Mom
20th March 2009, 16:33
Forgive the rant but I am madder than a mad thing that is really, really mad!
My mother has just received a letter demanding she proves she is elligible for publically funded health care in New Zealand. She is 79 years of age, permanent resident (granted in 1960), receives the NZ Super (she had to prove herself eligible for that too mind, fair enough) and for the past 8 years has seen the inside of a hospital many, many times. She is a cancer survivor, has had radiation/chemotherapy treatment, not to mention x-rays, tests, surgery who alone knows what else, all paid for by publically funded health care that she is entitled to.
She also suffers from radiation damage to her bowel, and has been and is extremely sick as a result. We were at Waikato Hospital on Tuesday, where she weighed in at a whopping 30 kgs! The hospital have lodged a claim for her to receive hyperbaric ozygen therapy at Devonport Naval Base (ACC Claim for medical misadventure, her oncologist said is standard and no problem to get) and she is also referred to another specialist at Waikato in a couple of weeks.
She is beside herself with worry and stress, exactly the opposite of how she should be feeling, after receiving this letter today. There has never been a question asked of her eligibility that I am aware of, she has been willingly if a bit slowly at times treated in the past. What idiot would send a letter out like that, her file is a foot thick at the hospital FFS, never been an issue before. How dare they question a dying woman that they have happily treated for years about whether she can prove she is eligible!
What a crock!
My mother has just received a letter demanding she proves she is elligible for publically funded health care in New Zealand. She is 79 years of age, permanent resident (granted in 1960), receives the NZ Super (she had to prove herself eligible for that too mind, fair enough) and for the past 8 years has seen the inside of a hospital many, many times. She is a cancer survivor, has had radiation/chemotherapy treatment, not to mention x-rays, tests, surgery who alone knows what else, all paid for by publically funded health care that she is entitled to.
She also suffers from radiation damage to her bowel, and has been and is extremely sick as a result. We were at Waikato Hospital on Tuesday, where she weighed in at a whopping 30 kgs! The hospital have lodged a claim for her to receive hyperbaric ozygen therapy at Devonport Naval Base (ACC Claim for medical misadventure, her oncologist said is standard and no problem to get) and she is also referred to another specialist at Waikato in a couple of weeks.
She is beside herself with worry and stress, exactly the opposite of how she should be feeling, after receiving this letter today. There has never been a question asked of her eligibility that I am aware of, she has been willingly if a bit slowly at times treated in the past. What idiot would send a letter out like that, her file is a foot thick at the hospital FFS, never been an issue before. How dare they question a dying woman that they have happily treated for years about whether she can prove she is eligible!
What a crock!