Some Grady dialysis outpatients run into early snags

By Shelia M. Poole and Craig Schneider
cschneider@ajc.com

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Just days after Grady Memorial Hospital closed its outpatient dialysis clinic, some patients are running into snags getting alternative care.

Dorothy Leone-Glasser, an activist with Grady Advocates for Responsible Care, said she’s heard from about half a dozen patients who were told they could not get dialysis treatment at Fresenius because their names were not included on a list from Grady, they had not been screened by a physician or that they didn’t have payment vouchers for service. Fresenius has a contract with GMHC to provide dialysis care for three months.

Fresenius could not be reached for comment.

“This was one of my biggest concerns,” said Leone-Glasser. “I can’t help but think the patients will fall through the cracks.”

Adejumoke Abner, who lives in College Park, said she called the Fresenius location close to her home and was told she had to be screened by their doctor before they could give her dialysis. When she called the doctor’s office, she was told she needed to get a payment voucher from Grady.

“I’m definitely worried,” she said. “ If I don’t get my treatment ... I don’t know what I will do.”

Karla Miranda, whose 78-year-old grandmother is a dialysis patient, said there was initially a mix up in location, so when she called the first site her grandmother’s name was not on the list. Her grandmother is now scheduled for treatment.

Matt Gove, a Grady spokesman, said while he could not comment on specific patients, no one is required to be screened by a doctor prior to being admitted into a Fresenius location. “If they were told that, it is incorrect,” he said. Additionally, he said patients do not require any kind of voucher or referral slip from Grady.

Gove urged people having problems to call the Grady hotline number provided to them.

“I can understand any anxiety people might be feeling about small issues that need to be ironed out,” he said. “But they should all know that we are committed to providing this care.”

Meanwhile, a lawyer representing patients filed an amended complaint in Fulton County Superior Court last week. The complaint against Grady Memorial Hospital Corp. names Reina Andrade and Anabel Quintanilla as lead plaintiffs and alleges that by closing the outpatient clinic, the corporation breached its contract with the Fulton-DeKalb Hospital Authority for “significant curtailment of the current major service lines or historic mission of Grady Hospital.”

It also contends patients were denied the guarantee of due process under the state constitution.

“While arguably there was no recognized constitutional mandate requiring the Grady Dialysis Clinic to provide outpatients dialysis treatment” to the plaintiffs and others “the curtailment of the existing life sustaining treatment, if undertaken with the consent of the Fulton-DeKalb Hospital Authority amounts to state action regulating life,” according to the complaint.