Anybody have any connections at Hopkins or U of Maryland Medical Center?

[muscle96ss]

To make a long story short, my mom has been in the ICU at a horrible hospital in the Maryland area for the past 2 weeks and we are trying to get her transferred to a place that can properly diagnose her before it is too late. Both John Hopkins and U o M Medical Center are full and getting a transfer is going to take quite some time. In addition, while the doctor at her current hospital is willing to do the transfer, he is the one in charge of explaining to the other hospital the reasons for the transfer and he has already written her off and said there is nothing more they can do for her and wants to discharge her to hospice(which is BS because they don't even know the cause), so he isn't going to make a good case for them to accept her even if they have a bed open.

So I am wondering if anybody here has any connections at those hospitals that could help me to get her in? We are in a desperate position at this point and it is literally a matter of life and death, so any help would be appreciated.

 

[Love_to_Bodybuild]

John Hopkins has a psychedelic department so if she qualifies for that with her diagnosis that could help her out

 

[bananas007]

You probably know this, being a PT, but the way hospital to hospital transfers work, is the hospital that the transfer is being initiated to should have something they are providing, that the hospital that the patient is at, cannot provide. For eg. If someone is needing ECMO cause their lungs are failing, and the smaller hospital doesnt do that, then the attending physician can initiate a transfer.

It is very hard to get a transfer, simply cause the family wants it, or "we cant figure out what's wrong with the patient." If the patient is able to walk out safely, the best thing to do is, sign her out and take her to the ER at the hospital you feel more comfortable with. I imagine with her being in the ICU she is probably to sick to leave the hospital though.

 

[muscle96ss]

You probably know this, being a PT, but the way hospital to hospital transfers work, is the hospital that the transfer is being initiated to should have something they are providing, that the hospital that the patient is at, cannot provide. For eg. If someone is needing ECMO cause their lungs are failing, and the smaller hospital doesnt do that, then the attending physician can initiate a transfer.

It is very hard to get a transfer, simply cause the family wants it, or "we cant figure out what's wrong with the patient." If the patient is able to walk out safely, the best thing to do is, sign her out and take her to the ER at the hospital you feel more comfortable with. I imagine with her being in the ICU she is probably to sick to leave the hospital though.

See that is the problem. The doctors at the current hospital have basically said there is nothing more they can do and are ready to discharge her to hospice. Meanwhile, they have NO idea why she has severe pleural effusion(was draining liter a day for a week) and some pericardial effusion, low albumin levels, low protein levels, etc... and the CT scan from October(when she first started having problems) and the CT scan from now, both show liver cirrhosis, although her liver enzymes are normal(she also has a free T3 of .7 but normal T4 and TSH signifying underconversion in the liver). But they have NEVER had a liver specialist look at her and have refused our request until today they finally agreed to shut us up. So basically, they are saying "we don't know what the cause of everything is but there is nothing we can do". They are just treating symptoms but she has no chance of surviving until they identify a cause and then see if there are any treatment options.

So while the doctor has agreed to transfer, his belief is that there is nothing that can be done for her. We thought of the ER scenario but when they discharge her, she would need medical transportation to wherever and is in a super fragile state. So we are not sure how to pull that off.

 

[thethinker48]

Really sorry to hear you going through this

We had a similar situation with my grandfather where he was in a less than average hospital with terrible care. He had pneumonia, GI bleeding, and in constant need of blood transfusions with hospital induced sundowning. I tried my best to do a hospital transfer on the basis of GI bleeding, and the other hospital having a pill endoscopy feature that this hospital didn't. Knew a doc at the other hospital willing to accept him, but it was refused on the basis that it wasn't vital. Insurance would not cover the ambulance bill or the non-emergency re-admittance to the other hospital.

I really hope it works out for your mom

You might be able to have a doc at the clinics you mentioned above do a consult, and you can send them her scans, blood work, and all prior medical notes. I would reach out individually to the applicable departments in those hospitals, very unlikely they'd take a consult just like that, but worth trying. Maybe the doc that's currently treating her can forward her info to any specialists in other areas he knows, and if they find something worth looking into, they could treat at another facility or do further testing or treatment at her current hospital

Problem with bad hospitals isn't necessarily the actual equipment, or lack of facilities; it's the culture, and incompetent staff; neither of which insurance deems worthy of footing an extra bill for

 

[maldorf]

See that is the problem. The doctors at the current hospital have basically said there is nothing more they can do and are ready to discharge her to hospice. Meanwhile, they have NO idea why she has severe pleural effusion(was draining liter a day for a week) and some pericardial effusion, low albumin levels, low protein levels, etc... and the CT scan from October(when she first started having problems) and the CT scan from now, both show liver cirrhosis, although her liver enzymes are normal(she also has a free T3 of .7 but normal T4 and TSH signifying underconversion in the liver). But they have NEVER had a liver specialist look at her and have refused our request until today they finally agreed to shut us up. So basically, they are saying "we don't know what the cause of everything is but there is nothing we can do". They are just treating symptoms but she has no chance of surviving until they identify a cause and then see if there are any treatment options.

So while the doctor has agreed to transfer, his belief is that there is nothing that can be done for her. We thought of the ER scenario but when they discharge her, she would need medical transportation to wherever and is in a super fragile state. So we are not sure how to pull that off.

Im sure they checked out her other organs as well? Kidneys and heart? I know if your heart failure is severe that can lead to pulmonary edema and multiorgan failure.

 

[muscle96ss]

Im sure they checked out her other organs as well? Kidneys and heart? I know if your heart failure is severe that can lead to pulmonary edema and multiorgan failure.

When she was in the same hospital back in October for the same thing, they didn't do much of a cardio work-up but said that she should see a cardiologist when discharged. She saw a cardiologist who said that she probably had occasional atrial fib that can cause her pleural effusion and prescribed her Metoprolol and Lasix.

When she was admitted to the hospital this time, they completely ignored the heart but somehow ruled it out and I wasn't aware that cardio hadn't even seen her. At about the 1 week mark, I found out and was so pissed and got them to do a cardiac eval asap.

They did an echo which showed normal function but prompted them to do a CT scan. The CT scan showed pericardial effusion but said that it was not enough to effect function so they thought it would be too invasive to drain it, but would drain it at a later date if it got more severe and effected function. It was this CT scan that they said showed liver cirrhosis but completely ignored any follow up. I have since been trying to get hepatology to be ordered to eval her but they are too lazy. Then yesterday, I found out from the interventional radiologist that the October Ct scan showed the same thing(and nobody ever mentioned it or did shit about it). I have been on the warpath since.

 

[MR. BMJ]

Hey brother, I think GotGame had mentioned he gave you his ph#? If so, i'd maybe give him a call or text.

 

[muscle96ss]

Hey brother, I think GotGame had mentioned he gave you his ph#? If so, i'd maybe give him a call or text.

I already talked to him earlier, he trained there many years ago, but the people he knew have moved on.

 

[Bio]

I'm sorry you're going through this.

The only thing that I can think of is, maybe a specialist at one of the other hospitals you mentioned has privileges at the hospital your mom is at.
Try contacting them and see what happens.

I wish had something more to add but sadly I don't. Just remember that doctors don't always have all the answers. The body can be a complicated mess at times. My thoughts are with you and your family.

 

[maldorf]

When she was in the same hospital back in October for the same thing, they didn't do much of a cardio work-up but said that she should see a cardiologist when discharged. She saw a cardiologist who said that she probably had occasional atrial fib that can cause her pleural effusion and prescribed her Metoprolol and Lasix.

When she was admitted to the hospital this time, they completely ignored the heart but somehow ruled it out and I wasn't aware that cardio hadn't even seen her. At about the 1 week mark, I found out and was so pissed and got them to do a cardiac eval asap.

They did an echo which showed normal function but prompted them to do a CT scan. The CT scan showed pericardial effusion but said that it was not enough to effect function so they thought it would be too invasive to drain it, but would drain it at a later date if it got more severe and effected function. It was this CT scan that they said showed liver cirrhosis but completely ignored any follow up. I have since been trying to get hepatology to be ordered to eval her but they are too lazy. Then yesterday, I found out from the interventional radiologist that the October Ct scan showed the same thing(and nobody ever mentioned it or did shit about it). I have been on the warpath since.

How about something like Hepatitis C? That can do bad things to the liver. A simple blood test. My mother's liver enzymes are up in the mid 300s now and they are going to test for it soon. She doesn't even feel sick though. I asked her about hep c when she told me liver enzymes were up and she said the doctor hadn't tested her. She went back to them and the doctor agreed it should be tested.

You can get that from eating contaminated food. A worker at our local taco bell had it and all the newspapers here in town and tv channels put out a warning. We ate there and all get tested just to be safe.

 

[muscle96ss]

I'm sorry you're going through this.

The only thing that I can think of is, maybe a specialist at one of the other hospitals you mentioned has privileges at the hospital your mom is at.
Try contacting them and see what happens.

I wish had something more to add but sadly I don't. Just remember that doctors don't always have all the answers. The body can be a complicated mess at times. My thoughts are with you and your family.

Thanks! The problem is not that they don't have the answers, but that they are treating symptoms and not looking for the cause. They can't comprehend the simple fact that if you can treat the cause, it takes care of the symptoms. They also don't understand basic physiology. For example mom has a free T3 of .7 and the doc said that it wasn't an issue because her free T4 and TSH were normal. I had to explain to them that free T3 is the active hormone so it was an issue and there was obviously a problem with converting T4 to T3. So once he understood that, he was willing to treat her with synthroid(T4), lol. I had to explain to him that if T4 is not converting to T3 then prescribing T4 will do nothing and she needs T3. But he didn't like that because their protocol calls for prescribing T4, lol. The docs are robots to protocols and ignore logic and the actual physiology involved.

 

[muscle96ss]

How about something like Hepatitis C? That can do bad things to the liver. A simple blood test. My mother's liver enzymes are up in the mid 300s now and they are going to test for it soon. She doesn't even feel sick though. I asked her about hep c when she told me liver enzymes were up and she said the doctor hadn't tested her. She went back to them and the doctor agreed it should be tested.

You can get that from eating contaminated food. A worker at our local taco bell had it and all the newspapers here in town and tv channels put out a warning. We ate there and all get tested just to be safe.

I thought of that, but they are not interested in examining the liver because her enzymes are normal.

 

[Muay Thai]

John Hopkins has a psychedelic department so if she qualifies for that with her diagnosis that could help her out

broo did you read the part where he said she in the ICU, yeah let's have mom start micro-dosing psilocybin and MDMA to get her groove back. Anyways, JHU has those reserved for PTSD and treatment-resistant depression! I doubt this lady is in the hospital icu having a psychotic episode or ptsd meltdown. I qualified for those studies, and That is the last thing I would ever want my mom to get into man. this made me LOL

 

[Muay Thai]

How about something like Hepatitis C? That can do bad things to the liver. A simple blood test. My mother's liver enzymes are up in the mid 300s now and they are going to test for it soon. She doesn't even feel sick though. I asked her about hep c when she told me liver enzymes were up and she said the doctor hadn't tested her. She went back to them and the doctor agreed it should be tested.

You can get that from eating contaminated food. A worker at our local taco bell had it and all the newspapers here in town and tv channels put out a warning. We ate there and all get tested just to be safe.

I used to pt a girl who had hep c she was a fox man I always thought about dating her she always wanted to get wine.

I pray your mom heals! curious does she take any of your supp advice ( tudca etc) or did you refrain from divulging it to her? is she old school? my mom agrees to take some (probiotics, krill oil, saurkraut, ACV, elderberry, multi ) simple things that give me peace of mind. I just wish she exercised and did deep stretching or yoga preferablya nd dieted better. oh well

god bless bro

 

[maldorf]

broo did you read the part where he said she in the ICU, yeah let's have mom start micro-dosing psilocybin and MDMA to get her groove back. Anyways, JHU has those reserved for PTSD and treatment-resistant depression! I doubt this lady is in the hospital icu having a psychotic episode or ptsd meltdown. I qualified for those studies, and That is the last thing I would ever want my mom to get into man. this made me LOL

I think he was reasoning that they could use the psyche reason to get her transferred out. Just as a reason.

 

[Muay Thai]

I think he was reasoning that they could use the psyche reason to get her transferred out. Just as a reason.

well so much for playing devil's advocate, I retract my statement and should know better than to assume based on ambiguity in the post. I come back from a 3 year hiatus and i realize after 5 minutes you can no longer edit posts. Greener pastures!

 

[maldorf]

I used to pt a girl who had hep c she was a fox man I always thought about dating her she always wanted to get wine.

I pray your mom heals! curious does she take any of your supp advice ( tudca etc) or did you refrain from divulging it to her? is she old school? my mom agrees to take some (probiotics, krill oil, saurkraut, ACV, elderberry, multi ) simple things that give me peace of mind. I just wish she exercised and did deep stretching or yoga preferablya nd dieted better. oh well

god bless bro

We don't know what's wrong. She is 80 now. She doesn't take a lot of supplements. I think it was a virus. So many possibilities. The OP mom's case reminded me of my mother's issue.

 

[Muay Thai]

We don't know what's wrong. She is 80 now. She doesn't take a lot of supplements. I think it was a virus. So many possibilities. The OP mom's case reminded me of my mother's issue.

i hear ya, well similar like I heplped opened the gentlemans eyes for being shallow in his post , @the guy who wears the same thing in the gym every day , the universe is drawn sometimes to smite us individually with humility. happy healing! its important to operate out of a wider range and horizon of thinking (my learned lesson from this). everyday we have to grow man, mentally physically spiritually and emotionally. all systems coincide!

 

[maldorf]

I thought of that, but they are not interested in examining the liver because her enzymes are normal.

Sounds like that hospital definitely isn't the best. We have one like that and it's the closest to our home. If we call 911 because of my heart, they take me there every time even when I tell them NO!So now we take our chances and my wife drives me to the best hospital, where my doctors are, on her own.