A patient whose insurance rejected a heart catheterization is one that I will always remember. The doctor even spoke with another doctor at the insurance company.
And the hospital staff spent half the day attempting to get it authorized. Before they could get permission, the patient passed away due to a heart attack. It was devastating.
3. The patient whose insurance company failed to send a home health nurse, leaving him immobile for five days.
“I worked as a nurse discharge planner at a hospital and had an older patient with diabetes who had a big, open wound on one of his legs.
He recovered from the operation and was sent home, but he required a physical therapist to help him move about and a nurse to come out every day to change his dressings.
He had no one to support him and lived alone. Normally, I would recommend the patient to a home health organization, but I had to phone the patient’s insurance company.
