S04.E12: Dialysis and DaVita

[Athena]

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Other segments: Dismissal of James Comey, Bill English

 

[Lantern7]

Spaghetti. On pizza. Why didn't John bring in Jon Stewart to rank on the prime minister of New Zealand for ten solid minutes? I thought pizza and politicans was the perfect J-Stew lure. The cutaway to other disgusting pizzas was nice. "A pizza topped with 27 DVDs of 8 Mile . . . because fuck you."

I never go to Taco Bell. I'm not into cheese unless it's mozzarella on a pizza.

ETA: I'm okay with the concept pineapple on pizza. But pineapple with spaghetti? Who the hell eats that?!? "Pregnant women" is the only thing that comes to mind. Wouldn't the Geneva Convention outlaw that?

[Traveller519]

John's low-key "cool" gets me everytime.

[TVcritic]

I'm not surprised. It's all about money in politics again. Don't shuffle money down big companies' throats but support healthier living, give poor people access to healthier food, educate them about it. No wonder the diabetes numbers are skyrocketing. Those 2 big dialysis companies certainly have a field day with making money off the plight of sick people. Oh, and concerning kidney transplants: kidney donors in third-world countries are still a thing. 

It's always the same: money in politics (and bribing doctors ...)

Edited May 15, 2017 by TVcritic

[OneWhoLurks]

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Mr English hasn't watched the video yet, but said on Monday afternoon said: "I'm not all concerned about it".

"It may assist New Zealand's international profile and help tourism and trade, and even relationships with the US," he said.

 

John Oliver launches attack on Bill English

[meowmommy]

I don't think the studio audience got the reference to Home Alone at the end of the pizza clip.

The Medicare.gov ratings, for any and all health care facilities, have been and always will be useless.  

I am slated to start a new job as a dialysis nurse, for one of the Big Two, in a week.  Should be interesting.

[Milburn Stone]

Is Bill English a bad person, besides having weird taste in pizza? I tuned in sometime after the rant had started, and that was the only conclusion I could come to. What else could justify such an evisceration? (Or was I supposed to get that it was "all in fun"?)

[meowmommy]

10 minutes ago, Milburn Stone said:

Is Bill English a bad person, besides having weird taste in pizza? I tuned in sometime after the rant had started, and that was the only conclusion I could come to. What else could justify such an evisceration? (Or was I supposed to get that it was "all in fun"?)

I thought the sin came when the interviewer asked him about LWT and he said that John wasn't often funny.

[iMonrey]

I honestly could not watch the piece about dialysis, I just couldn't. Gave me the wiggins.

[peeayebee]

6 hours ago, meowmommy said:

I don't think the studio audience got the reference to Home Alone at the end of the pizza clip.

Uhhh, maybe I missed it. What was the reference?

 

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I am slated to start a new job as a dialysis nurse, for one of the Big Two, in a week.  Should be interesting.

Wow. What a coincidence! Hope all goes well. Do good!

My favorite part of the show was after the quote from English where he said John wasn't funny, and then John buttons his coat slowly and says, "You really want to do this, Bill?"

[meowmommy]

31 minutes ago, peeayebee said:

Uhhh, maybe I missed it. What was the reference?

Of course now I've forgotten, but IIRC, the voice-over guy used the line from Kevin's gangster movie about keep the change, you filthy animal.

[Victor the Crab]

As a Canadian citizen, I would just like to say: "Ollie, you trying to do a Canadian accent sucks moose balls, eh? We expect an apology from you in a-boot six days for when you tape your next show, eh?"

And I'm with Lantern7 in suggesting Ollie bring in Jon to fire breathe all over that pizza genocidist Bill English. Eating pizza with a knife and fork seem quaint and cute when compared to that blight on nature, pineapple and canned spaghetti on a pizza (btw, pineapple itself on pizza is a blight on nature IMHO!). Why not? It's on HBO, so Jon can let loose with all the swear words to his heart's content without worrying about his language being bleeped.

[cpcathy]

Jon Stewart is too busy trying to boost Colbert's ratings.

[lavenderrose]

That pizza was disgusting and it pained me to see that. Overall it was a good show and I love that he talks about obscure topics.

[Quickbeam]

I love Oliver's interest in all things Kiwi.

I had hoped John would get into some of the other issues in dialysis care.....wheeling in people with profound dementia, some not even conscious. When I started in nursing, most hospitals capped dialyisis at age 40!!!! Now we have swung crazily in the other direction, bringing in 90 -100 year olds with dementia  who have zero chance for recovery. 

[AlwaysWatching]

Unfortunately, for me, I'm one of the unlucky ones who has to spend three days a week at a DaVita Dialysis Clinic.  I have a disease called PKD, which is big old painful cysts that overtake your kidneys.  I had known for years that dialysis was coming. This disease cannot be stopped. 

I hate it, but I have tried to make the best of my time sitting in that damn chair.  Also, it does get to you at times when people automatically assume that because I'm a bit overweight, some actually from the cyst around my stomach, that I am there because of diabetes or something I could have controlled.  I have to admit, that Oliver's investigation into this place has me more depressed than ever.  Not only do I have a nurse that is more worried about her schedules and how good her numbers look, but the techs are totally stressed out.  She also speaks very little English and what she does speak is almost unintelligible - and I am very good with accents. There is constant tech turnover, so you never know who is going to be sticking you.  Every day you just hope for the best.

They also don't usually watch patients machines for any kind of mess up.  I've seen them almost lose people because they hadn't checked them out in awhile and they were close to being dead. The machines have all kinds of loud warning bells on them, which is a good thing I guess, but the techs just wait to hear all the ear piercing warning signals and decide who they want to check out first.  It's sure best to have some good noise canceling ear phones or you might start going deaf.

I've given a lot of thought to in home dialysis.  But, that takes some money, I think. 

Anyway, I do thank John Oliver for exposing things like this.  It's too bad nothing can be done.  Huge profits are all that matter.

Edited May 15, 2017 by AlwaysWatching
I did want to add, that I'm certainly glad that I can get dialysis. Not quite ready to leave just yet. ;)

[peeayebee]

Yikes! I'm sorry you've actually experienced all that.

 

2 hours ago, meowmommy said:

Of course now I've forgotten, but IIRC, the voice-over guy used the line from Kevin's gangster movie about keep the change, you filthy animal.

Ah yes. I caught that. 

 

2 hours ago, Victor the Crab said:

As a Canadian citizen, I would just like to say: "Ollie, you trying to do a Canadian accent sucks moose balls, eh? We expect an apology from you in a-boot six days for when you tape your next show, eh?"

Well, I'm not Canadian, but it sounded good to me! Before he said anything about the accent, I was thinking, "That's pretty accurate!"

[SuburbanHangSuite]

So I've never seen The Man in the Iron Mask but I have to wonder if it's as corny as that clip would lead one to believe?  And if so, how does it happen that Jeremy Irons, Gabriel Byrne, Leo DiCaprio, John Malkovich and Gérard Depardieu make such a sucky film??  Leo in that mask looked like The Gimp in Pulp Fiction.

I don't think I've ever heard a more accurate description of 45's behavior than "a toddler taking a shit on the salad bar @ Ruby Tuesday's."  Cool. 

Stay strong, AlwaysWatching.  My dad got off the dialysis rollercoaster when he received a kidney and he's been doing well.  If transplantation is an option for you, may you find a match but quickly.   #WhenIDiePleaseTakeMyKidneys, indeed!

[Victor the Crab]

1 hour ago, peeayebee said:

Well, I'm not Canadian, but it sounded good to me! Before he said anything about the accent, I was thinking, "That's pretty accurate!"

Ollie sounded like a Scandinavian trying to impersonate a Canadian.

Our best to you, AlwaysWatching.

[Hanahope]

Another good insight into a little known subject.  I knew as soon as the asshole showed up in costume that he would be a greedy fuckard.  I'm sure he makes millions while giving substandard care to patients.  That the company could afford a billion dollars in fines, settlements and attorneys fees, says it cuts costs significantly elsewhere, in care and wages. 

But showing that it was Nixon that actually tried to do something good for people was the real shocking bit. Nixon is looking better and better. 

[purist]

16 hours ago, meowmommy said:

I am slated to start a new job as a dialysis nurse, for one of the Big Two, in a week.  Should be interesting.

Wow. I wonder if you'll have to sign a confidentiality agreement in regard to the company's methods.

Thanks for your post, @AlwaysWatching. Stay well.

[vibeology]

13 hours ago, absolutqt said:

So I've never seen The Man in the Iron Mask but I have to wonder if it's as corny as that clip would lead one to believe?  And if so, how does it happen that Jeremy Irons, Gabriel Byrne, Leo DiCaprio, John Malkovich and Gérard Depardieu make such a sucky film??  Leo in that mask looked like The Gimp in Pulp Fiction.

As someone who was once one of those teenage girls John mentioned, it's not as cheesy overall as that clip made it look but it's not a great movie. It should be better considering the talent involved but even then as a 13 year old in love with Leo, I knew I was watching a middling movie at best. Like if you need something to watch on a rainy weekend and its on, it's watchable.

14 hours ago, peeayebee said:

Well, I'm not Canadian, but it sounded good to me! Before he said anything about the accent, I was thinking, "That's pretty accurate!"

It was not. I do not sound like that and neither do most Canadians. It was very over the top. There are people down East with that type of accent but even then John's was too broad and at the same time too clear to be accurate. Somehow the stereotypical Canadian accent is some sort of Maritimes/Newfoundland hybrid despite that only representing a small part of our population. It's be like if a Boston accent was the default for an American accent.

[attica]

13 hours ago, absolutqt said:

And if so, how does it happen that Jeremy Irons, Gabriel Byrne, Leo DiCaprio, John Malkovich and Gérard Depardieu make such a sucky film??

The writing. The writing and the godawful hair extensions. The writing, the godawful hair extensions, and DiCaprio's bad accent work. The writing, the godawful hair extensions, DiCaprio's bad accent work, and Depardieu behaving like he's in a completely different movie. (Still: Irons is pretty sexy in his Jesuit garb and sword.)

[Rlb8031]

My dad (who passed away at 85 in his dialysis chair) used to get up at 5 am to be the first one at the center. He swore that the early gang got the best service from the techs and had the most restful sessions. Having watched this I can see what he was talking about.

I'm a little torn however about how the techs were shown, because while they are overworked and overwhelmed, many of them do develop relationships with their patients. My dad   was too old to be transplant eligible, so he was forced to undergo treatment weekly as a way to manage his kidney disease. He was lucky in that he got his treatment at a center connected with our local hospital and his nurses and techs (who had treated him for over ten years) were a great bunch of folks who even showed up at his funeral. Having said that fuck that CEO. Anyone who says delivering healthcare services is the same as running a Taco Bell has absolutely no business being CEO of anything more complicated than a lemonade stand. 

[Shermie]

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I do not sound like that and neither do most Canadians. It was very over the top. There are people down East with that type of accent but even then John's was too broad and at the same time too clear to be accurate. Somehow the stereotypical Canadian accent is some sort of Maritimes/Newfoundland hybrid despite that only representing a small part of our population. It's be like if a Boston accent was the default for an American accent.

Sing it. I know it's in jest, but like you said, it would be like if we said all Americans sound like the hickest hick in the Deep South. 

And good God, dialysis clinics for profit? What kind of f'd up country is the alleged "greatest country in the world"? 

[OneWhoLurks]

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DaVita added that "our teammates are passionate about delivering high-quality patient care and enabling our patients to live fulfilling lives."

"We will continue to advocate for our patients and invest in our teammates and our culture," the company said.

Fresenius (FMS), a German-based owner of dialysis companies that was also mentioned on the show, was not immediately available for comment. Shares of both companies fell Monday though.

 

John Oliver eviscerates one of Warren Buffett's favorite companies
 

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In California, a bill is moving through the legislature to mandate annual inspections of dialysis clinics, safer staffing levels and more time between patients to allow them to recover and for staff to sanitize equipment to reduce infections, the second-leading cause of death for dialysis patients. The bill has passed two committees in the State Senate and a vote by the full Senate is expected no later than June 2. More than 500 dialysis workers, patients and allies are expected to attend a May 23 rally in support of the bill at the state capitol in Sacramento, Calif.

Currently, dialysis clinics in California are inspected on average every five to six years, while nursing homes – and even restaurants – are inspected every year.

 

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Dialysis workers regularly report low staffing levels and say it threatens patient care. Eight states already have minimum staffing levels in dialysis clinics: Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas and Utah.

Dialysis workers in California are trying to form a union with SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW) for safer working conditions, and stronger worker and patient protections. To learn more about the campaign, visit www.morethannumbers.org.

 

Nation Swarms to HBO’s John Oliver Expose about Problems Affecting Dialysis Industry, reports SEIU-UHW

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While Oliver called for better oversight of the for-profit dialysis business, as well as improved incentives for kidney transplants, and health care "to keep out of dialysis in the first place," there's one more option that he didn't mention. And in the next few years, it could do away with dialysis entirely. Two words: bionic kidneys. The University of California San Francisco has been working on an artificial kidney for several years, and they are hoping to start human trials this year. If successful, the replacement kidney could do away with both the need for dialysis and transplants. Read more about the Kidney Project here. 

Hey, John Oliver: This bionic kidney could do away with dialysis entirely

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While most publicly traded companies put forth a massive amount of money to remain in the public’s eye, something the wrong kind of attention can be miserable. Just ask shareholders of dialysis company Davita, who watched their DVA shares tumble 6% on Tuesday when word of semi-celebrity John Oliver’s Sunday night rant railing against the company’s ethics went viral.

Why Dicks Sporting Goods Inc (DKS), Rite Aid Corporation (RAD) and Davita Inc (DVA) Are 3 of Today’s Worst Stocks

Edited May 17, 2017 by OneWhoLurks

[dusang]

"semi-celebrity" BWAH HA HA HA!!!! John would love that.

[TudorQueen]

He would because he does enjoy belittling himself! It's one of his more endearing qualities.

[Biosynth]

On ‎5‎/‎15‎/‎2017 at 6:20 PM, Victor the Crab said:

As a Canadian citizen, I would just like to say: "Ollie, you trying to do a Canadian accent sucks moose balls, eh? We expect an apology from you in a-boot six days for when you tape your next show, eh?"

 

LOL, I thought he sounded more Irish than Canadian!

[OneWhoLurks]

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Calandra paints a similar picture. "Most of DaVita's patients are Medicare or Medicaid recipients," she maintains, "and since they can't charge as much for them as they can for private insurance patients, they're forced to cut labor and keep staffs lean — and to pressure their employees to do work off the clock. They say they have a policy that any work has to be done within a forty-hour work week, but they've made it impossible to do because of the chronic understaffing. So they're putting these workers into a really, really awful position — saying to them, 'You have to get this done.'"

And what needs doing is important. As Calandra points out, "you've got to remember: These patients have kidney failure. They're not kind of sick; they're really sick. If you don't get dialysis, you die — it's that simple. So these employees have patient-care safety issues. What person wants to kill someone? What nurse wants to lose their license because someone has died or gotten hurt?"

 

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"We're not talking about small numbers here," Calandra stresses. "If I can prove they intentionally did this for two or three years, that's a lot of wages. And it really is wage theft. You're stealing someone's wages if you're taking their work for free. And that's what they're doing, to try and keep their labor costs down."

In the meantime, Calandra is grateful for Last Week Tonight. In her words, "It was a lucky situation that Mr. Oliver did his report and shed light on all this."

 

Latest DaVita Lawsuit Echoes Charges in John Oliver's Last Week Tonight Takedown

[Hanahope]

5 hours ago, OneWhoLurks said:

Most of DaVita's patients are Medicare or Medicaid recipients," she maintains, "and since they can't charge as much for them as they can for private insurance patients, they're forced to cut labor and keep staffs lean

and many private insurance carriers take advantage of this too, so cut their own costs.

[AlwaysWatching]

On 5/16/2017 at 3:37 AM, purist said:

Thanks for your post, @AlwaysWatching. Stay well.

I'm really late getting back to this subject and I apologize for not thanking all you wonderful people for your good wishes.  I haven't told anyone in my family that I am on dialysis.  There's only a nephew and a niece and some cousins, but we are not in contact and if you tell someone your kidneys are shot, well, some people think you are asking for a kidney. Ha! It happened with an old friend of mine.  She kept saying she would donate one of her kidneys because we were childhood friends.  Sorry to say, that I didn't believe her. I was right. Her son talked her out of it before we even did any tests. That was at least four or five years ago. 

On 5/15/2017 at 9:31 PM, absolutqt said:

Stay strong, AlwaysWatching.  My dad got off the dialysis rollercoaster when he received a kidney and he's been doing well.  If transplantation is an option for you, may you find a match but quickly.   #WhenIDiePleaseTakeMyKidneys, indeed!

I'm so glad your dad got off that rollercoaster and got a great kidney!  Since I made my original post here, my renal doctor has started me back on the kidney transplant work up.  So, I guess maybe talking about it here gave that push I needed to actually think about a transplant again. 

I did want to comment about the techs.  I've only seen one bad one. One that obviously didn't care, and I think she was getting ready to leave the job.  Most techs are so hard working and they do know they are working with very sick people.  I've also heard patients who are having mental problems scream and scream the whole time they are there.  They cuss out the techs and the nurse and anyone around them.  It can be a very depressing and stress inducing experience for everyone in the dialysis clinic.   When I come off, when they take the needles out, I should have a tech that is only concerned with me for at least ten or fifteen minutes.  They will have one tech left ( I'm a late in the afternoon person) to take down however many people are there.  Three can come up at once for one tech.  He or she will run from partly doing me, to partly doing someone else and the patient, usually me, because I treat them very kindly and say I can wait, ends up spending even more time in that damn chair. I actually had a bedsore for awhile.  Anyway, my tech right now, is new and he is very upset about this situation but has decided people will just have to wait. He was terrified of making a mistake if he rushed through us all. 

Ok! I'm done talking about my DaVita experiences. Ha! Thanks again for the well wishes and thanks for letting me finally talk about my journey. Have a great day and please chalk up all my grammatical errors on the infamous dialysis brain. ;-0

Edited May 22, 2017 by AlwaysWatching

[iMonrey]

Finally forced myself to watch the dialysis piece and just have to say, anyone who thinks there's nothing wrong with unbridled capitalism should have to watch this piece. 

[Brandi Maxxxx]

19 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

Finally forced myself to watch the dialysis piece and just have to say, anyone who thinks there's nothing wrong with unbridled capitalism should have to watch this piece. 

I assume what we saw in this episode is Paul Ryan's version of porn.

[Totale]

But this isn't unbridled capitalism, not when so much of it is sucking on the public teat.  Try removing Nixon's subsidies and substituting a ACHA-style death panel (sorry, I meant to say "high risk pool") and see how those fuckers like it.  But no, single-payer apparently works in this instance.

[OneWhoLurks]

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LOS ANGELES, May 25, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Dialysis corporation DaVita fired a 16-year employee less than one day after he gave a moving speech at a May 23 rally at the California State Capitol in support of legislation to improve patient care, safety and staffing at 562 dialysis clinics throughout the state.

"Davita and Fresenius are putting us workers in a position to fail," said Emerson Padua, a dialysis patient care technician, before 400 dialysis patients and healthcare workers. "When I started in the industry 21 years ago, it was all about patient care. Now they have us so short-staffed, that I'm like a part-time janitor, part-time social worker, part-time dietician and part-time inventory technician."

DaVita fired Padua May 24 via a phone call – for alleged policy violations – and three other employees at the same clinic in Riverside, Calif. In response, a labor union – SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW) – filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board. Dialysis workers in California have been trying to join SEIU-UHW since last year, and have been met with fierce resistance by their employers.

 

DaVita Fires Employee One Day After Speaking at State Capitol in Support of Bill to Improve Patient Care, reports SEIU-UHW