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28 °F Forecast | Road Cams Saturday, December 4, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend November 5, 2004 Bob Klein, with his wife, Louise, had to be flown to Bend for treatment because there were no neurosurgeons on call in Medford on the day Bob had a stroke. Mail Tribune / Jim Craven A stroke of bad luck With no neurosurgeons on call in the valley, an ill resident is airlifted to emergency care By BILL KETTLER Mail Tribune Bob Klein picked the wrong day to have a stroke. The 70-year-old Applegate Valley man had to be flown to Bend for treatment because there were no neurosurgeons on call in Jackson County on the day he fell ill. The three neurosurgeons who respond to emergency calls at Medford’s two hospitals announced in early September that they would no longer work on Thursdays and alternate weekends. Too much time in the emergency room, they said, left them with too little time to care for their own patients. Klein’s stroke happened on a Thursday. He doesn’t remember much of that day in late September. His wife, Louise, vividly recalls driving him to Rogue Valley Medical Center from their home near McKee Bridge, and the long wait in the emergency room while doctors tried to find a neurosurgeon who could evaluate the blood clot inside his skull. Advertisement "They treated him very well at Rogue Valley," she said. "It was just that there weren’t any neurosurgeons." Only neurosurgeons have the training and experience to decide whether stroke patients need specialized treatments that could be life-saving. Only a handful of Oregon hospitals still have neurosurgeons on 24-hour call every day. "They finally found one in Bend," she said Wednesday. "Mercy Flights took us to Bend." Louise Klein, 69, climbed into the airplane with only her purse and a kit of toiletries hastily assembled by RVMC staff. "I wasn’t about to let him go without me," she said. She spent the next four days in Bend while doctors monitored her husband’s condition. "It was scary," she said. "I was in a town where I didn’t know anybody, and I didn’t have any transportation." One of their sons drove from his home in California to Medford to pick up his mother’s car and drive it to Bend. Three other children traveled from California, too, when their dad’s condition seemed grave. "We didn’t know if he was going to live or die," Louise Klein said. Family members spent most of their time at the hospital, but they had to take motel rooms in Bend and eat in restaurants. "There was a whole lot of inconvenience," Louise Klein said. There were some big bills, too. The family spent more than $600 on lodging, and the cost of transporting Bob Klein from RVMC to St. Charles Hospital in Bend ran to four figures. Mercy Flights manager Ken Parsons said a typical charge for a Medford-to-Bend air ambulance could be $6,000, including $700-plus for the ambulance ride from RVMC to the Medford airport; $4,700 to fly from Medford to Bend; and about $600 for an ambulance ride from the Bend airport to St. Charles. Parsons said medical transport costs are often covered by health insurance if the patient is moved to get necessary care. Medicare and Medicaid typically pay about 80 percent of ambulance bills for elderly and indigent patients, Parsons said. For the Kleins, that means relatively low out-of-pocket expenses, because Bob is 70. "For somebody who didn’t have much money, I don’t know what they’d do," his wife said. After observing Bob Klein for four days, physicians in Bend decided the blood clot that caused his stroke would gradually disappear, and they sent him home. Their son Robert, who drove his mother’s car from Medford to Bend, had to rent a car to drive back to Medford to get his own car. A month has passed since the stroke, and Bob Klein has recovered enough to start driving again. As much as they love their home along the Applegate River, the Kleins aren’t sure they want to continue to live in an area where they can’t be sure that they can get the medical care they need. "It makes me uneasy and it makes me scared," Louise Klein said. "I could understand how a person who was prone to a condition like that wouldn’t want to live here." Number of airlifts increases Bob Klein isn’t the only person who has been airlifted out of Jackson County since neurosurgeons stopped responding to emergency calls on Thursdays and alternate weekends. Mercy Flights manager Ken Parsons estimated that as many as eight to 10 patients have been flown out of Medford for treatment that they could not get here. The lack of neurosurgeons also has reduced the number of patients that are transported into Medford’s two hospitals, Parsons said. Hospitals in communities such as Klamath Falls, Gold Beach and Crescent City, Calif., that used to send patients to Medford now send them to Bend, Eugene or Portland. "There’s been quite a ripple effect throughout the health-care system," Parsons said. "Sutter Coast (in Crescent City) goes to Redding. Gold Beach goes directly to Portland. Klamath Falls goes to Bend." Southern Oregon will face stiff competition when it comes to recruiting more neurosurgeons. Only about 125 new neurosurgeons will finish their training this year, but 350 left the profession in 2002 alone. Physicians say Oregon's medical climate also makes it relatively difficult to attract new physicians. High malpractice-insurance premiums, especially for specialists such as neurosurgeons, and low reimbursements from the federal government for Medicare patients put Oregon at a competitive disadvantage with other states. Reach reporter Bill Kettler at 776-4492, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Opportunities