Downing and McPeak Experience

RP, new help, or gadget? ,, Health Care, up to all of us

2010-03-18T14:34:00.000-07:00

"Telescope manufacturer Designs for Vision, Inc. (DVI) has produced a viable series of reverse telescope spectacles that permit us to treat RP patients like never before," said Dr. Smith.

The above statement could be of help to RP patients, something to keep our eyes on !!

Health Care,, its our business too !

With the upcoming vote on the Health care bill, its time for all of us to help in the fight for better care, more affordable care , we cannot keep waiting for " someone else " to do it. It's up to us to report abuses, over billing, over treating, fraud, and all the other abuses found in health care, report it, prove it. you can file with proof of fraud and also pocket some of the savings yourself!! Its the right thing to do, it is the responsible thing to do. The future depends on it, we cannot keep letting these surgery centers, these doctors , get by with ripping off our taxes by fraud against medicare, or driving up health care costs by fraud against our insurance agencies, in the end, it hurts me, you, the children of the next generation, which is why it is our responsibility to report fraud!!!!

Updates coming!!

2010-03-16T17:29:00.000-07:00

I haven't added any news to this site for a while now, partly, I have been busy, partly I have been discouraged, and partly I have been depressed.
Depression can drag you down and make you give up, but I have decided that I will never give up. Yes, there is little I can do about my situation after losing some of my vision due to my surgery at Downing and Mcpeak Vision Center in Kentucky, but just maybe I can get the word out and save someone else from going through what I have.
And do not doubt, there are others , some who have sought justice against these errant doctors, some who weep silently at their loss. Some who just do not know where to go for help! I will continue to seek out avenues to help those I can, and avenues to stop those who would harm others ! I will reach out to the insiders of the office and surgery center who know much of what is going on. I will continue.

In the upcoming days and weeks I will still be posting information on RP as I can find it, and I will update any court news etc I find on these so called doctors who have forgotten ( as if they ever cared ) their oath to cause no harm.
Please visit back in a few days for updated information.
And to those who have been in touch about their experiences with these doctors, thanks.

Retinitis pigmentosa eye disease and Dr Norman Radtke

2009-12-16T21:30:00.000-08:00

Dr Radtke is an RP specialist, he has offices in both Indiana and Louisville KY

I believe , from looking at the clinical trial site, he is continuing his trials and recruiting patients,, Only a small number of people at this point,, I can tell you from experience, he is a kind and caring, experienced man.

I went to Dr Radkte after my vision loss at the hands of Dr Downing and Dr Porter at Downing McPeak vision center, and Norman Radkte was trying to rid me of the CME caused from the disaster I experienced at Downing and McPeak.

After having such a horrible experience with believing Dr Porter about his experience with RP, I checked out Dr Radtke before going there and he does have extensive experience with this condition,, unlike Dr Porter , who caused me to lose vision,, I wish I had known about this experienced doctor before letting Dr Porter and Dr Downing near me,, I have no doubt that had I known,, I would still have my vision today .

Is this successful eye surgery?

2009-12-04T14:11:00.000-08:00

Nor had I spoken to any individuals who wished they had never had the procedure — of which, I have since learned, there are plenty.
On April 13, 2007, I had the surgery. Dr. Belmont’s colleague examined me the next day. My vision was a little blurry, but apparently that was normal. Dr. Belmont said that everything looked good on subsequent visits, too. But the blurriness never went away.
At night, I saw halos around streetlights; neon signs bled; the moon had two rings around it like Saturn. My eyes felt sore, a result of dry eye, which also causes sporadic blurriness.
Dr. Belmont told me that sometimes women of a certain age who are undergoing hormonal changes or who take certain medications get dry eye. It would have been nice if I’d known my advanced age (39) might be problematic before I sat in the chair.
I cut out all prescription and nonprescription pills. Didn’t help. The doctor told me to use Refresh Plus, over-the-counter drops that temporarily help dry eye. The drops cost around $12 a box; I go through two boxes a week. She also prescribed Restasis eye drops, which can help increase tear production. They didn’t for me.
True, I no longer wear glasses. But the 20/20 line on the eye chart is blurry. I can make it out only if I squint, and it takes about a minute to read. My doctor views this as proof of the surgery’s success.
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The above story is from a woman who had eye surgery, and the true story was published after her doctor put it down as being a success ,, did it go on the record as such? As for that matter, there is no national data base to record failures on !! So where do they get the 94 percent success rate? From the woman above?, from me? Horrible system when so many of us can be harmed and these types of doctors keep on going
Protect yourselves,, do not go to these greedy money hungry butchers.. My experience was with Dr Porter and Dr Downing at the Downing McPeak vision center, here in Bowling Green , this is the main body of it. I know what she means, see when I went to Dr Porter , he also told me my surgery was a sucess !! And that the vision would improve,, etc yada yada yada,, then went to one of the owners of the center Dr Downing who tried to " improve " my outcome , which at least they were admitting that I had gotten cme and now my vision went from 20/40 to 20/100 with the likelihood of getting worse !! Not what I consider success Porter and Downing are in Bowling Green KY ,surgery at Glasgow,, at a center they own so that they can be even more greedy and cover up their mistakes even more easily !!!!

2009-11-29T15:06:00.000-08:00

More people die each month from medical mistakes than died on Sept 11,2001. Each and every month.
Now when you add in the thousands that are harmed in a life altering way, but don't die. the numbers are staggering! When people see a doctor they expect that they are being cared for, that the doctor would put their health and well being above all else. After all, these guys supposedly took an oath , right?
Not true, these people are looking out for number 1, and its time that we as patients do the same. We must quit thinking of doctors as the good guys, they are sometimes, greedy, in debt, drunkards, uncaring , etc,, and they can put on a smile and fool you, I know because I have had this kind of doctor !! And my life will never be the same, that is why I tell you, be careful !

Who makes sure that these guys do no harm? nobody,, Who inspects in case of patient claiming doctor did something wrong? Other doctors, and keep in mind that when doctors were questioned about whether they had seen another doctor under perform, most had, yet most did not report the doctor !!!!!! They tend to cover up for one another!

It is estimated that 200,000 people a year have either wrong site surgery or wrong surgery, there is no clear national data base on these figures.
When seeing an eye doctor ( especially in Bowling Green , KY ) , if they want to perform a surgery or procedure, get a second opinion OUTSIDE of that doctors circle !!!

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Thanksgiving,, are you thankful for your doctor?

2009-11-21T12:14:00.000-08:00

In scanning the internet for articles I ran across one article detailing how harvard business school students are calling upon one another to sign a pledge of ethics as they prepare to go out into the business world. Grant you, only 20 percent had signed the pledge, but oh, at least 20 percent have started with the right idea!!

Doctors are suppose to pledge integrity, honesty, to do no harm, right? Well, I don't know how they are talking themselves into believing they are ethical, when in fact,they are greedy ( yes, you know who you are ) but I wonder if they have any higher rate of even starting out believing they could be ethical than the 20 percent of Harvard? Or did they start out thinking,, hmm,, lets do all the surgeries we can, whether good for patient or not, and line our pockets?
I came across a possible answer in an article recently about doctors and their ethics,, it went like this
" Do you think you will walk into a car lot and have the salesman tell you that you do not need a new car ?" Well,, do ya?
And that is why we as patients need to stay informed, not blindly trusting, or you may end up like me,, more blind, but not trusting,,
To the doctors, Downing and Porter,,,,,,,,,,,,, have you checked your ethics lately? well, have you?

Differential Diagnosis Method

2009-11-07T09:21:00.000-08:00

Doctors are SUPPOSED to learn this early on, basically it is taking into account the underlying conditions that could cause a problem.. Taking shortcuts often prove to be detrimental to the patient , in an extreme case, one day in the hospital an elderly woman fell, hitting her head, the doctor spoke on the phone to the nurse, decided that the woman had only abrasions .
The woman over the next few hours got worse, tests were ordered too late, she died, the actual cause of the problem was bleeding inside , compressing the brain, had the doctor looked for the reasons for the fall, possible injuries from the fall etc, this woman may not have died.

In my case, had Dr Porter at Downing McPeak vision center, considered the underlying problem, which I repeatedly told him I had RP. he would have realized that the symptoms he thought were caused by a cataract, were actually caused from my original condition RP, he would have saved me from going through the rest of my life with compromised vision, from the headaches, from my vision declining , and a host of other problems,, but whether he didn't use the correct method in making his diagnosis, or whether he only sought the money from being able to put one more surgery under his belt? I may never know,, but from doing extensive research into why this happened to me,, I do know that had I went to a better doctor, this would have never happened to me,, so be careful out there, make sure your doctor has looked at the possible causes of your problem before you end up with your health in worse shape just so your doctor can line his pockets ....

How Clean is your Doctor???

2009-11-02T11:14:00.000-08:00

With the Swine Flu upon us ,we are all thinking more in terms of making sure we wash our hands etc, yet I have mentioned it before that when I went to Dr Downings office and Dr Porters office at the Downing and McPeak vision center, I didn't see anyone cleaning anything, nope , patients would leave the machines and they would call the next one in, never cleaning it, I saw doctors in the hallway, on cell phones, shaking hands with people, after just having left one patient, and immediately go into the next room and treat patient,, this can be bad for you.

These types of practices can cause you many eye and vision problems, had I done this kind of research before going into that office, I would have left!!!!

I know we are all more aware of these things because of flu season, but we need to be aware of these things from these types of quacks ALL the time!!!!!

Lighting and Visual Problems

2009-10-21T12:00:00.000-07:00

There is an RP site who has a little of everything, visual aids, explains the importance of lighting etc,, check it out at http://www.navh.org/news/index.htm

Have you had the experience of being rushed through the doctors office, given testing in poor light, been dilated and all the while , the people doing this seem oblivious to the fact that people with low vision, or RP have different needs for lighting, it takes longer to adjust to dark rooms, to being dilated, etc.
I realize now that when I went to Downing McPeak and first saw Dr ( I use that term lightly ) Porter, he didn't have a clue as to the difference that RP has in just getting the correct testing done, maybe that is part of the reason I ended up with twice as bad of vision as I had when I went in. If he had taken more precautions, more time, I could have prevented at least the part of the problem, that ended with me having the wrong powered lens implanted, course, had he known enough to have been careful of this, I would have never been rushed into having the operation in the first place , thus saving my sight!!!
So ,, beware of being rushed through testing etc with bad lighting, before you have had a chance to adjust to the lighting, it takes longer for those of us with degenerative diseases, if your doctor does not take the time to do it right,, find another doctor!!!!!

We have enough problems without losing half my sight to these money hungry quacks !!! Take care.

Less red meat equals better vision??

2009-10-11T08:07:00.000-07:00

Lots of red meat can harm vision: report
March 18, 2009
Feed the man meat, but don't overdo it or he could go blind - that's the finding of a study carried out by the Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital.Researchers from the hospital and the Centre for Eye Research Australia have found a link between red meat consumption and an increased risk of early vision loss.The report's author Dr Elaine Chong said there was an association between people who ate red meat more than 10 times a week and early Age Related Macular Degeneration (AMD).She said it's the first detailed study in the world to look at the link between meat consumption and early Age Related Macular Degeneration (AMD).The study, which spanned two decades, examined the diets of 6,734 people aged between 58 and 69 in Melbourne between 1990-1994 and followed up with examination of their macular degeneration between 2003-2006.It also found a decreased association of vision loss for people who ate more than three and a half serves of chicken a week.

Hypocrits? Better suited to Some Doctors than the Hippocratic oath

2009-10-03T14:49:00.000-07:00

Yes, throughout the ages , Doctors have taken oaths that are SUPPOSED to give them absolute guidelines on what they must do to meet patients health needs.
Do no harm?? Give me a break, the only standard they seem to have today is to fill their pockets with money ill gotten from deceiving the patient into unwarranted surgeries!
This practice is much more widespread than many would think, documented by the government . Yet it keeps going on and on, with no thought to the patient.

They must be able to talk themselves into believing that it does no harm , otherwise, how could they sleep at night?

I saw on the news today where a gorilla was given an operation to save his sight, that at least was a warranted operation for I am sure that unlike my doctors, the gorillas doctor couldn't'
bilk the insurance company out of money!!
Maybe I should have went to a vet, in fact , I am sure I would have been better off going to a vet!!!!!!

Dr.s Downing and Porter? If you read this, could you tell me if you have ever , just once, had any thoughts to the Hippocratic oath?? Do you sleep well at night? Are you in denial about the pain and suffering you have caused? Are you enjoying your ill gotten gains?

Doctors and selfish Greed, Are You Safe????

2009-09-25T19:23:00.000-07:00

I went to Downing and McPeak Eye Centers, for a routine check up only because I had not been for one in so long, after being rushed into allowing a surgery that later I found out was no rush, that I shouldn't have had, and which left my eyesight much much worse, with complications that could still lead me into total blindness, I question, Are all doctors this greedy? Will the majority of them lie about their experience just to get the thousands for the procedures? The articles I include below, tend to sway me towards yes! I have noticed that many of the things to look out for, if the eye center owns its own surgical center,, watch out,, if they are performing procedures outside of their area of expertise,, watch out,, this and many other signs point towards a doctor who may just be greedy.. I now know that Dr Downing and Dr Porter who performed procedures on me that were harmful, are in this category, they own the surgical center, they are out their for every buck they can from routine to plastic surgery, botox to laser !!!!!

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http://www.axisofgreed.org/?p=229
　
Doctors Are The Third Leading Cause of Death in the USCausing 225,000 Deaths Every Year
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'Defensive Medicine' A Myth – It's Only Greed
Op-Ed Article
by Michael KoskoffThe Hartford Courant
July 12, 2009
With medical costs skyrocketing, doctors have come under close scrutiny for performing unnecessary surgery, tests and other procedures. Although ordering unnecessary procedures violates medical ethics, the American Medical Association and Connecticut doctors surprisingly admit to performing vast numbers of these procedures but place the blame on their patients, lawyers and malpractice laws.
According to these doctors, the culprit is what they call "defensive medicine."
We order these procedures to protect ourselves, the doctors argue. The procedures don't help the patient, but if we don't perform them we get sued.
In a Massachusetts study, 83 percent of doctors surveyed admitted to ordering unnecessary procedures and they estimated that 28 percent of their tests, referrals, and consultations and 13 percent of hospitalizations were unnecessary. If true, this is a disgrace to the medical profession.
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Why is it legal? Untrained doctors perform plastic surgery
The ABC15 Investigators uncovered why doctors are allowed to perform procedures outside of their scope of practice and without proper training.
http://www.abc15.com/content/news/investigators/consumeralerts/story/Why-is-it-legal-Untrained-doctors-perform-plastic/m-B2C6icZ0Smn68QzwAHnA.cspx
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AP: In trying to rally support for health care overhaul, Obama described a patient who sees a physician for a sore throat, or a parent who brings in a child with a sore throat.
"Right now, doctors a lot of times are forced to make decisions based on the fee payment schedule that's out there. ... The doctor may look at the reimbursement system and say to himself, 'You know what? I make a lot more money if I take this kid's tonsils out,'" Obama told a prime-time news conference. The president added: "Now, that may be the right thing to do, but I'd rather have that doctor making those decisions just based on whether you really need your kid's tonsils out or whether it might make more sense just to change; maybe they have allergies. Maybe they have something else that would make a difference

Yes Virginia , there is a Santa Clause,,,, BUT

2009-09-19T12:33:00.000-07:00

there are also Scrooges!!!!

Thought I would get an early start on the winter. I have played some in an online game called yoville, virtual world where you work, play, buy things, and well,,, it really is lifelike, see, there are rude, greedy people and then there are nice , giving people there are more greedy ones, just like in real life.
I have seen some characters give gifts to others, only to be asked for more, or to be put down as " not good enough " Greed, its a horrible thing. It is also what is eating at the world of medicine.
We get these doctors who want to make the millions, while never caring if they have harmed someone, never trying to help when they can cover their mistakes up instead.
On Yoville, you can click off, in real life, you walk away with less sight, harmed, your life ruined, but the bad people are the same, , just one causes real harm and one doesn't.
We in part, have caused some of this, we put certain people on pedestals , Doctors, judges, police, and sometimes they harm us, and if they have enough money, they get out of being held accountable.
So Yes, Virginia, this Christmas, Santa will come, but watch your back for those evil scrooges, who do harm, Downing Scrooge and Porter Fudd, are always around the corner.

Wrong strength lens implanted, now what?

2009-09-16T21:43:00.000-07:00

So part of my problem with seeing so badly now after having cataract surgery at Downing McPeak is that the wrong strength of lens has been implanted. If you can imagine going wearing the wrong strength eyeglasses , try it for a day, its horrible, but live with it everyday, it is a living he@@ .
Now in researching what I could do about that , since I already know that any further surgery could make my cystoid macular edema worse, which was a present from Dr Porter performing this horrible experiment on me, I did come across this information from a doctor.

""""
Replacing, removing or exchanging an intra-ocular implant especially after it's been in the eye for a month or more is a "major Major operation
and in some cases more difficult than the original procedure. So it's only done in big problems where there is a large (say 4 diopter) mismatched power, where glasses or contacts will not correct the situation. For minor mismatched implants where the glasses prescription
is only a little off what was predicted by the formula most insurance companies and medicare will not pay and the removal is not justified due to the risks. JCH MD Eye physician & surgeons
'''''''''''

So,,, if they had realized , or admitted , what had been done to me in the beginning, I had a better shot at getting it fixed?
Was it not wanting to admit the mistake? Was it fear that my insurance wouldn't dole out anymore money to fix their mistake? I don't know , but I know that some days I don't know how I can live like this, blurry, headaches, horrible, it is a horrible, horrible way to live, that is why I keep telling everyone, make sure you need the surgery, make sure your doctor knows what he is doing , get a second opinion, research it.

I don't know what I can do, which is why , I never want to see anyone have to go through this.
If anyone has had this part of my problem would like to know what they did, maybe glasses could correct some ? I am trying to save up now and go to see a GOOD retinal specialist who could advise me, maybe try the glasses, try to get the CME down some. It is a shame that not only can the average person not afford to hold these doctors accountable, heck, we can't even make them pay to fix what they mess up. well, they could never pay for messing up someones life, but they could have footed the bill for treatment of their mess.

R P Phase 2 trial ended could this be the break we need???

2009-09-07T11:32:00.000-07:00

http://www.news-medical.net/?tag=/Retinitis+Pigmentosa

We are pleased to announce that subject enrollment for the phase 2 clinical
study of 0.15% UF-021 (generic name; isopropyl unoprostone; active ingredient of
Rescula(R) eye-drops) in patients with retinitis pigmentosa has been
completed.

We submitted the notification of the clinical trial in August 2008.
Enrollment in the phase 2 study began at six clinical sites in late December
2008 and was completed on August 3, 2009.

The clinical study has progressed with no delay, no serious adverse effects,
and only a few cases of discontinuation so far. Hereafter, we expect to complete
the study by next spring, including data collection and analysis.

Retinitis pigmentosa is a progressive hereditary disease affecting nearly
50,000 people in Japan, which is characterized by night blindness. Patients
generally suffer from peripheral visual field loss and low vision in the late
stage of the disease. At present, there is no effective treatment for this
disease.

We developed and launched isopropyl unoprostone eye-drops on the market as a
drug for glaucoma and ocular hypertension in 1994.
In recent studies on isopropyl unoprostone, the drug has been reported to
present neuroprotective effects and a function to improve ocular circulation.
Studies at some university hospitals have also suggested that isopropyl
unoprostone eye-drops improve symptoms of retinitis pigmentosa or stop the
progression of the disease.

We expect isopropyl unoprostone to become a unique drug for improvement of
the quality of vision in patients with retinitis pigmentosa.

http://www.news-medical.net/?tag=/Retinitis+Pigmentosa
　

Eye Surgeons Duty

2009-09-03T13:53:00.000-07:00

(The physician has well established and firm responsibilities to his patient, including the responsibility for correctness in diagnosis, thoroughness of prognosis, and understanding in the evaluation of the patient's disability, needs and concerns. He is also responsible for completeness in informing and educating the patient regarding his disease and its potential treatment and the ultimate challenge in providing appropriate and competent treatment when the patient makes that elective choice.)
(The surgeon has the additional responsibility of providing or arranging for full time continuing care of the patient during the recovery period. This includes the responsibility to obtain consultations as appropriate, whether they be a second opinion for questionable diagnosis and prognosis, or for further evaluation of complications or disappointing responses to a therapeutic regimen.)
　
Other Preoperative Tests
Patients who have other ocular diseases in addition to cataract will benefit from additional testing during the pre-operative work up. These special tests may include:
- B-scan ultrasonography
- Computerized corneal topography
- Corneal pachymetry
- Electrophysiological tests
- External photography
- Fluorescein angiography
- Formal visual fields
- Gonioscopy
- Specialized color vision tests
- Tonography
Adequate testing,
of other diseases which are concurrently present in the cataract patient may be extremely important in the evaluation of the patient's prognosis. Such tests may protect the patient from a disappointing result where the cataract is not the major cause of visual functional disability and may serve as a relative contraindication to surgical intervention
American College of Eye Surgeons
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The above text was taken from the ACES, That is the Gold standard for eye surgeons, but what has happened to the field? Did they sleep through class? Did they get older and forget? Or did they just get so greedy that they didn't care? I go with the latter. These were just a FEW of the responsibilities that an eye surgeon has, yet, there I was, I had inadequate testing, I was not
told the risks, there was no consultation with a more informed specialists, nothing! This is but a few of the things that was lacking when I went to Downing McPeak center and first saw Dr Porter and then Dr Downing.
Don't let this happen to you, I am left with deteriorating sight, a condition that may take all my sight, and these guys took no responsibility for it. Take precautions, do your own research, do not rely on your eye doctors ethics, they may not have any.
　

GREED, the Oath of the Hypocrits

2009-08-25T20:34:00.000-07:00

Doctors take an oath, one that is supposed to be honorable , humanitarian and reinforce the ethics of the profession. What happened? GREED. GREED GREED
I have tried to warn people, do not trust your doctor, question , review, research, get second opinions, do everything that you can to make sure that the treatment you are getting is actually what you need to get. I have told some of my story on here, I have lost much of my eyesight by trusting doctors that I should not have trusted! I still suffer from a condition that very well may make me lose more of my sight, even to being totally blind! I have pointed out what they could have done to help me after the original mess made of my vision, yet they cared only about their covering up, their wallets, not about their patient. Learn from my mistakes, take someone with you, record the doctors words, research.
By now most of the world has learned that Michael Jackson died from a lethal dose given to him by a doctor, while there has been no trial yet, the logical conclusion that one can draw is that the doctor wanted to keep drawing big money so against common sense, he gave his patient something that killed him because of greed, he wanted to keep getting the gravy money.
If you still doubt that doctors, yes, even your friendly , smiling, local doc, can actually have greed on his mind more than your interest, here are some excerpts from a news investigatory show called American Greed,

The Practice
Dr. Michael Rosin has a lucrative Sarasota, Florida dermatology practice. He specializes in Mohs Surgery, a highly effective procedure for skin cancer. He performs dozens of surgeries on his Medicare patients and builds a multi-million dollar practice.
The Suspicious Patient
Ellen Murray has a history of skin cancers. She seeks help from Dr. Rosin. During a period of seven years, he continually finds more cancer and performs more surgeries. Murray becomes suspicious. She takes her biopsy slides to an outside laboratory. The results are shocking.
The Office Manager
Carolyn Ferrara suspects the worst when patients continually undergo cancer surgery... one person had 122 procedures! Ferrara joins Murray in blowing the whistle on a mild-mannered doctor and his outrageous pattern of abuse.American Greed profiles a multi-million dollar health care fraud!http://www.cnbc.com/id/27087326/
　

American Greed," a new series on CNBC, explores the worlds of scams, cons and schemes. In Episode #5, the story of a murderous Chicago doctor who bilked Medicare for more than a million
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"American Greed," a new series on CNBC, explores the worlds of scams, cons and schemes. In Case 2 of Episode #3, a doctor takes advantage of desperate patients and sticks insurance companies for millions
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And then there are the statistics

Up to a third of medical treatments are unnecessary. Estimated excess cost: $50 billion annually. -- One in eight doctors owns a health-care business to which he refers patients. His patients get more tests than do patients in general. Estimated excess cost: $140 million annually. -- Up to 40% of surgical claims are misbilled by doctors, increasing their % fees. Estimated excess cost: $6 billion annually.( the figure is actually higher now, this was an old article )
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/moneymag_archive/1990/11/09/86230/index.htm

Do the world a favor, if you know of a doctor who is scamming, misbilling, over prescribing, doing unnecessary surgeries, etc, etc etc,,,, turn him in!!!!

Dr. Porter,,,, Dr. Downing,,, are you reading this??? Greed,, it is an awful thing, I may have to live blind, those responsible will have to live with guilt.

Your Doctor or Your Insurance?

2009-08-19T13:09:00.001-07:00

Has your doctor given you the choices in caring for your eyes, or your health ? Is he considering what is best for you, or is just considering what the insurance will pay?
I have found that there were choices out there that may have helped me, they were cutting edge medicine that of course my insurance most likely would not have paid, but I wasn't even given the information, nor the choice. By the time they figured out why my vision had went from 20/40 to above 20/100 my dr,, Dr Downing ( he had offered to try to restore my sight that was lost when Dr Porter messed up my vision ) , he had offered to try to restore my sight at no cost, so that may have been on his mind when he didn't' tell me about some of the new cutting edge , one I had mentioned in an earlier article, was costly, one they are talking about now is ECT,, Encapsulated Cell Technology, has been helping people with AMD and RP.

Why are the doctors not telling us about the medicines, the procedures that will help us, only suggesting procedures that put us at risk for lost sight and then do not follow through to help us regain our eye sight?
Sure, cost is a factor for most people unless you are Donald Trump, but given the information and the choice, I could have saved a bundle that I had to spend trying to get cured of the cystoid macular edema that I developed from Dr Porters surgery, and tried to raise the rest of it for something that would have helped my sight!!! Now I am that much further behind without any benefit!!!
It seems that most of the doctors today are lining their pockets with quick supposedly easy procedures and not really taking care of the patient. Even when they are the ones who have degraded your health to begin with!!! Yes we need health care reform, sure wish we could get doctor reform along with it.

New Gene Trials for Retinitis Pigmentosa

2009-08-11T20:37:00.000-07:00

An international team of scientists and clinicians from the United States and Saudi Arabia are working to develop gene therapy for treating a rare, hereditary retinal disease.
The therapy has been shown to restore lost vision in animal models of retinitis pigmentosa (RP). Their work is being funded in part by a $1.5 million grant from the Prince Salman Center for Disability Research in Saudi Arabia, where the recessive gene mutation that leads to the eye disease RP.

They are hoping to get clinical trials on people going maybe in early 2010!!!!

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Also,, there is reason to believe that delivering medicine to the eye for certain eye conditions, by way of a " cup " that fits over the eye , may be more helpful than drops that get diluted too much by moisture of the eye, or the shots in the eye which can cause infections, detached retinas etc,, Ah,,, yet another thing that Dr Downing should have known about , maybe he did, but was not offered to me,, for a Dr that supposedly wanted to help " fix " the sight I lost from the surgery performed by one of his doctors, he sure didn't offer me much except telling me to go get low vision aides,, Guess actually helping me was too much trouble..
Most important,, find a Dr that will actually look out for your sight!!!!!!

Update Prism Glasses for Retinitis Pigmentosa

2009-08-05T08:15:00.000-07:00

Thought I would share some information that a person emailed me, it seems that her husband has RP, was fitted with prism glasses years ago, and they worked excellent for him.
Unfortunately, the doctor moved , etc, and there are hardly any that will take the time to do this correctly for patients.
She did tell me she had heard of 2 that did it, Doctor Nicolas Ritz in Texas and Dr Peli from Harvard. Evidently the exam to get these done right is very lengthy, couple of hours, so of course those doctors who are running surgery mills ( I think you may have heard of a couple here ) are not interested in helping us see better if it takes time and they can make the " easy " money doing unnecessary surgeries on others quickly.
Of course I believe that Dr Peli is the one who is now doing clinical trials for a special lens that will help another category of peripheral problems but hopes that it leads to helping RP patients also.
Thanks to the lady in Florida , and hopefully if anyone else had experience with these, email me, we all need to connect the dots ourselves with who are the good doctors, where they are etc.
Even with my horrible experience with eye docs who are more interested in getting rich than they are in actually helping people see, even at the expense of harming patients, I believe, I hope, I pray, that there are good, honest , caring doctors out there who will try to help people, we just need to find them, so if you know of one, let me know, I will pass it along.
Thanks to all who are passing along information.

Untangling The Truth About Bad Eye Surgery

2009-08-02T21:30:00.000-07:00

It may seriously take years and years before I understand most of what went wrong the day I went to Downing McPeak for a routine pressure check and Dr Porter ambushed me into having surgery.
Oh there are some things that I knew immediately after having the surgery,
I knew that I went in with much better eye sight than I walked out with.
I knew that Dr Porter avoided trying to answer my questions about it.
I knew that all Dr Porter wanted to talk about was trying to get me to schedule the next surgery he wanted to do on my other eye.
I knew that there was absolutely no way that I would ever let him touch my eyes again.

But there are so many questions that I still have, like
Why would he ignore the risk , when he should have known that I was high risk?
Why, if he knew, I was high risk, why didn't he tell me?
Why did he not tell me that I didn't have to have the operation?
Why did he not send me to a retinal specialists?
What exactly went on in the surgery room?

I will never know some of it, because of course, they refuse to talk to me, better to ignore the results , better to not acknowledge mistakes.

I do know that the correct procedure would have been ,
To send me to a retinal specialist
To have treated me a week before surgery
To have treated me for months after the surgery
that may have given me a chance to avoid the CME and saved my vision.
The correct procedure would have been to inform me of the risks

I also realize now that there are things that could help me, of course, expensive things and of course they were not going to help me if it cost them a few pennies, after all, Downing and McPeak Vision centers are only knocking back 30 million bucks yearly, and, I am only one patient who will spend the rest of her life half in the dark from the lack of help .

A journal that eye surgeons read called,, Retinal Physician stated the following,,

"
Dr. Heier: My colleagues and I are about two-thirds of the way through a study of CME patients that will eventually involve 100 subjects. About 80% to 90% of them are at high risk. This demonstrates that we are successfully preventing CME in routine cases. For high-risk patients, we obviously need to take more aggressive measures.
That is why I advocate 1 week of preoperative treatment and 8 to 12 weeks of
postoperative treatment with NSAIDs
"

Of course, I didn't know that I should have 1 week of preop treatment and 3 months of post op,,,,, I wonder,, did Dr Porter and Dr Downing know it??

So, You Still Trust Your Doctor?

2009-07-30T10:05:00.000-07:00

By now you know about my personal experience at Downing McPeak vision center in Kentucky.
I have posted about various doctors being caught performing unnecessary surgeries, in fact, statistics show that cataract surgery is one of the top surgeries performed unnecessarily.
I have written about doctors who cheat and scam the insurance companies, steal from Medicare, to chase those bucks that give them the luxuries they crave.
I have shown you where doctors will settle cases out of court , with the signed agreements that it never be disclosed, so even if you search to find out how many times they have been sued, you will never find the true amount of times.
I have personally seen , sloppiness, uncleanliness, lying, and every trick in the book to fool people into surgeries they should not have, and without the information given to them that they should have, I have seen doctors who are supposed to be upstanding citizens , who supposedly do charity work, go to other countries to " help " ( of course lots of that are free vacations with many tax write offs and some pay )
All of the above and more trickery than you can imagine, has lined the doctors pockets, left people with worse health, and left our health care system in shambles.
Hopefully this administration will finally put through health care for all people, and along with that hopefully , some oversight that will protect us from those doctors who care more about their wallets and less about your health, but in the end, it is up to the individual to protect themselves, don't blindly trust your doctor, research, research , research, then get second opinion, take someone with you that will have a clear head and listen, tape record your visit and listen to it later.
And,,,,, REPORT those doctors who cheat, steal and lie.

Cystoid Macular Edema, The Help I Didn't Get

2009-07-26T22:07:00.000-07:00

To recap , my situation was that Dr Porter told me I had to have cataract surgery, I in turn asked him if he had experience with RP and if there were any problems with having the surgery with RP, he told me he had RP patients ( now I know that is doubtful ) and told me there were never any complications ( now I know that RP patients are high risk ) So I thought I had no choice and I had the surgery, the vision in my " good " eye went from 20/40 to 20/100 plus. The head of Downing Mcpeak Vision Center , Dr Downing then asked that I come in and let him see if he could " fix " my vision, ( he fixed it alright, he talked me into another procedure that caused even more of the CME )

After Downing telling me he would help me and didn't, I have now found out that he could have, there were several things that he could have done, evidently they were more interested in covering their , you know whats . I posted once about how he could have done an implant called Retisert, ( Guess he would rather have left me blind than to have put out the money for that since it would have been about 50,000) I have also now found out that for people who do not respond to the steroid and nsaid drops , system steroids are helpful, of course I wasn't offered that either which should not be that expensive, guess my eyesight to them also isn't worth a few bucks. Several things that could have been done, including repositioning or replacing the IOL, which needed to be done anyway since the wrong powered lens was implanted into my eye by Dr Porter.
On top of being upset that I am still losing vision because of the dastardly deeds, I am also disappointed in the inhumanity of people who are supposed to be in the profession of helping people and yet only seem to be helping themselves!!
That is why we, as a society, must all work together to stop these greedy, uncaring and reckless doctors! We can start by reporting bad doctors to state medical boards, we can write our representatives and demand better health care, and we can make sure they are not cheating the insurance and medicare systems like so many of them seem to be, report them when you know they are billing for services not done, or upcoding , or performing unwarranted procedures etc, you can do this directly, or you can do it by filing a Qui Tam suit with a lawyer, if you file a Qui Tam suit , you will be entitled to a percentage of those fraudulently acquired funds, often large amounts, and be a patriotic hero!!

How Many Times Has Your Eye Doctor Been Sued?

2009-07-23T20:21:00.000-07:00

I had already written about Downing McPeak Eye Center being familiar with the court system , as it seems that they have been spending much time in court. Of course we also know that most of the time people don't bring lawsuits, or , lawyers don't take lawsuits because it is so expensive to get justice against corrupt doctors in court, and then there are the many many times that doctors settle out of court, sealed records and part of the settlement includes agreements that the offended party may not disclose anything, so most often people do not know what their eye doctors have been up to.
Don't expect that the Medical Board of your state is going to keep an eye on these guys, after all , it is like having the fox watch the hen house.
Take the case of an ophthalmologist in Chicago, he had 50 malpractice suits against him, finally the authorities looked into it and of course found that he was indeed a very bad doctor, too bad about those people who were harmed by him before something was finally done. If 50 suits were filed against him, you can bet that he messed up many more people than that.

We need to start demanding more open records in the medical field, no more secret settlements , Its hard enough to determine who is the good guys from the bad when we have doctors who are lying to us in order to perform surgeries and line their pockets, at least if the settlements were out in the open , some people would be warned and therefor their health/vision saved.
If our officials were to demand that ALL settlements be reported, and that state medical boards be required to post all filed lawsuits, then maybe some people wouldn't have to go through what I have, losing your vision because of doctors who just care about lining their pockets at the expense of someone being blind the rest of their lives is not health care, it is health fraud.

secondary cataract, " after cataract " and yag laser

2009-07-18T16:52:00.000-07:00

Someone asked me the other day about having a " after cataract " which is after you have cataract surgery and many months , even years later , a clouding of the lens can occur and the surgeon will use a yag laser to basically puncture a hole in it and the cloudiness clears up.

This of course, along with many, many other things was never explained to me. After Dr Porter at Downing McPeak performed the cataract surgery on me, it was only a couple of weeks until he was claiming that I had " scarring " and he needed to perform a laser procedure. Of course at that point I had figure out that he had messed up my vision and I would not have allowed him to do anything else, well,, when head honcho, Dr Downing asked me to let him see if he could examine me and see if he could do something to restore my vision , the first visit I asked him whether I had scarring, he said no. After a couple of more visits, he then claimed that I had scarring and he needed to perform yag laser procedure , I reminded him that he had said I had no scarring and he said, well, I didn't have " much " before,, being desperate for help, I believed him and let him do the laser procedure for " scarring " Nobody ever used the correct wording for the procedure, had I been told the correct word for it, I would never have allowed Dr Downing to do that, since it would be highly unlikely to have an after cataract so soon, I would have gotten a second opinion. I only saw the correct name on the papers after I requested my records, to this day, I do not believe that I had an " after cataract " and I believe that the procedure was done on me to make sure that I would never be able to prove that Dr Porter was trying to get me to agree to yet another procedure, surgery, that was not needed, this procedure put me at even more risk to lose more of my vision.

Seriously people, record your doctors visits, then get the records of the visits, and seriously think about getting second opinions for procedures, also ,,, RESEARCH your condition and RESEARCH the procedures that these kinds of doctors want to perform on you, it is too late after you have lost your vision.

Glasses that could expand vision in Retinitis Pigmentosa?

2009-07-11T06:59:00.000-07:00

They are doing a study on glasses that could make patients see farther to the sides, so far this study is not including RP patients even though they think that it may help them also.
Years ago, a Dr Briewa ( very good eye doc ) had told me of glasses with prisms in them , and there are some on the market, I haven't heard from anyone who has actually tried them, if anyone out there has tried them , please email, comment , etc,, I will add to this post as I get more information,, here are some of the links and information that I have gotten so far -----------------------------------------------------------------------

CPF Corning lenses for Retinitis Pigmentosa
http://www.chadwickoptical.com/hemianopia.htm

The May 2008 issue of the Archives of Opthalmology reported the findings of the 2004-2005 clinical trial testing these mobility aids; the "EP"-Horizontal, or the Peli Lens™. Entitled "Community-Based Trial of a Peripheral Prism Visual Field Expansion Device for Hemianopia," the findings reported 74% of subjects continued to wear the aids at the end of the study, and 47% were still wearing them at the 12 month follow-up

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/08/060830075522.htm

Dr. Downing and Dr Porter Could have helped me!!!!

2009-07-09T21:49:00.000-07:00

After having been pushed into surgery by Dr Porter and developing CME with the outcome of having lost much of my sight in my right eye, and then Dr Downing asking me to see him and let him " fix " it, only to have him make it worse even still. Now I find out that they could have helped me!!!!

There is a Retisert implant that could have helped at least some of the major problem,, so why didn't Downing follow through on his promise to help fix Porters destruction to my sight?? Again, I think it came down to money,, see the implant is expensive, so guess they would rather sweep my problem, their mistake, under the rug than to have to take the hit of a few thousand bucks,,, yep, after all, they only knock down over 35 million a year in that firm, guess a couple of thousand was too much to have put out to fix their destruction, better that I go through the rest of my life with little vision.
They didn't even have the decency to tell me that there was something out there that could help me!!!!
I get it that Dr Porter didn't want to admit that he knew little about my original condition and just wanted to push me through the surgery mill to add to his Christmas fund, and even understand that Dr Downing only wanted to try to cover for Dr Porters mistakes, but it truly is indecent to not even have told me about this that could help restore some of my sight.
I truly do not see how they sleep at night, I guess being in denial of your mistakes is a blessing for them but I believe that after they leave this world they will have to account for the things they have done.----------------------------- Added 7/11/09-----

Because of comments left by someone who doesn't know much about retisert I thought I would add the following information from the journal ophthamology management
" "I believe that with its unique drug-delivery technology, Retisert will offer an efficacious treatment for this chronic, severe blinding disease," said Glenn J. Jaffe, M.D., professor of Ophthalmology and director of the Uveitis Service at Duke University Eye Center.
"FDA approval of Retisert represents a significant milestone in Bausch & Lomb's pursuit of new therapies and technologies to treat posterior segment diseases," said Gary M. Phillips, M.D., B & L corporate vice president, Global Pharmaceuticals and Vitreoretinal.
FDA approval of the drug was based on 34-week results from two 3-year, randomized, double-masked, multicenter clinical studies demonstrating that in eyes with Retisert there was:
► a significant decrease in the recurrence of uveitis from approximately 40% to 54% for the 34-week period pre-implantation to approximately 7% to 14% for the 34-week period post-implantation
► a significant decrease in the use of adjunctive therapy, including systemic corticosteroid and/or immunosuppressive therapy, from approximately 47% to 63% at the time of implantation to approximately 5% to 10% at 34 weeks post-implantation, and for patients needing periocular corticosteroid injections from approximately 50% to 65% for the 34-week period pre-implantation to approximately 3% to 6% for the 34-week period post-implantation
► statistically significant improvement of 3 or more lines of visual acuity in approximately 19% to 21% of study eyes at 34 weeks post-implantation.
The most common adverse events attributed to Retisert, which were anticipated given the nature of the disease and the type of drug used, include cataract progression, which is managed by standard cataract surgery; increased intraocular pressure, which is managed with the use of IOP-lowering eye drops or filtering surgery; and procedural complications and eye pain. "

The person who commented and tries very hard to make excuses for Dr Downing and Dr Porter's actions, though very loyal, is mistaken on the complications of the retisert implant, and obviously knows and has read very little of this blog , or would realize that the testing I have gone through, the corticosteroids etc are not very good for a person either, the next step was going to be injections in the eye, this is very painful has to be repeated often and DOES bring risks of infections etc, this implant is much less risk, less pain, and better results, although, the person may know something about the cleanliness of Downing McPeaks offices, so maybe they are right about infection if the person had the implant done there, I'll give them leeway on that, but if done in a correct environment, shouldn't be a problem.

R. I. P. Michael Jackson

2009-07-07T17:51:00.000-07:00

It cannot be denied that Michael Jackson was THE talent of our lifetime.
With all the controversy, some deserved I am sure and much not deserved, this generation has lost the most talented man we have ever seen, and I was never a huge huge fan, but nobody could see the videos, hear the music and not appreciate the talent , hard work and dedication that went into his work. I can hope that the press will cut him some slack now that he is gone, accusations that were never proven, eccentricities that were maybe well earned and tragedy that should have made one empathetic not made fun of.

That said, there are way too many talented performers, actors and celebrities who leave this earth too soon because of uncaring, greedy doctors who are out there prescribing what they know is too much, too often, Anna Nicole Smith, Elvis, Ledger, now Michael, there is no excuse for these doctors. While I was lucky in comparison, the harm caused me when I went to Dr Downing and Dr Porter " only " caused harm to my eyes, all these doctors who prescribe , whether it be drugs or unwarranted surgery, should be stopped ,we as a nation must stop this corruption in our Health Care System...

We must start demanding real health care, not greed and destruction, we must report those doctors who destroy lives to fill their pockets, who cheat the taxpayers and harm patients so they can enjoy bigger houses, better vacations, and multi million dollar lifestyles at our expense.
If you know of a doctor who has committed fraud through over billing, up coding , unwarranted testing and surgery, who has taken advantage of us all , turn them in, report to the medical boards, report to FBI, file complaints, call medicare, speak out, if you have the proof against these kind, you can file a Qui Tam, and receive part of the recovered funds yourself, talk to a lawyer, take action,,,,,,,,, and like MJ wanted, we can build a better world.

Happy 4th, Let Freedom Ring

2009-07-04T15:30:00.000-07:00

The 4th of July represents everything that this country stands for, freedoms, goodwill and hope.
It isn't really free though, we all have an obligation to work to make this country a better place for ALL people. We do have an obligation to stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves, one of those peoples being the elderly, the very young and the disabled. While looking at the statistics and the cases of doctors who have ripped off medicare by not providing the correct service to the elderly, or performing unnecessary procedures against others to line their own pockets, this is sad, and this demands our attention, a few of the horrendous cases listed below involve doctors taking advantage of the elderly, young kids, and even the mentally handicapped, we must stop fraudulent doctors from these practices, if you know of a doctor who is performing unnecessary procedures, or ripping off our system by over billing medicare, going into nursing homes and mistreating those there, get together the proof, turn them in, by doing so , you can even collect part of the recovered funds and help the unfortunate in doing so, help this country by keeping our health care cost down, saving taxpayers by stopping abuse of taxpayers monies, and keeping the quality of health care high. The Obama administration has promised to crack down on medical fraud, if you know of a doctor who is cheating the system and the patients, turn him in, here are some outrageous cases that have been caught....-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Philip J. Gabriele, 44, and his wife, Marcella Gabriele, both of Granger, are accused of falsely and fraudulently diagnosing cataracts and other disorders in patients and performing unnecessary surgeries, according to a statement issued by assistant U.S. attorney Donald Schmid.
The indictment alleges that, as part of the fraud scheme, the defendants altered patient charts and records after the fact, in an effort to make it seem as if diagnoses were accurate and correct,
http://www.wsbt.com/news/local/47925197.html
The Gabrieles were found dead in their home, an apparent murder, suicide, only days after a 15 count indictment was handed down, investigation had been ongoing for a couple of years and now it will never be known exactly how many unnecessary surgeries were performed on adults and children ,,, June 19,2009
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An ophthalmologist accused of conducting unnecessary eye surgery on mentally ill residents of adult homes in New York City surrendered to the authorities yesterday and was charged with health care fraud, officials said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/24/nyregion/24HOME.html

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cataract Removal
In 1993, the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research warned that many operations to remove a cataract, or clouded lens of the eye, are not necessary. In those cases, the clouding had probably reduced visual acuity, but not enough to bother the patient. Despite the warning, the number of cataract operations has continued to rise -- an increase that far outpaces the rise in the older population.
The best objective indicator that you might benefit from the surgery is having a cataract that reduces your visual acuity to 20/150 even with glasses. But subjective factors are more important: If the cataract does not hamper your daily activities, you don't need surgery, regardless of what any test shows.
If you suspect you have cataracts, you may want to avoid having your initial evaluation performed by an ophthalmologist whose practice consists mainly of cataract surgery -- one who works in a special cataract clinic, for example. Some evidence suggests that such doctors perform a greater proportion of cataract surgeries on minimally impaired eyes than other eye doctors do. (((( I WISH I had known this before going to Downing and McPeak Vision Centers ))))))))))

Beware of Being Overinsured!

2009-06-30T05:24:00.000-07:00

With 46 million people in the US having no health insurance, I am sure that many would like to have my problem of insurance, see, I believe I am over insured!!!!
When I called for an appointment to Downing and McPeak Vision Center, it seemed that the most important question to them , after asking my name, was ,, what insurance do you have? Ah, I have good insurance, and there was part of my problem.
I have learned to question more, see, if you have really good insurance, it is more likely that you will be subjected to greedy doctors who want to run tests, perform procedures etc that run up that bill!!!!!!
If I had had no insurance , you can bet that I would not have been rushed into an operation, I would not have been told that I " had to have it " I believe that I would have saved my sight, now on the other hand , my husband went through tumor/cancer and good insurance was definitely a blessing, but like I said, for me, it caused my downfall, so beware of the danger of greedy doctors who put you at risk to line their pockets.
With good insurance comes the responsibility of realising that there are greedy doctors who will put you at risk for the almighty dollar, don't fall into the same trap as I did and trust that all doctors have your best interest at heart, double check, get a second opinion, research your issues and be careful. It may very well have been the factor that caused me to lose my vision.
Below is one extreme case, or is it so extreme? there could be much more of this going on than people realize.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Surgery Mills??
60% of operations per year not justified?
One extreme case involving a doctor knowingly reaping the financial benefits of unnecessary surgeries occurred in California, where an ophthalmologist managed to bill Medicare $46 million over four years for unwarranted operations he performed on his patients. "According to the government, he created a 'surgery mill,' in which he falsified patient records to justify numerous unnecessary cataract and eyelid operations. In addition to this wholesale theft, he put his patients through unneeded pain and worry," writes Gross. It is also important to note in all of this that unnecessary surgery is not considered medical malpractice, according to Rondberg in Under the Influence of Modern Medicine, which makes it even more important for patients to protect themselves by looking into all possible avenues before going under the knife.
http://www.naturalnews.com/012291_medicine_unnecessary_surgery_surgeries.html

Retinitis Pigmentosa Trials

2009-06-25T20:22:00.000-07:00

There is a new trial open for RP patients, has to do with stress and RP and whether stress causes variations in acuity .
Looks like most if not all, will be done over phone and computer,, they are recruiting,,, also there is a trial ongoing , not recruiting , that we can all try to keep up with on a cell implantation, results not out yet.

About the study that is recruiting,,,,

http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/search

Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) patients experience a slowly progressive, unpredictable loss of vision which eventually leads to bare or no light perception, posing a continuous threat to patients' independence. Negative psychological states such as distress, sleepiness, anxiety and depression are common in RP patients due to the nature of this chronic, disabling disease. Psychophysical vision measures are more variable in legally blind RP subjects than in normally sighted individuals, and RP patients indicate that variations in vision are often related to stress. The primary goal of this research is to examine the vision fluctuations within and between days among RP patients using vision tests self-administered by patients through their home computers, and determine associations with factors such as perceived stress, mood states, sleepiness, weather or light exposure. The administration of questionnaires will allow us to gain some insight into which underlying psychological factors impact certain vision measures, allowing the design of future interventional research to attempt to reduce such factors. The aims of many future treatment clinical trials for RP will be to improve vision and/or reduce the rate of vision loss; thus the sources that lead to increased variability of vision need to be identified and alleviated to enable precise evaluation of interventions and improve patients' quality of life.

Zen, Buddhism, Karma, Do your doctors beliefs endanger you?

2009-06-25T19:04:00.000-07:00

In discussing Dr. Downings seemingly endless court dates coming up , I questioned whether with this many court proceedings, could Dr Downing have the start of dementia? A person involved with one of the cases told me that he didn't think so, that the man seemed to know exactly what to avoid telling the truth on etc,,,, well, possibly, course with the start of dementia , a person can be in his right mind most of the time and just have a few moments of " out there " after all, a few moments here and there would certainly be enough to mess up some peoples eyesight!! But there is another possibility that could explain some of his actions.
Could a persons beliefs end up in harming a patient? Dr Downing belongs to a universal unitarian church, where it seems that they believe in nothing or something, doesn't matter, where the Jesus was just a historical figure, the bible , an old book, but they don't care if a few members believe in it, or not, everything goes,, Downing happens to believe in Buddha, he runs a little Zen circle there, basic belief seems to be that you meditate to achieve enlightenment so that you can stop being reincarnated over and over and reach nirvana. Evidently you do this through meditation, you meditate yourself right into believing that everything is karma, nothing is your fault etc. The same basic thing used to happen to people in the 60's who used LSD, in fact that is where a lot of the Buddhist got started in this country, they used meditation to reach hallucinatory state of mind instead of LSD, which brings us to what does hours of meditation do to a person?

Meditation
If you deprive the mind of outside stimulus and concentrate on nothingness long enough, you basically, trip, you hallucinate, and through Buddhism, you make yourself believe that it is " enlightenment " or in the words of psychologists " Meditation and/or sensory deprivation. When the brain lacks external stimulation to form perceptions, it may form hallucinatory perceptions. "

If you want to see what the famous Timothy Leary from the 60's had to say on the subject, be my guest, all this just seems like an ego trip for these people who don't want to believe that their 1960's drug experiments were wasted.

Using LSD to Imprint the Tibetan-Buddhist Experience by Dr. Timothy Leary, Ph.D.

http://deoxy.org/l_impgui.htm

A Buddhists Quote
"Every human being is the author of his own health or disease "

Now, I get it, if a doctor harms you, if he believes in buddhism, its not his fault, it is your bad karma!!!!

If you start reading into this quackery, they will tell you such little tidbits such as if you do not " intend : to harm someone, you are innocent, and that you are to feel no guilt etc,,,,, course there are many parts of buddhism that tell you basically , treat others how you want to be treated, but like all " religions " ( I use that loosely, since they seem to believe in nothing except themselves and buddha } the followers take the parts they want and twist the parts they don't .

But,, if the mental health experts are right and meditation basically makes you have hallucinations ( and we aren't talking about 5 minute relaxation techniques ) then couldn't a doctor in this state of mind be detrimental to his patients?

hmmmm,, I'll have to chant a while and think on that ( smile )

Retinitis Pigmentosa and Cataract Surgery

2009-06-17T08:18:00.000-07:00

RP is a collection of many different genetic diseases that lead to progressive photoreceptor loss and associated vision loss; therefore, the etiology is remarkably variable
http://www.a-scan.net/iol-main/iol_main.htm

formulas for determining the power of the IOL,, ( for those with RP, caution, machine should be set differently, which is part of the problem I am left with, I have the wrong lens power implanted )
On RP and cataract surgery
Several medical conditions can predispose patients to the development of significant anterior capsular contraction syndrome. The best known and probably most commonly encountered of these conditions is pseudoexfoliation. Other pathologies include a history of uveitis, retinitis pigmentosa, high myopia, myotonic dystrophy, advanced age, and trauma (including ocular surgery). Subtle zonular damage, which most likely occurs from previous surgery such as trabeculectomy or vitrectomy, allows for progressive changes after cataract extraction in some cases. Diabetes mellitus is sometimes implicated in this condition as well, although this relationship appears to be less direct. It is certain, however, that zonular disease or trauma is closely associated with the problem of pathologic capsular contraction. Also, instability of the blood aqueous barrier appears to be an inciting factor in pathologic capsular contraction. A history of any of these situations should alert the surgeon to approach the procedure with caution and consider surgical techniques.8-11
------------------------------------------------
While complicated surgery accounts for most cases of CME, this condition also occasionally occurs after straightforward surgery.
The more complicated the surgery, the greater the degree of CME and vision reduction

Good site on studies of RP and related problems,
http://www.lifestages.com/health/retinitis.pigmentosa_2006.html

This site explains how high risk patients ( rp is high risk ) should be given a special regiment both before and after undergoing cataract surgery( Of course Dr Porter didn't do that for me which is why I developed cme from the surgery )
http://www.osnsupersite.com/view.aspx?rid=27703

and more on dosing preop and post op

For at-risk patients, Dr. Raizman said he begins the NSAID 1 week preoperatively and continues the regimen for at least 4 weeks to 6 weeks postoperatively. Patients presenting with diabetic retinopathy should receive non-steroidal treatment for at least 8 weeks preoperatively. OCT can serve as a guide for determining the duration of the therapy.
References
O’Brien TP. Emerging guidelines for use of NSAID therapy to optimized cataract surgery patient care. Curr Med Res & Opin. 2005;21;1131-1137.
McColgin AZ, Raizman MB. Efficacy of topical diclofenac in reducing the incidence of postoperative cystoid macular edema. Invest Ophthmol Vis Sci. 1999;40:289.
this article will describe erg tests, if you are getting erg tests from your eye doc, you should be light/dark adapted first ( yet another thing that Downing and McPeak center doesn't understand is that with RP you should be given time to adapt to the light situation before most testing )
http://webvision.med.utah.edu/ClinicalERG.html

Evaluating whether it is RP or the cataract interfering with your vision and determing the outcome http://www.medscape.com/medline/abstract/9333398
more on dislocation risks up to 20 yrs later with rp
doi:10.1016/j.ophtha.2006.09.017
Cataract surgery is contraindicated when it will not
improve visual function due to the presence of coexisting ocular disease.
However, cataract surgery may be necessary to improve visualization of
the posterior segment for treatment of coexisting disease
http://www.aoa.org/documents/CPG-8.pdf

3. Supplemental Testing
Additional testing may be necessary to assess and document the extent of
the functional disability and to determine whether other diseases (e.g.,
corneal disease, optic nerve disease, or retinal disease) may limit
preoperative vision or may prove to limit postoperative vision.49,50
Contrast sensitivity, glare testing, potential acuity testing, threshold
visual fields or Amsler grid testing, fluorescein angiography, corneal
pachymetry/endothelial cell count, specialized color vision testing, Bscan
ultrasonography, tonography, and electrophysiology testing are not
required as a part of the preoperative workup; however, individual
circumstances, as documented in the patient record, may justify their use
--
Supplemental Testing to Document the Presence of
Coexisting Eye Disease, the Extent of Functional Disability,
and Potential for Improvement
Visual Fields
• Suspicion or evidence of retinal detachment, eye tumor, glaucoma, retinitis
pigmentosa, coloboma, optic nerve disease, or tumor
Amsler Grid
• Suspicion of macular disease
Corneal Pachymetry/Endothelial Cell Count
• History of previous corneal transplant or corneal surgery
• Suspicion of corneal thickening or endothelial dystrophy
• Planned phacoemulsification
B-Scan Ultrasonography
• Poor or limited view of the fundus
• History or suspicion of intraocular mass or tumor
Tonography
• Suspicion of glaucoma or diagnosed open angle glaucoma
Specialized Color Vision Testing
• Suspicion of optic nerve or macular disease
Electrophysiology
• Suspicion of optic nerve disease
• Family history of retinal disease
• Assessment of visual function in a patient with a mature cataract
Contrast Sensitivity and/or Glare Testing
• Patients' symptoms of functional disability far worse than suggested by
visual acuity measurements
Potential Acuity Testing
• Prediction of postoperative acuity
( I wish that Dr Porter had been savvy enough to have performed these tests, before you decide to do surgery with RP, have these done, and make sure that the surgeon has gone over the results with you )

http://rarediseases.info.nih.gov/GARD/Disease.aspx?PageID=4&diseaseID=5694

Government site on Retinitis Pigmentosa as a rare disease

Fraud and Abuse in Medical Care

2009-06-15T20:55:00.000-07:00

Lately with the discussion in politics about reforming health care, many have discussed what drives the cost of health care up. It's really simpler than you would think, its fraud, Abuse, and Greed.
Billions and Billions are lost each year with doctors, hospitals and such, using upcoding ( where they do one procedure and charge for a procedure that is more expensive ) Unbundling ( where a service should be included with the main service and it is " picked apart " so that more money can be charge. There is outright total Fraud , one doctor was caught charging for performing cataract surgery, and laser procedures and it was found out that all he had really done was shine a light in patients eyes, they found him guilty of stealing millions that way.

In one case Defendants submitted at least 2,135 false claims to the
Government for payment under Medicare for YAG Capsulotomy
procedures which not medically necessary and for which
Defendants falsely indicated to the patient that the procedure
was needed.
Sometimes the cases show that patients were harmed by these fraudulent doctors , other times, it is just the taxpayers paying for the medicare bills , sometimes it is the insurance companies that pay, driving up the cost of health care, so in EVERY instance, someone is hurt.
This is where individuals come in, they have to turn these people in, report the fraud, you can do it to medicare , or health and human services, or you can file a Qui Tam,, a " false claims act " charge . Under the False Claims Act, the person reporting the fraud , with the proof, can receive a percentage of what is recovered! One doctor who turned in another doctor, received over a million dollars!
You can report it directly to attorney general of your state if you prefer,, below is one case, Taxpayers Against Fraud has some good info and links

Taxpayers Against Fraud
http://www.taf.org/

U.S. ex rel. Woods v. Paracelsus Healthcare
Corp., No. 98-4564 (C.D. Cal.)
Marvin Balistocky, M.D.
In May 2001,Marvin H.Balistocky,M.D.agreed
to pay $531,026 to settle allegations that he sub-
mitted false claims to Medicare and Medicaid in
connection with ophthalmological care.
Among other things, the Government claimed
that Dr. Balistocky submitted false claims for
laser surgeries performed as part of post-
cataract removal surgery by indicating that the
surgeries were performed after the ninety day
post-operative period; submitted claims for ser-
vices that were either never rendered or upcod-
ed; and submitted claims for two patient evalu-
ation and management services per patient visit.
In addition, Dr. Balistocky has been charged
with two counts of criminal health care fraud.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Margaret Hutchinson
represented the Government.

McClown and Sneering Aarons Little Shop Of Horrors

2009-06-13T01:50:00.000-07:00

As some of you know, I have a condition called RP that brings on some problems, for me my biggest problem was peripheral vision and night blindness, I actually had fairly good distant vision and near vision,, I say had , because then I went to the Downing and McPeak Vision center for a routine pressure check, Dr Porter then told me I had to have surgery, but it was alright, he had done plenty, never a problem, and I would see great afterwards, I told him my near vision was dear to me as I loved to read and couldn't drive anymore because of peripheral, I asked if he had handled people with my condition , oh yeah,, was the answer, never a problem, I walked in with very good near vision and around 20/40 distant, I walked out with no near vision and worse than 20/100 , then Dr Downing was gonna fix it right? Well no, what he actually did was a procedure with a laser that put me at even more risk to lose even more vision, so now I may get even worse vision due to the surgery and the procedure. or let me tell you a story...........
A little old lady one day was driving along in her fiat car when she decided to have the air checked in her tires, she pulled up to the neighborhood mechanic shop, parked under their sign that read Mc Clown and Sneering Arrons Little Shop of Horrors, come on in. So she went in and asked to have her air checked, Sneering Aaron told her that she really needed her lug bolts tightened, ( thats how they made all their big money, tightening everyones lug bolts at any excuse ) she asked ,, " are you sure? I just wanted my air checked " Sneering Aaron, dreaming of all the things he was going to buy this year , said " oh yes, you have to it might be dangerous if you don't " so she reminded him that she had a Fiat and her fiat was 1 in 10,000 cars that had to have lug bolts turned the opposite way than other cars, Sneering Aaron assured her that he was a professional, he knew that of course, not a problem,,, here sign this , lets go, so she got in line at the assembly plant with all the regular cars, zippppppppppp,,, zzziiiiiipppppppppp,,, move up one place,, zzziiiipppp,, zzzipppp move up one space, as they ran hundreds of fords through the line, she again reminded them she had a special car when she got to the front of the line,, oh yeah,, no problem,, zzziiipppp,,,, zzziiiippppp,,, as she left, her wheels fell off, making her wreck her car and leaving her unable to walk from the wreck,,, she tried to go back and get help, the owner Mr. McClown told her, oh no, its not a wheel problem, its a gas problem,, I'll help,, where as he continued to put sugar in the gas tank,,, leaving the little old lady still crippled and the car no good. When she again complained, they told her to move along, she was holding up the assembly line, it wasn't their fault, it was hers for driving a fiat when everyone else had a ford.
Distraught, crippled and with no car, when she tried to tell her story to others, they tried to shut her up, that was when she noticed there were a few other fiats left by the side of the road, but the assembly line moved so quickly , they were never noticed and when the owners tried to complain , they were shut up quickly with threatening letters from lawyers, never an apology, never taking responsibility, McClown and Sneering Aaron, just went right along moving the assembly line along with unsuspecting cars, and dreaming of all the goodies they could buy with their ill gotten gains. zzziiippppp,,, ziiiippppp

Retinitis Pigmentosa, Cuba, Ozone and " Treatments"

2009-06-11T22:38:00.000-07:00

Most people who have, or know someone with RP have heard of the cuban treatment, Cuba of course claims that it has a huge success with their treatment, it has been hard to document this since our Doctors can't go over there and study it. Of course take into consideration that Cuba needs money badly, so they have a reason to " hype " their treatment ( even more than our own greedy unethical doctors here ) but I have seen some questions lately on the subject so for what it is worth, here are some links,
generally the full cost of treatment, if you can get permission to go over, is around 11,000.

http://www.juventudrebelde.co.cu/cuba/2009-06-10/cuban-success-story-in-treating-retinitis-pigmentosa/

this site is from a local man who was trying to go there and get treatment, but if you notice, doesn't seem to have been anything posted for a few years

http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/6499/index.html

http://www.home.earthlink.net/~blindworld2/MEDICAL/6-06-13-01.htm

( supposed report smuggled out from a doctor? )

and wikipedia is always a good place for some quick info

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_Cuba
and pubmed had article where doctors studied the people who came back from cuba///////////
Berman-Gund Laboratory, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Boston, USA.
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of intervention with electric stimulation, autotransfused ozonated blood, and ocular surgery, performed in Cuba, on the cou
rse of the common forms of retinitis pigmentosa. DESIGN: Ocular evaluations over 6 to 8 months before and after intervention in Cuba. SETTING: Evaluations performed at a US clinical research facility. PATIENTS: Ten adult patients aged 25 to 67 years with retinitis pigmentosa. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Visual acuity, visual field area, and electroretinogram (ERG) amplitude. RESULTS: No significant change in visual acuity or visual field area was observed on average between preintervention and postintervention values over a 6- to 8-month interval. Mean 30-Hz cone ERG amplitude declined by 15.5% between preintervention and postintervention values (P = .006). When data on change in visual field area from 1 statistically significant outlier were excluded from the analysis, a significant decline of 12.9% in mean visual field area was observed (P = .025). CONCLUSIONS: These data support the conclusion that the intervention offered in Cuba provides no benefit to patients with retinitis pigmentosa as measured by visual acuity, visual field area, and ERG. The magnitudes of the mean declines observed in ERG amplitude and visual field area over a 6- to 8-month interval, relative to those reported in previous studies, raise the possibility that this intervention may worsen the course of the disease.
PMID: 8619765 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_Discovery_RA&linkpos=1&log$=relatedarticles&logdbfrom=pubmed

Ozone therapy is another " option " talked about for RP, as with everything else remember, according to those in the know, there is no true cure of RP
When I first heard about the ozone treatment for RP there was a doctor performing it down in Atlanta, now it seems there are generators you can buy and do it at home, there is a " spa " in texas. I would say proceed cautiously as ozone can have some bad effects on you also if not done right, and evidently some good effects for everything from your eyes, to skin, to detoxing your system etc.
There is also the stem cell research, a Dr Radtke out of Louisville was doing some trials on that, I don't know if he still is, he has a website, also a very good retinal specialist.
Gene Therapy is the new and maybe promising research for RP, I will try to look up a little more on this later, see if there are any trials going on etc, for now there is this
LCA2 (retinitis pigmentosa) is a disease in which the photoreceptor cells of human body fails to respond to light. This is due to a gene called RPE65 which fails to produce a protein that have an importance in healthy vision.
In the study, researchers used an adeno-associated virus, a harmless virus which already exists in most of the people, to deliver RPE65 to a small area of the retina which ultimately helped in the formation of the protein that helps in healthy vision.
This study is a milestone, as this new treatment will be effective in treating human vision disease which are inherited in families and results from mutations in single genes, says Barry J. Byrne, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of molecular genetics and microbiology and director of UF's Powell Gene Therapy Center,
http://eye.taragana.net/archive/gene-therapy-now-effective-in-retinitis-pigmentosa/

Vitamin therapy,,, Through the years everything from lutein to mega dose vit C has been said to " slow " the progress,, I don't think there is any real proof of this, watch out for the " mega " dose suggestions, my mother had a bad reaction to , I think , C,,, so you can take too much.

Your Rights, Doctors, and Advocacy

2009-06-11T10:23:00.000-07:00

I used to be a union officer, I was used to telling people , protect yourselves, take notes, know your rights and all the other goodies of advocacy.
So why didn't I do the same for myself? Because your personal doctor is supposed to have your best interest at heart , unlike a big corporation, right? That was my mistake , I didn't realize that some doctors, like in Downing and McPeak, ARE big corporations, they advertise themselves as being the hometown doctors right? Hmmm,,, not quite the way we all think of the little old friendly hometown doctors, nope, these guys have vice presidents ( Dr Downing } and shareholders ( Dr Porter and the other docs ) they have listed their corporation as LLC limited liability corporation protecting themselves somewhat against having to take responsibility for their actions.
So, what to do about protecting yourselves? They have the connections , the big time lawyers, and sometimes it is overwhelming to go up against people like this even when you are definitely in the right! So I am back to square one, just like being a union officer, I am going to tell you, take notes, take a recorder and record the office visit, the " seminar " that way, you can go back and listen to what they tell you, what they haven't told you and make your decision on what is best for you, whether you should take the risks involved in a procedure, whether your doctor is forthcoming with you , does he answer your questions? Have you double checked to see if what he tells you is the whole truth?
I have went up against big corporations, I know that to get anywhere , you have to research first so that you know what questions to ask, and know what the answers should be. When they tell you " it isn't policy " ask to speak to the person that makes the policy. When they tell you that they can't change the policy, demand to talk to the person who has the authority to make decisions.
It takes time sometimes against big corporations, I have had to go up through many supervisors, officers, and in a few cases to the board of directors of companies to get what should have been right to start with , no company wants to cut you a deal, or do what is right, if it is going to cost them money, you have to be patient, it takes time, you have to not give up, if you have to file complaints, reports, go to the news, go to the public, keep going, get your rights, never take no.

I have had contracts with cell phone companies cut in half, free offers, etc,, but only after I didn't take no for an answer, went up to higher people who could make those decisions. I had a boat repainted after it was out of warranty, not because they knew it was the right thing to do, but because I kept up the pressure, one person at a time until I reached the top.
Don't do any less with your own doctors, demand answers, get what you pay for, demand the truth, and if they still fail you, stand up for your rights, make it as right as you can, make them accountable, you will not only be helping yourself, you may help others from not getting hurt.

Vision Professionals Promises

2009-06-10T22:52:00.000-07:00

We all know that many organizations put out promises that they cannot possibly keep, we expect that from late night infomercials, what we do not expect are those promises coming from doctors. Oh they are going to deny that they " promised " anything, yet they do , from what they tell you to what they advertise, I am still seeing advertisements about Tiger Woods having lasik surgery, course they are not telling you that he has had to have more procedures from his vision " slipping " there was another not so famous golfer who also had the procedure, he wasn't so lucky, they haven't been able to fix his vision after his first surgery " slipped "
I noticed on the Downing and McPeak website, under the lasik , it claims " a lifetime of benefits " yeah, right,, uh, they are not telling you that for one, there hasn't been a " lifetime " of study about lasik yet, and from the length of time it has been studied, it is understood by professionals that even if you have wonderful results to start with, it is not uncommon for those results to diminish over time! False advertisement? Even the FDA had held meetings a few years back with many unsatisfied customers of lasik that wanted them to demand more " truth " from doctors over this, the FDA did come out with rules that were supposed to make theses vision centers stop advertising what they couldn't produce, and to have to put out the risks along with these so called benefits, but many ignore it, get by with it, are not reported, etc, so we still have these places touting " lifetime benefits " and having " testimonials from customers who think it is great, course, they may not think it is great in a few years !!
Like any infomercial on tv Downing and crew are telling the public, they have been awarded some kind of " gold " award ,, ok,, lets see,,, who awarded them this? TLC,,, now TLC is a lasik mill with a twist, basically, they rent doctors like Downing, these excimer machines, and any other assistance they want such as training on the machines, etc,, TLC is also a failing company so they are doing whatever they can to keep their heads above water, will they be cutting costs on such things as maintenance on machines etc?
And lets talk about these machines themselves, Downing advertises them as being " approved " and the " gold standard " in other words ,, the newest things going. The last newest machine going was advertised as " ladarvision " a few years after they were out, it was found that these machines malfunctioned leaving patients with many problems, so lets hope for the sake of the patients on this " new " machine that the kinks are worked out,, but are you willing to bet your vision on it?

Could Your Doctor Need To Retire?

2009-06-06T17:39:00.000-07:00

In the US it is mandatory ( at least in 2007 ) for an airline pilot to retire at age 60! But a Doctor? No such need. I know of some Doctors past 65 who are very competent, just like I know citizens who are way past 65 who are very competent, but there are some who have mentally slowed down, some who have gotten shaky at times, who get forgetful, and lets face it, some who are showing the start of dementia or Alzheimer's.
Our health, in fact our lives and the lives of loved ones are too important to not ask the question, when is it time for the surgeon, the eye doctor, etc to hang up his practice?

Who looks after these cases? Pretty much nobody. We have the state medical license board, made up of doctors, but from what I can tell, they collect their $100 or so dollars a year, and if a complaint is filed, shuffle paper work. Often by the time a complaint is filed, it is way too late, too many have been harmed.
Should the US look into a competency exam mandatory if a certain number of complaints are filed, or after a certain number of lawsuits are filed, maybe yearly after age 65?
--------------------------------------------------------
However, questions of incompetence, drug
abuse, or unethical behavior among licensed
practicing physicians were dealt with in camera
by peer-review committees within the
profession’s own organizations—if they were addressed at all.
http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/reprint/18/6/244.pdf

Look closely at the top of your doctor's head the next time you get a chance. Do those odd gray hairs worry you at all? Do they speak to you of wisdom and experience? Or do they remind you it may be time to leave the old fool for a source of more up-to-date care?
In Britain, the National Health Service imposes draconian limitations on physicians wishing to work after age 65, and essentially forbids work after 70. The policy is clearly intended to guard the population from doddering idiots.
-----------------------------------------------------

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/08/health/08essa.html?ex=1265605200&en=fe14946cb29b2555&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland

If you believe that your eye doctor is incompetent due to age dementia and have seen signs of this, report him to the medical board of your state, here in KY it is the Kentucky Medical Licensing Board

Dr Downing and court cases?

2009-06-05T21:28:00.000-07:00

Update

Dr. Downing seems to be getting rather busy ,,, in court that is.

Sparks vs Downing is coming up in warren co this month, 6/22
Anyone have any news on that one, want to hear from you, I believe that is the one where the poor woman had to have her cornea replaced after going to Downing and McPeak? Or so the claim goes, after all, the case isn't settled yet.

Of course since the Downing and McPeak vision center has not only and office in Bowling green , but a surgical center in Glasgow, and I believe offices in Allen county, franklin, ky,,, Christian county? the court cases seem to be spread out, listed cases that Downing and McPeak, Dr Downing will be involved in after the Sparks case, are Martin in Allen co
McMurray in Barren
Ogburn in Christian
Khamsay,, in warren co
One case is no longer listed in warren co that a gentleman was suing, anyone know what happened at that case?
Email me with information on the above cases and I will update !

On another note, its interesting how these vision centers operate, Downing and McPeak, well, really, isn't any McPeak at least anymore, shareholders only list the doctors including Downing. So they are all really chummy as far as having an interest in protecting one another, and then there are a couple , Porter for one who evidently also have an interest in the anesthesiology at the surgical center, .
Of course everything is done under an LLC ( limited liability corp ) which further protects them in case they get caught doing some very bad things. Then Dr Downing also owns or has major interest in a couple of other things, Barren River Investments,, and something called, SARASWATI Leasing,,, Saraswati is a strange name, in Hindu ( I believe Dr Downing used to be a buddhist ) means Goddess of Intellect,, Might be something to all this Buddhist business, seems that karma may be catching up.

Refractive Surgery and Infection

2009-06-04T12:06:00.000-07:00

Have you done all your homework on lasik surgery yet?
Do you know how your surgery center rates on infection?
If you live in Kentucky , then you might not know, there is legislation pending about vision surgical centers having to report rates of infection, but it isn't quite in place yet.

There are things you can do to find if your choice of surgical center has had a problem with infections, you can ask, you might not get the truth from them though. You can look up your local doctors that you are going to use and see what kind of lawsuits they have had lately. Here in Bowling Green there isn't much information online, you can find where the local doctor might have a lawsuit , but not much on previous, and even on lawsuits going on at the time you will only find names, dates, not content, but surgery is a very big decision, so, go the extra length, put out the effort, it is your health.
How to do it?

For example,,,, write down the names of the doctors in the vision center where you are going ,, say,, Downing and McPeak, you would write down all the doctors names with practices there, Downing, Porter, Etc etc, go to the justice center and ask to see all cases in the past year or two, three, on the center itself, the doctors themselves, and now this is important, READ the content of the lawsuits, see where charges are made of infections, dirty instruments, etc,, it will be in the contents.

Infection in the surgical site ( EYES ) can cause extreme problems.
Anything from discomfort, to blindness, to needing cornea transplants ( )
To read up on this further try these links

http://www.eyeworld.org/article.php?sid=3915

http://www.revoptom.com/index.asp?page=2_14176.htm

( Due to the disruptive nature of one poster, ( downing and mcPeak flunky?) I have temporarily taken down the comment sections you can still email me at dorothy25@insightbb.com )

Lasik Surgery, What you may not know

2009-06-03T09:24:00.000-07:00

Why don't blind people go skydiving? It scares the dogs

Did you know that if you have lasik surgery, you may need " touch ups?"The overall 1-year incidence of retreatment was 10.5%.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12689897?dopt=Abstract

LASIK Surgery astigmatism. Each year more than one million patients undergo the LASIK procedure in the United States. According to the Food and Drug Administration, the complication rate of LASIK surgery is between 1 and 5 percent
Some of those complications are what they consider " mild " some are very serious including totally losing your vision the top complications are:::
Vision Loss
Debilitating Visual Symptoms
Under Treatment or Over Treatment
Severe Dry Eye Syndrome
Less Effective Results in Patients with Different Types of Large Refractive Errors
Results Diminishing with Age

One of the things that list as a " best candidate " is if you are under 40 years old, but then , the results diminish with age, so does that really make you a best candidate? You think you will get 20/20 vision? Think again.
Think you will get rid of the glasses? Think again, the surgery is only supposed to ( and that is best case scenario } REDUCE the need for glasses, you may still need glasses!!!

New information is coming out about these procedures all the time, experts are not all that willing anymore to tout how safe and great it is
Experts Advise New Warnings for LASIK
http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=89019

This type of surgery is a HUGE , HUGE money maker for doctors, make sure that they have your best interest in mind and not their own.

http://www.jpands.org/vol11no4/gervais.pdf

If you decide to have it ,, good luck.

Owning Up

2009-06-03T09:02:00.000-07:00

" God heals and the doctor takes the fee "
Benjamin Franklin

Owning up, sounds simple right? Millions of honest, good people do it everyday when they make mistakes, they own up to it. If you read the articles on drug addiction or alcoholism, first step? Own up to it, admit it, and move on.
As a society, aren't we giving mixed signals? It often seems that those who don't own up , get by with it.
Politicians, don't own up to it, they make excuses, twist words, blame someone else, but rarely do they admit to something.
Criminals, they are given advice by their lawyers to keep mouths shut, don't say a word, don't admit anything, and I guess that is good legal advice, but not good for society, doesn't that just teach people to keep on lying, cheating and doing wrong?
After looking through the medical journals and Dept of Justice and such online, they tell you that they think a certain percentage of doctors do not admit mistakes, or cover up mistakes, they think that a certain percentage of doctors commit insurance and medicare billing fraud, but they know they only catch a small percentage of what actually goes on.

How many people are harmed by doctors mistakes that never even know that their injury was caused by a mistake, or carelessness, they are given an excuse for their injury, not told that oops, cut a muscle accidentally, or, oops should not have had that second martini at lunch.

We should be able to respect Doctors, to hold them in high esteem, but until they start " owning up " we can't. There are certain careers that only the totally honest should go into, Judges, Doctors, Politicians, Policemen, where human life is at stake, where lives are changed for good or bad by their actions.
I believe in karma, what goes around , comes around, but in the short run, you still want people to own up ,, NOW.

Those Medical Alert Emails

2009-05-31T16:41:00.000-07:00

I am sure that most everyone has gotten the emails about Dr. so and so reported that you should not do so and so, the latest one that I received was the one telling don't heat anything in plastic and don't freeze water in plastic bottles as they will release dioxins and cause cancer.

These Emails Are A Hoax!!!!!!

during elections you will get them about candidates, sometimes you will get them about gang initiations and don't blink your high beam while driving, there are thousands out there, they have been around for years and every few years the same ones pop up.

You can always go to Snopes.com and find out if it is true or not. But especially if you are taking medical advice of any kind, don't believe one source, one website, research it, find a reliable source and double check.
I would tell everyone to be wary, if you read something on a website , like this one, double check. Run a google search, see if the same information comes up from a reliable source.

If you have read many of my posts, you know that I have repeatedly said, don't believe everything that your own doctor says without doing your own research, let alone something a stranger on the internet says. The doctor has his wallet in mind and the stranger may just be spreading stuff to see how far it will spread.

federal Trade Commission Compalaints On Lasik

2009-05-31T07:40:00.000-07:00

I am becoming a true advocate of patients rights, after having been duped, lied to and personally harmed by a physicians failure to disclose information to me, among other things they did wrong, I feel like it is an absolute must to receive proper information.
Those who keep insisting on " fooling " their patients by not telling the truth about the risks of such procedures as lasik must be dealt with.
The FTC ( Federal Trade Commission ) deals with misleading and false advertisements , they have an online complaint form, or you may download it and send it in, to report such fraudsters such as lasik physicians. You may do so with or without revealing information about yourself.

What is false advertisement?
According to the FDA ( Food and Drug Administration ) physicians, vision centers , lasik centers and others , must include the RISKS of lasik surgery when they advertise.
For example, I visited the Downing and McPeak vision center website, low and behold, I found testimonials about how great lasik was, but no disclosure on the risks , this would seem to be in violation of the FDA ruling, you look for yourself and then let me know if you find the same.
Too often patients are given the " oh how great it is " spiel without being informed of the risks to themselves, more and more patients are reporting loss of vision, blindness and lifetime problems because of this procedure, but they are not given the information on the risks so that they may make an informed decision, everyone must work on insuring patient safety.
Be diligent, report these fraudsters to the proper authorities!!

Lasik Surgery Be Informed!

2009-05-28T19:59:00.000-07:00

Information, information and more information.
All too often we don't take the time to be informed, Big Mistake number 1.
Any surgery is not routine when it comes to you, to your well being, to your quality of life. I found out the hard way, if you have read my other posts then you know that for me, surgery was not routine, unfortunately, for my doctor, he treated it as if it was routine and I believed him when he said he was experienced in retinitis pigmentosa, who would have thunk that a doctor would lie!!!! I was naive!

In another post I told about the vision center that I went to and how now they are claiming to have been " awarded " as one of the top centers in the US or some such nonsense. Of course these so called " awards " are for many centers and doctors just a paid membership advertising deal, connections with money will get many " businesses " to give out " many " awards! Tell you what, if you believe that these are honest awards, I will rent you a keyboard and then give you " Gold Seal Author of the Year Award " all for a price of 1 million a year. ( Didn't you always want to be a top author? ) that is pretty much what many of these " awards " are.
I ran across a site that has much information and links about lasik disasters, about the scams that lasik doctors pull, and about what to look out for, what you should know.
http://www.lasiksos.com/

You may still want to have lasik performed, but you can inform yourself as to the best doctors, what to look for and what to avoid. Good Luck.

$68 Billion Dollars in healthcare fraud

2009-05-27T21:02:00.000-07:00

That is how much the US loses each year to health care fraud, 68 Billion Dollars! That is the amount not available to use for needed health care, for people that really need it, or to make health care better, or to lower costs, allthis money that is going down the drain costs everyone, it raises the cost of your premiums, it lowers the amount of services you get, it lowers the amount of quality health care available, it wastes taxpayers dollars.

More people need to turn in these companies that are over charging the health care system, are unbundling services in order to bill insurance or medicare a higher amount, or billing for services or procedures not rendered.

The US spends about 2 TRILLION Dollars a year in health care costs, so I can understand why we cannot afford to have better, bigger, all included , coverage, but we could get a lot closer if we had that 68 Billion dollars a year to use for the good of the people instead of for greedy doctors 2nd, third and fourth vacation homes!!!!

These links are a few that are trying to help the cause!!

http://www.nofreelunch.org/

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=64813

have you ever wondered whether your eyecare doctors have an incentive to
scam you??
http://www.jpands.org/vol11no4/gervais.pdf

Are your eye doctors getting too big?

2009-05-26T10:14:00.000-07:00

I have noticed a trend, all health care and yes, even those who take care of our eyes, have gone big business.

The little old towns vision center I went to, I found they make way over 10 million a year, when your little old friendly doc has that kind of money generated, you had better look out for yourself!
Does that mean less personal care? Could it mean that we are getting run through a assembly line type service instead of one on one that we need for quality care? I believe that I was given care that was of a " one size fits all " type , that doesn't even work for cheap t shirts let alone medical care!

I went to the home town , eye care specialists, the " good neighbor " type place, but what I found wasn't personal care, , when they spend more time looking over your insurance with a gleam in their eye, than they do looking over your eyes, something is not going to go right. I spent way more time with the billing/insurance clerk than I did with good ole doc.

When I last visited Downing and McPeak eye care, vision center, I noticed that there was a waiting room full, while waiting I also noticed that the age of those waiting were definitely the medicare crowd ( big business needs big medicare money ) If you look at the DOJ then you know that big medicare can mean big fraud.
After being ushered from one waiting room to another,drops put in, techs taking tests ( by the way, if you can, watch and see if the tech cleans the lens after a patient leaves, this can be very harmful and I noticed that they don't always do this )
I see Dr Porter for 2 minutes tops, he flips the lens on his machine once and asked which was better, then decided I HAD to have surgery, ( at that point I should have known to get second opinion,, ah,, the trust issue )

Since then, I have researched how much surgery they do? hmm,, in 2003 their surgical center performed 1895 operations ( of course they own this building , gotta get them surgeries to pay for it?) But in 2007 they performed 3238 surgeries, now you have to ask, are there almost twice as many people needing operations, or does this big business need almost twice the profit?
Your "hometown " friendly optometrist could be a Donald Trump in disguise,, would we really be that comfortable trusting these guys if we realized that they are more business tycoon than doctor?

Google Your Eyesight

2009-05-21T20:34:00.000-07:00

Use your search engine for what matters most to you, your sight
You can check with web sites that rate doctors to check out your vision care specialists, of course this isn't going to be totally truthful, supposedly ratings are given by customers , but I have found some that look like maybe the employees or even doctors have gotten on there and given " their " opinion, and who can tell? It is a start just a small step.

Check out a possible eye care center by looking at their website, is it informative? Is it open to questions, can you email them and ask for more information? Is it informing? Is it honest and truthful?

For example, I looked at Downing and McPeak on the web, they give " testimonials " from supposed customers about how great they see now , after lasik, does that give you the full picture? If a center doesn't at least state by the testimonials that there are some risks involved , then does that start showing you that maybe they are a money machine instead of a vision " care " facility?
Also on the Downing and McPeak site , notice that they tell you they were " awarded " as being a top lasik center by TLC vision corporation? Sounds good right? Until you look at who TLC is, they rent and sell equipment , provide staff etc to companies ,,,, like,,, Downing and McPeak, so this company, that Downing and McPeak say gives them kudos, have financial strings to their center, not exactly a trustworthy account , you can bet that TLC has given these so called " awards " to many many of their customers!!!
Even when you go to the glossary page , there are mistakes or half truths about what some of the conditions are. The term retinitis pigmentosa has a different definition if you look into it, they might be partially correct but not a very good professional explanation.

Can you email them? no
Under their doctors profile , have many of them published research papers in the professional journals?

Look for more substance in a Doctor for your eyes than just a slick little ad type page.
Slick Ads are usually for the production type companies that want to run you through surgery quickly and make the money quickly, they usually don't really take " care " of their patients.

Post cancer CT scans

2009-05-21T16:05:00.000-07:00

For anyone who is going through this, you know what I mean, my husband had a GIST tumor removed 2 years ago, totally removed, gone, etc, first year he went every 6 months for a scan, now we are doing it every year.
Today was the day, for the last several weeks at least, you start getting anxious, every twitch and pain makes you wonder, yet you really don't talk about it, you don't want to admit that you are scared still.
Today we got up before daylight to drive the 2 hours ( different time zone ) to wait in one waiting area, then get moved to another waiting area, finally drink the contrast, wait some more, then get the scan.
Now you have to waste an hour before the appointment with the doctor.
In the doctors waiting room, a woman walks up and wants to know if you will sign papers to be included in a study since GIST tumor patients are a little rare, now you really ramp up the anxiety level, wonder if she knows something we don't? Does she want to get the signature before we get the bad news?
Finally DR walks into the room, makes small talk , asks how you are doing, you really want to grab him by the neck and scream YES OR NO????
Finally he goes and reads the scan, comes back and says, everything is perfect!!!!!!!!!!!!! YEAHHHHHHHHHHH BREATH!!!!!!!!!!!
We know that in 8 or 9 months we will start building up the anxiety level once again,, but for today, we are happy, we are thankful, we are blessed.

My husbands tumor was larger than normal, sort of small watermelon size, which is one of the aspects they use to determine your risk of it coming back, large is bad,, on the other hand, the other measurement of risk is how " cancerous " it was, in other words, how many cells had divided, his was low, which is good, so will never really be sure he is low risk because of size.
Reducing the stress leading up to your time for another scan?
Keep busy, find something funny, jokes, stories , anything. Go out to eat, go to a movie, don't sit around and think about it!!!
Day of the scan, take a book, magazine , something to do in the waiting areas, something light, funny and entertaining!!!
Above all, have faith. Good Luck.

Dr Porter, after cataract sirgery

2009-05-18T10:16:00.000-07:00

After the cataract surgery I had " post op " visits with Dr Porter, I kept telling him that I couldn't see very well, what was going on, he kept assuring me that maybe I had a little swelling etc, not to worry, On the last visit to his office, he finally did admit that I would never get my near vision back ( I hadn't been told that cataract surgery robs you of any vision, only that it was supposed to improve your vision ) , he never did really admit that my distant vision was far worse than it had been, but had the gall to just start talking about wanting to do another procedure on the first eye and set up a date to do the second eye!!!! I asked him was the swelling down, was there any medical reason to have to come back? He said yes, I was fine, and no, no real reason to have to come back other than scheduling the next eye. I told him since he said I was " fine " I would not be coming back, I could not see, and that I sure wasn't letting him touch my other eye. ( unfornuately, he had messed up the eye with the best vision )

I went home and cried, it has been 18 months since I have been to the Downing and McPeak office, and I still can't talk about this or even write it without tearing up, you do not realize how much you value your sight until some doctor takes it, I told you in an earlier post that I loved to read, cook and shop? Not so much anymore, I need a magnifyer to do the simplest things, I can't see the price tags on anything when I am shopping without magnifying it, I can't see a recipe to cook, and what I had loved to do since I was young was to read , mostly fiction, now it takes forever to read a simple book with magnifying glasses and can't read for very long at that because I get headaches and my eyes tire.

How I lost my eye sight

2009-05-18T09:46:00.000-07:00

You just decide one day that you are over due to have your eye pressure checked . Simple right? You call the most well known eye care place in town, for me it was Downing and McPeak vision center.
I even asked about which doc would be best since I have a previous eye condition, even though all I wanted was a pressure check up.

Well, it all went down hill from there, the receptionist said she would make me an appointment with a Dr Porter since he also had a medical license.
I kept telling Dr Porter and then his assistant that my near vision is very dear to me as with the RP, I can't drive, so the up close things are the important things to me, I like to read, I like to cook and I to shop.
Of course they waited until after I had my eyes dilated to bring out the forms, forms that I could not now see, take it from me, NEVER sign forms that you cannot see, somehow insurance forms mysteriously turned into forms saying I had seen a video ( I had never seen anyone in the place watching a video during any of my visits )

After being told that I had to have surgery, I asked the " right " questions, did he have experience, patients, with RP, was there any problems with surgery because I had RP, told yes, experience, yes had rp patients, no never a problem,,, course now I found out I was high risk for surgery, should have had extra days pre-op, should have made sure cataract was causing problems and not the rp, should have been told the risks, and on and on,,, but I didn't know then.
Believe me, records can be changed, notes " added" and no records of course ,when they tell you about having experience with a certain problem.
You want the straight truth when you go to see your eye doctor? Take a recorder, betcha they tell it different if they know it is being recorded!!!
Sadly , that is your best protection .

You and Fraud

2009-05-17T12:25:00.000-07:00

What can you do about medical fraud? Actually, many things, it is up to people , ordinary people to stop fraud, by doing so you help people to not become victims, you help to stop the high cost of insurance, stop taxpayers dollars from being wasted, and improve the health care system!!!!
Share in the recovery
On top of this, if you are the first one to report fraud , you can be entitled to a percentage of the money that is recovered!! Often times this is 25 percent of the recovered amount! some examples,
will receive $1.75 million as his share ( florida April 14, 2008 )
will receive $1,020,000 as his statutory share of the proceeds ( california march, 2009 )
. Dr. Tiesinga will receive $300,000 as his share of the proceeds of the settlement ( washington 2007)
, will receive $412,500 as her share of the settlement ( Illinois 2008 )

Not to even mention that you will be doing a world of good.
There were many companies out there that had someone in the inside, or someone who used the company and knew of illicit goings on, had reported them, then they could have stopped the company from going bankrupt, stopped them from losing employee retirements etc.
Is it your ethical duty?
In a nutshell, yes. People are harmed by fraudulant acts, if it is overbilling they are harmed by higher costs of insurance, or taxes if medicare is over billed, if it is by opthamologists performing unwarranted surgeries, you can save patients harm, there are many ways it helps to put a stop to fraud or abuse!
How can you help?
Here are a few law firms that take cases, I do not have any connection to any of these.
Toll Free 1 (888) 482-6825
Tel: 202.833.4567212) 376-5666 1-888-933-1514
1-888-775-3779
Attorney General Conway Announces Optometrist Indictment ( kentucky )
Citizens are urged to report suspected fraud or elder abuse by calling the Attorney General’s tip line at 1-877-ABUSE TIP (1-877-228-7384).

What kinds of fraud to look for ? some examples are.

Services not rendered
Upcoding schemes and Unbundling
Kickbacks and Self Referrals
Falsely Certifying and Giving False Information
Lack of Medical Necessity
Fraudulent Cost Reports
Grant or Research Fraud

SERVICES NOT RENDERED:
The simplest scheme of healthcare fraud is the billing for services that were never rendered to patients.
Examples under this scheme include healthcare providers billing Medicare or Medicaid for services that were never performed, medical supplies and equipment that were never delivered, and lab or medical tests that never occurred.
UPCODING AND UNBUNDLING:
Upcoding
Another common scheme involves upcoding to obtain a higher reimbursement than one is entitled to. Medicare and Medicaid systems use a set of billing codes which healthcare providers use in billing for services. These codes are known as the HCPCS codes. In an upcoding scheme, providers wrongfully use a higher paying code to fraudulently reflect that a more expensive procedure or device was involved in the patient’s treatment. These codes are billed electronically and typically slip through the system unless caught through a random audit of only approximately 2% of the claims each year. The only other way to catch the fraudulent use of these higher codes is for an insider to come forward and report the upcoding.
Unbundling
Another common example of coding fraud is called "unbundling." When procedures or lab tests involve a number of related services or tests that are typically performed together, Medicare and Medicaid have specific billing codes that must be used to obtain reimbursement for all of the associated services or tests as a whole, rather than allowing reimbursement for each of the related services or tests billed separately.
KICKBACKS:
A federal statute known as The Stark Law, is designed to prevent billing for Medicare services resulting from abusive self-referrals and kickbacks. Under the Stark Law, a physician is prohibited from making any referral to a provider of designated health services if the physician has a "financial relationship" with the provider, unless an exception applies.
Examples
an HMO provider had come under increasing pressure to switch from an equally effective but significantly less expensive alternative drug because the pharmaceutical company offered its doctors a panoply of inducements to prescribe the expensive drug, including ski and golfing trips, free televisions and VCRs, cocktail party bar tabs, and an array of free products and services.
FALSE CERTIFICATIONS AND INFORMATION:
Health care providers are required to act openly and honestly with the Medicare and Medicaid programs and submit claims based upon accurate information. In addition, Medicare providers are required to disclose all known errors and omissions in their claims for Medicare reimbursement. Providers who submit false claims in violation of these requirements violate the False Claims Act.
Examples
In Mississippi, a hospital chain agreed to a $1.5 million settlement of a qui tam lawsuit in which it was alleged that the hospital billed under physician provider numbers when, in fact, the services were rendered by nurses rather than physicians.
LACK OF MEDICAL NECESSITY:
It is improper to bill Medicare for services or treatment that is not medically necessary. To knowingly do so is a violation of the False Claims Act.
Examples
In New York, an ophthalmologist agreed to pay a settlement of $8.5 million for performing medically unnecessary, contraindicated, and unperformed ophthalmologic services. The settlement agreement provided that the doctor would be permanently excluded from all federally funded health care programs. The physician’s own medical charts did not justify the wide scope of services for which he submitted bills. He also created and submitted new documentation, sometimes years after the questioned dates of service, to attempt to justify his claims after Medicare requested supporting documentation.
In Illinois, a physician group filed false claims for reimbursement to Medicare and Medicaid by submitting claims for inpatient services that were not supported by sufficient documentary evidence and filed claims for both inpatient and outpatient services that were wrongly coded. The physician group agreed to pay an $8.275 million settlement.
An optometrist billing for the comprehensive eye exam when he or she performed the lower level exam
An ophthalmologist falsifying documentation for a test that is used to establish the need for cataract surgery

Audits by the Office of the Inspector General reveal that $1 out of every $7 spent on
Medicare and Medicaid is lost due to fraud and abuse. This problem affects everyone.
It affects those who depend on these programs by diminishing the quality of treatment
they receive. It affects families and caregivers by decreasing the funding available for
important health care support. It affects all taxpayers by wasting billions of dollars per
year.

laugh or cry, a little humor

2009-05-16T20:01:00.000-07:00

An Intern got called late one Friday night by a VA ward nurse to clarify an order for some drug to be delivered "AS, bid". Having never heard of the drug and no idea what the heck"AS" means, Rick asked why the patient was in the hospital. "Well, he's having a colonoscopy on Monday", the nurse replied. Rick astutely deduced that 'AS' must mean 'anal sphincter', and ordered the drug to be delivered as such.
The ENT resident came by on Monday morning to find that the patient had been getting cortisporin otic up his backside twice a day for an entire weekend. AS means "left ear".

A worried patient tells an opthalmologist Doc, I am very scared about the outcome of the operation on my left eye. What are my chances?" Grinning doctorsays " Don't worry, you'll never see the difference "

Is Fraud Really all that Common in the Medical Field?

2009-05-16T19:13:00.000-07:00

Between 44,000 and 98,000 people die in hospitals annually each year due to preventable medical errors, the Institute of Medicine found.
How horrible, now can you imagine how many lives have been ruined, or compromised because of mistakes that you never know about, or that were never reported, or that was covered up by the medical field?
Which brings up one subject, get copies of your records, you won't believe what is in some of them that shouldn't be. Look at the bills, see if the billing is correct, see if the diagnosis is correct, see what you sign, before you sign it.
Between 1988 and May 1992, this opthalmologist received $15.5 million from Medicare, primarily for cataract and eyelid surgeries that were not medically necessary or for which false billings were submitted.
http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/health/hcf1.htm

It would seem that greedy doctors don't mind operating on you , putting you at risks to fill their pockets and pay for their million dollar vacation homes in the Hamptons!!! Double check everything your doctor tells you !!

I know that we come to trust that doctors really have our best interest at heart, but they can get caught up in wanting more and more, like an alcoholic, it can get out of control and too often , medical procedures that are very important to you, are routine for them.
If you have read the above link then you know that billions are lost to fraud that they know about!! You can bet that the dept of justice doesn't know about but a fraction of what goes on, and it isn't just money when it comes to our health!!!!

Advocacy

2009-05-16T19:04:00.000-07:00

Don't be a victim, when harm is done to you, or when you are over charged, when a wrong needs to be righted,, use all your avenues to gain the upper hand. Talk to your government representatives, talk to the people over the ones who have harmed you, keep going up the ladder.
Time does matter, there are time constraints if you are pursuing legal action, I know what happens, you get depressed and mope around and don't do anything, time runs out, you get caught up trying to find help to fix the problem, time runs out.
Get in a closet, scream ,yell, then come out and take action!
Find a friend who will keep your spirits high, have a laugh and give you encouragement.
Use the web, get the word out, find out your options, newspapers, the law, the BBB, whatever professional organization that can be involved, medical boards, health organizations, start a whole campaign in which you decide to empower yourself against whomever has caused you to be a victim!

Good Luck !

I am a Downing McPeak vision center disaster

2009-05-16T18:39:00.000-07:00

Don't let this happen to you!!!!!

Routine eye exam ruined my vision!

Before you ever let a doctor perform any laser , operation or almost anything, get a second opinion, and if you have any, any , special circumstances at all, see a specialist in that field!!! Double check every word , every procedure, look up the procedure, look up the doctors record.

I went in to see a Dr. Porter for a routine exam, after being talked into an operation that I shouldn't have had, I have ended up with my right eye vision going from a 20/40 -20/50 to worse than a 20/100 !!!!!!!! And left with a condition that very well make continue to make my vision worse!!!!

Always question your doctor about everything, although I thought I had asked the right questions, and to this day , I believe that he misled me, I should have questioned even more, never take it for granted that your doctor is putting your best interest above his wallet.
I have been told that it cannot be reversed, tried to clear up the complications from the surgery, couldn't.
A tech that performs tests on the machine that is supposed to tell what strength lens to implant, told me that they most likely did not set the machine for my condition, leaving me with the wrong strength lens, which is like having a permanent pair of glasses on that you can't take off, but is the wrong prescription, and cannot be replaced with the correct prescription.

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