Good News

After I returned from Owasso yesterday afternoon, I called my brother-in-law to see what the doctor had said about her broken hip. He said the doctor showed them the x-rays and the hip had healed nicely. He said the doctor didn't know why her physical therapy had not progressed faster. She has sat in a chair for nine weeks, only lately with her feet elevated. She has had physical therapy of some kind almost every day but no one pushed her to get on her feet on her own during the day and walk with the walker.

So my brother-in-law told the doctor he wanted to take her home next week. He said their primary care physician would be the one to approve that. The last time he spoke to her doctor, he told him the osteopathic specialist was in charge of her care. They just pass the responsibility back and forth. He will talk to their doctor as soon as he can get a hold of him.

In the meantime, my brother-in-law pushed to get her on her feet. She resisted that but the therapist insisted on it. She walked halfway down the hall and back with the walker.

My suspicion is that the doctor and the nursing home wanted to get their full 100 days out of Medicare. For one thing, neither doctor ever visits her at the nursing home and I can count on one hand the times they visited her when she was in the hospital.

Having taken a medical coding course, I suspect they have billed medicare for regular rounds. My niece has been with her every single day and has never seen a doctor there and only saw one four or five times during the four weeks she was in the hospital.

I realize I am being a skeptic but I think I have every reason for that. It has been nine weeks since her fall. It is and always has been my contention that you must be assertive with doctors and take your health care into your own hands. I don't trust most of them to give their patients good care and careful monitoring.