Maybe I should have addressed this to the Media and copied it to the
candidates. I don't know..
My problem is that I'm slow. I should have gotten this all together months ago,
long before the election.
You can find copies of this email and the PDF attachments (and supplemental
commentary) on my website at:
http://www.publicforall.com/ElCaminoHospital/Election2014.html
"The citizens of your district did not elect you
to come up with an Enron" I told their Board. Maybe I'm wrong.
I'd like to see someone campaigning for office
representing the interests of PATIENTS.
The election has 3 candidates running for 2 seats.
All of the procedures this hospital has done on me have not only been
unnecessary (if not unspeakably harmful) but at triple the fair market price.
I and the rest in my class are owed refunds. As well as some answers. I'd
like to know how the candidates feel about this. And I'd like someone in
the media to follow up on it on my behalf before the election to make sure I get
some answers.
All I've gotten for years now at board meetings (I'm copying this to their
members) is silence. Except from their CEO who sent me a letter last March
telling me she's instructed her staff to not respond to me (my response
attached).
Here's a website that should be emblazoned on every single entrance to their
hospital:
www.HealthcareBlueBook.com --
the fair market rate for their services.
What's the point of trying to file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau
when they have a continual "F" rating with them anyway. Does anyone care?
------------------------------------------------
It's a very simple issue:
The Western Kidney Stone Center was profitable for Los Gatos Community Hospital
over the years and billed at the fair market rate. All El Camino needs to
do is to compare the total cost of each of my lithotripsies there over the
decades. And if that's too complicated, to simply compare it to my last two
there (but their CEO won't allow it). And explain why the list price on
them doubled after they took over (a Grand Jury Investigation ensued).
Which meant that (since I was uninsured at the time) I had to pay at TRIPLE the
fair market rate -- cash in advance. And at this price, why no one ever
taught me how to pass that 5mm stone painlessly the way Valley Med did the
following year. And put me on Potassium Citrate that's been known about
for decades as a preventative. And I'm way overdue for one. Then
again, if they told their other patients like myself these things, it might slow
down that insatiable lithotripsy cash machine of theirs now billing at $45,300
each time (the highest in the nation).
They're banking almost a billion in reserves from this sort of thing that just
keeps ballooning skyward. Tax free. Where did it all come from?
What about the financial condition of all the families they’ve bankrupted.
Why the District is still taxing its citizens millions a year to fund this
"Hospital Enron" with their unnecessary procedures at outrageous prices is
beyond me. The Grand Jury didn't understand it either:
http://www.scscourt.org/court_divisions/civil/cgj/2011/El%20Camino%20Hospital%20District.pdf
Is that the sort of "Quality" they boast about? I'd call it
"unfathomable". And from my experiences over the years, "bottomless" (save
for a few quite notable exceptions). Do words like Morality and Integrity
mean anything to anyone around there? Anyone seen a published Code of
Ethics anywhere? Let alone a published organization chart -- a "moving
line" was the closest to it I heard at one Board meeting. If there's no
record of supervision, there's no accountability.
They owe some people refunds. How do the candidates feel about this?
Where's the refund committee?
Geoffrey Mangers
4124 Ross Park Dr.
San Jose, CA 95118-1761
(408) 978-8646
www.publicforall.com