Tom in Lazybrook
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I Root For: So Alabama, GWU
Location: Houston
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RE: Documents reveal Southern Poverty Law Center shipping millions to offshore accounts
(09-03-2017 09:12 PM)dfarr Wrote: (09-03-2017 05:50 PM)Tom in Lazybrook Wrote: (09-03-2017 05:17 PM)dfarr Wrote: (09-03-2017 12:44 PM)Tom in Lazybrook Wrote: (09-03-2017 12:26 PM)dfarr Wrote: The article you linked about Mobile Infirmary didn't mention why the guy went to the hospital or why he was discharged. Him having HIV might have zero to do with it. It also doesn't mention if the guy was even gay. You're taking one fact about this person and assigning his treatment based on that when you have no idea what even happened or why he was there, or if he was even gay. They're are plenty of healthy folks who have HIV. As usual you take one small part of the article and make a bunch of wild assumptions and accusations.
HIV specialists aren't very common. Very few people go into infectious disease specialties. Hell, we have 2 of them where I live and they only have clinic 1 day a week.
He went to the ER barely able to move. He was thrown out of the ER and dumped in a mud puddle on the side of the hospital because they wouldn't treat him. He had to be carried out because he was unable to walk. Want to see the video of Mobile Infirmary's staff physically throwing him out of the facility because he was unable to physically move?
By the way, I strongly suspect he had a type of pneumonia called PCP, which ER's are extremely reluctant to admit patients for some reason. Heck, a hospital here in Houston (Memorial Hermann Northwest) told someone with PC Pneumonia that he was sick because of a fall. Two days later, he's in the public hospital where he nearly died and spent a month in patient care.
He, like my brother, was refused ANY care. Actually Mobile Infirmary committed manslaughter IMHO and should have had all the responsible parties put in prison. But there's no justice in Alabama. You can violate the law with impunity because no one cares about minorities. Maybe they had to pay some relative 5% of the CEO's salary every once in a while.
And where can persons dying with AIDS in Alabama die with dignity? Given my brother's experience in Mobile - and who denied him, I would expect that Tuscaloosa would be a real problem. Meanwhile persons dying of communicable diseases that don't impact the LGBT community in exceptional numbers get to at least die with dignity. You don't need specialized equipment to care for someone who is on the DNR list who is on hospice with death imminent status.
In Alabama, its actually very dangerous to be LGBT. Getting basic, much less specialized medical care is a real and growing problem. The groups that the SPLC calls out as hate groups are, in my opinion, encouraging this via demonization and advocacy of discrimination against LGBT persons.
In the "In Re Little" case (from Louisiana), here's another case of rampant and systematic denial care to AIDS sufferers. In this case, the person was not dying of AIDS, but simply needed to transferred from a hospital for long term nursing care as a result of being in a coma. In his case, every nursing home within EIGHTY MILES turned him down.
And its not just AIDS. I've been denied care, to my personal detriment by a PCP here in Houston. And I'm HIV negative.
So you don't know if the guy was gay, had AIDS, or was even there for a gay/HIV related issue, yet you keep on preaching as if you do. Talk about having your head up your ass.
I work in healthcare in Alabama. I went to school with dozens of nurses and physicians. I was either a student or employee at UAB for 12 years. Healthcare is kinda our thing, so I know tons of people throughout the state in healthcare. Half my family are nurses and doctors in this state. I can say unequivocally that your a purely FOS.
Your version of being denied care is not being seen the next day for an ear ache, so excuse me for not feeling sorry for you.
Uh, reading is fundamental. The patient at Mobile Infirmary was listed HIV positive. He was thrown out of the ER because they didn't want to treat him, and because he couldn't really move well, they physically threw him down in a gutter in 40 degree rain. These are not in dispute. Mobile Infirmary, in pleadings designed to try to avoid any responsibility, argued that he died of AIDS. No idea how they came up with that, seeing as they never treated him and the patient died of exposure related illnesses at the hospital he was transported to after he was found in the gutter 4 hours after being physically thrown out of Mobile Infirmary.
Also not in dispute is that I can't find one single hospice in Mobile that accepts AIDS patients. Can you? How about Tuscaloosa?
My brother died last month in needless pain because we couldn't find one single hospice that would take him. Most of the beds are controlled by one hospice company and they flat out rejected him. He experienced terrible pain as a direct result of that denial.
Exactly, what kind of hospice cannot handle a Gay man, who is bed bound, with a DNR and less than 10 days to live? What medical condition does he have that they cannot handle? Obviously you know that the ONLY reason for a denial is.....they don't want to handle it. BTW, the hospice company, which controls many, if not most, of the hospice beds in the entire state, does NOT have sexual orientation in their non-discrimination policy.
The reality is that Gay people in Alabama cannot get even BASIC medical care, much less specialized care.
Tomorrow, I'll probably have to pay a 990 dollar penalty for being Gay. Because there's only a couple PCP's in Houston that are trusted by the LGBT community. That's a pain but I'm one of the few people that can afford such a HUGE surtax for being Gay. Most people just do without care as a result. I'm relatively less disadvantaged than Gay people in Alabama, because there are 2 or 3 PCP doctors that treat Gay people with SUPPORT and dignity. I'm not lucky, as I'm still far more disadvantaged than straight persons, who will NEVER have to pick a PCP that is oversubscribed just to avoid being denied a medically necessary referral because of your sexual orientation.
Again, please let me know the hospices in Alabama that take LGBT patients with HIV. Use those contacts and let me know. I'd love to know what you come up with. We were rejected. Not 'there isn't space', but you can't come here. Even if you paid double what the list price was'.
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Where can Gay people in Alabama die with dignity? Maybe there's one facility in Birmingham that has 10 beds and no availability. If there's anything in Mobile, we were unable to find it.
Reading is fundamental. Nowhere in YOUR link did they mention that the guy was gay or had AIDS at all. Lots of people do just fine living with HIV. I have lots of patients who have it. You equated him being dumped on the street with his HIV status. I'm willing to bet that Mobile Infirmary treats plenty of HIV patients. It's not all that uncommon. I'd much rather treat a HIV patient than a Hep C patient. Hep C is way more contagious.
PCPs don't need to treat gay people with kid gloves. You are the one who has it in your head that there are only 2 doctors in the 4th largest city in the country who treat gays fairly. I'm pretty sure there are more than 2 GAY doctors in Houston, so that claim is bull**** based on simple stats. Hell, there are more than 2 gay docs in my small Alabama town. Gay people get plenty of basic medical care. One of my favorite patients is a flaming homosexual and he's never brought up issues to me, and I see him regularly in my office. Once again, instead of wanting to be treated as an equal, you expect special treatment. Just because you sleep with men doesn't make you special.
Inpatient hospice is rare. I can only think of 1 place in my area of around 100k people that is a inpatient type hospice. Majority of hospice is home based from my limited knowledge.
There are four Gay doctors in Houston that are on BCBS. Two are AIDS only. One charges an annual concierge fee of 1500 bucks to use him. That leaves.....one doctor for 6.000 Gay men in Houston who cannot get employer provided non-Medicare insurance in Texas who are HIV negative.
For my brother, in patient hospice was not appropriate. Actually the 'in home hospice' looks like bull**** in my opinion period for anyone. BTW, even the BS in home hospice people knew that my brother need institutional care. But guess what? Are there any facilities that take HIV positive Gay men in Mobile? I'm not sure there are any of them.
After seeing your views on here, I question if you're a proper arbiter of what is real support for LGBT patients.
In Alabama, a majority of the beds appear to not take Gay men.
My brother had PML and AIDS. He was rejected by the hospice monopoly in Mobile. No care. Even if we offered to pay cash.
Once he was unresponsive, we were unable to revoke his DNR designation to get him admitted to any hospital ER in Mobile. And we were unable to care for him because of his living situation, which was extremely unsuitable.
I have revised my living will to instruct the following:
"Under no circumstances shall I ever agree to remove my insurance benefits to be admitted to the ER/hospital, unless I'm doing so from a hospice bed in one of the five nearest hospices to my residence, with the right to stay there with insurance coverage until my death. It is my strong preference that I be placed in an institutional hospice if I am unable to care for myself and am terminal. My instructions are DNR, but only in an institutional inpatient hospice covered by my insurance policy. Until that time, I want all expenses available under my insurance policy to be used. If my insurance policy doesn't cover that eventually, I authorize and release my medical records to every person on planet Earth in order to facilitate lawsuits. Under no circumstances, if I am unable to make a decision, will I accept any home hospice care treatment"
As far as I can tell, in home hospice means....the insurance company saves 250,000 in costs, and in return they provide you with a 50 dollar bed rental, 10 bucks worth of morphine, and someone to bathe them three times a week. No thanks. Oh wait they promised diversion in case of an emergency...but then couldn't do it because....no one takes Gay people in Alabama.
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