I’ve been sick, and after about 9 days in the hospital and 2 weeks in a rehabilitation facility undergoing therapy, late this morning I was sent home. Not because I was ready, but because my insurance was done, and they weren’t paying any more. I really needed another week or so. As of this morning, I hadn’t been able to stand under my own power since entering the hospital. When the ambulance brought me home today, I picked out a good chair for them to sit me in, and THAT one I was able to get out of. Just the right height for me i guess. However, earlier today I walked around too much and got tired. I had to sit in another chair, and now I’m stuck. It has wheels, so I wheeled it around the house some, but i’ve been unable to lift myself up out of it.
Now I’m sitting alone in an apartment, stuck in a chair and unable to get out of it. I’ve tried for hours. I’ve tried levering myself up on different pieces of furniture. I tried my walker. I have Crohn’s disease, and that’s becoming an issue now. Even if I get out of this chair, though, and get to a toilet, there’s no way I can get back up off of THAT now. One way or another, I’m stuck in a chair or on a toilet.
I agree with that. They get plenty of calls to help people up that can’t get out of a chair, off a bed, out of the tub on their own, it’s not at all uncommon.
ETA, if this is going to be a permanent or long term issue, look into having a company come out that can install things in your house to help you get around (grab bars etc). At the moment, you’re in a chair, the problem is when you fall getting out of bed with no phone nearby and no one to find you between the bed and the wall.
I was getting help, then they carted me back home. Kind of makes me think they’re done helping me.
It should not be a long-term thing - I just keep coming down with problems while I attempt to get to the point in time when I can have my colectomy. Blood clots. Degenerative bone disease. Cellulitis.
Maybe this is better put in the Mundane forum. Sorry.
What is the consequence if you call 911 and they take you back to the hospital? Does the clock/calendar start over again for your insurance? If you can’t stand on your own, I’m thinking you aren’t safe to be on your own.
I think if it were me I would call 911 and have them take me back to the hospital. I would stay there until I could get up from a chair reliably and worry about negotiating a payment plan later. First priority is to make sure you don’t die.
I’m sorry that you’ve been put into this position. Please send me a PM if you’d like me to call for help for you or there’s anything else I can organize for you.
Whoever cleared you for release from the rehab facility ought to lose their job. There should have been a discussion about your living situation (Do you live alone? Are there stairs at your house/apartment?) and mobility. Because clearly you’re not ready to be on your own, at least not without assistive technology installed. Perhaps it would be enough to have a visiting nurse or home health aide visit for a few hours each day. But all of this should have been discussed before they sent you home.
At this point a few calls may be in order. I’d think the first call would be to a GP or whoever referred the OP to the hospital. Call them, tell them what’s going on. Calls to the insurance company as well as (maybe) even a hospitalist and/or patient advocacy group.
In other words, you need a few people to go to bat for you with the insurance company, explaining that you’re not ambulatory and either need to be admitted until you are or you need a caretaker. Your GP will and/or people at the hospital will have the right phone numbers and contacts at the insurance company to help push this through.
You can also call the insurance company yourself. If this is through an employer ask them to have their insurance agent/broker give you a call so you can talk to them. At least in my experience, brokers are great at dealing with the insurance companies.
As for calling 911, I don’t know what would happen if they took him back, hopefully it would be a new claim, treated separately from the other, but as I mentioned before, the EMTs can even help him back to his chair (and maybe on/off the toilet while they’re there.
TL;DR, the insurance company needs to know that you can’t get around your house on your own.
Call 911, let them help you.
The funny thing is between the ambulance ride back to the hospital and the re-admission, this whole thing is going to cost the insurance company much more than had they done things right in the first place.
I have a home-care assessment tomorrow around 2pm. Seems like a long way away now.
No one I talked to at the rehab facility wanted to send me home or said I was ready, they were doing it solely because the insurance money ran out and they had to send me home. The local hospital sucks anyway, they left me in a dirty diaper for half a day the last time i was admitted. If i could just get my damned colectomy, it would help everything. I’ve been trying to taper off prednisone (40mg) but the past few weeks they had me at the full dose, and no one would address my Crohn’s at all. They just patched my cellulitis and open wound.
Not to be too much of a nag, but I note that you’ve not actually said you called 911 to have your immediate needs addressed. So, DID you call 911, have your toileting needs been met and are you out of the chair?
I just don’t see the point in anything. I WAS getting help and they put me in this situation on purpose. What ELSE would happen if you send someone home alone who can’t stand up? I’ve been to the local hospital where they alternately ignore you and treat you rough, and then berate you for crying out. I’ve tried for years to get better, but all I do is collect unexpected new maladies and fight over insurance. I feel like the living embodiment of Zeno’s Paradox: always moving closer to getting better, but never actually getting there.
I dont know what would happen if i did dial 911. They already sent me home once today. Maybe I’ll call my GP in the morning and see what she can do.