Recurring blood transfusion for my mom. New Jersey. Who can do it? Cost?

R

RandomName

Member
My mom is 100 years old and has bladder cancer. She already needed one transfusion, due to bleeding from her bladder gradually lowering her hemoglobin to 5.0.

The Assisted Living (where Mom stays) nurse said she could only get a transfusion in a hospital. I took her to the hospital and she got one pint of blood, which increased her hemoglobin to 7.7, and they said that was good enough, and sent her home.

I browsed the internet and it says transfusions can be done anywhere, by a nurse. In your home, in a doctor's office, etc.

Again, the state is NJ. Mom has a medicare advantage health insurance plan.

I know i can just call her insurance and ask, but that is always so unpredictable, unfortunately. One clerk says one thing, another clerk say something else.

So I'm asking here for any input, suggestions, on the issue. Thanks.
 

I browsed the internet and it says transfusions can be done anywhere, by a nurse. In your home, in a doctor's office, etc
Just because you read it online, that doesn't make it factual or true. You really have to investigate your online sources to check for validity. E.g.: did you see that information at the Mayo Clinic site? One can generally trust the Mayo Clinic, unless their site has been hacked.

Why not call her doctor? Also, has your mom created an Advanced Directive for Health Care? Look here for information: Department of Health | Advance Directive | Resources If she is still cognitively sharp, does she want to create one of these? That will help you know what she wants in terms of life-saving care verses what she doesn't want to put up with.
 

I can't answer your question for sure but when my mother was in a nursing home (a certified skilled one), when she needed transfusions, they always had her transported to the hospital. With so many lawsuits these days, I woudn't be surprised if agencies that provide private nurses are being careful about what services they offer.
 
Today, there are special teams for doing what we all did routinely years ago, due to this litigious nation we live in now. As it is, our malpractice insurance costs a fortune, so you are wise to listen to what the assisted living facility tells you. If your mom needs a periodic transfusion, that facility will transfer her to a hospital for same. Transfusions are serious stuff and require close monitoring. I live in NJ and am a retired RN from this state. They are particularly fussy about doing everything by the book and well they should.
 
Lewkat said:
Today, there are special teams for doing what we all did routinely years ago, due to this litigious nation we live in now. As it is, our malpractice insurance costs a fortune, so you are wise to listen to what the assisted living facility tells you. If your mom needs a periodic transfusion, that facility will transfer her to a hospital for same. Transfusions are serious stuff and require close monitoring. I live in NJ and am a retired RN from this state. They are particularly fussy about doing everything by the book and well they should.
Click to expand...
I think this is a hopeful way of looking at assisted living places and the medical system, in general, but I have had terrible experiences with people I know where I'm convinced the nursing home, doctor, hospital, etc., were only looking out for themselves. The online reviews of these places confirm this. Many medically dangerous experiences are documented online in an effort to warn others not to go to that nursing home, hospital or doctor.

I don't mean trivial complaints like "the doctor was 45 minutes late" or "the food was terrible". I mean medical neglect resulting in undue suffering and/or death. People can sue for that, you say? Not in every state and not for an old person or low income earner. The legal argument with the sick, poor or elderly is, "They were going to die anyway so you can't prove our lack of medical care contributed to their death". Many lawyers only want to take the simplest to win cases, like for injured children.

Beware of cold-as-ice doctors and medical teams. Teams, again, are often only fighting for their own win. Also beware of hospitals or medical groups purchased by a hedge fund or short seller. That should be illegal.
 
Getting off topic from my original question, but yes, the Assisted Living place my mom is in is very nice physically, but the staff (many) are grifters. ALways looking for unnecessary things to pad the bill with. And dragging things forward from the past to bill you for today ( or rebill you), so you have to spend your time writing down everything, and when you paid for it. Or putting some unspecific bogus charge on your bill as 'balance forward', hoping you are old and senile and will just write the check. Scumbags don't get much lower than this, I'm afraid.

Doing the laundry for a resident who does not want her laundry done, and billing $18 for one small load. And on and on and on.

Scammers of the worst kind.

Having said that, the nurses are OK, although they may know about the scams, but can't say anything since they could be fired.

I think I have the grifting over with, for now, because I confronted the 'resident supervisor' about it. She cried and screamed about how innocent she was, but I got the laundry stopped. I do my mom's laundry for her.


They were also stealing her depends, but I complained about that, and it has stopped, at least for now.

The billing ripoff is finally fixed too, I hope. My sister had to spend hours of her time to get a sensible monthly bill, without all sorts of confusing ripoff stuff in it. She had to escalate to senior management, and even they dragged their feet about it for a few weeks. It's like they are waiting to be bribed, I kid you not.

I have heard from another senior a very similar story about her mom's AL place.
 
The assisted living I reside in includes the laundry, suite cleaning, bed changing, and all meals in the monthly rent.

As assists become elevated, then so do the bills increase for additional care.

Purchase over the counter drugs and things like depends, etc. yourself. Their contracted pharmacy charges an arm and a leg for these.

If you need a hospital bed, walker, cane, wheelchair, buy these on your own. Look around for the cheapest prices. Get a doctor's prescription for these items, as medicare will pay 80% of the costs.
 
RandomName said:
Getting off topic from my original question, but yes, the Assisted Living place my mom is in is very nice physically, but the staff (many) are grifters. ALways looking for unnecessary things to pad the bill with. And dragging things forward from the past to bill you for today ( or rebill you), so you have to spend your time writing down everything, and when you paid for it. Or putting some unspecific bogus charge on your bill as 'balance forward', hoping you are old and senile and will just write the check. Scumbags don't get much lower than this, I'm afraid.

Doing the laundry for a resident who does not want her laundry done, and billing $18 for one small load. And on and on and on.

Scammers of the worst kind.

Having said that, the nurses are OK, although they may know about the scams, but can't say anything since they could be fired.

I think I have the grifting over with, for now, because I confronted the 'resident supervisor' about it. She cried and screamed about how innocent she was, but I got the laundry stopped. I do my mom's laundry for her.


They were also stealing her depends, but I complained about that, and it has stopped, at least for now.

The billing ripoff is finally fixed too, I hope. My sister had to spend hours of her time to get a sensible monthly bill, without all sorts of confusing ripoff stuff in it. She had to escalate to senior management, and even they dragged their feet about it for a few weeks. It's like they are waiting to be bribed, I kid you not.

I have heard from another senior a very similar story about her mom's AL place.
Click to expand...
Always looking for unnecessary things to pad the bill with...
What state is she in? There must be a way to report this as Medicare fraud? Reporting Medicare fraud & abuse | Medicare

I have noticed now that the doctors order refills of meds for me long before I need them. They never did that before I was on Medicare. I even I have a 30-day prescription that I just picked up two weeks ago, and boom, after two weeks I have another 30 days order to pick up. I've been refusing them. I'll get it when I have 5 days left of the previous order.

When my brother died I did the work of cleaning out his residence and I filled four grocery bags with unused or infrequently used meds. I'm sure they fixed him up with new meds at every opportunity.

I started an online graduate degree at San Diego State a few years ago and left after the catalog said one class would count as credit toward my degree, but my graduate adviser said NO - zero credit for that one. So I thought I completed 12 units that semester but she said, no, it was only 9. That, and other problems, led me to leave. That's grifting too because the university gets some kind of financial benefit for having students enrolled in that course, the professors get paid for teaching it, the graduate department gets props for offering such a "progressive, forward-thinking" course, and what do the students get? NOTHING. Absolutely nothing to help complete the degree.

(Insert dirty word here)! A college is not a country club. We aren't there for relaxation and "growth", or for "experiences". We want our ^%$#ing degrees as soon as we can complete them.

So much evil unleashed in the name of "experiences". I sure do not believe in the California State University system anymore and if you have loved ones in California, steer them away from that system. Tell them to attend college in another state.

And where shall we report this grift and greed when it comes to universities? Where? What agency supervises them? Will any fines or penalties be assessed? Will anyone get fired? No. SDSU will call me a liar, or say I was confused in my old age. LOL - that's the one I watch for constantly now. "She doesn't understand. She's old." šŸ˜µā€šŸ’«
 

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