a positive experience.
> I believe there should be a mandatory Disability Awareness 101
> in all Medical Training Programs, where speakers in all areas of
> disability are invited to staff meetings or workshops.  Perhaps
> your well deserved letter to the powers that be should offer
> solutions so that this doesn't happen to others in the future?
>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>>From: "David Evans" <drevans at bellsouth.net
>>To: "NFBnet Blind Talk Mailing List"
> <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>,<nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>, <nfbf-l at nfbnet.org>,
> <acb-l at acb.org
>>Date sent: Tue, 8 Apr 2008 14:50:35 -0400
>>Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] FW: B-F LINDA'S BATTLE, AN UPDATE
>
>
>>Dear John,
>
>>I can only say that your experience is not uncommon in dealing
> with hospital
>>staff.
>>Turn this negative into a positive.
>>Tell them you are going to sue them over their handling of
> Linda's situation
>>unless they begin a training program for the staff on how to deal
> with this
>>kind of situation so it does not happen again.
>>It should include access laws and regulations, common courtesy
> and methods
>>of preparing and dealing with Blind and low vision people in
> their charge.
>>I know that knee replacement hurts allot and doing the exercises
> everyday is
>>the only way it will get better and reduce the pain not to
> mention get your
>>mobility back.
>>It is the treatment here that is wrong.  Someone should have had
> the duty to
>>keep you informed as to her condition and status.
>>Treatment staff as well as housekeeping need to be trained as to
> what and
>>how to handle delivery of food and treatment procedures when
> dealing with
>>the blind and even your service dog.
>>If some one does not teach them what to do and that they have
> responsibility
>>to see to it that things are done right; what is to stop them
> from doing
>>this again in the future.Who at this hospital handles ADA
> compliance?  Why
>>was not the staff trained how to deal with this.
>>I have seen hospitals where they post a sign to tell the staff
> entering a
>>room that the person is Blind and to announce themselves upon
> entering the
>>room and exiting and what they are there for; test, housekeeping,
> food
>>services or medical treatments.
>>You deserve to know and be made aware of what they are doing.
>
>>David Evans, NFBF
>
>>----- Original Message -----
>>From: "Eric Calhoun" <eric at pmpmail.com
>>To: <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>; <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>;
> <nfbf-l at nfbnet.org>;
>><acb-l at acb.org
>>Sent: Tuesday, April 08, 2008 3:32 AM
>>Subject: [Blindtlk] FW: B-F LINDA'S BATTLE, AN UPDATE
>
>
>>> Hello, people, this _is blindness-related; contact Mr.  Justice
> for your
>>> thoughts.  Thank you
>
>
>>> Original Message:
>>> From: "John Justice" <johnjustice at comcast.net
>>> To: <blind-friends at yahoogroups.com
>>> Subject: B-F LINDA'S BATTLE, AN UPDATE
>>> Date:
>>> Thu, 3 Apr 2008 21:15:10 -0400
>
>>> Recently, my wife Linda went through a double knee replacement.
> her
>>> surgery was on February 4, and the actual operation went quite
> well.  But
>>> what happened after that is something we are still trying to
> understand.
>
>>>>From the very beginning, we knew that trouble was coming.  I
> brought my
>>> guide dog along and the staff at the Admissions desk started to
> give us a
>>> hard time about there not being enough room in the treatment
> area for the
>>> dog.  They finally shifted us to a larger room and I was able to
> sit on
>>> one
>>> side while Linda was being prepared for surgery.  The last thing
> I heard
>>> was her joking with people in the hallway as she was wheeled
> away.
>
>>> Her surgeon, Doctor Star, called me later to tell me that the
> operation
>>> had gone quite well.  At that time Linda was still in the
> Recovery Room
>>> and
>>> they wouldn't let me anywhere near her.  During an operation
> like this,
>>> the
>>> doctors use something called femoral blocks.  They are
> injections which
>>> are
>>> supposed to help with the tremendous pain.  Linda woke up to
> unbelievable
>>> agony because the injections didn't work for her at all.  They
> finally got
>>> her pain under control enough to move her up to the room where I
> was
>>> waiting.  I had been sitting there for more than 2 hours,
> wondering what
>>> had happened to Linda and getting very little information at
> all.
>
>>> During her stay at the hospital, she ran into a problem time and
> time
>>> again with staff who just didn't know how to deal with a totally
> blind
>>> patient, especially one who was completely helpless due to major
> surgery.
>>> At times, they refused to help her at all.  They made no
> adjustment for
>>> her
>>> blindness and got angry when we demanded a little consideration.
> The
>>> nurses, especially at night, did nothing but complain constantly
> about how
>>> understaffed they were and made Linda feel like a criminal every
> time she
>>> asked for something.  Her requests were normal.  Her pleas for
>>> consideration where her blindness was concerned were reasonable.
> The
>>> physicians thought so but the nursing staff, especially the
> clinical
>>> assistants, seemed to act as if Linda was some kind of strange
> creature
>>> from another planet.  I raised so much hell with Patient
> Relations that,
>>> after a while, they were reluctant to return my calls.  This was
> Linda's
>>> first time in a hospital.  She had never been operated on before
> nor was
>>> she in a hospital as a patient in her adult life.  She just
> wasn't
>>> prepared
>>> for their lack of cooperation and offensive manner.
>
>>> But my Linda is a fighter.  In spite of everything, she went on.
> But
>>> then, what choice did she have?  Her own knees were gone and she
> had to
>>> deal with these new artificial ones, whether she liked it or
> not.
>
>>> After 3 days in the surgery ward, Linda was moved up stairs to
> the
>>> Rehabilitation floor.  But the attitude of the nurses on that
> floor was,
>>> if
>>> anything, worse than the staff in the Surgical wing.  At one
> point, one of
>>> the male nurses tried to refuse me admittance into a patient
> dining room
>>> where the patients, if they wanted to, could eat with their
> families.  I
>>> warned the man that he was getting himself into hot water  but
> he refused
>>> to listen until some supervisor showed up and gave him walking
> orders.
>>> What a jerk!  After that, we had no trouble in the dining room
> except for
>>> Linda's constant, ongoing pain.
>
>>> As blind people, some of you will appreciate and understand what
> Linda
>>> had to put up with.  She would ask for water and one of them
> would bring
>>> it
>>> for her.  Then later, when some procedure or other was
> necessary, the
>>> water
>>> would be moved and no thought was given to how Linda could find
> it in a
>>> strange room.  The nurses just didn't or wouldn't understand
> that a few
>>> seconds of consideration might make all of the difference for
> Linda,
>>> especially when it came to her blindness coupled with the fact
> that she
>>> couldn't move around very well.  Various staff members would
> enter her
>>> room
>>> and without explaining what they were doing, would begin
> whatever
>>> treatment
>>> they had in mind.  At first, the housekeeping staff would bring
> her
>>> dinner,
>>> set it on a side table and never tell her it was there.  More
> than once,
>>> they moved her phone out of reach and didn't put it back.  She
> couldn't
>>> wait to get out of there.
>
>>> The physical therapists were completely different in every
> respect from
>>> the nursing staff.  They were considerate, patient and took the
> time to
>>> explain every exercise and process.  They told Linda exactly
> what she had
>>> to do and described the equipment before asking her to use it.
> Linda used
>>> to say that her therapy classes were an escape from the hell
> created by
>>> the
>>> rest of the staff.  She tried to educate them but it was an up
> hill battle
>>> with those who just wouldn't listen or didn't care.
>
>>> No one ever told us how much it would hurt.  I swear to you
> people.  I
>>> believe that Linda was the only blind patient this hospital ever
> had who
>>> got both knees replaced at the same time.  But Linda said it
> best.  If she
>>> had known how much it was going to hurt, she would have never
> had the
>>> surgery at all.  But in her case, the bilateral replacement was
> necessary.
>>> Both of her knees were that bad.
>
>>> When she came home from the hospital, her motion was still very
> limited.
>>> I took care of my baby and I enjoyed doing it.  I was so afraid
> that I
>>> would have forgotten how to fix a meal or clean up the kitchen
> but I did
>>> surprisingly well.  Linda could manage to get up and down the
> stairs
>>> although it was a slow and painful process.  We borrowed a wheel
> chair and
>>> for the longest time, that was her place to sit at our table.
> Our house
>>> is
>>> too small for the chair to be useful anywhere else.  She used a
> rolling
>>> walker for a while and then graduated to a cane.
>
>>> Well, that was more than 8 weeks ago friends.  Linda is doing
> quite well
>>> walking around now without the aid of a walker or a cane.  She
> is still in
>>> quite a bit of pain.  But gradually things are improving.  Linda
> had the
>>> opportunity, through several surveys, to describe her experience
> in the
>>> hospital.  She showed them no mercy.  Eventually, we are going
> to write a
>>> letter to the hospital's administration.  We believe that the
> staff is
>>> sadly lacking in knowledge when it comes to helping patients
> with physical
>>> impairments, especially those whom are totally blind.
>
>>> John Justice
>
>>> My job feeds my family, music feeds my soul.
>
>>> PERSONAL E-MAIL:  johnjustice at comcast.net
>
>
>>> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> blindtlk mailing list
>>> blindtlk at nfbnet.org
>>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindtlk
>
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