[Nfbc-info] I need a lawyer

Mon Jul 10 21:36:40 UTC 2017

You would file the complaint with Delta Dental as they are actually the dental insurance provider.
Chuck	

-----Original Message-----
From: NFBC-Info [mailto:nfbc-info-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Lauren Merryfield via NFBC-Info
Sent: Saturday, July 8, 2017 11:17 PM
To: 'NFB of California List' <nfbc-info at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Lauren Merryfield <lauren at catlines.com>
Subject: Re: [Nfbc-info] I need a lawyer

Hi,
Would I file a complaint with Kaiser or with Delta Dental? Do you know where else I could get dental treatment and be able to be on a payment plan?
Thanks,
Lauren

Blessings in Jesus’ name!  
Deuteronomy 32New Living Translation (NLT)
32 “Listen, O heavens, and I will speak!
    Hear, O earth, the words that I say!

2 
Let my teaching fall on you like rain;
    let my speech settle like dew.
Let my words fall like rain on tender grass,
    like gentle showers on young plants.

3 
I will proclaim the name of the Lord;
    how glorious is our God!

4 
He is the Rock; his deeds are perfect.
    Everything he does is just and fair.
He is a faithful God who does no wrong;
    how just and upright he is!
Advice from my cats:"Meow when you feel like it." 

-----Original Message-----
From: NFBC-Info [mailto:nfbc-info-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Charles Krugman via NFBC-Info
Sent: Saturday, July 8, 2017 4:36 PM
To: 'NFB of California List' <nfbc-info at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Charles Krugman <ckrugman at sbcglobal.net>
Subject: Re: [Nfbc-info] I need a lawyer

What insurance is paying for your dental care? If it is through MediCal or in this case DentiCal or some other managed care provider you can file a complaint with the insurance provider or DentiCal. The other option is to try to find a different provider other than Western Dental as they have always had a questionable reputation throughout the state especially for people who are poor or on DentiCal. Many  legal aid programs have staff that address health care and public benefits issues such as assisting in hearings and appeals.
Chuck

-----Original Message-----
From: NFBC-Info [mailto:nfbc-info-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Lauren Merryfield via NFBC-Info
Sent: Saturday, July 8, 2017 1:14 PM
To: 'NFB of California List' <nfbc-info at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Lauren Merryfield <lauren at catlines.com>
Subject: [Nfbc-info] I need a lawyer

Hi,

I just keep having one discriminatory experience after another. We need to do something about Western Dental. They are refusing to see me unless I come in with a “caregiver.” They insist that I can’t sign papers, even though I’ve told them I can and do. They say I wouldn’t know what I was signing to which I say they can tell me. But that  isn’t good enough for them. The managing dentist is relaying to the receptionist that there are legal issues when I come in alone. I told her there are legal issues if I am required to bring someone in with me. 

In the meantime, I have 3 teeth that are infected and one is abscessed and they’re refusing to do any treatment. They magnanimously said they had set me up with a surgeon on July 20 but that I have to bring someone with me or they can’t do the procedure. 

Tim? Chuck? Anyone else? Can you puh-leez help me? I don’t think it says in the ADA that we are required to have someone with us. I wonder if it says that we are *not* required to bring someone with us. 

This Judith said it was like the deaf, who bring in an interpreter; I need to do the same. I said that there was nothing wrong with my mind and that I didn’t need anyone to “interpret” the paperwork; that they can tell me what it says. She said there are legal ramifications to that.  

I got the name of the problem dentist and the receptionist’s name in case I need them. I don’t know if we need to do something with this particular office of Western Dental or go to the top. 

In the hospital, although I was ambulatory, they would not allow me to get up out of bed unless someone was with me. When I got up anyway, they wrote a report on it. I had so much trouble getting discharged both times I was in there in April due to infections. 

Please, will someone help me with this? I am getting tired of various entities requiring me to have someone with me for this and that. That isn’t how I live. I don’t have anyone at my beck and call. I don’t have a live-in caregiver. I don’t need all of that; it isn’t how I live. It isn’t how most blind people live that I know of. I know that many blind people have family, friend or hired caregiver to accompany them, but I only have someone come in once a week. We run errands and sometimes do dr. apts, but I don’t usually set up my apts to coincide with her being there. 

I told Judith that other offices were not requiring me to have someone with me; that office staff read the forms, or tell me what is on them and that I sign them. 

She just repeated her litany, not even listening to me at all. They are assuming that if you are blind, you are also mentally retarded, or whatever they call it now. 

I’ve had it with this stuff. So Social Security took my money from me, assigning me to a representative payee, after I was hospitalized because someone told them I couldn’t handle money and I did not have a legal guardian. I fought that and have my SS coming back into my account, but that was humiliating. I had two interviews with ss. The first one was patronizing, custodial and condescending. For example, she asked “what makes you think you can handle your own money when you can’t see?” I told her that I had managed it for years and years. 

At the second interview, the woman, a different one, agreed with me that lack of confidence in the capabilities of the blind was behind all of this and she would do what she could for me to get my money back. 

I feel like I am reinventing the wheel and this wheel is getting pretty worn. 

I don’t think people ought to get away with all of this stuff, one thing after another. Evidently, the climate in the Sacramento area is that of expectations that blind people all have a caretaker or legal guardian or other sighted person who is with them constantly. That isn’t how I live the life I want. I wouldn’t want someone around all the time. And I certainly do not need someone around all the time. 

Thanks,

Lauren Merryfield

Blessings in Jesus’ name!  

Deuteronomy 32New Living Translation (NLT)

32 “Listen, O heavens, and I will speak!

    Hear, O earth, the words that I say!

2 

Let my teaching fall on you like rain;

    let my speech settle like dew.

Let my words fall like rain on tender grass,

    like gentle showers on young plants.

3 

I will proclaim the name of the Lord;

    how glorious is our God!

4 

He is the Rock; his deeds are perfect.

    Everything he does is just and fair.

He is a faithful God who does no wrong;

    how just and upright he is!

Advice from my cats:"Meow when you feel like it." 

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