[Resolved]  Shalby Hospital — Negligence of the hospital

Address:

New Delhi, Delhi

Experience with Mediclaim department and facilitators at front desk:
Below is the story with the mediclaim facility:
Day 1 attempt 1. (5pm 23-July 2012): started the cashless process, submitted the relevant documents and gave the email id of the office agent who could speed up the cashless approval and requested the lady at the healthcare facility (Ms. Neelam) to send the claim form to the agent, she ensured me that she will forward the forms and asked me to leave. The office agent had ensured me that he will get the approval for cashless treatment within half an hour of receiving the claim form.
I arrange 40,000 cash (withdrawal limit for one day from ATM) and got the admission done.
I was told to arrange cash of 4.1 lacs Rs for the operation. Shalby does not accept check and people in account suggested that I could transfer online using the internet at fourth floor. Ms. Priyal the facilitator told that hospital is not a cyber café and I can not use the internet for transferring the money, while I understand that she was following hospital’s policy but (from a patient’s and relative perspective) I feel this is one place where an admission facilitator can help people already troubled with so many issues (traveling to unknown city, arranging all the funds and other issues such as approval for cashless healthcare) at no major cost to hospital ethics or hospital earnings, this would have only helped me improve the image of hospitality from the hospital, in my opinion it is important to differentiate the services at hotel and hospital.
We were told surgery was planned for 24 July 2012 10:15 AM. (Patient on fasting)
Day 2 Attempt 2 (24 July 2012 9:30 AM): When I enquired from the office agent for the cashless approval he informed me that he has not received the claim form. I rushed to Ms. Neelam, only to find out that she missed sending the claim documents to my office agent. I asked her to resend and made sure that she sent it in front of me this time.
At 10:45 AM I enquired that why the patient was not taken for surgery and I was told by the desk people on 4th floor that a delay of 45 -60 mins is expected.
At 11:40 AM: I started making fuss of the situation since the patient was hungry and nobody had informed us anything about operation, only then I came to know that the patient was not taken to OT because the approval was not received and the amount for operation was not given.
I enquired with the office agent and came to know that the approval of Rs 100 was granted because Ms Neelam at the mediclaim facility did not fill the expected amount in the claim form (or it was not visible as Ms Neelam claims). In the end I was able to shove of 1.4 lacs cash and remaining amount of 2.8 lacs was accepted by cheque with the help of Dr. Agarwal’s reference (This allowed the account to provide clearance for the operation and the operation was started).
Day 2 attempt 3 (24 July 2012 ~12:30 PM): Ms. Neelam at medicare counter finally filled the amount at this time I requested her to copy me on all the emails she sends henceforth.
Day 2 attempt 4(24 July 2012 ~1:30 PM): An enquiry came to the hospital, that breakup of amount is required ( I was surprised why it was not sent at the first place, as the hospital should be well aware of what documents are required) and the photo of patient was not visible (lost in the dark setting of scanner). When again I enquired with the office agent at 2:00 PM, he told me that the query has not been answered by hospital. When I rushed to Ms. Neelam, she said she had already replied and forgot to copy me, when I again called the office agent he said he did not receive the email but soon he received the email as we were talking ( Ms. Neelam finally sent it) and the amount was approved within an hour.
I insisted that some action be taken against Ms. Neelam because I had to arrange cash (and the remaining amount from cheque), which was not easy, because Patient had to suffer (empty stomach, psychological disturbance waiting for the people to take her to OT for two hours with all the anxiety before an operation) and because she was utterly carless and frequently lying. I was told by Ms. Priyal that she was new in the position, having only joined just a couple of days ago.
Experience with OPD doctors
Day 1, 23 July: My mother and my mother-in-law came to Shalby so that they could consult Dr. Vikram Shah (as most patients do). We live in Delhi and the only reason to come to Ahmedabad was the reputation of Dr. Shah. For my mom, Dr. Agarwal first told us that (23 July 12:45 PM) he will first examine and then later Dr. Shah will examine the patient. He suggested X-ray but after getting the X ray done, when we came to see Dr. Shah, Dr. Agarwal told that Dr. Shah will see the patient later but both knees needs to be replaced. Before all this he enquired about the family background (who in the family is earning, how much of medical insurance is available).
Surprisingly I submitted the entire amount cash/check and still I was charged more than what is charged to the medicare facilities for the same ‘package’. I talked to Dr. Agarwal to see if the cost of the ‘package’ can be reduced, his response: “both you brothers are earning, why do you want to save money”.
Dr. Shah came to meet the patient and introduced himself but there was no examination of her physical condition and we were anyway ready for the surgery next day so I did not bother about it too much.
Day 1 and Day 2, 23 and 24 July: My mother in law met with 3 different doctors who all suggested different examinations but she did not get to meet Dr. Shah for two days (9 hours first day, including examination time, waiting time for doctors and consultation time with the junior doctors and 6 hours second day). Finally she had to be blatant enough to say in front of Dr. Agarwal that she does not want to see any other doctor and that she came to meet Dr. shah, only!. Finally she was able to meet Dr. Shah.
Experience with Staff at fourth floor:
Day 3, 25 July: Stretching the budget we decided to go for a twin sharing room, in which only one attendant per patient is allowed, I was traveling with my wife and requested if both o[censored]s can stay as I was not comfortable leaving her alone in a hotel in an unknown city. I was promptly suggested to go for a higher ‘package’ in which they can allow two attendants. The patient sharing Room with us suggested that they have no issue if my wife and I stay and suggested us to talk to PRO. The PRO did not give the affirmative but I anyway decided to take a chance, the hospital staff for once was very prompt to follow the procedures and did not let me stay in the room.
Day 3, 25 July: I notice that the ‘fresh’ bedsheet supplied by the staff for the patient have blood stains and on requesting to change it the attendant staff responded with their pet reply “will bring a new one”, ofcourse bedsheet never came until it was time to replace the bedsheet and again the “new bedsheet” had bloodstain, I asked the attending nurse and her response “what can we do (smiling)”, I decided to call the PRO Ms. Ragini and she felt sorry and asked to change the bedsheet and finally some new bedsheets ‘without bloodstains’ came (it was shocking how much effort I had to put in for a clean bedsheet after paying 4.2 lacs for a 6 day “package” at the hospital).
Day 3, 25 July: first day after the operation, the nurse did not find a gel which is applied to reduce muscle spasm after surgery, she responded with the pet reply “she will bring the gel in sometime”. The gel did not come until the third shift when I enquired in the evening after my mother reminded me that the gel was not applied the entire day.
Day 3, 25 July: Worst experience of all I stayed in a twin room and overheard a conversation that the other patient (sharing the room with us) was suffering from contagious disease of TB . When I contacted the PRO Ms. Ragini , she asked the staff if they were aware of the illnesss of this patient and the person at the counter replied that everybody knows that the lady was suffering from TB (as she was hospitalized for 10 days on another occasion, in the same month). PRO Ms. Ragini immediately shifted us to a new room and asked the TB patient to shift to ICU.
I was awfully upset having stayed in the room (with my family) for 2 nights 3 days, When I asked the PRO whose responsibility it was to allot the rooms tried to escape by suggesting me to write a letter that she could use to follow up with management, I refused and insisted that I will not leave until I was provided the name of a person who bears the responsibility for the allotment of this room. She told me to talk to some higher authority over the phone, which I refused again and asked her to take me to the authority, finally Mr. Kuntal (I believe senior to Ms Ragini) came and finally took some responsibility, accepting that it was the responsibility of PRO and that she was new having joined the position only two days ago. He also promised that he will provide a medical letter signed by the specialist of the field declaring that none o[censored]s were at risk of TB as the other patient’s condition was not contagious.
Day 4, 26 July: The co Patient in new Room pointed out that the nurses took her medicines for other patient.
Training coordinator Ms. Hema Mallini came and apologized ensuring that she will take care of
1. Educating the staff about the condition of (infectious) patient and accordingly room allotment.
2. Nurses that bedsheets should be clean.
She also asked the attending nurses why the gel was not provided for first two shifts and the head nurse on the shift said it was because the server was down, so they could not order a gel for the entire day. This seemed like another baseless excuse as I was available and could have brought the gel on my own. She further said that the server was down until 2 pm, but the gel never came until I asked for it again at 8 PM.
She also informed that infact internet facility is provided free of cost in case of some urgent requirement and was surprised why I was treated the way I was ( she mentioned that she just arranged a webcam chat for a patient with her brother)
Ms. Hema also told me to talk with Ms. Mauli and ensure that there are no issues with the cashless approval (as it is generally the case). I went to Ms. Mauli and she assured me that everything is fine and payment of 2 lacs is approved for me but I will get the refund only at the time of discharge.
Day 4 was over and I did not hear anything about the letter from doctor ensuring that the other patient in the room could not have caused us any harm.
Day 5, 27 July: co patient in the new Room told me that she does not have the gel (even after 4 day of her first knee surgery and on the day of her second knee surgery). I asked the nurses to use our gel and atleast apply it on her.
Met with Mr. Kuntal and medical superintendent Ms. Meydhavani, they tried to convince me that patient in the previous room could not have harmed and offered me to visit the isolation facility (explained me that isolation facility is kept at higher pressure and has a different duct for the AC), no sign of letter of assurance though, but she promised me to provide it the next day. Bed sheets are relatively clean for last two days (one had a minor blood stain yesterday, otherwise they are like new).
Day 6, 28 July, Saturday: I started the procedure for billing a day earlier (going by the experience at the hospitel and knowing that it’s a Sunday when I leave the next day ), to my surprise (yet another) the medicare department told me that the amount approved (as initially suggested by them) was 2 lacs but there is a copay of 41,000 and they can only claim 1,59,000 from the insurance, this is after I had gone to the medicare just a day ago telling them that please confirm everything is okay so that there are no surprises at the time of billing and they had confirmed that 2 lacs is approved and I will have to pay the remaining amount (i.e. I will be getting the remaining amount back since I had already deposited 4.2 lacs Rs) . I called my office agent on the Saturday and the mistake was sorted out.
I increased the pressure in order to get the written letter that the room mishap would not cause us any harm and that the TB patient was not infectious (called Mr. Kuntal and Ms. Mendhyavni a thousand times), in the end I was taken to the pulmonologist, Dr. Hetal Shah who treated this particular TB Patient. She tried her best to convince me that the patient was not infectious and could not have caused any harm to me and my family. I requested her to give this to me in writing (i.e. that the patient could not cause us any harm but hospital is not responsible if we get the TB from some other place or already has the infection for that matter) her response was that the hospital can not give this in writing and it is against ‘medical ethics’ (I was surprised how is taking responsibility on your reports and analysis against medical ethics) and it is not a medical practice to give anything in writing, she further said that india has largest population of TB and who knows the patient with whom we are sharing room now could also have the infection!!! I told her that before every surgery patient is asked to sign that the surgery is his/her responsibility then why not she or the hospital writes that the patient was harmless. She suggested to leave saying it is management decision.
Management (Ms. Medhyavani) told that Dr. Hetal suggested not to give this in writing.
I went back to Dr. Hetal for one last effort and suggested that if it’s a managements decision then she can just suggest that she thinks the patient was not infectious and let the management decide if they want to write (since the management , Ms. Medhyanvani in this case had already promised me that she would provide me the letter).
Dr. Hetal suggested me that it was only because of humanity that she was talking to me; I think she along with many other doctors should stop consider themselves as if they are superior than the patients and should stop expecting/commanding unnecessary respect. As I have observed in many other hospitals in India (and which is quite different than other countries I have been to such as the US and Vietnam) this lack of professionalism appears as arrogance on part of the doctor. I believe they should consider themselves professionals as the people working in other industry do (and behave the same way as they expect other service providers to behave with their clients),It is important for the doctors to realize that they are getting paid for the services they offer.
28 July 2012 ~7:00 PM: Mr. Kuntal called and informed that I wont be getting any assurance (in writing) from the hospital and that it was against medical ethics.
P.S. I would not have stayed in a twin sharing room if I was told that I would be sharing a room with a non infectious TB patient.
29 July 2012: Discharge day: went to purchase the walker at the medical store in the hospital the Walker is priced at Rs 1845, since I had time to kill I went outside and got the same walker for Rs 800 from Maharaj Mediciene (Opposite Vadilal Hospital) .
Dietician: During my stay at the hospital I had asked the dieticeian thrice to provide us with a diet chart so that my mother can use it to control her weight as that would help her reduce weight on the new joints. Third time on Saturday I told her that we were getting discharge on Sunday so if she could provide the diet charge; she ensured that we will be provided the diet chart. The dietician did not turn up on Sunday and when I asked the PRO and other staff at 4th floor to get me a diet chart, somebody from the canteen called that only dietician is authorized to provide the chart. I asked them to call the dietician but apparently she did not pick the phone.