Lack of Communication, Attention to Care at Confluence Health Cost Me A Kidney, One Woman Says
"We have this monopoly on our health care here and they're killing people," Olivia Drakes said
If not for Confluence Health’s lack of communication, attention to detail and staffing problems Olivia Drakes says she would probably still have both her kidneys.
Drakes is 48 and has had a chronic kidney condition for about 20 years. This condition gives her kidney stones, and for the last two decades she has been seeing the same urologist at Confluence.
As things started to get back to normal after the Covid-19 pandemic, in 2021, she went to see her primary care doctor and reported that she was feeling some pain and discomfort in her left kidney area. Drakes’ doctor said she’d call in a recommendation for her to see her urologist again and have an ultrasound done.
“If they had made my appointment when my primary put in the orders for them in May, I’d probably still have my kidney,” she said.
But she was never contacted about a follow up with her specialist, and wasn’t getting anywhere when she reached out.