ABC-7 Listens: Mother says there are problems with El Paso Children’s Hospital

A mother reached out to ABC-7 after encountering issues with El Paso Children’s Hospital. She said the hospital’s statement to ABC-7 that its financial issues aren’t affecting patient care don’t ring true in her son’s case.

Rosie Adams pored over her handful of letters she’s sent to various administrators at the children’s hospital. All of the letters asking why her son’s outpatient care has been cancelled or rescheduled numerous times since the beginning of the year.

“I was told we can’t accommodate you on the weekends,” said Rosie, adding that they had eventually told her they couldn’t accommodate her weekday evenings, either. Those were the only times Rosie could take her son to the hospital because of her job.

Rosie’s son Nathaniel, 13, has Hunter’s Syndrome — a disease that leaves him dependent on a weekly enzyme infusion to ultimately keep his liver and spleen from growing too large.

“He hasn’t received his infusion since October,” Rosie told ABC-7. “I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s almost like patient abandonment. I made calls, emailed letters, and nobody was able to help me.”

She reached out to ABC-7 after hearing an interview with the children’s hospital’s chief nursing and operations officer, Elias Armendariz, on ABC-7 in November. Armendariz was commenting on the hospital’s financial problems.

“We feel we have not seen … anything that we’ve done by reduction in expense that has affected patient care,” Armendariz had said.

Rosie disagrees.

“It affected one. It may be one, but Nathaniel is still a patient.”

Children’s spokeswoman Susie Byrd told ABC-7 the hospital had re-evaluated its business plan once it began having financial issues. Byrd said the hospital found that insurance providers were not reimbursing the hospital, or in some cases, passing costs on to patients, if outpatient care was not provided in outpatient clinics.

In a statement to ABC-7, Byrd added, “This change is better financially for both the hospital and families. When we made this transition, we worked with all families to accommodate their schedule. We are sorry that we were not able to accommodate Ms. Adams’ schedule, but we are glad that she found an option that works for her and Nathaniel.”

Rosie’s option was to move her son from EPCH to another hospital. In her mind, it was a good decision: Nathaniel was scheduled to receive his infusion Wednesday.