"Eyes For Lies" Renee Ellory

My Thoughts on Joan Rivers

September 5, 2014/19 Comments/in consumer advocacy, consumer protection and safety/by Eyes for Lies

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…

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?

September 3, 2014/9 Comments/in consumer advocacy/by Eyes for Lies

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.

My Thoughts on Baby Wilson’s Parents

September 1, 2014/19 Comments/in missing pesron, unsolved crime/by Eyes for Lies

When I watch Taniasha Perkins plead for her baby, I see a lot of things that raise my eyebrows. While there is no doubt that Taniasha is feeling stress, the question is does she know more than she is saying?

I believe so.

While she acts like she is sobbing, there are very few tears streaming down her face considering her displayed intensity, which is highly notable to me. She doesn’t have puffy eyes indicating that she’s been crying heavily either. She also gasps for air, but without a flood of tears, this makes no sense. And she does it repeatedly.

She says, “My family loves my child.” If you notice she doesn’t say “I love my boy…Delano”. She doesn’t call him by name, which shows distancing.

I’m troubled how she whines that she and the baby’s father worked really hard to provide for their child. The baby was only one month old! And she’s complaining about what she sacrificed for the child?? She tells us she went and got a job for the baby two days ago. This seems to be a big problem, if you ask me, caring for this child. It’s something that needs to be looked at closely.

It’s interesting to me she wants the public to “tell the truth where her son is”. How can the public do that? Why would she think of “telling the truth” if her baby was abducted? It makes absolutely no sense, but I suspect she knows someone needs to tell the truth here. That is the truth!

When I listened to baby Delano’s dad’s 911 call, his story is absolutely absurd to me. He calls in the most calm voice ever which makes absolutely no sense given what he says happened. He has zero urgency in his voice, and first says that he has been robbed and pistol whipped, but not “hurt like that”. Only second does he say someone took his daughter, and then corrects himself to say son. Oops. In order of importance, I think we all know what comes first and it isn’t being robbed.

Second, if someone is going to abduct a child, I find it very odd that they would take any time to rob someone. If they want a baby, they want to get away fast. It’s very unlikely they will take the time to rob someone. And according to Willie, he wants us to believe they changed motives….they “intended to rob him” but oops, took the kid instead! None of it makes sense…

I find it flabbergasting that he tells us, “I’m laying in the middle of the street.” He isn’t crying out in pain or anything, but he can’t get up out of the street? And remember he said that he isn’t “hurt like that”.

Do you see the inconsistencies? They are numerous and abundant.

I love how he calls the abductors and violent offenders a “male” and the other a “lady” — such dignity for someone who just abducted his child!!

Seriously?

Then he says, “I just woke up from being unconscious.” Wow! But he’s not hurt “like that” — remember!

But he seems totally clear about everything considering he just got knocked out.

He told Fox 59 that the pair intended to rob him of his cell phone and wallet but took the baby instead, “That’s when he hit me knocked me down. I got the baby in my arms. That’s when I knew they were gonna do more because she didn’t do nothing because the man is constantly yelling at me telling me to empty my pockets, grabbing at my pants. All I could do is give him what I had. I didn’t wanna harm the baby.”

So now when did they pistol whip him and knock him unconscious?

It’s nonsense, through and through.

In one video on Fox 59, Taniasha is on camera but not speaking the press and her stress completely dissipates. She acts completely relaxed. It’s like she isn’t “on for the camera” anymore. If you truly believed your baby was abducted, your stress would not dissipate that quickly.

I believe both of these parents aren’t telling us what they know is the truth.