Or...turn this
into this
or this
Posted on 04/15/2013 4:08:48 PM PDT by SMGFan
If you watch daytime TV or have been stuck watching daytime TV while visiting your parents, surely you’re familiar with The Scooter Store. The power wheelchair vendor has had some trouble lately, including accusations of Medicare and Medicaid fraud, a raid by the FBI, and even a lawsuit from the company’s hometown, of New Braunfels, Texas. The company laid off most of its employees, and plans to deal directly with health care providers, rather than blanketing the airwaves and selling directly to consumers.
Those investigations came after a scathing investigative piece by CBS News about the company. (Warning: the video at that link plays automatically.) Former salesmen and doctors who prescribed chairs in the past explained the company’s tactics: contact doctors’ offices incessantly to wear them down and convince them to prescribe scooters and power chairs whether the patient really needed one or not, and to depend on bureaucratic incompetence and error to get them approved by Medicare and Medicaid.
(Excerpt) Read more at consumerist.com ...
Or...turn this
into this
or this
"let's move!"
Exactly. I’ve watch those commercials for years and always knew it was about stupid people who wanted their stuff and didn’t care who paid. And, on the other side, the greedy people all to happy to exploit the law to make a buck.
The thing is, I assumed that they were at least being careful to keep it legal. Apparently not. Nail ‘em to the wall, I say.
They do work well on pain but fortunately they make me extremely nauseus ~ kills all the inclination to try them again.
You should check out the episode of Southpark where Cartman gets so fat he has to use a scooter to get around and his friends up tipping him in it.
When my Father was around 88, he had trouble getting around. He could get up in the morning and put his coffee on, go to the bathroom, shower etc. but could no longer drive etc. He was not at all obese btw.
Many years before, I had cut out a long hiking trail on his property. Mother and Daddy made a daily hike just about every day. When he could no longer make the hike about all he did was watch TV. I guess that was about all he could do.
He had Blue Cross and Blue Shield plus medicare and between them they paid for one of those scooters. He would take a trip around the trail on the scooter daily. He really enjoyed it. I had to build a ramp and also a bridge across his creek.
There was always the danger that he would get hurt but it was worth it. I do remember one day when I came over and he was not in. It turned out his battery had given out about a hundred yards from the house. I was able to push it far enough to get an extension cord (12 gauge wire) to it.
Finally got him home and bought a new battery.
Putting aside the indiscriminate use, the goal is to wipe out the bugs and leave no resistant survivors to multiply.
Absolutely. When I had my wisdom teeth cut.... Percacepts were prescribed. I had a hard time coming off of them.
Don't assume that every scooter you see was paid for by the government, or that everyone using one is a parasite.
Good story.
I would never make such assumptions, nor did I intend to imply that I believed that. My disdain is directed at those who literally disable themselves through their own actions and their own decisions and expect the rest of us to make accommodations accordingly. A lot of people have legitimate needs for such mobility assistance, as I indicated in this thread, my neighbor (whom I hold a tremendous amount of respect for) is one of them.
“When I had cataract surgery, about 10 minutes before they gave me something in the IV which felt great. All my aches and pains went away. Yep I would probably have gone on that permanently if they would have let me.”
I hear ya. I wonder if i could talk my dentist into the nitrous oxide when i get my teeth cleaned? LOL. Pipe a little SRV into my headphones, slap on the nasal cannula, and I’m happy, happy, happy.
Then you need a new doc
Mine never do that frivolously
Fat people are now disabled
Pet peeve of mine too
Thanks. This is NW Florida and the spiders would build a few webs across the trail just about every day.
I finally tied a small branch, really little more than a Y shaped switch to the front to clear the spider webs.
We learned that trick years before when he had a Honda 3, then 4 wheeler ATV. At that time his trail went back and forth over a mile, all within a 40 acre plot of land The ATV would ford the creek unlike the scooter.
A friend of mine who lived in Louisiana had his Father ride his scooter off a bridge and drown so the danger is real. I still think they had rather go out that way than just setting at home watching tv.
I had a painful experience and got prescribed several pain kllers. I couldn’t stand any of them. Dizzyness and stomach upset. Had to take them because the pain was bad but weaned myself off them in a couple of days. Wasn’t a good experience for me. I suppose most people get hooked when they really need them and build up the dependency.
I am lucky in that none of the pain killers bothers me except possibly Darvon.
I had been lying on a gurney for over half an hour. They had this assembly line where they would just roll the next one in. When I got that pain killer, I was really aching from lying in the same position for half an hour especially since I have moderate arthritis
When that shot hit, it was like going from aching all over to feeling like heaven all over. I am sure if I had an unlimited supply of whatever it was, I would definitely become an addict.
My wife got a Permobil C300 power wheelchair about two years ago. She weighs about 125 pounds. They seem to be solid and a lower profile than a Jazzy. Door molding and scrapes on walls? We don't worry about. We live in a double wide we ordered and I had as many doors as possible special ordered to standard house door width. A scooter is going to be about as wide as a wheelchair more than likely.
The best advice I can give you to save him, you, and your insurer, money and grief is get the full size chair and have a Physical Therapist measure him & order it. My wife's been in a wheelchair 28 years and we learned some bad lessons. Years ago with one chair we tried to go cheap. {she is a Medicare Medicaid patient but we try to keep cost down} So we ordered what was a smaller chair that was far cheaper. Very bad mistake. The first pressure sore it caused more than ate up all the monetary difference in savings if you understand what I'm saying. The chair must match the person sitting in it that is ehy most wheelchairs are custom ordered. The psychological aspect of having to lie in bed for four months till it healed was not good either. The next chair a Jazzy lasted about 10 years. The Permobil we are told should last 20 by then she'll be 80.
If you can have a Physical Therapist advise you on what his needs are and what can be obtained. They are the professionals and don't have any monetary interest in the decision process. They can even come in amd measure your home and do an assessment to use in ordering the chair. That's what they do besides helping actual therapy. They likely deal through one or several reputable dealers and can go from there.
IV Dilaudid, maybe? That's what they gave me when I had my ankle surgery. Good stuff.
Darvon was taken off the market because of alleged dangers. I don’t recall the specifics; this happened some years ago.
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