My Thoughts on Joan Rivers

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When I heard the news that Joan Rivers was rushed from a clinic to Mount Sinai Hospital after surgery complications, I knew it wasn’t a good situation. With Joan being 81, complications and recovery are much more difficult.

I was really surprised on many levels that someone of Joan’s financial status would end up in a clinic for any procedure at her age, let alone a “surgery”.  At her advanced age, she was considered a high risk patient for complications on many fronts and to do an out-patient procedure away from full hospital support staff raised my eyebrows immediately.  I remember watching many experts over the years on TV caution people to get knocked out in a doctor’s office because the level of care could put you at risk.

Ironically, the American Society of Anesthesiologists wrote a paper on Safe Anesthesia in the Office-Based Surgical Setting on September 1, 2014…just days after Joan entered the hospital.  They write, “Despite the numerous advantages of performing procedures outside the hospital, the office environment can introduce significant concerns over patient safety and well-being.”

So why would Joan go there?   All of this made me wonder what was going on…

According to ABC news, Joan performed a comedy routine for an hour the night before she went into cardiac/respiratory arrest, and according to one attendee, there were “no signs that Rivers had any health issues whatsoever.”   She even joked about her demise that night.

Furthermore, we never got clear news as to exactly what Joan Rivers was going in to have done. Was it an endoscopy?  After all she was at an endoscopy clinic according to reports.  Some news agencies reported “throat surgery”–others reported “vocal cord surgery”.  What was Joan going in for when these complications arose?  It seems hard to find out, and if the family chose to keep it private, its certainly their right to do so.

So I am left to look at what has been reported.  Joan seemed in great health the night before her “surgery”.  She ended up at an endoscopy clinic, and endoscopic procedures are not typically considered “surgery”–so she had something else done.    There are endoscopic surgeries where they insert a small camera and its considered surgery.  Maybe she had that done?

Most people are not aware that outpatient clinics are not required to meet the same standard of care of a hospital or ambulatory surgical center. According to the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation (APSF):

[As of 2009]…only 23 U.S. states have some regulation for office-based surgery. In addition, a vast majority of offices lack accreditation by one of the major accrediting agencies (AAAHC, AAAASF, JCAHO). Whether such procedures are performed with or without an anesthesia care team provider, current issues include patient and procedure selection, perioperative management, complications, and recovery. Non-patient related issues include proceduralists performing outside their scope of practice, substandard facilities, and lack of qualified office personnel.

So I went to Yorkville Endoscopy to see what they say. They don’t mention the word “surgery” anywhere on their website services page.

Hmmm….

Furthermore, on the front page of their website, there is something interesting. It says, “Yorkville Endoscopy is an Ambulatory Surgical Center, approved by the Department of Health and accredited by……to perform ambulatory procedures to diagnose and evaluate conditions of the upper and lower digestive system.”

Who are they accredited by?  It seems to be missing.

MISSING.

See for yourself…

yorkville

That has me wondering:  Did Joan want something done that wasn’t recommended by quality care doctors and so she sought out a clinic that might be willing to do it?  We all know Joan had a love of cosmetic surgery…

If so, it could have cost her her life.  She could possibly still be with us today had she been at a high quality care facility that was able to properly act when things went south.  My heart aches for her surviving family.

So I share this with you in hopes of promoting information that could save you or a loved one’s life.  While you may want to go to a clinic down the street for a procedure and it might be cheaper, if you don’t do your homework, it could cost you precious time if things go wrong, and quite possibly it could cost you your life.  That’s not to say that you can’t go to a clinic for a procedure, but understand the risks, if you do.  Make an educated decision if they are worth it for you.

Maybe Joan did do that and still decided the risk was worth the benefit, though I am not sure she would still say that today, if she was with us.

I hope that is not the case with Joan Rivers…but things aren’t looking good from what we’ve seen so far.

I feel deep sympathy for Joan River’s family and I hope they find peace in all her lovely memories.

Looking for a trustworthy contractor?

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Central & South's September Property of the Month from Savills

If you are looking for a reliable contractor, you don’t want to simply trust online reviews.  There are now companies out there who you can pay to write positive reviews for businesses (scary!) and we all know that family and friends can spike reviews, so be cautious trusting these.

Furthermore, when I looked into Yelp, I found that negative reviews can be hidden by Yelp, and if you don’t look closely someone who has had complaints can look completely clean. Yelp also has had lawsuits by customers who complain Yelp puts pressure on them to donate to keep good ratings.  I have lost faith in Yelp, too.

I also don’t have much faith in the BBB and have written about that over the years as well.

And I tried Angie’s list and was highly disappointed.  When I hired  a major window company to install new windows and they committed fraud against me, I naturally gave them a negative review.  But guess what?  It never showed up.  Another expert I hired through Angie’s list came at a high price and tried to double the bill after the work was completed because I suspect he got away with it often. He didn’t realize I knew our state laws and knew such practices were illegal.  He quickly retreated and that ended my experiences with Angie’s List.

I’ve even tried the recommendations of good friends only to find they were not aware that they had been taken.

So what can you do to aid yourself in finding a good contractor?

I highly suggest typing in the contractor’s name that you are interested in, and adding the words “complaints”.

I did that this morning weeding through a list of roofing contractors and one of the best rated showed up as being under federal investigation for fraud by the FBI.  That’s no small investigation and immediately removed that candidate from my list.  Had I not done that, this contractor looked really good!

Contractors can also pay companies to remove negative information that comes up in search engines as well, so remember that.  The more homework you do on an contractor, the better your odds will be.  I try to turn over every stone possible when seeking someone to hire because there are no guarantees.

Finding trustworthy people today to do service is truly challenging–even for me!  It’s very easy to promise to do a good job, but have things change quickly without the homeowner ever being the wiser.

Thinking of buying a car? Watch out for sketchy loans!

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Know this…sketchy loans, like the ones with the housing market that affected millions a few years ago, are now occurring in the car loan industry!  Take notice or you could fall victim like people in the housing market did.  This article gives good guidelines on how much you should allow yourself to spending when budgeting for a car loan.

Sadly, the sharks are at it again, but if you read an educate yourself, you don’t have to fall victim!

 

Chicken Nugget Deception?

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Chicken Nuggets
Copyright by KBOX

Do you like chicken nuggets?  The kind you get at fast food restaurants?  Well, you might be surprised to read what scientists found they were made of when they studied nuggets from two national fast food chains.

If you were hoping for lean chicken meat or well meat, such as a thigh or leg or breast, you might be disappointed by reading this.  And if you love chicken nuggets, I don’t want to ruin it for you — so think twice about read this.

What scientists found was that chicken nuggets contain actually very little meat.

As NBC reports, “The first nugget was about half muscle, with the rest a mix of fat, blood vessels and nerves. Close inspection revealed cells that line the skin and internal organs of the bird, the authors wrote in the American Journal of Medicine.   The second nugget was only 40 percent muscle, and the remainder was fat, cartilage and pieces of bone.”

So, yes, you are getting chicken parts, but not exactly the meat.

Do you consider this to be deceptive?

Read more here.