So angry with my DME....

[debo415]

Back in March, my machine broke and my DME replaced it with another one....It was a different machine and when I questioned it, she told me it was just an updated model. That night when I went to bed, I was unable to adjust my mask without having to tighten it severely. I complained to the DME and they made adjustments, but she swore that it was set up as the doctor had ordered. I've been struggling with leaks since then and had been forced to add a chin strap to my already abused face. Well...I went for my six month check up with my sleep doc yesterday. He requested I bring in my machine so he could download data and when he was going over the report, he looked perplexed. He asked when was the last time my DME called me for data checks and I realized it had been since before I had the machine failure. Turns out not only was my machine totally different....the settings were WRONG.....My data indicated that I had been having an average of 25 CENTRAL episodes per night!!!! Needless to say, my doctor was making a phone call to them as soon as I left the office......Turns out they never even told him that they had changed my machine.....nor had they told him about my issues with the pressure. Guess it was my fault....I trusted my DME! UGH!

[kempo]

Time to look for a new DME. I just hate lazy,lying, incompetent people. Especially when they are entrusted with your health needs.

[mrnetwurm]

My DME did not set up my machine correctly either. Fortunately, I was able to learn (here) how to
get into the machine and set it up myself.

[debo415]

I realize that we need to take personal responsibility for our health, but I guess I come from an age where you trusted your providers....because THEY have the education and know how....Ohhhh how wrong I was! I should have known something was wrong the minute I spotted that "tramp stamp" on her backside when she bent over LOL! J/K....I know that has nothing to do with her intellect.....Just trying to find some amusement from an almost disastrous situation....

It just amazes me that she wouldn't know the difference between a machine that automatically adjusts the pressure and one that doesn't. No wonder I thought that mask was going to blow right off of my face! Not to mention the fact that the repeated leaks and nightly noises were beginning to affect my hubby's sleep....Five months of HELL......

BUT....the good news is that it is fixed...and looks like I'm going to be finding a new DME.

[Mary Z]

What a lesson! Good luck. Hope things get better now that the machine is adjusted correctly. This just shows (among other things) how important it is to be able to check your own settings and to read the users as well as clinical manual for the machine. You need to study them.
Of course what happened was in no way your fault. I trust my DME and lucky for me he's a good one.

[Pugsy]

should have known something was wrong the minute I spotted that "tramp stamp" on her backside when she bent over LOL! J/K....I know that has nothing to do with her intellect.....Just trying to find some amusement from an almost disastrous situation....

Love it.

Glad you can joke about it and glad it was no longer than 5 months. So sorry it had to happen at all.
You've learned an expensive lesson.

[DoriC]

Glad you got it straightened out! No one cares more about your health than you do so you have to question everything and everyone unfortunately! Trust no one! Keep us updated!

[Janknitz]

The best part of this story is that the doctor is going to contact the DME and give them what for. That's really important because they want to continue getting referrals from this doctor, so they will bend over backwards to appease him. If you complained yourself (and you should, IN WRITING, cc'd to the agency that oversees DME's in your state) they will think you're just a disgruntled patient. The doctor they will actually listen to.

It's so hard to have to be on top of people who should know their job. When my daughter was in kindergarten, the lens got knocked out of her glasses and broke, so we had to have it replaced. They were teaching reading, and I noticed that she was turning her paper SIDEWAYS to read. She had a "lazy eye" so I thought that was the problem, but I requested the school district pay for her to be evaluated by a vision therapist. Of course, the school didn't want to pay for that, but to appease me they offered to have her vision tested by the school nurse "as a first step". I had to acquiesce. Luckily, the school nurse was a licensed nurse practitioner and she had a fancy computerized vision testing machine. She quickly figured out that the lens in my daughter's glasses did not match her prescription. They filled the rx for the other EYE and put it in that side--she couldn't see out of that eye at all with her glasses on. DUH--that's why she had to turn the paper sideways. But how was I supposed to know??? She floundered for three months before we discovered this. Once the lens was corrected, her reading skills really took off. She's a great and voracious reader now.

[archangle]

It's getting to where going to medical "professionals" is as bad as going to an auto mechanic.

[Otter]

It just amazes me that she wouldn't know the difference between a machine that automatically adjusts the pressure and one that doesn't. No wonder I thought that mask was going to blow right off of my face!

So you were prescribed an auto machine, and she gave you a straight bilevel machine as a replacement with the maximum settings from your prescription as the fixed pressures, jacking your average pressure up several cm and causing centrals? This is amazing considering how most DMEs make such a big deal out of how terribly dangerous PAP therapy is. Perhaps that part of her training was overridden by the dictum to avoid giving out auto machines because they are slightly more expensive.

Five months of HELL......

Given that switching fixed for auto is a common DME profit booster, and there would be no way to enter your doctor's prescription into the machine you got as a replacement, this does not seem like an honest mistake. I'm not big on lawsuits, but you may have a tort case there if you want to pursue it.

I never thought about it before, but what do DMEs usually do about the settings when a doctor prescribes an APAP pressure range and they send the patient home with a CPAP instead?

[Fitness Seeker]

So am I as well as the sleep clinic I'm working with.

I called my DME today since the resident at the sleep clinic told me that i might need to look for 'alternatives' to the apap if it's not helping me. So i had to call the DME to find out what type of timeline we're talking about. I asked her if somehow i'm really unable to use the machine, then what can i return and will i get all my money back? Heck no. Basically, my insurance is a rent to own (10 months). So they'd take the machine back, and wont' charge the monthly fees anymore; however ALL THE STUFF I HAVE i've got to keep. What the heck am i gonna do w/ a humidifier and supplies (totalling $325) if i won't have a machine?! I was charged $122 for the humidifier. Hoses, and all supplies i'd have to keep. I don't even know if the mask i was given is a "demo" since it was given to me w/o a sealed bag.

[debo415]

Thought I'd share an update. I got a phone call last Friday from a new person handling my account for the DME. Not only am I getting a new machine, the girl formerly responsible for my account and who was responsible for this mess has been fired. I hate that someone had to suffer as a result of my situation, but the ramifications of what she did could have been much worse for me. I only wonder how many others she has done this to.

[Lizzzabeth]

Don't lose any sleep (very precious to you) over someone being fired for not doing their job in a competent fashion. She is better off looking for different employment if she made such a fundamental error, and either lied to you or was not sufficiently well trained to realize she was doing a patient an injustice and possible harm. What if her next error caused someone a serious medical complication? She's better served finding a different field. I would ask to see the qualifications and training of the next person assigned to my account.

Beth

[Otter]

Thought I'd share an update. I got a phone call last Friday from a new person handling my account for the DME. Not only am I getting a new machine, the girl formerly responsible for my account and who was responsible for this mess has been fired. I hate that someone had to suffer as a result of my situation, but the ramifications of what she did could have been much worse for me. I only wonder how many others she has done this to.

Is she an RRT? It seems likely to me that the real problem is not so much the woman who gave you the wrong machine and settings as the people who trained her -- or didn't bother. From my own experience and reading the forums, the general level of CPAP knowledge among DME employees seems pretty low. Don't get me wrong; there are some good ones. But given the state of the industry in general, maybe what happened to you isn't all that surprising.

[DoriC]

It I never thought about it before, but what do DMEs usually do about the settings when a doctor prescribes an APAP pressure range and they send the patient home with a CPAP instead?

We were given an M Series PLUS with a fixed pressure of 13, RX written by sleep dr(who we never saw). I refused it, went to our own Primary who wrote a new RX for M Series Auto but left the same fixed pressure,and gave us the name of a local DME. They couldn't take the order for the auto unless the Dr wrote in a range of pressures which he did and we got the auto the next day. I would imagine that if a range of pressure is prescribed, then the Dr wants an Auto for that patient.