The Following has been prepared for public viewing by Nick Moretta, the husband of
Debi Moretta who desperately needs assistance. Here is his public plea for HELP!
SHAME ON YOU KAISER AND PERMANENTE FOR HAVING DONE THIS TO DEBI!!
To Letters | To Photographs | To PDF Attachments
To:
Department of Managed Health
Care
California HMO Help Center
980 Ninth Street, Suite 500
Sacramento,
CA 95814-2725
888-HMO-2219
The Joint Commission
One
Renaissance Boulevard
Oakbrook Terrace, IL
60181
800-994-6610
CC:
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State
Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814
916-445-2841
Office of the
Patient Advocate
980 Ninth Street, Suite 500
Sacramento, CA
95814
916-324-6407
California Consumer Health Care Council
P.O. Box
590307
San Francisco CA 94159-0307
415-666-0757
Consumers Union
1535
Mission Street
San Francisco, CA
94103
415-431-6747
Board of Registered Nursing
P.O.
Box 944210
Sacramento, CA
94244-2100
916-322-3350
Gloria Allred (Legal
Expert)
Michael Moore (Film Producer)
Christina Gonzalez (Fox 11 News)
Jia-Rui Chong (Los Angeles Times)
Charles Phillips M.D . (Medical
Expert)
John Metz (Consumer Health Care
Expert)
Vickie Travis (KaiserPapers.org)
To Whom It May
Concern:
My name is Nick Moretta, and based on our prior experiences, I
seriously doubt the
"Department of Managed Health Care" and or "The Joint
Commission" will do
anything to help us. It's my belief these two departments
are either working with
or have absolutely no control over Kaiser Permanente and
therefore such complaints
are pointless. That being said, this letter will
serve as evidence.
Our background:
In February 2002, my
wife, Debra Moretta drove herself to Kaiser Permanente
and was eventually
diagnosed with Acute Leukemia. Unfortunately Debi contracted
bacterial
meningitis during her hospitalization which went undiagnosed and resulted
in a
life altering brain injury. Afterwards Kaiser claimed that Debi's injury was
the
result of a highly unlikely toxic reaction. I've turned to the DMHC for
help several
times since then, but to this day Kaiser has never been held
accountable for anything.
For additional information regarding Debi diagnoses
and treatment, please contact
"Charles Phillips M.D. (559)
322-1446".
In December 2002,
Kaiser claimed our rehabilitation benefits were exhausted and I
was forced to
bring Debi home to care for her myself. Not long afterwards, Kaiser
claimed
that Debi was custodial and refused to provide any home care. Again the
DMHC
did nothing. See http://www.DebraMoretta.com
Our most resent problem:
On June 23rd, 2006,
I drove Debi to the emergency room for what I believed was a
urinary tract
infection. It was later determined that Debi had pneumonia. This
condition
would have been detected much sooner by a home health professional,
but because
I lacked the skills necessary to recognize her symptoms, Debi likely
went
without treatment for weeks, which resulted in "loculated fluid" around her left
lung and required surgery.
Debi spent the following 5 weeks in the
hospital, under the care of the very same
nurses station that I believe is
responsible for her brain injury in the first place.
During this time at least
one of Debi's nurses falsified documents, stating that
medications were given
when clearly they were not. I brought this to the attention
of two separate
Kaiser supervisors, both of which promised to investigate my
complaint and get
back to me. Unfortunately they both responded by telling me
the results of
their investigations were inconclusive. See attached.
That being the
case, I filed a formal complaint with Kaiser's "Member Services
Department".
After waiting the allotted 30 days, Kaiser responded by saying
the "results
cannot be disclosed". See attached.
Our
current situation:
I believe that Kaiser is the HMO equivalent to
Enron. They do what they want without
any regard for patient rights. As for
filing complaints within their system, it's nothing
but a big waste of time, as
they control Member Services, the Grievance Process
and even the Ombudsman. It
may look good on paper, but patients literally have no
place to turn for help.
So here again, Kaiser clearly stated on two separate occasions that the
results of
their investigations were inconclusive. The fact that they are now
refusing to disclose
the results should not be tolerated. As I mentioned above,
such complaints are
pointless if nobody is held accountable. Clearly falsifying
medical documents is a
very serious offence, so allowing Kaiser to simply sweep
this under the carpet is
completely unacceptable. Therefore I'm asking the
"DMHC" and "The Joint
Commission" to stop letting Kaiser get away with these
injustices and force them
into disclosing their results. A prompt response
would be greatly appreciated.
See attached.
Thank
you,
Nick & Debi Moretta
16647 Ponca
Street
Victorville, CA 92395
Home: 760-951-2825
Cell:
760-900-6950
Medical Number: 1027-52-28
Email: nick.moretta@gmail.com
Web site: http://www.DebraMoretta.com
**********************************************************************************
Letter to "The
Joint Commission" July 30th, 2006:
To Whom It May Concern:
I found a full bag of "Vancomycin" hanging on my wife "Debra Moretta's"
IV tree
on (Thursday 7-20-06), while preparing to move her to the operating
room.
I immediately asked her nurse "Mario" what he knew about it. He said it
was
hanging there when he took over @ 7:00 A.M. He then showed me the bag that
he had given to Debi @ 1:00 P.M. He also said that he had looked at the
med
sheet to see who had hung it, but all of Debi's meds were signed as if
they had
been given. From there he went to the refrigerator and found extra
bags of
Vancomycin with Debi's name on them.
At that point Mario and I walked
over to "Helen Newman's" office.
Helen is the Department Administrator, but was
unfortunately away from her
desk. From there I called "Linda Bodell". Linda is
Helen's supervisor, and
she told me to give the bag to "Martha" (The Charge
Nurse). She also
said she'd investigate the situation and get back to me.
A short time later I went back to Helen's office. I asked Helen for a
copy of the
med sheet, but she said they were in the middle of the investigation
and would
therefore not be willing to give me a copy. I then asked if all the
meds had been
signed for. She said that they had been, but that it was "not
uncommon" for a
nurse to sign the drugs off before they were actually
given. She then told
me to come back in the morning (Friday 7-21-06) and she'd
give me the results
of her investigation.
The following morning (Friday
7-21-06) I spoke with Helen Newman, but she said
they were still investigating
our Vancomycin mishap. She said they had one more
nurse to interview before she
could give me an answer. I asked her how many
Vancomycin bags were found in the
refrigerator with Debi's name on them, and
she said two. She also said it was
possible that the extra bags had been missing,
or placed on someone else's
refrigerator shelf and therefore the nurse(s) may have
requested replacement
bags from the pharmacy. Once again she told me that it
was "not uncommon" for
nurses to sign the med sheet before the drugs were actually
given.
I waited for Helen Newman's answer until (Thursday 7-27-06). At that
point I went
back to her office. Helen had the bag that I found on Debi's IV
tree in a plastic zip-lock
type bag. She told me that she had questioned all of
Debi's nurses, but every one of
them claimed they had given Debi her
Vancomycin. She also said she spoke to the
pharmacy, but was told they do not
keep records for Vancomycin. In other words, if
a nurse requested a replacement
bag from the pharmacy, the pharmacy would simply
replace it without any type of
record showing the request or replacement. Once again
during our conversation,
Helen acknowledged telling me that it was "not uncommon"
for nurses to sign the
med sheet before the drugs were actually given.
At that point I thanked
Helen for her efforts, but felt it was necessary for me to file a
formal
complaint with "Member Services". I also told her that I was going to speak
with her supervisor "Linda Bodell" & contact "The Joint
Commission".
From there I met with Member Services "Laurie
Walsh" and filed a formal complaint.
Afterwards I called "Linda Bodell". I
told Linda what Helen had said with regards to
nurses signing for drugs before
they were actually given. I also told her I was going
to contact "The Joint
Commission". Linda said she would investigate the situation
herself and asked
me to wait until she had finished before calling "The Joint
Commission"…I
agreed.
The following day (Friday 7-28-06), Linda came to Debi's room
to give us the results
of her investigation. She said that all of Debi's nurses
had been questioned, but each
of them had said they gave Debi her
Vancomycin. She also said that she contacted
the pharmacy, but was told that no
additional labels had been printed for Debi.
Therefore no replacement
Vancomycin had ever been ordered for her. As to Helen
Newman's comment
regarding nurses signing for drugs before they were actually given.
Linda said
that Helen denied ever telling me that. Linda did however acknowledged
that
there were extra bags, but said she did not know why.
Here's our dilemma:
Debi was scheduled to receive Vancomycin @ 1:00 P.M. &
1:00 A.M. daily for
treatment of "Staphylococcus Aureus". Given the fact that "Mario"
gave Debi her
1:00 P.M. dose, there should have only been one bag left in the
refrigerator,
but "Helen Newman" said there were two. That coupled with the one
hanging on
her IV tree means there were two bags that Kaiser cannot account for.
As
part of the Vancomycin complaint, it's important to note that I found the bag on
(Thursday 7-20-06), yet the bag was spiked with tubing that was labeled in green
"Change by Tuesday". Given the fact that the tubing is only good for four days,
the
bag was clearly spiked with outdated tubing. It's also important to note
that the
tubing was not connected to Debi's IV. It looked as though someone had
hung it,
but forgot to finish the job. See attached photo.
My second
complaint is that during Debi's five-week stay at Kaiser Fontana, the
vast
majority of her nurses were not using the "Identi-Hide" labels. These labels
are supposed to be affixed over the top of the patient's IV label before
discarding.
I personally witnessed nearly all of Debi's nurses simply tossing
her infused IV bags
in the trash without using these labels. At one point I
actually removed a bag from
the trash and asked her nurse why she would throw it
away without covering Debi's
medical information. She said she had done it
because there were no labels in
her room. I asked her to please get some and
make sure they were used in the
future. It's important to note that I spoke to
both Linda Bodell & Helen Newman
about these labels and the nurse's failure
to use them. I also included it as part
of my complaint with Member
Services. See attached photo.
I'd also like to mention that Debi
suffered a horrific brain injury resulting from
bacterial meningitis she
contracted while undergoing chemotherapy for acute
leukemia in March 2002. At
that time Debi was under the care of the very same
nurses station that cannot
account of the extra Vancomycin we discovered.
Also "Sunil J Patel M.D." was
Debi's oncologist at that time. He is currently
serving a seven-year probation
period for the death of two patients, yet he is
also in charge of the Fontana
Kaiser Oncology Department…why?
As a side note, the Fontana Kaiser
Neonatal Ward was closed in March 2002
as a result of "Staphylococcus
Aureus". Debi contracted bacterial meningitis
at the very same time. http://www.DebraMoretta.com
Contact
information:
Linda J. Bodell, RN, MSN
Clinical
Director
Medical/Surgical Services
9961 Sierra Avenue
Fontana, CA
92335
909-427-4156 |
Helen Newman, RN
Department
Administrator
Oncology
9961 Sierra Avenue
Fontana, CA
92335
909-427-6158 |
Laurie Walsh
Member Services
9961 Sierra Avenue
Fontana, CA 92335
909-427-5823 |
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Please
help us get some more conclusive answers to these very troubling
questions.
Thank
you,
Nick &
Debi Moretta
16647 Ponca Street
Victorville, CA 92395
Home:
760-951-2825
Cell: 760-900-6950
Medical Number: 1027-52-28
Email: nick.moretta@gmail.com
Web site: http://www.DebraMoretta.com
Formal Complaint
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