Sorry to hear about your dad's Kaiser experience. Unfortunately, it
is no unusual. I am also a Kaiser patient and my tm diagnosis was
unreasonably delayed because of incompetent Kaiser doctors (for example, the
dr didn't think my difficulty walking was any big deal). Luckily for me, my
tm symptoms were never very severe. But just for your information, Kaiser
was cited by the California Dept of Health Services for a delay in the
diagnosis of meningitis in a child that resulted in the child's death. So
you see, it is a system wide problem - delay in diagnosis. I know this
won't help your dad and I wish him the best, but I felt my experience was
similar to his.
Susan D.
>Hi! My father developed TM about 10 years ago following a flu shot. he
and his wife have always believed that it was becuase of the flu shot that
he developed the TM, but Kaiser always poopooed them, so they went on with
their life. About 2 years ago, they received information that indicated
that someone else had received TM from the flu shot and they took their info
to a lawyer. They have been working since then on a lawsuit against Kaiser
for Malpractice (they had missed the diagnosis and Dad's TM is worse than it
could have been). Kaiser, however has fought tooth and nail based on
statute of limitations. There was also a suit agains Wyeth Laboratories,
but I'm not sure where that one went, except that Wyeth will now put some
sort of marker in their shots to trace them. Dad and his wife live on Mt
Hood in Oregon, about an hour or so from Portland. Each time they have had
to go to court, it usually means getting up VERY early in the morning. This
was such a hardship for them. And even though the judge had ruled against
the statute of limitations so that they could go ahead against Kaiser, they
have had to go to court about once a week or so for more hearings, as
Kaisers big lawyers find another statute of limitations angle to be heard
on. Anyway, their judge each time was great, and clearly on their side. In
the end, he told them to settle, as, even if they went to court (and that
would've meant choosing a jury, going to court each day and dealing with the
exhaustion), Kaiser would appeal. And because the language around statute of
limitations is pretty vague and they have pretty conservative appeals judges
there, they would most likely lose. So, in order to avoid all that, they
settled.
>
>Long story to say that, Yes,......Wyeth pretty much agreed that it was
their flu shot that gave Dad the TM and Kaiser really only fought because of
the statute of limitations, not because they didn't believe that it was
malpractice. In fact, their doctor even said that he did not even read the
blood reports or whatever it was that came back from the lab stating that
this was an urgent problem........
>
>My father was in his early 60s at the time. He uses a wheelchair and has
no trunk control. He is blessed with a wonderful, loving wife. They now
can at least afford to buy a decent van and will sell their home to buy a
more accessible one.
>
>About the nutritional suppliments, my step-mom is a strong believer in
stuff like vitatmins, herbs and minerals and all that great stuff. Since
Dad lost the ability walk, he has had problems with acid reflux, and
cholesteral and is now borderline diabetic. He had a triple by-pass last
year. As a result, they really watch their diet. Thank goodness Nada loves
to cook and bake and be creative with both.
>
>
>
>
>At 10:53 PM 9/25/98 -0700, Carol Bien Mayka wrote:
>>Hi
>>I'm new and, of course, have lots of questions! For starters...
>>
>>I'm interested in communicating with anyone who believes their TM may have
>>been brought on by a flu shot.
>>
>>Also, does anybody have suggestions for dealing with insurance underwriters
>>who believe that a TM diagnosis means you're a bad risk for health insurance?
>>
>>How about nutritional supplements? Anyone think think magnesium has helped?
>>
>>And finally, how do you find a neurologist in your area who knows a lot
about TM?
>>
>>Thanks!
>>
>>
>>
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>
>