The beginning of Susan Kasperski's patient horror story at Kaiser Permanente

Written by Susan R. Kasperski -

Sussan Kasperski - Victim of Kaiser

Beginning of a Nightmare with Kaiser Permanente
Susan has kept a complete diary over the years. For financial reasons she has been unable to drop Kaiser and obtain medical insurance elsewhere she states.

Year 2000-2001Susan has kept a complete diary over the years. For financial reasons she has been unable to drop Kaiser and obtain medical insurance elsewhere she states.

It all began when I started to retain water in my body. Several times I went to Kaiser complaining about not being able to breathe. They gave me inhalers to enable me to breathe better. After some time passed I started to gain a lot of weight, in fact I went up to 320 pounds from 180 pounds. Still all they thought of was the inhalers to help. These didn't help and my husband replied you hardly eat anything and you are still gaining weight. Something is very wrong.

Especially every time I go to Urgent Care. The doctors are always telling me to drink a lot of water. They say by drinking a lot of water it releases the excess water. Well, finally I ended up in the Urgent Care again. Shortly after that my friend, Janet Carlos called 911 and off to the emergency room I go. On the way I heard the paramedic say "she has stopped breathing and now her heart is stopping, pull over and get back here and help me."Susan has kept a complete diary over the years. For financial reasons she has been unable to drop Kaiser and obtain medical insurance elsewhere she states.

Well I don't remember anything until I was going through the emergency room doors, on a Code Blue. I found out later that they had called it.

There were doctors, nurses trying to save my life, working on me. They gave me shots to get the water off me fast. I urinated and urinated until it ran off the bed onto the floor. I was all wet, my gown, the sheets and the floor. It was so bad nurses were walking through it.

Finally they put me on a bedside toilet which I filled quickly. No one had time to empty it and it was soon running over.

They put me in another place with another bedside toilet and there I saw, and sat until I started having chest pains that were real bad.

The doctors and nurses came in and looked at my chart and replied, "she is having a heart attack" - because they "forgot to give her potassium."

They had sent my husband home early and said "She won't be going home as we are going to admit her later on." I was very tired and covered in urine and still having problems breathing.

The doctor decided to send me home anyway. My husband came and said "She is still having problems breathing and you want to send her home?"

The doctor replied she is OK and have her make a follow up appointment with her regular doctor, she is out of danger now.

Can you believe that I was a Code Blue and in less than 7 hours later they are sending me home. Being home I knew that I was going to die from not getting proper care. I sat up all night gasping for air, my husband left the car home for me to use if I got worse. My friend Janet was sleeping and I didn't want to interrupt my husband at work, so I made an appointment with a doctor at Kaiser.

I was told to come right in. It took forever it seemed to get out to the car because of starting and stopping till I could catch my breath. I drove to Kaiser and to get into the hospital I had to stop and catch my breath several times. People were staring at me and not one of them asked if I needed help. I finally made it to the desk and the lady saw how bad I was and they got me right in. I followed the nurse and tried not to collapse on the floor. The doctor there got me admitted to a room and worked on me. They weighed me first and I weighed 320 pounds. I was there two and a half days and I had so much water around the heart and in the lungs that I had congestive heart failure. When I left the hospital I weighed 240 pounds.

They removed 80 pounds of water in two and a half days. Can you believe that Kaiser emergency room sent me home in such bad shape?