Hi all,

As some of you already know, my husband and I had a disastrous experience at the BI, a large, well known, highly respected hospital in Boston last month, where I had been referred for their ketamine program. My referral was from a doc that had been treating me for over six months who's with a smaller Boston hospital (St. E's. ) that is really good, but has limited resources. He's seen me at my worst when I go in for my SGB - in terrible pain, all rashy, extermely high BP, etc. (I always flare when I go there because I'm a wimp, for me the stellate ganglion blocks are a very painful and scary procedure). Obviously, my referring doc knows I have RSD, he's seen the evidence of it many times, and wouldn't have referred me for ketamine if he didn't think it was appropriate. And, I had been diagnosed by 2 other docs prior to seeing him.

I was informed after my appt. by the manager of the Pain Clinic at the BI (when I called to complain to someone about my treatment by the doctor I saw), that when they contacted WC for authorization for my appt, WC had told them they would only pay for me to see a certain doctor in RI for my RSD and no-one else. So the BI sought authorization for my appt. from United Healthcare.

WC insurance companies have a history (on a limited basis), of paying for ketamine treatment for RSD. United Health specifically disallows it. My attorney's assistant had spoken to my WC adjuster, prior to the BI's attempt to gain approval for my initial evaluation, about the ketamine program at the BI, and my adjuster had told her that it would be OK. But when it came time to authorize it, they not only denied it, they went into greater detail regarding what and who they would authorize in the future.

And when it came time for me to see a doctor, the evil witch gave me less than 10 minutes of her time, verbally abused myself and my husband the entire time we were there, and then completely bagged me in her evaluation -by diagnosing me with myofascial pain syndrome. (My foot, she claimed, was sprained!! It was HUGE and purple and was so painful that nobody could touch it.) The following day I was told that the ketamine program had JUST BEEN CLOSED at the BI to new patients by the office manager.

My doctor at St. E.'s is pretty familiar with the director of the ketamine program, and he knows of another patient that just started over there. It appears that the program is NOT closed to new patients, they lied to me.

I am almost certain that the people at the BI screwed me because the WC people told them that they weren't going to pay for me to go there. The paralegal at my lawyer's office probably thought she was doing a good thing by discussing the situation with WC in advance. After all, they can sound so nice on the phone. Instead, they used it against me.

You expect to be screwed by WC. But NOT by doctors and their staff. The doctor was abusive. She deliberately misdiagnosed me (ignoring my grossly swollen foot, a new symptom for me, by calling it sprained). Her evaluation report left out every symptom or disclaimed every symptom that could be associated with RSD. And they appeared to have lied about the availability of their ketamine program. But now, based on the doc's diagnosis, I don't qualify for it anyway.

How do we go after these people? Has this ever happened to anyone else? It all about $$, isn't it? The hippocratic oath means nothing anymore to most doctors and medical centers. How do these people live with themselves? Instead of helping me, they caused me great harm.

I am flaring badly, and so, so sad that there is a treatment that might have worked, that I may have been able to at least try, that is now out of reach. And I going back to my old doc this Tues. at St. E.'s, perhaps for an 8th SGB, and my 1st lumbar block. Joy, joy...

Sorry this is so long, and thanks to everyone that listens to my rants.

BTW - Happy Fathers Day to all the dads out there.

XOXOXO Sandy