Desperate! How to get baby discharged from NICU

amother

Currant

Mon, Jan 16 2023, 10:38 pm

amother Gladiolus wrote:

or maybe a sick.child was brought in and they wanted to make sure all was OK before sending the child home. or maybe if you want to paint them with a worse brush, perhaps they were testing to stave off a law suit just in case something was wrong with the child (who came in sick after all!) and they didn't find it without further testing-maybe they weren't skilled enough

But please believe me when when I say that chances are the care was driven by residents who have absolutely no idea what insurance you have and whose bosses are attending doctors being paid a fixed salary and don't either know what insurance you have!
It is so frustrating to keep on rereading this misinformation regarding keeping patients and ordering tests in a hospital setting so that the hospital makes more money. Many complaints.about hospitals are valid, but the part about trying to milk your insurance company.... not so much.

What is much more likely to happen is that your child's doctor will order some test or treatment that they consider necessary for your child's health and then have to spend hours fighting with insurance companies to get it covered.

And if doctors were rushing to discharge babies while they were stil sick these same people would be up in arms about how the doctor forced the baby to go home even though her O2 sat was low. And get askanim involved to push for longer hospital stays.

Yes, hospitals have protocols that patients have to pass before they're considered stable enough for discharge. It's supposed to protect BOTH the baby and the hospital. Yes there should be some leeway and discussion with the parent (and maybe a social worker) if they really want the baby home earlier. Apparently communication in this hospital isn't all it should be. But hospitals really aren't interested in keeping your baby past the point they're ready for discharge.

amother

Slateblue

Mon, Jan 16 2023, 10:48 pm

amother Gladiolus wrote:

And insurances don’t approve imaging in a second... (ask me how I know...)
ETA just read post above mine, I see you explained it all very well. My experience has always been the opposite- the hospital being quicker to discharge when I felt like maybe we would be better off staying a day or so (and Bh we have a great team so we always worked it out well, but never have we felt like we’re hostage for no good reason. And speaking as a someone with about 20 PICU admissions any many ER visits in about 2 years)

amother

Begonia

Mon, Jan 16 2023, 11:10 pm

amother Lemon wrote:

Way to take a post out of context....
Yes, they try to find reasons to not release whenever they can. And to transfer to another hospital? Forget it. I don't know anyone that had an easy experience transferring out of maimonedes. They refuse and you need to turn over the world.

From what I understand having had siblings with experience, insurance have to approve the transfer. It doesn’t matter that the mom or dad wants it. There has to be a good enough reason for insurance to agree. If a newborn needs for example a surgery that the hospital they delivered in doesn’t perform, then would be a much easier approval. But if it’s because u don’t like the drs.. insurance will not agree

amother

Begonia

Mon, Jan 16 2023, 11:22 pm

amother Lawngreen wrote:

Oh please. Stop being ridiculous. No one said babies are growing into toddlers in the nicu. But the hospital may decide to keep them there an extra week or month more than necessary. It may not be a big deal to the hospital but its a very big deal to the postpartum mom and family.
Also most babies don't leave the nicu when they are "perfectly healthy." They leave when they are stable enough to be at home with regular care from the pediatrician. Its a grey area and the hospital can definitely make it work to their advantage
Honestly your post just makes you look stupid.

And how to u explain to the insurance company that u want to get paid for a baby your keeping for an extra day, week, month? U can’t just demand payment from insurance you have to submit proof. And no, proof is nit just occupying a bed space. Don’t tell someone else their post is ignorant when you and others state your opinion as if it’s fact.

amother

Leaf

Mon, Jan 16 2023, 11:22 pm

amother Lemon wrote:

Agree. And I think those that work there are biased and can't really have an opinion on a thread discussing personal experience regarding patient care.

Or you can argue that a nurse that works in Maimo or any other hospital sees the bigger picture what goes on behind the scenes from a subjective point of view and has a better understanding of protocols/what goes into patient care than someone without a medical education experiences as a patient who sees things as puzzle pieces relevant to their specific condition/needs (understandably).
It's my understanding that nurses work together for patient safety regardless of insurance-that's management territory. And management ain't comin anywhere near patients.

Just a thought.

amother

Jade

Mon, Jan 16 2023, 11:24 pm

amother Leaf wrote:

I think that nurses are like flight attendants.

Most of them are good people who want to serve. And a lot of them are on a power trip and love to throw around their authority (that only exists in thus particular setting where you're literally at the whim of their mercy).

amother

Lemon

Mon, Jan 16 2023, 11:27 pm

amother Begonia wrote:

The hospital has to agree to discharge, and the other hospital has to agree to take the patient. Insurance is the least of the problems. When there's a problem with a transfer, most of the time it's because the hospital the patient is being transferred out of, refuses the transfer. Insurance did approve the transfer right away. Maimonides was not equipped to deal with the situation yet refused the transfer. I know many people with similar stories.

amother

Begonia

Mon, Jan 16 2023, 11:28 pm

amother Razzmatazz wrote:

I never went to Maimo, BUT I was transferred to a hospital with a higher level PICU because my baby was reading 70 on the pulse ox in the ER. She was 96 when we got to the second hospital and they told me the reading had been inaccurate (they said she wouldn't have been able to be screaming the whole time if she was at 70).

The pleth apparently looked fine to the original doctor and he thought it was accurate or he wouldn't have ordered the transfer.

(They usually read for babies from the toe, and they get poor readings all the time.)

You were transferred from Maimonides to another hospital?

amother

Begonia

Mon, Jan 16 2023, 11:31 pm

amother Taupe wrote:

OBVIOUSLY sometimes hospitals are doing their jobs....but just like everything else there are sometimes when they are incompetent and yes keeping you way longer than usual. I had this with my daughter. I told them I want to go home they said no she needs to take very strong meds, get an mri and other things. I refused and begged to leave. They brought a police officer and security to make sure I don't leave. Once weekend staff left and another top doctor came he discharged me straight away and said meds, and mri are completely unnecessary. Baby was also hooked up to a machine 24/7.
She also had a runny nose where she could barely breath I had to beg them for steam which is basic, something I would do at home for such a stuffed nose on a little baby.
Ask for a different doctor!

Where was this ? Maimonides nicu?Picu? Emergency room?

amother

IndianRed

Mon, Jan 16 2023, 11:33 pm

I'm still traumatized from my experience in Maimonides. My baby was born perfectly healthy but small and her sugar level was low. They pricked her tens of times and forced me to feed her formula which she promptly threw up.

After a day in the hospital, they told me they were taking her to the NICU and, mama bear that I was, I put up a fuss. I was in constant contact with my pediatrician who reassured me that she doesn't need the NICU (he had seen her the day before.) At one point they forcefully took her out of my arms in order to take her down to the NICU and I fought like only a mom can, with my pediatrician yelling at the nurses over the phone that he'll give them legal trouble if they dare admit her.
She was finally discharged less than an hour to zman shabbos and it took me a long time to recover from that experience. Haven't been back since and I don't miss that place one bit.

bnm

Mon, Jan 16 2023, 11:35 pm

sweet wrote:

Lots of hospitals are this way too.

A relative of mine was in chop and they made the child do loads of extra tests , 4 mris, and lots more testing, for an unrelated medical issue that they were admitted for.
all bec. Child came in through the e.r. with jersey care insurance and they wanted to squeeze out every dollar from insurance.

Jersey Care won't cover CHOP unless it was an emergency transfer and they have to be approved to transfer there. Its not so simple.

amother

Mon, Jan 16 2023, 11:50 pm

I will have to fight like hell tomorrow. The sats are still being counted despite the imperfect reading and wave length. BH for a healthy baby. Now I'm getting ready to fight. They are saying that no other baby despite movement has SATs fluctuating but I'm the only mom here holding my baby and feeding on the breast round the clock. When baby is swaddled and resting (not often) the SATs are good.

Dolly1

Tue, Jan 17 2023, 12:35 am

amother OP wrote:

A few months ago we also had our baby in NICU there… they kept her and kept her and kept her… we almost lost our sanity! Til we got our pediatrician involved… they discharged her that day!

amother

Seafoam

Tue, Jan 17 2023, 1:28 am

Sebastian wrote:

Hatzalah in lkwd bypasses many closer hospitals and usually take to jersey shore for cardiac since they are the better hospital for that. They will take a yoledet to monmouth even though mant hospitals are closer. I dont think its a legal thing, unless it is in ny. Kimball is the closest emergency room and they usually dont go there.

I never heard of hatzalah in bp or flatbush taking to manhattan. Their policy is very strict.

Hatzalah of BP absolutely takes to Manhattan but not in every case. Just had a family member taken to Lenox a few weeks ago.

amother

Seafoam

Tue, Jan 17 2023, 1:34 am

amother IndianRed wrote:

Had same experience in NYU except they didn’t forcibly take my baby and my Ped wasn’t involved as it was my first. Thankfully baby was only in NICU for a day and was discharged with me.

amother

Seafoam

Tue, Jan 17 2023, 1:37 am

amother Sunflower wrote:

Hatzalah of bp has an agreement with Miamonides. They will take only there. If they managed to take your family member to Lenox, there must have been some very strong extenuating circumstances. They're generally very firm about their policy of taking to Miamonides.

Hatzolah of flatbush will take you to Manhattan.

It’s not the first time I’ve had family taken to Manhattan hospitals.
However when I was taken in with COVID I didn’t want Maimonides and had a Dr elsewhere but they still took me to Maimonides, they did convince me rightfully so they were the only ones with visitation at that point and I even got 24/7 which wouldn’t have been possible elsewhere so the good outweighed the bad…