GO TO THE URGENT CARE CLINIC INSTEAD!!!\r
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This $481.00 is IN ADDITION TO the $800.00 charged by Yuma Regional Medical Center!! They would not waive these charges! They claimed all actions conformed to ""standard protocol""! What a laugh!\r
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To: Southwest Emergency Physicians 4/29/2010\r
P.O. Box 660969\r
Arcadia CA 91066.0969\r
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From: ********\r
Re: Account no. ******* 11/16/2010\r
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Southwest Emergency Physicians,\r
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This letter is a formal request that this bill be waived or otherwise dismissed due to the following:\r
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My husband took me to the YRMC ER after midnight on ****/2010 to seek treatment for acute lower-back pain that would not respond to OTC anti-inflammatory medications. The pain was so severe that it was causing me to vomit. My pulse and blood pressure were elevated and I could find no position to alleviate the pain. Over the several hours that I spent in the YRMC ER I had a vein in the back of my hand “blown out” by a person attempting to insert a needle to administer IV morphine; I received an injection of morphine that almost immediately caused more severe vomiting, aggravating the lower-back pain; I was then administered Zofran, which also made the nausea worse; I received an injection of Promethazine, further increasing the nausea and vomiting; I was then administered Percocet, to no effect. Dr. ***** came in for just a few minutes and did almost no examination whatsoever; he did not touch me at all, stating that “no diagnosis will be made and no treatment given for” the underlying lower-back pain issue. His only objective was to stabilize me and alleviate the pain so that I could get myself to a northern California Kaiser hospital for diagnosis and treatment. As it became increasingly apparent that Dr. ***** would fail completely to achieve this objective, my husband and I decided to leave the hospital. Before we left, YRMC personnel took my blood pressure and pulse, showing both still alarmingly elevated.\r
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When we finally arrived at the Kaiser Santa Teresa Hospital in San Jose CA, I was given an injection of Keterolac; within thirty minutes the lower-back pain had almost disappeared. Over the next few days I consulted with a Kaiser spine clinic MD and a physical therapist, receiving a diagnosis of inflamed lumbar discs and surrounding areas and a treatment plan of Baclofen, physical therapy, stretches and exercises. I am on a continuing regime of pain management and self-administered physical therapy.\r
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It is my opinion that had Dr. ***** and/or the YRMC ER personnel had proper knowledge, training, or experience, I would not have spent a nightmarish several hours being given treatments that made me progressively worse, or discharged with dangerously high blood pressure and an elevated heart rate.\r
I request that Southwest Emergency Physicians waive all charges related to this ER experience. Please feel free to call me at ***** or ***** with any questions.\r
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Thank you for your attention to this matter.\r
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Sincerely,\r
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***********
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