I would like to be supportive; however, it seems lawyers would
be more helpful at this point than reporters.
Has that avenue been pursued? Should I try to send this
to people who might know good medical malpractice lawyers
in the southwest?
The statement about it being "time to show President Bush how
wrong he was in vetoing recent legislation" is curious, because
as President, Bush hasn't vetoed anything yet.
- Gordon
----- Original Message -----
From: "Udhay Shankar N" <udhay@pobox.com>
To: <fork@xent.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 04, 2001 8:54 PM
Subject: Fwd: [IRR] A call to action
> Marcia is a personal friend, and a good person in various senses of the
> term. If you can help, please do so.
>
> Udhay
>
> >Date: Wed, 04 Apr 2001 12:29:51 -0600
> >From: Marcia Blake <marcia@automagix.com>
> >Organization: Automagix!
> >Subject: [IRR] A call to action
> >
> >Dear Friends,
> >
> >I received some very bad news on Monday, and now must urgently seek
> >assistance from as many people as I can think of. I am writing to you to
> >ask for your help.
> >
> >Some of you on this blind-copied list know that I had a total hip
> >replacement at Kaiser Permanente in San Diego in January 2000. Some of
> >you also know that within a few weeks after the surgery, I knew it had
> >been a failure. A lesser number of you know that I have obtained "second
> >opinions" from three orthopedic surgeons, all of whom agree that the
> >prosthetic stem was inserted crooked, that it has made the leg on that
> >side almost two inches too long, and that revision surgery was required.
> >A few months ago, one of those surgeons also informed me that the
> >prosthetic socket cap was inserted incorrectly as well, and that the
> >prongs on the back of the cap are dissolving bone with every motion.
> >
> >I have been battling for over a year to get Kaiser to "make good" on
> >this very faulty surgery. (They did go so far as to schedule revision
> >surgery for August 26, 2000, but the Kaiser physician who was to have
> >performed the surgery became unavailable, and on August 31 my job in San
> >Diego ended, I moved home to Santa Fe, and I became uninsured - and
> >uninsurable.)
> >
> >In my attempts to obtain remedial care since then, I have diligently
> >followed every avenue available to me, ranging from Kaiser's internal
> >appeals process to the State of California's Department of Managed
> >Health Care. I have met with no success. I have been frustrated and very
> >angry at the relentlessly increasing level of pain and disability I must
> >live with, but until Monday, I thought that at least it was temporary -
> >something I could deal with until a means became available for me to
> >have the required revision surgery.
> >
> >On Monday, however, the orthopedic surgeon I'm seeing here in Santa Fe
> >informed me that without the surgery, the damage being caused by the
> >loose prostheses will inevitably leave me _permanently_ unable to walk.
> >I had not known that the delay in getting the revision done could have
> >such a dramatic consequence, and it has taken me until now to "process"
> >that information.
> >
> >It finally occurred to me last night that, since there has been no
> >appropriate response inside "the system," it's time to go outside of it.
> >This is a perfect opportunity to put my background in communications and
> >publishing to work, so I am going to mount a media campaign in an effort
> >to draw appropriate attention to this matter. (I've already learned,
> >thanks to my younger daughter, that Good Morning America ran a piece
> >sometime last week about a group of doctors who have formed a coalition
> >to fight HMO power at the federal level. That's perfect: It means an
> >issue like mine is already on GMA's radar and I may be able to generate
> >some interest there in this particular story.)
> >
> >I am asking you for any help at all that you can provide, from
> >suggesting media contacts to writing letters on my behalf. All of us
> >have networks of family, friends, and colleagues, and if we are to
> >believe the business writers, there are only six degrees of separation
> >from any one person to just the right contact. I hope you will tell my
> >story to everyone _you_ can think of.
> >
> >While I readily grant that most of my interest in drawing media
> >attention to my situation is driven by my wish to avoid spending the
> >rest of my life in a wheelchair, it does go beyond the personal: every
> >one of us almost certainly knows someone else who has been failed by an
> >HMO. I want this to be a New York Times cover story and a network TV
> >feature not just for myself, but because it's time to show President
> >Bush how wrong he was in vetoing the recent legislation that would have
> >returned to medical consumers at least a little of the power that HMOs
> >have appropriated from us.
> >
> >To those of you who are reading this outside the USA, I ask that you not
> >dismiss it as something that doesn't affect you. You may be right - you
> >may never have to deal directly with an issue like this - but you may
> >know someone who _would_ care. If you, too, put the word out, someone
> >six degrees or less from _you_ may be just the person I'm looking for.
> >
> >Most of you know me as a rather proud, "I-can-do-it-myself" kind of
> >person, but these events have changed me. This is something I know I
> >cannot do alone, and I earnestly ask - no, I am _begging_ - for your
> >help.
> >
> >Some time ago, I added a quote to my email ".sig" - for no reason other
> >than I liked it and felt it to be true. I ask you to read and consider
> >it now.
> >
> >My thanks to you,
> >Marcia
> >
> >Marcia Blake http://www.automagix.com Automagix!
> >E-business Strategies | Cross-media Communications
> >__________________________________________________
> >A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle.
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sun Apr 29 2001 - 20:25:31 PDT