Tina's Daily Blog: HIPAA Schmippa

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

HIPAA Schmippa

Remember the other day in my blog when I said at work we were rolling out some big new computer system and if I messed up putting in some orders, thousands of Florida customers might go without power?

CNN Headline all afternoon: "Equipment failure cuts power in Florida."

Yeah... hope that wasn't equipment that I sold them. Or didn't sell them. OIE!

It was SO funny... the first I'd heard about it was when Chris called me and said "What did you do?????" I didn't understand until I saw the headlines and then remembered what I'd said in the blog. Too funny.

It - of course - had NOTHING to do with me. We don't yet know what caused the failures.

Anyways - it sure kept me busy at work today!

I had a follow up doctors appointment this morning. The blood pressure had not come down as much as they had hoped it would. She started me on a second pill for just a short term fix. She just said the sooner it came down the better off I'd be.

Geez, I'm not even 40 yet and I'm starting to fall apart. How sad is that?

Julie has called MULTIPLE times today. Wanting to talk about this and that... asking why it is I won't let her talk to the kids right now without my supervision on the phone.... wanting me to look up phone numbers for her.... etc.

It would amaze you how much time she consumes of my day. From phone calls to thoughts.

I called her pain management doctor today and tried to speak with him about his 'criminal' behavior of prescribing such a high dose and large quantities of medications for a person with a strong abuse history. The doctor wouldn't talk to me, citing "HIPPA" laws. The girl in the office did talk to me - for quite a long time actually.

She explained that BECAUSE of HIPAA, actually, it's made it difficult for doctors to find any information out about a patient. She said, for example, that the doctor can not find out if you've been to a hospital or another doctor - unless the patient specifically authorizes the doctor to research this information. In the 'old days'... back when I worked for doctors... when we had a 'hunch' about an abuser, we'd call other doctors or hospitals or pharmacies and ask about a patient. Now - she says - you can't do that because of HIPAA laws.

Tell me -- doesn't that SUCK? I mean.......... really????

She told me that the doctor there would no longer be prescribing Julie any prescriptions. I'm sure that means Julie will just find another doctor.

I also called the state board number to file a complaint about a physician because I still strongly feel that this doctor SHOULD have known she was an abuser.

A woman at the hospital told us that when they pulled up Julie's medical records for the past four years - it was more hospitalizations than they had ever seen anyone have in a lifetime. Had this doctor done any kind of checking with any doctor, pharmacy, hospital - ANYTHING - anyone could have told him that she was an abuser and overdosed ALL the time.

Oh, and Julie also didn't get hired at the job she was just supposed to get because they found Marijuana / Pot in her system. Now... she 'swears' that she hasn't done that in years. But... it doesn't just GET in your system. As a matter of fact, I think I remember her complaining about a 'false positive' once before when DCF was involved if I remember correctly. How does one person have several 'false positives' in a lifetime? How does Pot just SHOW UP in your system? It doesn't.

Julie is in extreme denial. She thinks she's fine. She thinks she did a silly thing. She was just gonna take a couple pills and just 'silly me, decided to stick it up her nose instead'. Silly mistake. Oh and the pot was just a lie. Oh and the Soma she's been abusing is just.... well... she needs to feel good every once in a while.... so..... it's okay. It's not a narcotic so -- it's okay.

Oh, and my favorite line -- Sunday was an "accident". Accident? She CRUSHED the pills, then SNORTED them up her nose. There was nothing accidental. Slipping down stairs is accidental. Slipping in your kitchen when it's wet is accidental. Purposely crushing pills and then snorting them up your nose for the sole purpose of getting high is NOT accidental.

To hell with what this is doing to her kids. To hell with what this is doing to her family. Oh, and lest we forget what this for sure did to that poor child who found her blue, cold and foaming at the mouth on Sunday. Because - hey - Julie's good. She's fine. She's just a little silly and just wants to feel good. Right?

Oie.

Now she wants to go to rehab. Why I'm not sure... because she really thinks she's fine. Probably because they are telling her that she has to.

Oh, and when I talked to the doctors office today, I was told that she had been trying to get more pills and stronger pills as of late. This kind of 'tipped them off' that she might have been and abuser because what she was on was already so strong and they had given her so many pills which she was going through like candy.

Here's what I've come to realize:
* Julie is an abuser
* She is an addict
* She will lie to protect her habit
* Julie cares about nobody but herself

If I could make a wish for anything I wanted in this situation... I would wish that Julie were in a home - a safe group home - where someone took care of her and gave her the meds she needed every day and kept her alive, happy and safe. Plus, Julie is happy when she's around people, so a group home would be kinda neat for her. If this couldn't happen -- I would want the kids to be far far far away from Julie. She is killing their spirit and she doesn't even realize it. If she is not able to be safely taken care of, she needs to be away from the kids - in my 'perfect world'.

But back to reality........

I asked for a lot of prayers on Monday night at bible study. Prayers for a better understanding on what to do in this situation. For God's guidance. I ask you all to please pray for the same.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...: Can I get an AMEN sister!!! Julie needs to get her act together. You know what I think about it. Keep the kids away from Julie until she can not harm them mentally. Bring the spirit of Ron back into there lives. Give them something positive for a change. No kid should ever deal with the crap Julie puts them thru. They need to be kids!!! You are doing a great job, love ya. Katie; 10:43 PM
Anonymous said...: DITTO.......................
NANA; 7:36 PM

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In A Nutshell:

Here is a letter I sent to Dr. Phil which really sums everything up:
I am married to my high-school sweetheart (20 years this August), with two wonderful children (Amanda who is 20 and Jonathan who is 13). I have two sisters, both younger – I call them “my good sister” and “my bad sister”. My good sister is – well, good! Normal in every way. The bad one, Julie, has been in trouble since she was a kid. As a baby she cried all of the time. As a teenager she was in trouble all of the time. At the age of 14 or so I remember that she had run away from home to live with a grown man in Atlanta. This was one of many run a ways. As a teenager, she provided sexual favors to boys in school, as well as teachers. As a young adult she was arrested for prostitution. She’s done drugs ranging from marijuana to crack. She was diagnosed early on as bi-polar with personality disorder. She’s also a serious cutter to the point where she no longer hid the cuts. She’s cut things like “Ronald Cecchinni” into her arm… and “Fuck you Dr. XXX” on her stomach, in large letters. Julie is also a diagnosed sex-addict. She’s also recently (in the past year) begun ‘huffing’. (I honestly believe that this huffing has caused some permanent damage) She is currently 36yo.
Julie lost her husband Ron a year and a half ago as a result of Leukemia and Kidney Disease which the military attributed to his serving in the Gulf War. He left behind three children – Kayla who is now 15, Justin who is now 14 and Kayte who is now 13. Even when Julie was married, her psychiatric problems persisted. She has been hospitalized literally hundreds of times over the years. However, when her husband was alive, he would take care of the kids when Julie was mentally out of control. After Ron died, Julie lost control of the kids and her life. She began to spiral out of control, having pot parties at her home (to the point where the kids said a door would open and a cloud of smoke would come bellowing out of the room), smoking weed with her own kids, having sex all over the house with different men all the time, allowing young men (19 yo) to sleep over with her oldest daughter (only 14 at the time), and allowing Gang members to live in her home (she said she felt ‘safe’ with them there). In addition, she was attempting suicide daily, overdosing on medications hoping to not wake up the next morning. Mind you all of this while she was seeing her Psychologist every week and Psychiatrist once a month. Both of these Doctors knew what was going on at home, neither of them reported it to the proper authorities. I have even been told by one of them that he was told, by Julie, that she ‘heard voices telling her to hurt the children’ but that she was proud that she could ignore the voices. Still, these Doctors reported nothing.
I should add here that it was at some point in this period of time in Julie’s life when her children began suicide watches over their mom… each one taking turns to sit in a room with her at all hours (night and day) because their mom was less-likely to hurt herself while they were here. However, it didn’t always work – Julie constantly took pills in front of them trying to either dope herself up or overdose, and she would even cut herself in front of the kids.
Finally one day, she woke up furious that her last suicide attempt didn’t work. She got violent with her oldest daughter, police were called, and finally DCF was called. (I would like to add that we (other family members) had called DCF in the past to report things, but some of the cases were ‘unfounded’ and one other time the fled the state knowing CF only had jurisdiction in Florida.) DCF removed the children from the home in November 2005 and I gained custody of the Children shortly thereafter.
There are lots of things I could add here about my sister, DCF, and the horrible Foster Care or Custodial Care program we are involved with. However, that is not my main reason for writing to you.
Kayte, the youngest, seems to be adjusting pretty well. She has a tendency to trivialize what her mom has done and the seriousness of it, but I think that is normal given that it is her mom. Kayte was in counseling, but she feels it’s ‘a waste of time’.
Justin, the middle child, is okay. As a young boy I'm told he was a terror. He used to hit his mother and at one point (only 6yo) tried to jump off a building to kill himself. Since then, his anger has turned in to an endless smothering of love and caring. He does everything for his mom… from getting her whatever she needs to rubbing her feet and back. Justin has seen a psychiatrist since moving in with me who felt that his issues were brought on by trauma. It was also at that visit with the psychiatrist that he confided in myself and the Doctor that he had suicidal thoughts often while living at home with his mom in her ‘state of being’ after his dad died. However, since he moved in with me he has done so much better (and continues to improve daily) that she didn’t feel he even needed counseling at this time. He would, however, need counseling before he was reunited with his mom.
Kayla, the oldest, has serious issues. She is also currently in counseling but feels that it is ‘a waste of time’. Kayla has always lied and stolen things. Family members feel sorry for her because you can tell that she doesn’t really mean any ill will by it, but it’s been ‘the way she is’ for a very long time. By far her biggest problems are lying and her need for approval by men (young and old).
Since the kids have moved in with us, my husband and I have set up rules. The kids already had myspace accounts, so we set ground rules for it. 1) We needed the login names and passwords. 2) Profiles must be set to private. 3) The only people they were allowed to have on their friends list was people that they actually knew. When Kayla’s list climbed over 300, and she was found to have inappropriate conversations (wanting to sneak out and ‘hook up’ with young men), we made everyone cut their list down to 30 friends, which included myself. 4) All vulgar language and inappropriate photos would come off immediately and would be monitored by myself at any given time. At times, they try to put up ‘sexy’ pictures which immediately need to come down.
However recently I have found that she has multiple website things going on in an attempt to pick up young men. I'll outline a few here so that you understand the gravity of the situation: 1) I found her 'normal' myspace account set to 'public view'. She has over 11,000 profile views(meaning people looking at her pictures and wanting to know more about her). I had reset it to private many times, but she keeps going back and resetting it to public. 2) I have found another myspace account which she went by the name 'Shannon' and used it to pick up young men, tease them, then later tell them that she was 'taken' but refer them to her 'cousin, Kayla'. She'd then give them all of Kayla's information. Of course thiswas also set to public. 3) I have found another social network website that was like myspace in which she had ONLY men (mostly from other states) as her 'friends' whom she corresponded with. The emails back and forth basically said the same thing as all of the others... more on that in #4 - only these were guys that not only did she not know, but they were not even in the area! 4) All accounts that I have found had basically the same thing... her emailing guys wanting to know if she was pretty, if they wanted to 'hook up', talking about going to their 'crib' or meeting up with them somewhere, and constantly seeking approval and affirmation from these guys.
I believe she gets this from her mom. And the sad thing is, if you met her, you would love her. She is truly a GREAT kid… but she has serious issues. I’ve described to you Julie’s behavior and Kayla’s seems to be the same way. Neither can make decisions on their own that are ‘the right thing to do’, and both lack the understanding of simple values, morals and ethics. I could go into so many examples. How do I describe the utterly amazing difference between Julie’s parenting style and my own?
I know... Both Julie and I have myspace accounts set up to ‘monitor’ the kids. To illustrate the difference between Julie and myself, here is something that Julie and I both put on our myspace accounts. You are supposed to put something 'about yourself' by your picture. Here is mine: "I'm 38 years old. I have two amazing kids, Amanda who is 20 and Jonathan who is 13. I have great husband, Chris. I love to sing - and have been singing in Toast of Tampa Show Chorus for 10 years. I'm raising my nieces and nephew (12, 13 and 14). I love God and my family."And here is Julie's: "I am who I am and if you dont like me for me........FUCK YOU........ Plus if you dont like me for me....... Im gunna tell my kids and there gunna kick yer ass!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Here’s the other dilemma we are having; the two girls are in counseling that is costing me $25 EACH in co-payments every time they go. The State of Florida provides NO financial support to me as a relative caregiver, other than providing the three kids with Medicaid. They received small SSI checks because of their dad’s death, but it barely covers the food they consume. The DCF worker, having spoke with the girls and being told that therapy is ‘a waste of time’, has referred me to a clinic that DCF uses for cases such as this to seek mental care for Kayla (aswell as the others). However, the kids have TriCare as their primary insurance because their dad died from Military causes. TriCare requires the co-payment, regardless of the Medicaid secondary. Having said that, please understand that I worked in referrals in a primary care physician’s office for 16 years… I totally ‘get’ what is required for primary and secondary insurances and all the red tape. But because of the uniqueness of this situation, the kids are suffering!
I should also point out here that I have the kids for an indefinite period of time. Right now Julie is doing things that she has been told to do to get the kids back. However, she is still awaiting a court ordered detailed Psychiatric exam to determine if she can EVER parent again. Even if that Psychiatrist feels she can parent again, she’ll most likely need to be ‘clean’ and ‘episode-free’ for 6 months to a year minimum. In addition, Julie is only allowed supervised visits and one phone call a day. This came about because of her inappropriate behavior when she was with the kids and because when she was allowed to call any time she’d call 10 + times a day.
The other problem with Julie ever getting her children back is that… she doesn’t understand what she did wrong. She parents as if she were 15-years old herself. If anyone has ever done something bad and been able to ‘keep’ their kids, she sees no reason she can’t do it. She brought her daughter at the age of 13 in for a HUGE tattoo on the small of her back. It’s Tigger flipping ‘the bird’ with her gang name under it. She was also planning on getting a large tattoo on her 12yo before the kids were taken. Again, she sees nothing wrong with any of her past behavior.
So, you see, I could have these children for the rest of their teenage years. I honestly don’t know where to turn to get them the help they need.
I feel as if I am in a psychiatric nightmare and I just can’t wake up. Eight months ago I was at home, my biggest ‘kid worry’ was if my son was going to get good grades on his report card. Now I find myself in a crux worried about whether or not the lessons I teach them, this late in their young life, are going to be enough to turn these kids around and help them to be productive adults in the near future.

Tina's Daily Blog

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

HIPAA Schmippa

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