The man I have been taken care of for nine years has been receiving cancer treatments from the Veterans Administration since 1991 and does not want to change his medical care.
Apparently the Polk County Board of County Commissioners have devised a way to gain control of elderly medical and financial situations without permission. And they are using a free meal service to do this.
=November 8 - Polk County Human Services=
A lady arrived at about 3:45 pm today from the Polk County human service. She said she wanted to know if any of the information they had since last year has changed in order to continue to receive the free meals. The forms she brought for John Butterworth included some things about his medical information. I made several attempts to ask the lady why the medical information was required for the free meals. She interrupted me each time and even said, "I stepped past my boundary." She was very rude and did not have a problem letting me know it. I did not get any direct answer to the question I tried to ask her. Why did she want so much medical information for some free meals? John said he was being taken care of by the doctors at the Veterans Administration. When John was signing the forms I asked her if we could have copies of the forms he was signing. She said we could have the copies. After John signed several forms she put them in a folder and gave us some other papers. I said these are not copies of the forms that he signed. She said yes they are then handed me some other papers and left. She lied. She was in and out of here in 10 minutes. Her actions were swift and deceitful. I read the forms after she left and discovered they were not just about the free meals. The writing on the forms included information on how Polk County authorities may collect written and verbal information from doctors.
This form states:
Polk County Board of County Commissioners may use Protected Health Information for the purpose of treatment, payment, and health care operations, in most cases without your written permission. For Treatment: We may give your Protected Health Information to other health care providers involved with your treatment and may transfer your Protected Health Information via radio or telephone to the hospital or dispatch center. For Payment: This includes any activities we must undertake in order to get reimbursed for the services we provide to you, including such things as submitting bills to insurance companies, making medical necessity determinations and collecting outstanding accounts. For Health Care Operations: This includes quality assurance activities, licensing, and training programs to ensure that our personnel meet our standards of care and follow established policies and procedures, as well as certain other management functions.
Mr. Butterworth only wanted the free meals. He does not want the Polk County government to make any decisions concerning his health or his finances. We decided we did not want their free food anymore. I called the number on the form (863) 534-5321. I first spoke with Leah Wilson and began to tell her what happened. She connected me with someone who is a supervisor named Alice Brown. I told Alice what happened and repeated what the lady said when she told me 'I stepped past my boundary' when a tried to ask her about the medical information concerning the free meals. I also said I had every right to ask those questions. Alice agreed with the fact that I had the right to ask the questions and apologized. Then I let Alice know she was not the one who offended us. It was the lady from Polk County Human Service who offended us in the living room. And I said we do not want the free meals or any of the services they were providing. The meals were not that good and they cut the service in half since last year. Then I asked her if she wanted to speak with John. She said yes. I was in the room at the time and heard John say he wanted them to cancel everything and he was being taken care of by the Veterans administration. He also did not want the free meals either. These actions are deceptive and can be very harmful if the Polk County decides to make their own decisions concerning medical treatments for others. John already has doctors who have been taking care of his cancer treatments. And we don't want any deceptive Polk County organization to have control over his current medical treatments or his finances. We still want copies of the actual signed forms that I asked for when the lady from Polk County was here. I can only wonder how many times the Florida Polk County services have taken such actions against the elderly in the guise of a free meal.
Michael KribbsLakeland, Florida
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