Talk of Lufkin

By heroes are the patients

June 21, 2008 7:08 PM | Link to this

Patients who died are the heroes. Families who grieve over a lost loved one are the heroes. Patients who survived through a terrible ordeal are the heroes. These are the true heroes. Staff did what they should have done when the investigation started as perserving lines. Where were the staff, as you called them heroes, when patients needed protection and there were complaints?

By O.L. C.

June 21, 2008 7:15 PM | Link to this

Recently I had occasion to go tho the ER at Woodland Heights Med. Cen. There were only four other patients waiting for treatment. I arrived at 8:00 PM.Thirty to forty min. later I was called back and had my temp. and BP taken and was told to go to room 7.I sat in room 7 until 11:30PM waiting for a Dr. There was only one Dr. on duty that night(it was a Friday night). All he was doing was screaming and shaking his finger at the nurses in the nurses station. At 11:30 I finally gave up and left without seeing a Dr.(I was charged $137.00). The next day I saw a Dr.(not at the hosp.) who ordered a ultra sound STAT which means to do it immediately.I went back to W.H.M.C. and waited one hour and forty five min. until the tech.could come,from her home, to the hosp and do the test.You would think a hosp.as big as W.H. would have more than one Dr. on duty in ER,especially on the week-end,and a tech. on duty around the clock.They sure charge enough for their services to be able to afford it.

By claud bolton

June 21, 2008 11:50 PM | Link to this

Do you want to spend some interesting time at any hospital? Go to any hospital and sit in the waiting areas a watch the time go by waiting to be seen. People sit and wait and sit and suffer until they get in a hour pass their appointment. Time does not matter taking an appointment because once you are there you will wait and they will not lose you. Shame on the way we are treated by health care people who should have more caring ways of helping us get through our pain and suffering.

By heroes are the patients

June 22, 2008 9:37 AM | Link to this

This is what others are postings are other well respected dialysis websites. (“I don’t know what to make of all this - there is still the report that there were problems at this unit prior to the end of 2006 when there was a “town hall” meeting. There have also been reports that the spikes in deaths started in December of 2007 and continued until the unit was closed at the end of April.

All the attention has focused on one employee who was arrested but there are still many unanswered questions about the incenter dialysis oversight atmosphere in Texas generally and we should be given a time line of events to understand what happened at this particular unit in Lufkin. The lack of transparency so far does not create confidence that any underlying problems are being addressed. Still unknown is what role the renal network and/or the state survey agency played, and what role those entities should have played.)

By heroes are the patients

June 22, 2008 9:38 AM | Link to this

I don’t know what to make of all this - there is still the report that there were problems at this unit prior to the end of 2006 when there was a “town hall” meeting. There have also been reports that the spikes in deaths started in December of 2007 and continued until the unit was closed at the end of April.

All the attention has focused on one employee who was arrested but there are still many unanswered questions about the incenter dialysis oversight atmosphere in Texas generally and we should be given a time line of events to understand what happened at this particular unit in Lufkin. The lack of transparency so far does not create confidence that any underlying problems are being addressed. Still unknown is what role the renal network and/or the state survey agency played, and what role those entities should have played.

http://www.billpeckham.com/fromthesharpendof_the/

By Jennie

June 22, 2008 7:51 PM | Link to this

The nurse is telling the truth.

When I started working at a DaVita unit in Philly in 2005, I WAS TAUGHT to use a 10cc syringe as the measurement tool to fill the bleach/water container. Same thing for cleaning out the dialysate jugs. I did that the first couple times until I saw that everyone else just used the lid to the bleach container. The lid holds 10 cc’s and that’s what everybody uses to measure. We use the lid instead of filling a syringe because its faster then taking the time to fill a 10 cc syringe! I never saw anything in writing telling us to use a syringe but that is what I was originally taught to do.

By check this out

June 23, 2008 9:57 AM | Link to this

Check out this web site.
Scroll to the top of the page and read comment by “Fedup”. Patient dies in DaVita clinic because no one was in treatment area to answer alarm.

http://www.davita.com/forum/showthread.php?p=11077#11077

By to: check this out

June 23, 2008 10:58 AM | Link to this

I went to davita.com forums and looked for the post by “fedup”, but could not find it. Can you better describe how to find it.

By check this out

June 23, 2008 11:59 AM | Link to this

Try going to davita.com and go into discussion forums. The topic is something like “has anyone else had trouble with nurse morality”

By to: Jennie nurse in PA

June 23, 2008 2:28 PM | Link to this

http://app2.health.state.pa.us/PublicPOC/Content/PublicCommonPOC/QAsurvey.asp?FACID=252809&PAGE=1&NAME=DIALYSIS+CENTER+OF+ERIE&SurveyType=H%20&COUNTY=

Example of inadequate staff training

By Left the Villiage

June 23, 2008 3:33 PM | Link to this

Syringes and caps are not approved measurment tools according to Davita policy and procedure. All solutions are supposed to be measured using graduated cylinders. Also all containers are supposed to be labled as to content,date mixed, expiration date, and have a HIMG lable affixed. This is a facility training issue, and yes I have seen these methods used in several Davita units, but they are against policy. Not defending Davita, but corporate has their butt covered on this one.

By Every Village Has An Idiot

June 26, 2008 9:38 AM | Link to this

To Left The Village - I disagree that “corporate has their butt covered” if a violation of any policy or protocol is known and is known to be in violation on a consistent, widespread or repeatitive basis then “corporate” and their designated managers have failed miserably in enforcing its’ rules and managing its units and staff. This defense of oh well “that’s wasn’t our policy” is nonsense and is the root of the evil in why so many deficiencies are found in surveys and more importantly why things can and do go bad and sometimes very quickly. Corporations and their designated managers are responsible for ensuring that the rules are being followed. If they fail to follow through with this oversight or allow known non compliance to continue thay are negligent and if this failure results in injury or death they are grossly negligent.

By TO: Every Village Has an Idiot

June 26, 2008 1:53 PM | Link to this

You sound like you have a good handle on the dialysis industry situation. So what is the solution???????

By Roberta Mikles, RN Patient Advocate

June 26, 2008 2:34 PM | Link to this

www.renalweb.com has a recent article posted on Davita with an interesting commentary by a well-respected individual in the dialysis arena. The major problem is that, imho, our elected officials are addressing every aspect but that which certainly needs to be looked at - oversight and enforcement. And, is CMS addressing this with elected officials? Presently, there are no real statutory sanctions (as nursing homes)(federal level) and few states have the authority to impose any penalties. In all my communications with CMS and a Regional office, I am told the same ‘no funding, no resources’. Hello! It amazes me that our elected officials can consider funding various programs, etc., but can not understand that even with quality indicators, clinical performance measures, etc., there are quality care and patient safety areas that need to be addressed — (1) adherence to facility policies and procedures, (2) adherence to physician treatment orders and (3) adherence to ESRD Conditions. In my review of hundreds of surveys, non compliance with facility policies and procedures jumped out. Providers are well-aware, as a result of a patient safety initiative, that this is the major cause of medical errors. It is my opinion that, after reviewing many surveys, staff training is at the root as well as unit supervision following and of course the lack of accountability. Training of staff includes having staff be fully informed and aware of every policy and procedure as well as the ‘rationale’ for each. The importance of adherence must be stressed during training. Dialysis technicians, who are the backbone of the facility, should be paid decent wages and provided sufficient education to identify situations that need to be reported to the RN, identification of potential or actual negative outcome situations as well as ongoing training to be able to report and/or intervene according to patients comorbid conditions. Technicians deserve such. RNs need to be fully trained and unfortunately the Conditions for RNs are minimal requirements. The survey process, if conducted by well trained surveyors, often, as I have stated, identifies those quality care and patient safety areas that are, otherwise, often not noted by facilities. This is clearly evidenced in the survey findings. Perhaps, Medicare needs to consider respecting dialysis facilities as they do patients in hospitals and not reimburse for certain preventable/avoidable negative outcomes. Why should this be limited to hospitals only? Patients should speak up, however if unaware of correct practices, due to lack of patient education, then patients do not know if correct procedures are being conducted. Many patients continue to fear retaliation, which is supported by all the websites, listserves, etc where you will not find commenters posting their real names. The reality is that many facilities do not provide patient education and many patients do not even know how to calculate how much fluid needs to be remove. I continue to receive communication, ongoing from patients, families as well as professionals who are concerned about the lack of education that patients receive. Providers and direct care staff must realize and understand that patients, who are educated, can work with staff to prevent errors from occuring. Another question has to do with transparency. Transparency can help support provider accountability e.g. posting of surveys in each facility as do nursing homes. If providers profess all their units provide quality safe care, then why would they not be proud of their surveys and want to post them? Posting of surveys in facilities was a recommendation given when the proposed ESRD Conditions were open for public comment. One must ask why this was not included in the revised newly released Conditions? Are dialysis patients and dialysis facilities considered less than nursing homes? If CMS can have surveys posted for nursing homes at nursing home compare, why is this not done for dialysis facilities at dialysis facility compare? Maybe, just maybe, our elected officials would then have a better understanding of the care in some facilities. The bottom line is that our oversight and enforcement program does not truly hold facilities accountable for their actions and when a written plan of correction is required regardless of a facility not dotting an ‘i’ on a record or a preventable death, then something is drastically wrong with our system. If hospitals can initiate programs to have transparency and tell patients when mistakes are made, then why can’t dialysis providers do the same? Also, in response to an email I received from a commenter the general statement in health care is ‘if it is not documented it is not done’. And, if hospitals can adopt policies and procedures for informing patients when errors occur, then one must ask why have dialysis providers not accepted this thinking. Roberta Mikles, Health Care Patient Advocate RMiklesRN@aol.com

By Why???

June 27, 2008 3:29 PM | Link to this

Why do people have to get on here and act like idiots?? What is all this garbage…some kind of secret code or something?

By claud bolton

June 28, 2008 4:59 PM | Link to this

Why do you play games with your coded names and messages. Don’t you know there are familes out there who have lost love ones and your games makes them ill. Please refrain and let the truth come through investigation by the proper authories.

By lookin out for ya

June 29, 2008 9:02 PM | Link to this

http://www.shapleigh.org/news/1970-expert-cattle-call-dialysis-a-problem Texas Senator Shapleigh’s website has Lufkin clinic article. A Senator that cares

By lookin out 4 u

June 29, 2008 9:04 PM | Link to this

Texas Senator Shapleigh’s website has Davita Lufkin clinic article. Call his office if you have information .

http://www.shapleigh.org/news/1970-expert-cattle-call-dialysis-a-problem

By lookin out 4 u

June 29, 2008 10:49 PM | Link to this

FASCINATING BLOG FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

http://blogs.wsj.com/health/category/global/page/5/

September 17, 2007, 8:03 am DaVita on ‘Epo,’ Homepathic Fiction & Huntingdon Fights On Posted by Scott Hensley

The Health Blog looked for stories you might have missed over the weekend. Here’s our short list.

As heavy use of anemia drugs draws fire amid reports of risks at high doses, the New York Times takes a look at DaVita, a folksy for-profit provider of kidney dialysis. A DaVita employee dressed as a musketeer in a skit at an employee meeting slayed “a federal bureaucrat — dressed in black hat and bandit’s mask — who threatened to cut the reimbursement for dialysis. Another musketeer killed a federal prosecutor.” On the use of anemia drugs, CEO Kent Thiry told the Times: “The suspension of logic in this discussion has been remarkable.” He said he’d welcome a change in reimbursement policy that would eliminate perceived incentives to overuse drugs such as Amgen’s Epogen, or Epo. “Do that tomorrow so we get rid of the taint,” he said. “We’re still going to use the same amount of Epo.”

By concerned

June 30, 2008 4:38 PM | Link to this

So that’s it?! This organization is just going to be allowed to reopen their doors in spite of everything going on. This organization places the blame on one individual, accepts no responsibility, lies, and they get to reopen their doors for business. This is an outrage!!! I hope these patients see right through this. I hope the public sees right through this and little Mr. Chee. This is BULL_ _ _ _!!!!!!!!!!!!

By I don't understand

June 30, 2008 7:24 PM | Link to this

How can they call it a “public document” if the whole thing is blackened out? What good is it going to do to give this survey to patients if there is nothing to read?? Kind of defeats the purpose.

By confussed

July 1, 2008 7:47 AM | Link to this

So that’s it?? After all of the lives lost and a history of problems and non-compliance which, no matter what Mr. Chee says, were not “isolated incidents” that had nothing to do with the current situation, they simply get to re-open without any explaination to the patients, family members and general public? Oh, that’s right, they did come up with an explaination. One person is responsible for everything. BULL!!!! If that were the case, they wouldn’t have ended up with a 40 page state report full of discrepancies that had absolutly nothing to do with that one person. So the question is, what are they trying to hide?? It should be illegal for a public document to be completely blackened out. They are supposed to give copies of this report to the patients. What good is it going to do if there is nothing for them to read?? I truely feel sorry for those patients that have no choice financially or otherwise who have to go back there and have no idea what happened.

By me

July 1, 2008 10:32 AM | Link to this

Thats it! Now they are opening their doors to the public once again giving no explanation to the patients at all! My grandmother is a DaVita Ppatient, now an Ex Davita patient because the facility shes now going to in Nac. treats her 100 times better than DaVita ever attempted to. She was also told me DaVita that she would be recieving a letter from the state because bleach was found in the test they did on her. Do you think shes recieved that letter? OF COURSE NOT! And by the way, for those of you whom have been reading all the articles on DaVita where they have been claiming to be busing all the patients to and from treatment, thats a LIE! My grandmother has NEVER ONCE been offered a bus ride. Therefore it has been her out of pocket cost driving to and from Nac 3 times a week.!

By family member

July 1, 2008 6:22 PM | Link to this

Some of us “family members” of loved ones that passed and those that were injured are gonna have a “peaceful demonstration” wednesday morning in front if this clinic starting around 7 am. Please get your signs together and come out and help us. We need to remind the public they need to ASK QUESTIONS AND DEMAND INFORMATION.

By Every Village Has An Idiot

July 1, 2008 10:55 PM | Link to this

“Upon reopening, the facility will initiate a “Safety Net” program which involves checks by nursing staff to “ensure correct dialysate, correct medications, correct blood flow rates and safety checks are utilized,” stated the corrective portion of the survey. The portion indicated DaVita would administer a patient satisfaction survey upon reopening. Patients will also be receiving education about their treatments and individualized care plans, the survey stated.”

Geez what a novel idea - actually having the nursing staff do what they’re supposed to do anyway. And educating patients about their treatment and care plans - again things that are already required.

So in the end the “corrective action” is to do nothing more than what they should have been doing all along. Just goes to show that you can “spin” anything. I’m surprised that some enterprising lawyer hasn’t filed for an injunction against the re-opening until the state publicaly discloses its findings.

By Carley

July 1, 2008 11:22 PM | Link to this

Well, here we go again. Lufkin DaVita will be back in business and doing all they can do to impress outside officials for a short time. Let us see how long it takes for them to be back to the same old crap. This has been going on for years with this particular clinic and they are called on the carpet, clean things up for a few months and then it is business as usual. This place should be closed permanently.

By to Every Village has an Idiot

July 1, 2008 11:33 PM | Link to this

To Every Village has an Idiot: “”So in the end the “corrective action” is to do nothing more than what they should have been doing all along. Just goes to show that you can “spin” anything. I’m surprised that some enterprising lawyer hasn’t filed for an injunction against the re-opening until the state publicaly discloses its findings.”“

You could not have stated it better. Basic standard of care practices. SHAME ON DAVITA

By to Every Village has an Idiot

July 1, 2008 11:36 PM | Link to this

To Every Village has an Idiot: “”So in the end the “corrective action” is to do nothing more than what they should have been doing all along. Just goes to show that you can “spin” anything. I’m surprised that some enterprising lawyer hasn’t filed for an injunction against the re-opening until the state publicaly discloses its findings.”“

You could not have stated it better. Basic standard of care practices. SHAME ON DAVITA

By Telling it like it is

July 2, 2008 7:53 AM | Link to this

As soon as they can get state and the monitors off their backs and out of the building, they will be back to doing things they way they always have. Mark my words. I’ve seen it happen too many times before. I think they kind of told on themselves when they mentioned their “safety net”. Does this mean the nurses weren’t doing this before? That is exactly what they are supposed to be doing….ensuring that the patients are on the correct dialysis perscription and recieve the correct medications. Every village has an idiot hit it right on the nose.

By jackie wallace

July 2, 2008 10:34 AM | Link to this

EVERYONE AT DAVITA DID NOT GET TESTED OR GET LETTERS ABOUT ANY MEETING AT ANY PLACE.ALSO SINCE PATIENTS ARE BEING TREATED SOME WHERE ELSE LIKE MY HUSBAND THEY ARE NOT GETTING SICK THE CARE A AND TREATMENT IS SO MUCH BETTER.SO HOW CAN DAVITA TOP THAT?YOUR TYPE OF CARE IS VERY SCARY.

By info

July 2, 2008 4:09 PM | Link to this

April 30, 2008

http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfMAUDE/Detail.CFM?MDRFOI__ID=1048123

This is from the FDA: 33 patients had drop in hemoglobin, discoloration of dialysate lines, investigation revealed a suspected chlorine breakthough………….

More problems within the dialysis industry are evident here for whatever facility this is

By to:Every village Has An Idiot

July 2, 2008 9:10 PM | Link to this

Another person here agreeing with your assessment 100%. Hard to believe that the corrective action is to make them do what they should of been doing all along. That is a ruse which is designed to make the public think they were disciplined and effective action taken. Sounds like the state is helping them get away with their crimes thinking the public can not see through it. People from all over the country are watching this situation. Does anyone know if there will be a record kept of this lengthy thread? All it takes is for one honest public servant somewhere in this country to step in and hold them accountable.

By info

July 2, 2008 10:32 PM | Link to this

Shame on Davita. The arrogance to dismiss a family member, who only wanted answers. Where is the humanity? Where is the compassion?

By neeter

July 3, 2008 2:00 AM | Link to this

People should be upset with the nurse who has been charged. Not with Davita. Davita is needed in this community. Without them, patients will have to travel quite some distance. Davita is providing a service this community needs. Before you judge them, just think how an employer can protect themselves from a renagade staff member. What employer can predict a nurse could do what she did? They have rectified the situation and is again providing quality services. Our community need to rally with Davita and against Saenez. Use your brains people.

By neet

July 3, 2008 2:30 AM | Link to this

What is wrong with you people? Are we all Haters now? DaVita provides a needed service to our community. Do you know how far patients will have to travel if DaVita pulls out?? We should not be angry at DaVita, we should be angry at the nurse, Saenez. She’s the one who put patients health at risk. What employer could be responsible for a rouge employee like that? Is that reasonable?? Many people in our community depend on DaVita. They are being monitored. What else can you ask for? You all need to take the emotion out of it and ask yourselves, how could we hold DaVita responsible for what one nurse did? Let’s make sure this nurse never works as a nurse again. Some of us still need ths quality services DaVita provides.

By neet

July 3, 2008 2:32 AM | Link to this

What is wrong with you people? Are we all Haters now? DaVita provides a needed service to our community. Do you know how far patients will have to travel if DaVita pulls out?? We should not be angry at DaVita, we should be angry at the nurse, Saenez. She’s the one who put patients health at risk. What employer could be responsible for a rouge employee like that? Is that reasonable?? Many people in our community depend on DaVita. They are being monitored. What else can you ask for? You all need to take the emotion out of it and ask yourselves, how could we hold DaVita responsible for what one nurse did? Let’s make sure this nurse never works as a nurse again. Some of us still need ths quality services DaVita provides.

By To neeter

July 3, 2008 7:21 AM | Link to this

My question is what is wrong with you? Evidently you didn’t have a family member who died or got sick during all of this. For one thing, this nurse has not been conviceted of anything yet. Until they prove her guilty of something, she is innocent. Unless of course this is no longer America. Secondly, it is clear that this nurse was not their only problem. If she was the only problem, they wouldn’t have been closed down this long and the entire staff would not have been retrained. You are only looking at the big picture here, you are not reading between the lines. True enough that this company provides a much needed service to the community, but at what cost?? Do you really want a company in your community that does not care about your community and is only out to see how much profit they can make no matter what the cost?? Wouldn’t ou rather have a company there that will take care of people the way they are supposed to and don’t put money before human lives?

By mollie

July 3, 2008 10:01 AM | Link to this

It is a sad day when a facility like Davita is allowed to reopen when they are responsible for so many patient deaths. Everyone can blame the nurse but Davita was ultimately responsible for the actions of their employees. Personally I think Davita is using the nurse as a scapegoat! Afer suffering the loss of my mother as a result of a medical error during a minor surgical procedure my advice to the families that have suffered losses is to go after those responsible and hold them accountable. From experience I can tell you that these doctors and medical facilities are well protected. They kill patients and just keep right on practicing! It is like human life holds no value to them! To the families who have suffered losses just trust in God to give you strength. God Bless you all!

By DAve

July 3, 2008 10:11 AM | Link to this

Profits before People, the Davita way!

By Family Member

July 3, 2008 10:18 AM | Link to this

To Neeter: What is wrong with us, you ask? I can tell you what is wrong with us. WE HAD TO BURY OUR MOTHER! Then we find out she was murdered by someone they were supposed to be watching. Who do you think you are to say we are wrong to voice our opinions and demand answers. It is our constitutional right to take a stand and promote awareness. Awareness we wish we had before our mother died. Awareness we wish we had before my father dropped her off that day to be MURDERED. I pray that you NEVER have to go through what our family has had to endure. We do want all these patients to recieve the care they need and not be in fear of their lives. We want all the patients to get the care in Lufkin, however, we feel that DaVita is guilty of something. If they were not guilty, they would not have been given a LEVEL THREE Corrective Action Plan. We want a company to move in and take over this facility and run these shady people out of town. Don’t you find it funny that they have been ordered provide copies of the survey, only to provide heavly blacked out copies. What good does 40 pages with nothing but black marks do anyone? What are they afraid for us to find out? How much you want to bet they are paying Mr. Chee and his PR firm tons of money to cover their butts with his smooth talking and arrogant ways? Probably more money than they ever spent on proper employee training at this facility. This man is not even in the medical profession. He is a hired mouth they jumped up and flew in to our town from California to try and get them out of hot water, yet he wants to make comments like how grateful we should be that they allowed this woman to keep working so they could catch her!!! That is who you should be saying is “wrong”. I do apologize to the teammates that work there that might be completely innocent in all this mess. I hope those of you who do still work at DaVita will act as a patient advocate if you feel like they are not being cared for correctly. By the way “Neet” or “Neeter” if you are the person who drove by yesterday and so rudely told us we should not be doing this because you cared for and love those patients over at the hospital you work at…. Guess what… WE LOVED THEM TO, MORE THAN YOU WILL EVER KNOW ! You need to think long and hard before you tell someone who is standing up for what is right that they are WRONG!

By info

July 3, 2008 10:38 AM | Link to this

To Neet: Davita is resonsible and accountable for their staff. There is more than this one nurse incident. Dont get lost in this one nurse, there were other problems. Davita was not providing care that is routine care for patients receiving dialysis. I am sure if you lost a loved member of y your family your statements would be different. Let another company come into Lufkin

By please educate me

July 3, 2008 11:06 AM | Link to this

What is the reason they are allowed to do black outs on every page of the survey report? I am guessing it is to protect privacy rights of particular patients?? But if not, why do they black out parts?

By Every Village Has An Idiot

July 3, 2008 11:54 AM | Link to this

To neeter - you come across as a typical “kool-aid” drinker in your empassioned plea for all to rally around DaVita and band against Nurse Saenz. I think it’s important to remember this whole thing started with an unusually high number of patient deaths over a period of time. DaVita states that it investigated internally and could find no root causes. That’s when they voluntarily closed the unit and notified the state. After this occurred the allegations of the nurse injecting bleach into the blood lines of 2 patients come out and she is subsequently arrested for assault as the alleged act resulted only in injury not death. Now of course while it may seem reasonable at least to folks like neeter, that these are all related, fact is there is nothing that is known that connects the alleged acts of the nurse with the original “unusually high number of deaths”. Until more is known this remains an unresolved issue. As far as the community needing DaVita, well sorry that’s nothing more than a self-serving statement not supported by fact. While it may be “inconvenient” patients are receiving treatments elsewhere and based on the quality data from CMS at centers that do a better job with controlling anemia and treatment adequacy. So while Lufkin mat benefit from a second dialysis center they don’t need DaVita

By neeter

July 3, 2008 12:13 PM | Link to this

Unusually high number of deaths for people on dialysis… What is that “unusually high” number for thoes who kidneys have failed them? What is the number? There are those of us who have family in the facility and know that the service provided are of high quality, minus nurse Saenez. Easy to jump on the band wagon of Haters but be open enough to hear both sides. BTW, never drank a drop of kool aid in my life, as you can see, my take on this is not the usual so no, I am not a follower. Just a progressive thinker who wants DaVita to stay and be monitored.

By just the facts

July 3, 2008 12:25 PM | Link to this

After reading the comments posted on this forum, I don’t blame DaVita for not speaking to anyone. You display signs that say “BEWARE…They Don’t Care…My Granny was Murdered There” and “DaVita Doesn’t Care…Take Your Loved Ones Elsewhere” and you wonder why they won’t speak to you!?!?!? You make unfounded and unsubtantiated comments about the motives of the company…they’re ‘big business’, they must only be in it for the money…based on your own cynical view of the situation. What bizarro reality are you living in??? You state that you’re entitled to answers…you don’t want answers, you want to satisfy your need for retribution. You lost a loved one and someone, by God, needs to pay. And, you’ve concluded that it needs to be DaVita. You wouldn’t accept the truth if you found it to be contrary to your “read between the lines” view of reality but you dress up your need for retaliation in the guise of “advocacy” so you can justify your actions.

The concensus on the board seems to be that DaVita is handing out “blacked out” deficiency reports…the release under the freedom of information act comes from the state that way. From previous articles…”The survey is 40 pages total with most of the information they contain blacked out, the state citing what it feels are exceptions to open records rules. Nothing is visible about what deficiencies were cited at the facility. Some portions of the corrective action plan portion of the survey were also blacked out.

The state has requested the Texas Attorney General’s Office make a ruling on whether or not that withheld information is open to the public.”

Now for those of you who say DaVita should release their copy of the report, reference my argument above…you don’t want the truth, you want ammunition.

By To neeter

July 3, 2008 12:36 PM | Link to this

What happens when the monitors leave? I’ll tell you what will happen, they will go back to doing things the way they always have. As for the unusually high number of deaths, why don’t you ask DaVita what that number is? Because they aren’t releasing how many actually died and probably never will if they can get away with it. Have you stopped to think WHY the entire state survey report is blackened out?? The 2007 report only had a few areas blackened out, so why is it that almost every word in this one is blackened out? Are they trying to hide something? And if the deficiencies that state found had nothing to do with the deaths at the facility, then why don’t they want anyone to know what deficiencies were found? There are too many unanswered questions with this situation and the more Chee talks, the more questions there are because all he does is talk in circles without ever saying anything.

By WOW!

July 3, 2008 11:59 PM | Link to this

I just now viewed the news video of the protest and of Chee’s remarks. There’s a saying “a picture is worth a 1000 words” and a video does a good job too. The speech Chee gave sounded like the most insincere bunk I have ever heard. It was dialysis industry spin at it’s best. You always hear about the spin and there it was up close and personal on a news video. Hard to believe any patient would fall for it and trust DaVita with their care again. And did everyone see how Chee was giving the daughter of the deceased patient a hard time and had her kicked off the property?! You see, that’s their true nature- even with television cameras filming them they are so arrogant, they think they can make the daughter look like the kook when they are snakes. Everyday I pray more and more people will have their eyes opened to how these dialysis corporations operate, the whitewash job they do of their many misdeeds, the injuries and deaths that routinely go on. It just takes one honest politician to step up to the plate, properly investigate them and clean them up. The state surveyors and ESRD Network must be investigated too. They already were investigated once at the 2000’ Senate Hearings on Dialysis. Senator Charles Grassley headed the investigation and more than spelled out all the corruption. But sadly, it was some kind of political ploy as he never followed through on getting them prosecuted. I long for the day when this version of America’s Dirtiest Little Secret is finally brought to justice.

By carley

July 4, 2008 1:26 AM | Link to this

re:note from just the facts from July 3.

Please let all of know how many family members you have had at DaVita’s Lufkin Clinic. Have you observed someone being put in the middle of the room and “bleeding out” with no one noticing?

How can you believe one person is responsibe for all this “mess” there. Get a grip. This place is terrible and should not be able to continue operating. How many people that work at DaVita Clinic had ever heard of Mr. Chee, let alone see him? Not many I can assure you. He is strictly damage control. I am beginning to wonder just much influence DaVita has with Texas officials.

By sad fact

July 4, 2008 10:13 AM | Link to this

elected officials have no clue and are not don’t want to have a clue. look at the millions given to them by dialysis corporations

people are not fooled - problems longstanding at this facility

Chee downplays it all - typical - not going to admit mistakes that is what he is paid to do. damage control

and one comment person said it all - where is compassion for families who lost loved ones?

Don’t forget more going on in the unit than one nurse

By sad fact (but true)

July 4, 2008 10:45 AM | Link to this

problem DaVita Spent $1.2 Million Lobbying in 1st Quarter AP news item via MSN Money.

this makes more sense than anything

Editor’s comment from www.renalweb.com : It would be interesting if patients had this kind of muscle. What would an independent patient organization lobby for with a $1.2 million bankroll? For now, billions of our Medicare ESRD dollars go to corporations that use the profits to lobby for legislation that generates more money for the corporations. Amgen, which has enjoyed perhaps the highest, long-term profit margins in U.S. history on its epo products, spent more than $16 million on lobbying last year. What, again, was the original intent of Medicare ESRD legislation… and what has it become?

By Nina

July 4, 2008 11:40 AM | Link to this

What a shame and how inappropriate and unethical for davita to just completely dismiss their accountability for shah terrible act of negligence inproperly monitoring the actions and responsibilities of their employees. There was no sign of remorse, sympathy and care on their part when people have died and had incurred injuries and suffering under their care; hoe can they admit and shout quality care, dedicayed, and safety that they provide whe exactly the opposite is happening so many times not only in Lufkin but in so many other palces like california where we stay. They have to walk what they talk. Mr. chee is full of insincerities in all hs words, Davita is a pjust a profitable company that cannot be trusted, it is just all about the money, not the patients. We fully support all the victims of Davita’s acts of negligence.

By linda

July 5, 2008 5:36 PM | Link to this

Nothing will matter after the medicare cuts going through. We will be luckly if there is a unit for dialysis. Dialysis is the most expensive medicare program. Linda

By heatlh/patient safety

July 5, 2008 10:07 PM | Link to this

FROM AARP NEWSLETTER BULLTETIN By Greg Olson

May 17, 2008 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) — A local dialysis center is working to correct some problems so it does not lose its Medicare funding.

The Illinois Department of Public Health recently investigated DaVita Healthcare Dialysis Center, 1515 W. Walnut St., following a death that occurred there, and its investigation raised a few red flags.

“In terms of the DaVita case, there was an investigation which found some deficiencies with regards to health/safety of patients ,” said Peter Leonis, public information officer for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which administers the Medicare program and works in partnership with state governments to administer Medicaid. Mr. Leonis said he could not go into specifics about the “deficiencies.”

Stephanie Horn, a spokeswoman for DaVita, said the dialysis center is working closely with the Department of Public Health and CMS, and “we have submitted a plan to respond to the concerns made in their recent inspection.

“The center remains open and has been in the community serving patients for over 23 years,” said Ms. Horn. “Quality of care and patient safety are always of the utmost importance. The last inspection by the Department of Public Health resulted in a deficiency-free survey.”

The investigation of DaVita was precipitated by the death of 68-year-old Larry L. Grammer, who died May 1 from excessive blood loss, after the tubing to his dialysis machine loosened, said Morgan County Coroner Jeff Lair.

By Susan

July 6, 2008 6:30 AM | Link to this

One nut case in a clinic. DaVita does an excellent ob of caring for patients, monitoring what goes on and they are the ones who called in the law. This family should be after the nut case who was sneaking around doing harm to her patients. Thousands of patients are cared for in clinics all over this country but one rotten apple makes everyone look bad. I am sorry about the lady who died, but kidney patients are very sick folks whith many problems that finally led to their kidneys dying in the first place. Dialysis is not a cure, only a treatment for a severe medical problem almost always caused as the end of some other severe medical problem. This clinic is trying to give folks a quality of life in spite of these severe medical problems and should be open to do that job.

By you just dont understand

July 6, 2008 9:30 AM | Link to this

Is the first time a Davita unit has been cited for severe deficiencies? Is this the first time a Davita unit has been closed until corrective action taken? Are there other units that have been closed due to serious deficiencies? Is this the first time a Davita unit has been cited for severe deficiencies? Is this the first time a davita unit has been cited for lack of adequately training staff? And, what about the other patients who died or were rushed to the hospital? What about the ongoing complaints about this unit (not about this one staff)?

By Re: Mr. Chee

July 7, 2008 12:06 AM | Link to this

Did anyone find Mr. Chee believable? I know I certainly didn’t. Not just DaVita, but other dialysis providers as well, seem to hire personnel that are either gullible or who will blindly tow the line. You would think that in this case, DaVita would hire a really articulate individual to do their damage control. But as I said, no truly intelligent or honest person would work or speak for DaVita as they would see through the DaVita hype and resign. So many pages of comments now- what does one have to do to get the attention and action of ones elected officials? Would elected officials have taken note sooner had this tragedy occurred in a larger city? If the public only knew how many injuries and premature deaths routinely occur in dialysis clinics due to unscrupulous providers and a corrupt enforcement system, they would be shocked. Remember the nursing home scandal? We all saw it on national tv. Well this is the same sort of thing- different situation, but the same problem. Public officials..are you out there???

By state-of- the-art -facility

July 7, 2008 12:37 AM | Link to this

What did Mr. Chee mean when he stated that the patients will be returning to a state-of-the-art facility? If it was a state-of-the art facility, how did so much go so wrong?

By AUTOPSY

July 7, 2008 1:12 AM | Link to this

Did any of the deceased have autopsies performed on them to determine the cause of death? I have heard that it is common that with dialysis, patients are wisked away to the undertaker before an autopsy can be performed and nephrologists offer fraudulent reasons for their deaths- such as, the most common reason provided is died due to heart failure. I am a fly on the wall who sees how they die. Yes, their hearts may fail, but not due to natural heart failure- it’s due to poorly performed dialysis txs that eventually cause heart failure. There are a number of ways that dialysis txs can be poorly delivered. Too many poorly performed txs in a row and the patient is history. Only those with a strong will to survive who can figure out what is happening get through the many hurdles that come to steal their lives away. The secret world of dialysis stays very secretive as no healthy person wants to think about a subject like dialysis. Dialysis is for the dying they think, (although one can live a long life on dialysis if it is performed well) and no one wants to think about dying. But I hope the Lufkin community is following this story as well as people all around the nation as anyone can get kidney disease and it pays to be informed. And after 30 something years of the ESRD program, it is only now that national tech certifcation is becoming a reality. Up until this year, someone could be working at a McDonalds one day and be sticking needles in patients’ veins the next. The providers have been able to grab any warm body they can find, pay them cheap, train them super fast (not competent training of course) and throw them right out on the floor where they work on your mother, father, grandma, grandpa or child. So, I hope the public will be alerted to this injustice that goes on every single day in this country and heed the warnings. Stay strong Lufkin dialysis families..may your loss be a catalyst to save unsuspecting individuals from the same fate.

By chlorine breakthrough? What unit?

July 7, 2008 4:56 PM | Link to this

FDA - Released .. And, which facility is this —- Date is in April - 33 patients. http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfMAUDE/Detail.CFM?MDRFOI__ID=1048123

FDA Home Page | CDRH Home Page | Search | CDRH A-Z Index | Contact CDRH

510(k) | Registration & Listing | Adverse Events | PMA | Classification | CLIA CFR Title 21 | Advisory Committees | Assembler | Recalls | Guidance | Standards

Adverse Event Report HACH COMPANY HACH STERICHEK TOTAL CHLORINE REAGENT STRIPS STRIP/TEST/REAGENT/RESIDUAL FOR DIALYSIS back to search results

Lot Number 7163 Event Date 04/30/2008 Patient Outcome Death; Hospitalization
Event Description
In 2008, a facility nurse reviewing routine weekly lab results for the facility’s dialysis pts noted a drop in hemoglobin for approx 33 pts. On the same day, another facility staff noted a possible discoloration of the dialysis lines. The facility immediately discontinued all pt treatments and initiated an investigation, which revealed a suspected chlorine break-through in the facility’s water purification system. Hach test strips used to detect chlorine had given false negative readings. The facility’s investigation revealed three bottles that were not reactive to chlorine. The bottles originated from lot #s 7163 and 7044. We believe 33 pts were admitted to the hosp throughout the last 14 days. Most of whom were reportedly diagnosed with an anemia. At least one pt was reportedly diagnosed with hemolytic anemia and myocardial infarction. Pt expired in 2008. Cause of death: unknown; unrelated to medical device. Lot#-7044, expiration date-12/2008.

Search Alerts/Recalls

new search | submit an adverse event report

Brand Name HACH STERICHEK TOTAL CHLORINE REAGENT STRIPS Type of Device STRIP/TEST/REAGENT/RESIDUAL FOR DIALYSIS
Baseline Device 510(K) Number
Baseline Device PMA Number
Manufacturer (Section F) HACH COMPANY ames IA

Manufacturer (Section D) HACH COMPANY ames IA

Device Event Key 1016726 MDR Report Key 1048123 Event Key 1006314 Report Number 1048123 Device Sequence Number 1 Product Code MSY Report Source User Facility
Source Type Unknown
Reporter Occupation Other
Type of Report Initial Report Date 05/14/2008 1 Device Was Involved in the Event
1 Patient Was Involved in the Event
Date FDA Received 05/20/2008 Is This An Adverse Event Report? Yes
Is This A Product Problem Report? Yes
Device Operator Health Professional
Device EXPIRATION Date 04/01/2009 Device LOT Number 7163 Was Device Available For Evaluation? Yes
Is The Reporter A Health Professional? Yes
Was the Report Sent to FDA? Yes
Date Report Sent to FDA 05/14/2008 Distributor Facility Aware Date 04/30/2008 Device Age 1 yr Event Location Outpatient Treatment Facility
Date Report TO Manufacturer 05/14/2008 Was Device Evaluated By Manufacturer? No Answer Provided
Is this a Reprocessed and Reused Single-Use Device? No
Is the Device an Implant? No
Is this an Explanted Device?
Type of Device Usage Invalid Data

Patient TREATMENT DATA Date Received: 05/20/2008 Patient Sequence Number: 1

1,FRESENIUS 2008K HEMODIALYSIS MACHINE,
2,FRESENIUS MEDICAL CARE,
3,HEMODIALYSIS BLOOD TUBING SET WITH PRIMING SET AND,
4,TRANSDUCER PROTECTOR,
5,FMC OPTIFLUX SERIES ELECTRON BEAM STERILIZED,
6,DIALYZER,
7,BAXTER HEALTHCARE CORP 0.9% SODIUM CHLORIDE ,
8,INJECTION 1000ML BAG,
9,JMS SINGAPORE PTE LTD WINGEATER SAFETY A.V. ,
10,FISTULA NEEDLE SET.,

By LILLIAN POLLEY

July 7, 2008 8:22 PM | Link to this

i,m not having problem,s with my kidney,s reacurring of stones, which one day may lead me to having to have treatment, i would like to have those treatments here in lufkin, for i,ve been around different people that receive treatment and saw the pain and suffering that they go through, having to travel eslewhere to get treatment would be costly, seeing as high gas prices are, so i do vote to keep the facility open but in doing so that the place be motitor monthly and all nurses be screened for past criminal,record, but the most innocence worker could be the most deadly, so how do we know, it,s like everything esle in life, you take a chance and hope for the best,…

By LILLIAN POLLEY

July 7, 2008 8:23 PM | Link to this

i,m not having problem,s with my kidney,s reacurring of stones, which one day may lead me to having to have treatment, i would like to have those treatments here in lufkin, for i,ve been around different people that receive treatment and saw the pain and suffering that they go through, having to travel eslewhere to get treatment would be costly, seeing as high gas prices are, so i do vote to keep the facility open but in doing so that the place be motitor monthly and all nurses be screened for past criminal,record, but the most innocence worker could be the most deadly, so how do we know, it,s like everything esle in life, you take a chance and hope for the best,…

By LILLIAN POLLEY

July 7, 2008 8:39 PM | Link to this

as in life we do sometimes run into danger without knowing, what we are up against, i say this because, i was given a medicine that almost killed me and a certified doctor wrote the script, so should i fault the facility, for his not knowing, or for me taking the meds, when in reality neither of us knew how my body would react, the fault lies in when i when back and reported what medicals conditions i was suffering from the meds, and no-one took notice, i was given more meds but nothing was done about the first reactions,without woodlands heights, medical facilty i would,nt be alive writing this by these words, isay if there,s doubt of the treatment you are your family is receiving get a second opinion, don,t wait as i did, and don,t keep returning to the place where you receive treatment that you felted wasn,t acurate,we only have own self to blame, if we settled for less, we al may not have insurances , but don,t let your life be met with a deadly fate,just accepting what one doctor said, when you dont, feel comfortable with what,s happening around or too you are your family member,i almost waited too long, one more day and i would have died, don,t let the same happen to you, when in doubt,scream it out

By not falling for the lies

July 8, 2008 9:51 AM | Link to this

How many more holes can the Ship DaVita get in it before it sinks? I for one would not want to go to a clinic that 1. Wasn’t paying enough attention to realize that their death rate was WAY over state average. 2. commited a Federal offense by changing medical records. 3. Failed to document anything on 15 out of 34 patients who were sent to the ER in April. 4. Does not keep accurate or complete medical records. 5. Did not monitor the quality of care given to patients. 6. Lied about an internal investigation that obviously was not done since there is no documentation of that either. “If it isn’t documented, it isn’t done”.

By Not falling for the lies either

July 8, 2008 11:13 AM | Link to this

And to think some people on this blog actually had a problem with the family that protested!! If I am not mistaken, all they wanted was answers and to see DaVita be exposed for all their mistakes instead of pinning all the problems on “one nurse”. It sounds to me like the best thing that could happen to Lufkin/DaVita patients is for some other dialysis company to come in and take over this facility. I would bet some of the employees that still work there get a bit embarrassed when they have to tell people where they work (not saying they hate the job, just the company they are currently working for) Unless, they have drank too much “kool aid”. Keeping bailing water DaVita, but I think your ship is sinking faster than Mr. Chee or your legal team can fix it.

By To Susan

July 8, 2008 11:31 AM | Link to this

not all dialysis patients are old or in bad health my husband gets dialysis 3 times a week over a year now is 51 years old and has no major health problems. His kidney failure as doctors have told us caused his blood pressure to be high but now does not take blood pressure meds. other wise he is tired easily but is still active in most cases. So not everybody that takes dialysis is in POOR health. I thank God for dialysis because without it my husband would not have a chance until he is blessed with a new kidney (transplant.)Yes, we are concern about all the defencies that keep occuring but like what was told to him you are in charge of your dialysis and life know what is being ordered and why ask question stay invovled in your treatments.

By shame on davita

July 8, 2008 12:11 PM | Link to this

Now we know staff were not adequately trained and major problems existed separate from Davita blaming one nurse for all problems Shame on Davita for giving this kind of care

By anonymous

July 8, 2008 2:47 PM | Link to this

i wouldnt let a half dead dog be treated by davita….that place should be closed forever….

By anonymous

July 8, 2008 2:47 PM | Link to this

i wouldnt let a half dead dog be treated by davita….that place should be closed forever….

By DOG

July 8, 2008 4:10 PM | Link to this

Dogs in dog kennels are treated better than human beings in clinics like this DaVita clinic. This abuse is prevalent throughout the dialysis industry. The providers are nothing more than slumlords. EVen if the community could blackball DaVita with another company taking it’s place, most of the other dialysis companies are just as crooked. Protect your community- don’t stand for crooked dialysis companies. Insist upon ethical companies only. You or a loved one could be next in that chair!

By Roberta Mikles RN Patient Advocate

July 8, 2008 9:24 PM | Link to this

The survey has a voice of its own. Deficiencies cited clearly indicate that patients were not in a safe, let alone, quality care environment. However, it is important for readers to understand that not all facilities provide this level of care and that there are units that provide quality safe care. There are units, including Davita units, that follow their own facility policies and procedures, appropriately document, follow physician orders, appropriately monitor patients, report indicating symptoms to the licensed staff and/or doctors as well as those facilities that implement an effective quality improvement/continuous quality improvement programs/committees. One must ask how this facility got to the point that it did, aside from the nurse/bleach incident. As evidenced in the survey,there were other serious problems. Is this a result of staff not being adequately trained and educated, as well as ineffective unit supervision? Roberta Mikles RN Patient Advocate

By Laundry List

July 8, 2008 10:45 PM | Link to this

Dear God what an extensive laundry list DaVita is guilty of! These dialysis companies know and use every trick in the book for cheating the system. Medicare advertises that the public should report fraud— This is fraud!!! I gasped when I read how many patients died under this DaVita clinic’s watch. This is a true tragedy. I don’t know what the population of Lufkin is, but I hope this community will stand up to DaVita as Texas police have done when it comes to other major stories in the news that are going on in Texas at present. Lufkin, you can change the course of history in relation to a medical epidemic that has been going on for a long time- the injuries and demise of vulnerable dialysis patients. Hang tough Lufkin- bring these criminals to justice..

By Every Village Has An Idiot

July 10, 2008 1:21 PM | Link to this

THE SURVEY DOES INDEEED SPEAK FOR ITSELF BUT HERE”S A FEW POINTS TO PONDER ——- DaVita stated it voluntarily closed the unit after the last shift on April 28th, this is true however they failed to mention in their statements that TDHS was on site that day conducting an “unannounced” multiple complaint investigation. —— Kimberly Saenz was fired by DaVita on April 29th, the day after the unit was “voluntarily” closed for allegedly injecting bleach into the blood lines of 2 patients on April 28th - the day TDHS was on-site conducting the unannounced complaint investigation.—— They stated that their decision to close the unit was a concern over a “recent spike in patient deaths”. Looking over the information in the survey, the spike in patient deaths began in September 2007. And it also appears that there may have been concern with the mortality rate for all of 2007. So I guess in DaVita world “recent” means the past 2 years. —— DaVita claimed that an internal investigation provided no explanation to the cause of these increased deaths. Survey says that based on the documentation (or lack thereof) from monthly QA meeting minutes that no investigation actually took place. In fact it seems that data was intentionally excluded from the monthly QA meeting minutes. —— Patient “reuse” data was automatically deleted from the electronic charting system after reuse was stopped at the unit on April 17th, and all patient records who’s status had previously indicated “reuse” was changed to “non-reuse”. They claimed that they didn’t realize this would happen and apparently didn’t realize that it had happened. —— Looking at this survey as a whole it is obvious that there was total failure of unit management and staff supervision. While it is easy and convenient to blame and make a sacrifical lamb out of the Unit Adminstrator, the fact is that within the unit culperability for the unsafe enevironment goes directly to the members of the Governing Body, to the Medical Director and to the Professional Nurses. But as important if not more, the long term circumstances at DaVita Lufkin indicate a total systemic failure of management and oversight from area, regional and corporate administrators. These senior managers allowed the Lufkin situation to fester as long as it did, without any definitive action on their part to investigate, address and correct the deficiencies and non-compliance and they ultimately should be held accountability for this failure and the consequences thereof.

By Senior Managers

July 10, 2008 3:17 PM | Link to this

So true, Village. This is the problem- no accountability from the top on down. For example, take my current clinic. Recently, I was handed 4 months worth of patient care plans to sign. They were given to me 4 months late with the attitude we take care of you don’t we?..so sign. These type dialysis companies thumb their noses at the regulations, infringing upon patient care until patients are injured, wind up in the ER or lose their lives. I wish it was uncommon, but it is the norm and it starts at the top. The Federal and state oversight is not effective. If they were doing their job of enforcing regulations, the tragedy in Lufkin and the daily injuries and deaths all over the country would not be happening.

By do something

July 10, 2008 5:25 PM | Link to this

Call your Senator, take action If you are afraid of retaliation be anonymous

By Carley

July 11, 2008 12:38 AM | Link to this

TO EVERY VILLAGE HAS AN IDIOT:

I don’t know where you get your information but I hope someone is listening to you and how ridiculous this makes the case against Kimberly Saenz sound. Investigators on site the day this happened and she chose that day to put bleach in the lines. It is my understanding that this lady had only worked for DaVita about 7 or 8 months so what was happening in all of 2007 that they were charged with? Anyway, Every Village has an Idiot, keep up the good work and surely someone will soon see what a deceitful place this is.

By TO CARLY

July 11, 2008 12:01 PM | Link to this

The information I cited came from the Survey Report and news articles.

E-V-H-A-I

By Medical Professional

July 11, 2008 5:34 PM | Link to this

DOG! You are a complete and total MORON. Please see your family physician to have your meds adjusted.

By DOG

July 11, 2008 6:01 PM | Link to this

Thanks for the compliment, Medical Professional. You wouldn’t be so irate if what I said wasn’t true…and I will keep sniffin around and reporting what I see until the authorities take note and act.

By JON

July 13, 2008 5:07 AM | Link to this

I am currently a patient at a Davita unit in Florida. I do not condon what happened in Lufkin. There is a thing called patient responsility. Most time when I see the nurse injecting my line I ask what it is. Alot of the meds I can taste when injected. If it taste different I ask what it is. I understand some patients maybe too sick. In those cases the patient should have a health care sorogate.There maybe nurses or tech’s that your not comfortable with you have the right to request differevt ones. Other than the ones asigned to you. I have been lucky there has only been a few I have been leary of and watch them very closely. I do have other complaints about Davita. But I’m here to encourage patients to take responsiblity in there own health care. You have the right to ask questions and refuse that treatment you are not comfortable with.

By JON

July 13, 2008 5:07 AM | Link to this

I am currently a patient at a Davita unit in Florida. I do not condon what happened in Lufkin. There is a thing called patient responsility. Most time when I see the nurse injecting my line I ask what it is. Alot of the meds I can taste when injected. If it taste different I ask what it is. I understand some patients maybe too sick. In those cases the patient should have a health care sorogate.There maybe nurses or tech’s that your not comfortable with you have the right to request differevt ones. Other than the ones asigned to you. I have been lucky there has only been a few I have been leary of and watch them very closely. I do have other complaints about Davita. But I’m here to encourage patients to take responsiblity in there own health care. You have the right to ask questions and refuse that treatment you are not comfortable with.

By To:JON

July 13, 2008 8:26 PM | Link to this

Jon, you are certainly correct that patients should be pro-active. The problem is, according to CMS regulations, patients are supposed to be included in the care team, but in many clinics, nephrologists and staff are very rude and condescending to patients and if a patient speaks up he is labeled a non-compliant patient. Also, as you stated, there are patients who are too ill to stand up for themselves and they should have health-care surrogates. But there has never been such a thing. I heartily agree, there should be an ombudsman program of some kind to make sure that patients are not being taken advantage of.

I know of patients who have been on dialysis for years and have never once had a visitor. They may have a caring family, but the family could not visit as they had to work. Some have told me, however, that when they have had to go in the hospital, a family member always accompanied them to make sure no one took advantage of them.

I have been in dialysis clinics where nursing staff were very abusive acting if I stated that I was not comfortable with a particular nurse or tech. In other clinics, they have respected my rights without question.

So, one can try to be pro-active, but in some clinics he will be labeled and harassed. He may even be “dumped” (kicked out). Because these type clinics exist, it is highly necessary for enforcement of patients rights to be improved. These sort of things could not go on if enforcement was what it should be. There are all kinds of regulations written about enforcement, but those responsible do not follow through. This in a nut shell is the problem- enforcement is lacking- dialysis is like a land that has a slack or corrupt police dept.

By wondering

July 15, 2008 7:23 AM | Link to this

I am just wondering where Mr. Chee is. Why hasn’t he spoken up for DaVita since the survey came out? Come on Mr. Chee, we want to hear what you have to say about all of these deficiencies. Explain please.

By striving for better

July 15, 2008 11:20 AM | Link to this

Patients should not be afraid to speak up or ask questions about their own healthcare. They should in no way feel intimidated by the staff or anyone else for that matter. Questions should be welcomed and answers given. For some reason staff tends to feel threatened when they are questioned by patients or family members. What they don’t seem to realize is that the more educated patiens are about their condition and their treatments, the less likely things like this davita incident are to happen. I wish I knew a way to fix the way a lot of healthcare workers think in regards to patient questions, but unfortunatly I don’t. What happened in Lufkin is horrible. What is even worse is that it went on for so long undetected. That is a clear cut case of lack of oversight and supervision. As someone else said, this boils down to a managment issue, all the way to the top. Also, I wonder who changed the medical records. I’m pretty sure that is a federal offense. Shouldn’t they be in trouble also?

By Roberta Mikles RN Health Care Patient Advocate

July 16, 2008 3:23 PM | Link to this

To Striving for better -

Your statements are accurate. Unfortunately, there are facilities that through covert staff actions prevent patients from asking questions, or questioning practices. Covert e.g. when a patient asks a question they are met with a facial expression and/or body language that says ‘don’t ask’. Or questions are asked and responses are received of which later patients learn information provided was incorrect, ie the staff who told a patient that normal hemoglobin level for diaylsis patient was same as his (not a dialysis patient). If staff are adequately educated and trained they should not feel threatened and should, in fact, understand it is the patient’s body and all agencies, organizations, etc encourage patients to be fully informed and educated, as well as to participate in their own care. The change of thinking must come from the top down and as Dr. David Nash of the Health Care Policy Division- Jefferson Medical College stated “It is the process of care”. We need a change of thinking process. Considering the surveyors were in the facility, called an Immediate Jeopardy, but later, during review of records and interviews, found serious deficiencies, that placed patients in potential or actual harm situations —- well, one must ask “What if the surveyors were not there? What would have happened? Would the noncompliance with policies/procedures, lack of following basic standards of care, not following physician orders etc. continued?” That is the question? Roberta Mikles RN Patient Advocate -RMiklesRN@aol.com

By wondering

July 19, 2008 5:46 PM | Link to this

have you read the survey here?

By Every Village Has An Idiot

July 21, 2008 6:52 PM | Link to this

Well it seems that interest in this story is beginning to fade. Is it becuase that the general view is that it was an isolated case and now all the facts seem to be known? Well hardly on both counts. Yes this story is about circumstances at one dialysis unit in Lufkin Texas but keep in mind while it easy and right to cast blame on one local adminstrater and medical director and criticize other “professionals” within the unit, these individual’s bosses carry as much if not more blame for allowing the situation to fester as long as it did. These “bosses” are not just responsible for this one unit but many others in Texas and a bit higher up the ladder, 100’s of units in multiple states and this corporation operates over 1,000 units nationwide. The situation in Lufkin is not just demonstrative of sloppy care but of a sloppy managerial mindset that permeates through the dialysis business. DaVita would be better served if it spent its’ vast resources on developing good solid management and oversight process rather than its attempts to create a “fun culture” with cutesy region names, corporate executives dressing up like muskateers and prize give-aways. Don’t get me wrong I think it great to be able to have a little fun in the workplace but fun must come after the job is done and Lufkin while just one example shows that job isn’t getting done. Hopefully DaVita’s learned the lesson of Lufkin and is instituting changes across the board to ensure there is no repeat at another one of its units, that remains to be seen. As far as the facts being known, today there is still no explanation as to those unusually highy number of patinet deaths - sure there’s the alleged bleach incident but nothing to date connects the alleged occurence on that one day with all the other days when more than the usual number of patients were transported out of the unit by ambulance and more than the usual number of patients died. That alleged incident had nothing to do with improper documenatation, incomplete or “inadvertantly” lost or deleted records or the repeated failure of the nursing staff to properly assess patinets while undergoing treatment. That incident had nothing to do with the claims of an internal investigation which it seems did not actually take place. The fact is the alleged bleach incident had no, or at least very little connection to the bulk of the deficiencies found at the Lufkin unit. And attention should not be fixated on just that one alleged act. Certainly if it is true that the nurse injected bleach into the blood lines of two patients causing injury, it is a