During ME’s last hospitalization the ER doctor ordered telemetry. I had never heard of this before, and my daughter, a nurse, had to teach me how to say it properly.
I learned quickly what it was, and why it was important for ME to be hooked up to it.
The morning after she was admitted into the hospital, the doctor on rounds came in.
She said, “Well, everything looks great.”
I replied, “Except her oxygen.”
She said, “No, her oxygen has been fine all night.”
I then said, “How could you know that?”
The doctor replied with a bit of a tone, “Mrs. Grover, she was hooked up to telemetry. I read the reports before I came to her room.”
I said, “How did you do that?” And i pointed out to her that ME had never been hooked up to telemetry the whole time she was there.
Then I shared that I had asked the nurse on duty to hook up the hospital monitor, since telemetry had never been put in place, so I could compare our monitor that was remotely monitored 24/7, by the state of TN, to the hospital monitor.
The doctor became increasingly agitated.
I stepped out of the room so she could treat her patient.
I was informed by the nurse that she stepped out right after me.
Later that day, ME’s neurologist came to see ME. ME’s oxygen had been increasingly hanging out in the 80’s. When I saw her neurologist, who had already once saved ME’s life, I asked her why ME was not being prescribed oxygen.
I pointed to her monitor, and the hospital monitor.
She stated that she didn’t have a way to read the monitor.
I said, “Dr. M***, it’s right in front of you. You don’t know how to read that?”
She looked at me through sad eyes. A “nurse” was behind her, tapping aggressively on her lap top.
Dr. M*** then very quietly said , “No, I can’t read that.”
Mind you, this is one of the most brilliant neurologists in the nation.
I then said, “Dr. M***, there is a number 8 and a number 3. That makes the number 83. If your daughter’s oxygen was 83% would you want her to have oxygen?”
She put her head down, and said, “Yes. Yes, I would.” and proceeded to leave the room.
But not before I asked the person typing away on the computer for her name and phone number.
And thankfully I took photos and video of both monitors and the lack of telemetry.
The top photo is the monitor that was remotely monitored 24/7 by ME’s Katie Beckett Respitory team and the state of TN.
The bottom monitor is our local Children’s Hospital monitor.
If you look closely at the time stamps, you will see they are taken seconds apart.
Indeed, the local hospital monitor showed an 8 and a 3.
Numbers ME’s neurologist told me she could not read, while her “nurse” tapped on a computer aggressively as if to say to Dr. M***, “I’m watching you.”
We were discharged soon after that.
Without oxygen.
Shaken to the core, both my husband and I were coming to the realization that we could no longer go to this hospital for care for ME.
We reported the incident.
The case is still open.
After this, I watched the records in ME’s patient portal. I saw reports that were simply not true.
Slowly, accurate reports were being added to the portal.
Along with results they never told us about.
Results such as blood gas test results that we, finally, saw a few months ago, that showed high TCO2 and low PO2. These results were following her Nov 11, 2019 catatonic crash, done on Feb of 2020. This is indicative of lack of oxygen.
Along with MRI results, that again, they never told us about, that they did in 2020. These results confirmed what they found in 2019, (again results they never disclosed) of brain hemorrhages. Yes, you read that correctly. Again, information we were never given.
I know our incredible doctor knows how to read a monitor, and where she can get that information.
In my heart of hearts. I believe she wanted me to report her. Maybe now she is able to tell what she knows under oath. And her work will be protected.
She often said to us, “I swore to do no harm.”
We would say to each other, “Well isn’t this harming ME?”
And then one day it hit us. Under incentive pay, doctors often lose their jobs if they don’t hit the financial mark. Had her company held this over her head for the studies she was working on?
We don’t know, but hopefully one day we will.
But the one thing I do know is this, ME’s neurologist absolutely knows how and where to read a monitor. And that was all I needed to report the good doctor for denying ME oxygen. I hope she’s able to share her truth.
Note: In our complete shock, the witness with me recalls Dr M*** saying she didn’t know where to read a monitor. I recall her saying she didn’t know how to read a monitor. Either way, I followed up with what I said above. She left without prescribing ME the much needed oxygen. Oxygen deprivation that she had years before run tests to confirm, as proven by the blood gas test results, the MRI, and the CT of the brain, immediately after ME’s first catatonic crash.
