I started this BLOG in December of 2009 after I found out I
never had cancer at UCLA Medical Center, that now I describe as Torture (which
I refer to in my blog of August 9, 2016).
I am now going to address another problem and one I bleive my viewers in
the 45 countries around the world (including the newest country of Turkmenistan
located in Central Asia) will want to know about because it deals with an “independent”
Doctor’s office/surgery office instead of a hospital where all doctors are
located for any medical need..
I am talking about University Foot & Ankle Institute
located at 2121 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica, California. I think everyone understands the word “Hungry”
regarding a business. And that is what this business is from my personal experience. I did not know they are a Podiatrist practice
and not an Orthopedic one. And that is
what I needed on February 9, 2015 when my son took me there after being released
from the Marina Del Rey ER for my broken ankle and tibia bone in my left
leg. Dr. Gary B. Briskin the head of the
office saw me on February 9, 2015 but turned me over to Dr. Jason Morris after
the CT scan showed I had major injuries to my ankle and needed surgery to
repair the break, which required a steel plate and screws to hold it together
to help it heal – which will remain there for the rest of my life. That is for an Orthopedic surgeon and not a
Podiatrist (for bunions, etc.)
Instead of referring me to an Orthopedic doctor or to Saint
John’s Medical Center in Santa Monica, or Cedars Sinai Medical Center just 8
miles from my home, I was scheduled for this major operation on their 3rd
floor where they had one operating room.
But it represented $15,672.00 which Medicare would be billed for (all
doctors did their own billing), and the more than $600.00 that was demanded up
front at the reception desk for the surgery.
Medicare does not work that way. They send in a bill, and
Medicare pays what the doctors know they will pay, but tell the patient how
much they will be billed for at 20%.
They charged me more than Medicare would allow so I demanded a refund
and a check came from an office on the EAST COAST, but without the word REFUND
printed on it. That is important because
I now realize this practice does not include PAYMENTS made by the
patients. I made 5 payments altogether
and none of them were applied to my bill. So when I left in July of 2015, I still had a
balance of $600.00, but only billed for half and the whole bill was sent
to collection (even though Medicare was not billed yet as harassment) 2 days
after I requested my file to be sent to an Orthopedic practice I was planning on seeing. I made
payments totaling $400.00 after I left, but none of those amounts were posted
to my account – only the amounts that Medicare paid. Do they pocket the money that the patient
pays because there is no record of it for the IRS or partnership? That is “Hungry”.
As I mentioned before, my ankle had to be opened up and the
doctor inserted a steel plate and screws to hold it together until it could
heal, but they will remain there for the rest of my life.. (Does that mean the alarm will go off when I’m
going through the TSA at the airport?)
Within 6 hours from arrival to release, I went home by a medical van
transport which my son hired at a cost of over $300 round trip. I had expected
to spend the night after the surgery and was very surprised after having a
major operation that I was released the same day as an “outpatient” when I
really should have been an “inpatient” as Saint John’s or Cedars would have
called it.
Because my break was so bad, Dr. “M” said I had to keep off
my feet for 8-10 weeks because he had never seen such fragile bones. He said he
“could have crushed them with his hands”.
I followed his orders and only got out of bed for doctor’s visits with
the help of my son Tony in a wheelchair; my other son I have not seen since his
graduation from Beverly Hills High School in 1992 but we live in the same
city. I will however acknowledge the
help from his wife who I have never met, but she helped Tony with obtaining my
medical equipment and all my needs with respect to being confined to 10 straight
weeks of bedrest. I have been told by my
physical therapist that this length of time was “very unusual” and it should
have been 6 weeks to get me up and start therapy to walk again.
My problems started the night of April 13, 2015 when I went
home with the “Boot” on my left leg (almost up to my knee). I do not know what the Asian-American male
nurse did, but by 10pm, I was writhing in excruciating pain. Before the boot, I had had a plaster cast on
my leg and had experienced no problems.
But after having the boot put on, it felt like I was walking around with
a cement block on my foot. What I did
not know until December of 2015 was that my left foot was actually “fractured”
and had not been properly cared for, after the boot was put on. With the weight of my body, I was walking
around with a broken tibia, along with a severely damaged ankle on a fractured
foot. This resulted in my SCIATIC NERVE
being damaged, which has left me with CHRONIC PAIN SYNDROME and I take pain
pills daily specifically for damaged nerves, not like an Advil for overall pain. I will most likely need to continue this for
years to come.
Did any X-ray show prior to April 13 that I had a weakness
in the area between the ankle and toes, both on top and underneath the foot? Did the two straps on the boot which held it
closed (right where the first strap covers that area) cause my foot to
fracture? Even though I had complained
of the pain from the pressure and tightness of the boot? Nothing was done, and I only found out about
the fracture 8 months later and Dr. Morris was nowhere around.
I found out in June, 2015 that University Foot & Ankle Institute has an office on the grounds of UCLA Medical Center and if I had been
told this before the surgery, as I should have been due to a “conflict of
interest” I would never had agreed to the surgery. I believed the fractured foot and the
conflict with UCLA Health, and all the problems I have had that are long term
are life altering. That these to facts
were never told to me. UCLA is a power
house in California and the entire United States, and especially in Southern
California, all doctors on the “Westside” of Los Angeles from Beverly Hills to
Malibu are beholden to them for work and referrals. I experienced Torture I UCLA Health, and I
have also now experienced Torture at University Foot & Ankle Institute.
