Healthcare Today

Two patients limp into two different American medical clinics with the same complaint.

Both have trouble walking and appear to require a hip replacement.

The first patient is examined within the hour, is x-rayed the same day, has a time booked for surgery the next day and, within two days, is home recuperating.

The second sees the family doctor after waiting a week for an appointment, then waits eighteen weeks to see a specialist, then gets an x-ray, which isn't reviewed for another month and finally has his surgery scheduled for 6 months from then.

Why the different treatment for the two patients?
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The first is a Golden Retriever.

The second ...an injured worker in the Workman's Comp. system

Oh so true! to think our dogs are treated better than us working people who get injured......

I don't think that OT at all. You're right on the money. Even if you're lucky enough to have insurance (which, right now, I am) you have Drs and Ins Co's going back and forth about who needs what tests when. I've had the neurologist I see leave my network, and now I got a letter at home that as of Friday, my ortho who did my shoulder surgery is no longer in network. I dread ever having to file for WC or LTD.

Only drawback is that you generally have to pay out of pocket for pets or fight tooth and nail to get the dern insurance to pay.

Have a Service Dog in training that's had a terrible last 2 months where he was totally paralyzed in all 4 legs for no known reason (most likely was a clot to the spine or a stroke) and this past week he ended up totally blocked by bladder stones that migrated down into his urethra and stayed stuck even after multiple catheter flushings (again he had no symptoms indicating a problem until he suddenly blocked).

Each time I've rushed him to top notch places (he's still at U of Penn after getting his laser lithotripsy yesterday). Doubt tho that the VPI insurance is gonna pay for the almost 5 grand that he's racked up so far. Happy news is he's able to walk now and the stones are all cleared and he didn't have to undergo major surgery with me only a couple of weeks out from getting TOS surgery myself. If anyone ever has a dog or cat develop stones, U of Penn's Ryan Vet Hospital is one of the few places in the US that does endoscopic lithotripsy on pets. U of Penn's the same place where Barbaro the race horse went to where they were able to repair his shattered leg.

http://www.vet.upenn.edu/ryan/appointments/

I live near a county, as I'm sure you know ESL, where 2 of the nations leading sevice dog centers are located and have looked into participating them. They both cover all vet. services for you. Another one is in the next county over.

They also dismiss a dog similar to the one you are describing from the program after several illness's such as this dogs.

Amazing still, all the options this dog you are describing has; and then here we all are...

Gromlily ~

AKC dogs, which most service pet dogs are, are offered medical insurance for $25.00 a month. This is what I have for my dog, and this is what I was told all service dogs have when leaving with their new owner.

Also, the agency suchas C.C.I. and Guide Dogs for the blind pay for the medical expenses as you are required to bring the dog to their Vet.

LOL...so true

Actually, not all Service Dogs are AKC or puppy raised. A number of places, including my organization, use rescues. Many also are owner trained due to the long waiting list for the dogs fitting their disability need. That's how I ended up developing Shore Service Dogs. Unfortunately my rescued dogs don't fit the AKC category or qualify for their health insurance or another Service Organization's coverage. I have to use VPI and so far they've been not too helpful.

As to the dog I was talking about, he's been "retired' from going on to someone else (the day he went down I immediately retired him). While the stones aren't a big deal as once they've been analyzed, they're easily monitored and controlled by diet, the unknown paralysis washed him out (he was just about finished with his training of course). I'll be keeping him with me to help teach future Service Dogs that I train so he'll always stay "in training". He loves training and has been a very unhappy pupper during his paralysis recovery because he wasn't able to train with the other dogs. Figures Murphy's Law kicks in just as he was getting back to the point where he could finally deal with a limited work schedule. Although that wasn't going to be for very long since having to haul him around when he was still unable to walk made my TOS a lot worse and has me to the point where I need to finally get that surgery (which I really didn't want to have to do).

He actually had to do the same as me tho in that he had to travel a fair distance to get treated by places that had a clue. Around here, he has the same lack of options I've been experiencing with my own health issues. It was only sheer luck that I found out about the lithotripsy because the local (and non local) vets said it wasn't being done on animals.

In my case I've done 5 years of being treated for everything but TOS because none of the specialists around here even knew what it was. I finally said the heck with it and decided the discomfort of the long drive to Hopkins was worth it just to find someone that had a clue about how to get this problem under control so I can get back to some semblance of normalcy.

My biggest regret is that I didn't know about TOS before I had my cervical fusion. If I'd only known about this board back then I'm certain I would have had a totally different outcome. I'm very thankful I ran across this site where you can talk to such supportive people like yourselves who've gone through similar TOS issues and are willing to share their experiences and information. I've already learned quite a lot by reading through the archives and that's going to be a huge help with knowing what I should expect from my upcoming surgery. Hopefully maybe some of my experiences and info might be of help to others too.