Kathie Gagne died 4,513 days ago.
Today was the one week anniversary of the death of my mother.
A couple of my friends called me and left me voice mail messages.
I went on a seven mile run in the rain.
I can’t believe I’ll never talk to my mom again. I’ll never get to hug my mom again. I’ll never hear her voice say my name again.
I called Dr. Allen Cusack of Cusack Mortuary at 5:45 PM EDT. He was unavailable, so I left a message with someone there and asked him to return my call when he could.
Dr. Cusack called me at 9:30 PM EDT and — even though he is clearly a very busy man — talked to me for thirteen minutes. He is a very gentle, kind, and caring person. I explained to him that the Volusia County Medical Examiner was refusing to perform an autopsy, so I was going to be forced to hire a pathologist and do it privately.
He assured me that my mother’s body was safe and at peace and that his staff would not let anything disrespectful happen to her, and I trust him.
At 3:42 PM EDT I received a phone call from (847) 241-3200, an Illinois phone number. It was Mary in the billing department at RxPerts Pharmacy. I gave her my last name and my mother’s name and she was happy to discuss my mother’s bill with me.
I did not inform her that my mother died on Sunday. I asked her if she had a summary of my mother’s bill for the month of August and she said she did. She then told me that she did see that her company fulfilled an order for a one-month supply of Risperidone (60 pills) on August 7th.
I asked her if she could email me a copy of the August invoice detailing that and she said — after making sure I understood that the month was not over and there would surely be more charges added to it — that she would have one of her employees do that. I gave her my email address, thanked her, and said goodbye.
The entire call lasted four minutes.
I called the (352) 955-5015 number for the State LTC Ombudsman listed as an “Advocate for Residents” in the batch of paperwork that Rosa Rivera at Woodland Terrace sent me.
The line rings and you get that annoying noise and then a canned message that states that the phone number has been changed.
I called the new number — (386) 418-2106 — and that number went to an automated voice mail box. I left my name and number and asked for someone to call me.
I called the cell phone number I have for Dr. Peele. He didn’t answer, of course, so I left him a message and asked him to return my call.
Chris Boden called me from the office of the Volusia County Medical Examiner. The number on my called ID displayed as (386) 736-2700 and for a moment I was hopeful that it might be Dr. Hermann calling to tell me there had been a mistake. But, no.
Chris told me, “Our office made contact with Dr. Peele and he is willing to sign the death certificate.” I asked him if he personally spoke to Dr. Peele and he said that, no, it was one of his co-workers who spoke with him. I asked him if he knew why Dr. Peele would suddenly change his mind and he said he did not.
Then, strangely, he asked me, “You know Dr. Hermann is our chief medical examiner here?”
I answered, “Yes. Why do you ask?”
Chris replied, “I just wanted to make sure you know.”
I thanked him and said goodbye.
The entire call lasted about two and a half minutes.
I called Detective Whittier of the Deland Police Department to get a status report, but he didn’t answer. I left him a voice mail.
I called RxPerts Pharmacy this morning. I had received a bill from them at my home in Los Angeles; I have to assume that someone at Woodland Terrace gave them my address. I tried the phone number on one of the forms in the admissions packet from Rosa Rivera, (813) 740-1818. From their voice prompt system I chose the option for the billing department and was connected to Maureen.
Maureen told me I’d need to talk to someone in their corporate office. She offered to connect me, but also gave me the phone number (847) 583-1717 in case I got disconnected or the transfer didn’t work. I waited on hold for about a half dozen rings and then got the voice mail box of someone named Mary in the corporate billing office.
I left my name and phone number and asked her to return my call.
I received a phone call at 11:00 AM EDT from (386) 425-4580. I didn’t recognize the number and answered the phone by simply saying, “Hello?”
The woman on the line said, “Hello. I’m trying to get in touch with Kathleen Gagne,” and my heart just dropped.
I said, “This is David Gagne. How can I help you?”
She said her name was Nancy and she was calling from the business office at Halifax Health. I asked her if the 4580 number was hers and she said that the phone system there masks everyone’s phone numbers; her real phone number is (386) 425-1136. I asked her why she was calling and she said that — because of HIPAA regulations — she could only discuss the matter with Kathleen Gagne.
I told her that I probably knew more about HIPAA than anyone else in her office, that I am Kathleen Gagne’s oldest son, that she is unable to speak for herself, and that — in the absence of surviving parents and without a spouse — Florida state law considers me a de facto legal representative for her.
Mary said that may be true, but she was only allowed to speak to Kathleen Gagne directly. I asked her if she was calling about a hospital bill and she said she was, and that she wanted to help my mother make arrangements to pay it, but she couldn’t tell me any more than that.
I told her that my mother died on Sunday, so she should probably be safe not to worry about any privacy concerns.
Mary apologized for my loss and said that she would make sure I was not contacted again about my mother’s bills. I asked her if she could tell me what the outstanding balance was and she said it was $62,036.50. She repeated, though, that it wasn’t my obligation to pay that and she was sorry to have bothered me.
I thanked her and said goodbye.
The entire call lasted seven minutes.
I called Dr. Hermann, the chief medical examiner of Volusia County, with the intent of begging her to reconsider or at least to explain how her office could so absurdly claim that my mother died of natural causes and therefore her death did not warrant an autopsy.
She didn’t answer her phone, of course. I left her a desperate voice mail message explaining why I was calling. I recited my name and phone number, repeated each three times, and closed by saying, “Please, please, please, Dr. Hermann. Please return my call.”