Courts Charge Mother of 555-Pound Boy

[WeeBeastie]

That's awful! Sometimes dentists won't work on small children unless the child is sedated at the hospital. Did that include some kind of special sedation? Sounds like a lot of money!

It did... and they billed us for another $1000 for 'unforseen treatment needs' two weeks later and refused to see her for her follow up unless we paid. Medicaid fully covered all of the hospital charges.

Unfortunately, this is going to become 'normal' for her. The adult teeth she has coming in are more than twice the size of the space her baby teeth will leave because her jaw has not grown 'as expected'.

 

[sallylou]

Wow! I'm sorry about that. I hope that her gums are healthy and once her permanent teeth are in she has no more problems.

 

[A]

It did... and they billed us for another $1000 for 'unforseen treatment needs' two weeks later and refused to see her for her follow up unless we paid. Medicaid fully covered all of the hospital charges.

Unfortunately, this is going to become 'normal' for her. The adult teeth she has coming in are more than twice the size of the space her baby teeth will leave because her jaw has not grown 'as expected'.

You'll need to get an insurance if this going to be a norm. But find a dentist who can slightly sedate your child in their office. It is alot better.

I know an autistic who is about 10 years old, and he still have to be sedated in the hospital for teeth cleaning. I can't imagine how expensive that can be for the mother.


I'm beginning to think she may got the wrong dentist for him.

 

[sallylou]

I wouldn't have a child sedated in a dentist's office. Most pediatric dentists won't do it. Ours would only use laughing gas in the office. Sedating of a child should be in a hospital setting.

 

[WeeBeastie]

You'll need to get an insurance if this going to be a norm. But find a dentist who can slightly sedate your child in their office. It is alot better.

I know an autistic who is about 10 years old, and he still have to be sedated in the hospital for teeth cleaning. I can't imagine how expensive that can be for the mother.


I'm beginning to think she may got the wrong dentist for him.

She has insurance now. Husband was unemployed at the time so we had no other options.

Also, given the extent of the work she had/has to have done, I would much rather she be hospitalized. Cleanings and checkups are fine, but oral surgery and multiple extractions at one time are too much for a young kid. Go to the hospital, go to sleep and get it done all at once. Do it at the dentist office and it's several visits of an hour or more, which she will be awake for and fully remember. At the hospital she can be sufficiently sedated and have her pain managed much more safely than at a dentist. I'd really rather not force her into a phobia at 5-6 years old by putting her through all that trauma.

If it were just filling a cavity because she didn't floss well enough, that would be one thing, but this is not preventable. Making it as low stress as possible is the best thing for her. She lost her first tooth recently. We're waiting to see if the adult teeth will push the overlapping baby teeth out of the way prematurely (unlikely) or if we'll have to extract to make room.

As for your friend with the Autistic son, I really think this is the best way to go. Many Autistic kids get absolutely combatant for things like this and there's no way to talk them down. Many don't even have the capacity to understand, let alone cooperate.

 

[A]

I wouldn't have a child sedated in a dentist's office. Most pediatric dentists won't do it. Ours would only use laughing gas in the office. Sedating of a child should be in a hospital setting.

That's probably what it was. She wanted him to keep him calm. Anyway, I just didn't like the hospital setting at all. The dentist he previously had told me he didn't have the equipment to do it so that why he had to have it done in the hospital. He had teeth decay that had to be pulled. His current dentist had to pull a teeth because of an absess but she did it in her office using gas to calm him down. But I was with him when they had this done because he was more comfortable with me there.

 

[rockin'robin]

Try finding a dentist that takes Medicaid. 99% refuse patients who have Medicaid - won't even see them for a cleaning unless they pay cash up front, and a cleaning is NEVER just a cleaning. There is no dentist within 100 miles of us that takes Medicaid patients. The closest one has a 4-6 week wait for basic services, longer for more complicated procedures.

My daughter was refused urgent dental care even with Medicaid coverage. We had to pony up $1200 before they'd work on her. Thank goodness for generous family.

That is totally unacceptable!...Have you tried ur County Health Department? Here in Duval County, they accept Medicaid, even for adults. They also give you a long list of Dentists that will accept Medicaid in ur area.

 

[WeeBeastie]

That is totally unacceptable!...Have you tried ur County Health Department? Here in Duval County, they accept Medicaid, even for adults. They also give you a long list of Dentists that will accept Medicaid in ur area.

Yep. There are no dentists to list in our county. I called more than 30 offices and they were eager to make an appointment until they asked about insuance and I said Medicaid. Nearest is Milwaukee (or at least it was 18 months ago). We now have a dental assistant program at the local community college who will see people for exams and cleanings, but any actual work needs to be done at a regular office. Don't know their feelings on Medicaid as we no longer rely on it.

The problem is the amount the states reimburse the dentists for their work. The dentist charges $1000 for a procedure, but the state only pays $100. Dentists refuse to be under-payed so they refuse folks on assistance. Because dentistry isn't generally a life or death field (and if it is you go to the hospital anyway) they are not required to serve those who are on assistance or uninsured like hospitals.

 

[yizuman]

Yep. There are no dentists to list in our county. I called more than 30 offices and they were eager to make an appointment until they asked about insuance and I said Medicaid. Nearest is Milwaukee (or at least it was 18 months ago). We now have a dental assistant program at the local community college who will see people for exams and cleanings, but any actual work needs to be done at a regular office. Don't know their feelings on Medicaid as we no longer rely on it.

The problem is the amount the states reimburse the dentists for their work. The dentist charges $1000 for a procedure, but the state only pays $100. Dentists refuse to be under-payed so they refuse folks on assistance. Because dentistry isn't generally a life or death field (and if it is you go to the hospital anyway) they are not required to serve those who are on assistance or uninsured like hospitals.

Greed at work!

There isn't a human heart when it comes to money being first.

Yiz

 

[Berry]

Doctors, dentists, lawyers, contractors, I made an entire list one time. Many of them received school loans from the government they never paid back: They should devote a percent of their time, !0% perhaps, to those people and institutions who cannot normally afford their services.

 

[Dixie]

When I worked as a cashier at Walmart the 1st and 15th of every month was WIC and Foodstamp day when those on assistance would receive their monthly or bi-weekly allotment of funds to purchase foodstuffs.

Some of the things people on FS could purchase absolutely baffled me. $20 worth of candy purchased on FS, 10 2 liter bottles of soda, chips, cookies, pastries, Kool-Aid, etc. Then when it came to WIC the only thing they can purchase was 2.5 gallons of skim milk, 32oz of Cheerios, 2 bags of WIC approved beans (not many people like beans), WIC-approved cheese, frozen WIC-approved juice concentrate, and occassionally WIC-approved baby formula.

I say we need to put WIC and FS under the same program and revamp it to where you can only purchase certain items such as 2.5 gallons of water for drinking, 2 loafs of bread, low-fat lunch meat, 1 gallon of milk, 5 lbs of fruits, 5 lbs of vegetables, WIC-approved baby formula in certain circumstances where the mother was not able to lactate enough breast milk for the infant, certain ingredients for cooking such as baking soda, Bisquick, or Bisquick-like mix, low-fat butter, low-fat cheese, 1 dozen eggs, 2lbs of high protein lean meat such as raw poultry breast/tenders. 32 oz of Cheerios.

Items that need to be banned from FS are:
Chips, cookies, sodas, candy, prime-cut steaks (yes I have seen people purchase steaks with FS), RTE foods from the Deli, sugars, salts, condiments such as ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, etc.

And instead offer toiletry vouchers for the cheapest store-brand toiletries such as toilet paper, toothbrushes, shampoo, soap, toothpaste, hairbrushes, etc.

I don't know how the food-assistance programs got so easy to abuse but it does need a serious revamp. And families receiving such assistance should undergo a quarterly review by a case-worker, instead of the current 6 month to annual review of assistance. This way those who are abusing the system will be caught up with sooner and those who really need it will be able receive assistance as this will free up funds.

 

[Miss-Delectable]

Also, given the extent of the work she had/has to have done, I would much rather she be hospitalized. Cleanings and checkups are fine, but oral surgery and multiple extractions at one time are too much for a young kid. Go to the hospital, go to sleep and get it done all at once. Do it at the dentist office and it's several visits of an hour or more, which she will be awake for and fully remember. At the hospital she can be sufficiently sedated and have her pain managed much more safely than at a dentist. .

I agree with you. I was an adult when I needed 4 wisdom teeth removed. I refused to have that done in a dentist practice, so I had it done at the hospital. Much better. Less trauma. Don't have high tolerance for pain.

 

[Bebonang]

You are off topic, ADers.

This is about a 555 lbs 14 years old boy. This is nothing to do with dentistry or Medicare. I still think he had a problem with eating disorder and he need help. I don't know if he manage to get out of bed or couch which is very hard to do to raid his refrigerator to get at his food. Like I said I don't know anything going on at their home. If his mother love him and spoil him, then they both need help with taking care of the boy's health. I don't think that they should be separate unless he was abuse or mistreated.

 

[Babyblue]

She is on a limited income and cannot always afford gas.

Food costs money.

Something here I'm not understanding.

Food stamps perhaps??

 

[jillio]

Doctors, dentists, lawyers, contractors, I made an entire list one time. Many of them received school loans from the government they never paid back: They should devote a percent of their time, !0% perhaps, to those people and institutions who cannot normally afford their services.

I couldn't agree more on this one. I personally work for the agency that I chose because they are the only agency in the area that will see indigent clients. They are the ones in the most need of assistance, and can't access the help they need. Personally, I feel, in my profession, I have an ethical obligation to do a certain amount of pro bono work. I would love to see more of it going on.

 

[inmate23]

maybe the us needs to follow in nz footsteps

There should be a stamp just for toothpaste and all that. maybe have debit type of card that have a dual purposes. (we have make sure they don't use up food stamp for other things)

here in nz we have a debit card for food and household products that can at the major supermarkets and fruit shops.

and you can spend $10 on junk(at 1 store) and $20 fruit(at another store) and $30 cleaning products(at a third store) the eftpos card code(to charge social services) is the last 4 numbers written on the card

 

[sequoias]

Food stamps perhaps??

Yes, that's what I think too.

 

[Steinhauer]

Junk food is a lot cheaper than healthy food. Just a FYI..

not if you grow it yourself.

This is the story of a friend of mine and what he did to lose weight. He was Billy Bob in the movie Varsity Blues.


http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/ron_lester_interview.htm

he suffered from depression and ate food for comfort.


The last time I saw him, he ran up and gave me a vice grip bear hug and lifted me up off the ground. He is shorter than me, weighs 159 pounds but is strong as hell. I forgot he was carrying around over 500 pounds of weight daily, that was why he was so strong.

 

[jillio]

not if you grow it yourself.

Here's a thought. Volunteer some time through your local Jobs and Family Services Dept. teaching low income individuals how to grow a successful garden. You have a skill. Use it to benefit those less fortunate than yourself.

 

[somedeafdudefromPNW]

not if you grow it yourself.

Er... not really. When you calculate the hourly wages... it's not. When you start calculating how much of your time gardening could be used toward working at a job... you realize that home-grown vegetables and pork are actually expensive compared to those companies that factory-farm produces.

Problem is..

I don't know where the hell you guys are living that fresh produces is more expensive than junk food?