What are Medstar Surgical and St. Charles Hospital thinking?

While getting my old wheelchair repaired last week, I spoke with the vendor regarding a new chair. I learned several surprising facts.

First, if I change vendors, I'll need a new evaluation from the wheelchair clinic. No vendor will accept a nine month old evaluation. I had to wait three months to get an appointment at the wheelchair clinic last year. That would put me in June, an entire year after I started this whole fiasco. And then the paperwork starts all over again!

Second, Medicare won't accept an evaluation more than three months old. So how the hell did Medstar Surgical get my nine month old information approved? Were these the dates Medstar and St. Charles' wheelchair clinic have been talking about recently with me on the phone? Have my medical records been changed to cover their asses?

Most frustrating through all this is dealing with the daily back and neck pain I have. The whole purpose of getting a new wheelchair was to have a chair that provided better back and head support. Nine months later, I'm still in the same crappy chair.

Could I have gone with another vendor at any time? Of course. But every time I called Medstar or St. Charles, I was told the paperwork was almost done and delivery was imminent. Changing vendors would waste time as far as I knew. They all did a spectacular job of stringing me along.

Medstar Surgical continues to fail to take responsibility for it's fraudulent actions in supplying my wheelchair. I suspect there will be more to the story too, once I see my full medical record and what was submitted to Medicare.

St. Charles Hospital I believe fails to see it's culpability in the substandard care I have received through the wheelchair clinic. Allowing the antics of Medstar to occur under their watch is foolhardy at best.