BEWARE OF THE VILLAGES HEALTH
Last summer my wife was diagnosed, by a doctor employed by The Villages Health, with the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. We were both devastated by this diagnosis, and it very negatively affected our lives. During the same time, this same family doctor, informed me that my sodium level was somewhat low, and suggested that I eat more pretzels! This very casual suggestion, to eat more pretzels, left us with the impression this was not a very serious situation.
At the same time, this same doctor, changed another medication that I was taking to a different medication, which included HCTC (a known diuretic), which unbeknown to us seriously decreased my already low sodium level. Without a doubt this doctor should have known that prescribing a diuretic at the same time my sodium level was low was potentially a very dangerous situation, which could, without monitoring, cause drastic consequences.
For a several month period this very low sodium level caused my physical and mental abilities to deteriorate tremendously. My mental capabilities during this time were directly responsible for substantial medical costs to us (with insurance paying a much larger portion) and drastically affected our relationship, including my contemplating suicide on several occasions. Financial decisions made by me at this time resulted in substantially more expenses, beyond just medical. In essence, for several months I basically lost my mind. After I personally changed my own medication, to not include HCTC, my mental capabilities gradually returned to normal, and have remained there since.
Also during this same time my wife, upon herself, underwent additional testing for Alzheimer’s, and it was determined that the original diagnosis was NOT correct.
This family doctor, whom we both utilized and is employed by The Villages Health, is personally and directly responsible for two very serious medical decisions that had very severe, totally unnecessary, and potentially dangerous, consequences.
In early November of last year my wife contacted the Chair of The Villages Health requesting reimbursement for the unnecessary medical bills we incurred due to the poor decisions made by our family doctor. Over two months later we received an email from the Chief Medical Officer for The Villages Health, requesting copies of the medical bills we had incurred, and stating, “we will look at them.”
We immediately sent him copies of all the medical bills that I had incurred in dealing with this situation, amounting to several thousands of dollars. We waited for almost three months with no response, and in April we sent an additional letter inquiring about the status of this matter. It has now been almost five months since he requested copies of our incurred medical bills and we have not even had the courtesy of a response.
We would strongly recommend that all Villagers think twice about utilizing the services of The Villages Health!
Clell & Claudette Whelchel 1487 Brier Creek Circle The Villages, FL 32162
1631pbs@comcast.net