Orlando Regional Medical Center violates Ocala patient's rights since May

Florida tolerates patient's rights violations, but this one is interesting since it has been going on so long, costs the wrong county money and involves a once recovered PSV patient. Contrast the court handling of Terri Sciavo.

The Bradenton, Florida patients' rights organization, SPCP, announced that it has taken on nonprofit hospitals in their fight for patients' rights. Until recently, most of the organization's energies had been against organized for-profit industries. However, the new case of the Ocala family [Niedzielski] has exposed that nonprofit hospitals also are guilty of violating patients' rights in the extreme.
SPCP filed complaints[e-mail = public record] to all members of these Orange County Board of Commissioners on November 17th and again on Nov. 19th by fax. A copy of the basic complaint is below the line. Carol has received no response.
SPCP also tried to contact Carol Paris of the Orlando Regional Medical Center risk-management section. She did not return the call.
SPCP also contacted the Orlando office of the Agency for Health Care Administration [AHCA]. The office referred her request for information to the Tallahassee office. SPCP has requested public information regarding various cases over the last two years and has received no genuine response. From the patient rights organization perspective, SPCP believes that AHCA supports the healthcare industry interests above those of the patient consumer.
Florida has laws, which are extremely unfriendly to patients. The worst is the Wrongful Death Clause, which is the unspoken ZERO CAP of malpractice suits for victims over the age of 25 and without spouse or dependents under the age of 25. This means, medical malpractice on the elderly - the majority of Florida citizens - is totally unaccountable and probably explains why Florida medical liability insurance makes its biggest profits in the country here. It also affects young singles.
The founder of SPCP, Carol Stronstorff, has been fighting for patients' rights ever since the death of her mother in February, 1999. Her mother was a stroke victim. She was hospitalized in an HCA hospital and then transferred to an IHS nursing home for rehab. Her mother died at IHS after a nightmare of care and incredible discrepancies in the medical records, including even just where the patient was located and when she died - which hospital? Which rehab facility? Which doctors? What disease? How was she discharged? The true facilities involved appear to be violating the Bradenton City Ordinance.
Since then SPCP, through its web site, has helped many people, whose parents died in Florida under suspicious medical circumstances, yet found no recourse because of the Florida's wrongful death clause. SPCP regrets that this information reaches victims, when it is too late.
It is time that the media starts supporting little patients in their fight for basic rights against the medical industry giants.
Carol Stronstorff, VP SPCP - The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Patients is a non-profit patient's rights organization. Bradenton, FL 34209
Phone: 941-794-1634 Fax: 775-257-6489 www.spcp4u.org and http://spcpi.homestead.com
P.S.         A copy of the complaint to the Orange County Board is found at http://spcpi.homestead.com/communications.html Then click Nov. 17th E-mail link on that page.