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Refused a medical test because I have bed bugs

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parakeets

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Posted 4 years ago
Fri Mar 20 2009 10:31:16
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I was denied medical care due to bed bugs. My doctor referred me to a Sleep Center for a sleep study. The sleep doctor determined I needed to come in overnight for the study and they would conduct a sleep test.

I told them that, similar to a hotel or hospital, they should be alert to bedbugs since they have patients sleeping there, night after night in the same bed. I explained about having bedbugs and the precautions I would take. The doctor set me up for the study that I needed. Then, while I was standing there making the appointment, a higher-level doctor came out and said they decided that with my “problem” they did not want me to have the test.

I needed the test medically, but was refused the appropriate treatment because I have bed bugs. I’m furious. Would I be refused admission for an overnight test in a hospital if I had bed bugs? I told them they were more likely to get bed bugs from someone who didn’t know they had them. At least I was taking careful precautions and letting them know.

Warning--if you have bedbugs, you can be denied the medical care that you need. This is the second time it has happened to me. I know they would not be allowed to refuse to treat a patient with AIDS at this center. Why do they refuse to treat me?
BugsInTO

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Posted 4 years ago
Fri Mar 20 2009 11:27:33
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Parakeets - I am furious on your behalf as well. Livid.

I think you would be justified in going back to your original doctor, asking for another referral to a different Sleep Clinic and just not telling them. Take all your precautions, but don't tell them. Get yourself taken care of. I'd say your biggest risk is getting bedbugs from a Sleep Clinic at this point, based on the idiotic response of the first clinic.

Once you have the strength and if you have the inclination, you can try to do something about the completely inappropriate response you got from the original clinic.

There are good doctors out there, but so many in the profession are condescending egotists. Seems like patients are sterotypes not people.

The "higher level" doctor obviously doesn't know a thing about bedbugs, but knows how to make a decision - particularly a decision for which they don't have to feel responsible since they have made this "your problem" not theirs. But it is THEIR problem. They run a Sleep Clinic - what are they going to do, refuse to accept patients from New York? Patients who stay in hotels, use the subway? Right this way to the ostrich hole.
parakeets

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Posted 4 years ago
Fri Mar 20 2009 11:59:31
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You are so right, BugsinTO. Instead of the sleep study I need, they gave me equipment to take home, use in my own bed, and bring back. They agreed this home study was not as good, and not the test my doctor ordered for me, but due to my "problem" they thought this would be "best."

I tried to educate them. I told them when I would come in for the sleep study I would shower, put on clothes that had been treated in hot wash and dryer and sealed in a ziploc, and carry no bags with me. I would take every precaution to not transport a bedbug. I said that if instead they gave me equipment to use in my OWN BED, while I'm SLEEPING (and being bitten nightly) and then had to bring that equipment back, there was much more of chance of their getting bedbugs. The testing equipment is electronic and I can't open it up to inspect it. Nor will they be able to. (They said they would inspect it). There are bed bugs in my bed and I don't want to bring this equipment into my bed, possibly infecting for every next patient who uses it.

I'm sure if they ever get bedbugs, they will think they are "my" bedbugs.

I'm going to tell my referring doctor, but I'm sure he won't follow up. I don't think I have legal recourse unless he insists, since the Sleep Center can say they did schedule a sleep study for me, just at home instead.

Fools. Now they are more at risk for bedbugs!
Adele

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Posted 4 years ago
Fri Mar 20 2009 12:38:16
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Parakeets - I am sorry you are continuing to suffer from these things

did you say in one of your posts that you are going to move?

although it is easier said than done - but perhaps getting rid of infested furniture and heat treating or steaming the remainder of your stuff would be the answer

it seems like you've suffered with these things for a long time
MyWorstFear

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Posted 4 years ago
Fri Mar 20 2009 13:40:09
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OMG that's outrageous! It totally shows their ignorance too! They must subscribe to the mistaken theory that bed bugs just stay in beds or something. You were already IN their office so if they weren't freaking out about that, why freak out if you sleep in a bed there? Their logic totally lacks, well, logic, since they were going to give you the equipment to use in your own bed. Stupid, Stupid, Stupid! Parakeets, maybe you're better off in not sleeping there and catching something else, because they obviously don't know anything there, and probably are not taking precautions. Actually, I am pretty sure I read here, maybe on the blog, maybe a news video, that there was a sleep clinic that had bed bugs. Anyone else remember seeing that?
Nobugsonme

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Posted 4 years ago
Fri Mar 20 2009 13:51:52
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Yes--

http://bedbugger.com/2009/01/23/bed-bugs-bite-in-edmonton-sleep-disorder-clinic/

Also, Parakeets, this is horrid. I Am Not A Lawyer, of course, but I would think you would have legal recourse (not that you necessarily want to go to the trouble).

I don't think you should settle for second-best care (at home study) because of this.

BugsinTO is right-- you can take the necessary precations and go somewhere else.

But you are also correct, they are shooting themselves in the foot-- refusing someone who admits to bed bugs and knows which precautions to take, and meanwhile, assuming that don't-ask-don't-tell keeps them safe from a bed bug infestation.

Dumb, dumb, dumb!

All medical facilities need to talk to an entomologist who knows bed bugs about how to avoid bed bugs, how to routinely search for signs, AND what to do if they are found. Because bed bugs are inevitable in such an environment. Inevitable!

Oh, this makes me mad...
BBcoukHome

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Posted 4 years ago
Fri Mar 20 2009 14:20:35
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Nobugsonme - 15 minutes ago »

All medical facilities need to talk to an entomologist who knows bed bugs about how to avoid bed bugs, how to routinely search for signs, AND what to do if they are found. Because bed bugs are inevitable in such an environment. Inevitable!

I could not have said it better myself.

Being aware of bed bugs and taking steps to reduce the risk of exposure is completely pointless if you don't also take steps to make sure you check the environment you are in and educate your staff.

I am sorry you have come across this level of crass stupidity if you want me to drop them a note confirming that you arriving taking precautions is a lot more sensible than attempting to not infect electronic appliances. The bottom line here is that if you leave the house taking the precautions stated on this site you are of equal risk to anyone else who travels there of bringing in bed bugs and that really only counts if you use any form of mass transit.

They will be asking you to leave payment in a well of vinegar before too long (old plague reference for those scratching heads) and charging you by the leech.

OK will I am on the soap box I will share an amusing one as a point of reference. This last two months I have had more than my fair share of clients who happen to be medical professionals. Almost without fail they have said its a shock that no-one has informed them of the bed bug issue. The last 6 were embarrassed to be quoted the general practice medical update that they all receive which featured my sites as an information resource on infestations. It is not just good enough in our information society to communicate the information you have to make sure that the end user at least reads it. Show we how to solve that one and I will make you a millionaire.

I am sorry that we still see this type of things but the fact remains that although sooner or later everyone will have either encountered bed bugs or will know someone who has encountered bed bugs we are still a way of that. Hopefully the message will get read long before we reach that stage but I fear it will take a good 20% - 30% exposure before the rest of the planet wakes up.

David Cain
Bed Bugs Limited
parakeets

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Posted 4 years ago
Fri Mar 20 2009 16:07:36
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Thanks everyone for your support and knowledge. The doctor who referred me to the sleep clinic, as I thought, will not fight the sleep center on this issue so I have to take the equipment home which will be an inferior test. My HMO will not approve me for an additional sleep study at another center unless my doctor gives me an additional referral (which he says he won't and I should just have the at-home test), so I'm stuck with this. I can't believe the lack of knowledge on the part of the medical establishment. After all, this sleep center hosts patients every night who sleep there, now 7 days a week! Surely they should know more about bedbugs than they have demonstrated. They are more likely to get bedbugs by sending equipment home with me, and I end up with inferior medical care.

Knowing the growing prevalence of bed bugs in the Boston area, and the number of patients this place gets, they will eventually have to deal with the problem.

Without my doctor's support I can't pursue this further, legally or otherwise, but I feel so angry and cheated. I did not get the quality of care I needed and I have to blame it on the sleep center. Doesn't the Hippocratic Oath apply to them? Can't you get medical care if you have bed bugs?
MyWorstFear

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Posted 4 years ago
Fri Mar 20 2009 18:24:23
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Thanks, No bugs, for putting the link to the article about bed bugs and sleep clinics. Parakeets, next time you talk to those bozos, find out if people are supposed to bring their own pillows, blankets etc. with them. If so, I'd probably let them know that they are refusing to admit you, yet are admitting possibly infested bed clothes into the clinic. It's only a matter of when they'll get them, if they already don't have them.
Make them as uncomfortable as they've made you feel!
parakeets

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Posted 4 years ago
Sat Mar 21 2009 12:02:31
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I wish I could educate these people about bedbugs. I felt awful last night sleeping with the electronic equipment in my bed. That's a high-risk behavior for spreading bedbugs and I am so careful. I could hardly sleep, knowing this could spread bedbugs to other clients who use this equipment. My doctor wouldn't cancel the test and I was stuck. I returned the equipment sealed in ziplocks and marked inside and out with notes that the equipment was exposed to bedbugs, but knowing how little they know about bedbugs at this center, they will probably just visually inspect and the equipment case (attached to the equipment) had many small pockets, and the equipment itself had many wires and conduits where instars could enter the equipment. Shame on them.
begonebedbugs

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Posted 4 years ago
Sat Mar 21 2009 12:18:58
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Thanks so much for your post! I am having a baby in the next few months and will be sure not to tell my OB that I have Bed Bugs or they might want me to deliver at home! CRAZY! I would flip out if I were you - call your local news station or a reporter. Both your doctor and the sleep study place should be put in their places. Amazing.
parakeets

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Posted 4 years ago
Sat Mar 21 2009 12:37:11
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I love everyone's post here, but begonebedbugs--you made me laugh about having to deliver your baby at home! I did think of the fact that I could go to a hospital for a test, but not here. The center didn't even ask about bedbugs so obviously it isn't something they educate or query patients about. How can they prohibit me to take the sleep study in the lab based on bedbugs if they don't even ask on their intake forms? If I knew ahead of time that this center does not take patients with bedbugs for health care, even when the patients take appropriate precautions, I would have run the other way fast. That's not the kind of health care provider I want.
parakeets

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Posted 4 years ago
Thu Apr 9 2009 11:52:16
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An update: The sleep center still will not allow me to have the test in their sleep lab. Instead they now want me to have a follow-up test where I take electronic equipment home to use for 3 nights in my bed. I told them this was not appropriate because I am being bitten nightly by bedbugs. I cannot bring their equipment into my bed and sleep with it. The doctor said it would be no problem because the equipment was "just plastic and metal" and thus there would be no risk of bedbugs getting into it. I told him that was incorrect but he still wants me to do the test at home rather than in the lab.

How can I possibly convince him that he's wrong? I want medical care, not only for me but for all patients who have bedbugs---and for all patients who don't have bedbugs but who now could get bedbugs from this equipment I am being told to use in my bedbug infested bed.

I'm thinking of asking if they can conduct the test on me in a hospital (though my insurance probably might not cover it, so that might be a dead end). At least hospitals must know how to deal with patients with bedbugs, don't they? Help.
bugbattler

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Posted 4 years ago
Thu Apr 9 2009 12:21:32
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Q. What do you call the guy that graduated last in his class in med school?

A. You call him doctor. (eeek!)

Your doc sounds kinda like a moron. Any way to get a doctor that researches before he flaps his jaw to facilitate the test? I'm sorry you're going through all of this. It's always those of us that try to do the right thing that get punished.
spideyjg

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Posted 4 years ago
Thu Apr 9 2009 12:48:01
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If you had access to a packtite I'd say toss the stuff in it once you are done. There would be a risk to the gear but much less than the risk of spreading BBs if you are getting bit nightly.

Jim
bedbugsmakemesad

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Posted 4 years ago
Thu Apr 9 2009 13:13:51
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http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/no-index/legislation-advocacy/8152.shtml

Section E-10.05 of the Health & Ethics Policies of the AMA House of Delegates and the Code of Medical Ethics states the following:

E-10.05 Potential Patients
(1) Physicians must keep their professional obligations to provide care to patients in accord with their prerogative to choose whether to enter into a patient-physician relationship.
(2) The following instances identify the limits on physicians' prerogative:
(a) Physicians should respond to the best of their ability in cases of medical emergency (Opinion 8.11, "Neglect of Patient").
(b) Physicians cannot refuse to care for patients based on race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other criteria that would constitute invidious discrimination (Opinion 9.12, "Patient-Physician Relationship: Respect for Law and Human Rights"), nor can they discriminate against patients with infectious diseases (Opinion 2.23, "HIV Testing")
(c) Physicians may not refuse to care for patients when operating under a contractual arrangement that requires them to treat (Opinion 10.015, "The Patient-Physician Relationship"). Exceptions to this requirement may exist when patient care is ultimately compromised by the contractual arrangement.
(3) In situations not covered above, it may be ethically permissible for physicians to decline a potential patient when:
(a) The treatment request is beyond the physician’s current competence.
(b) The treatment request is known to be scientifically invalid, has no medical indication, and offers no possible benefit to the patient (Opinion 8.20, "Invalid Medical Treatment").
(c) A specific treatment sought by an individual is incompatible with the physician’s personal, religious, or moral beliefs.
(4) Physicians, as professionals and members of society, should work to assure access to adequate health care (Opinion 10.01, "Fundamental Elements of the Patient-Physician Relationship"). Accordingly, physicians have an obligation to share in providing charity care (Opinion 9.065, "Caring for the Poor") but not to the degree that would seriously compromise the care provided to existing patients. When deciding whether to take on a new patient, physicians should consider the individual’s need for medical service along with the needs of their current patients. Greater medical necessity of a service engenders a stronger obligation to treat. (I, VI, VIII, IX) Issued December 2000 based on the report "Potential Patients, Ethical Considerations," adopted June 2000. Updated December 2003 and June 2008 based on the report "Modification of Ethics Policy to Ensure Inclusion for Transgender Physicians, Medical Students, and Patients," adopted November 2007. * Considerations in determining an adequate level of health care are outlined in Opinion 2.095, "The Provision of Adequate Health Care."

No specific mention of bed bugs, obviously, but I would think a court would see it as equivalent to an infectious disease for practical purposes. If I were you, I'd send them a copy of the language from the AMA guidelines and insist they tell you in writing on what basis they're denying you treatment. A little legal language goes a long way.