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March 6 of this year was a lot like plenty of other days for Foothill High sophomore Aman Deshmukh.
After school that day, the 15-year-old Deshmukh headed down to the track at Foothill for track-and-field practice, where he was working on the pole vault for the Falcons.
And soon his whole life would change.
Sometime during practice, Deshmukh went down the runway, planted the pole and launched himself in the air toward the bar. Somewhere along the way, things went wrong — very wrong.
“Aman had a clean jump, cleared the bar and landed in the landing area on the mat,” his mother Yogini Joglekar said, recounting what happened. But he landed badly, suffering a severe spinal cord injury, injuring the C4 and C5 of his cervical spine.
He was rushed to the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in Oakland, where he went through three surgeries to stabilize his spine.
While the surgeries stabilized the spine, the damage was done, leaving Deshmukh paralyzed from the neck down.
Now the rehabilitation begins, and it’s turned out to be a major issue for the family.
The family is insured by Kaiser Permanente, so ultimately the company will determine which rehab center they feel is best for Aman. Locally, that would be the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center (SCV).
While it is a highly regarded facility, the question is: Is that the best place for Aman?
Not to take anything away from SCV, but there are others who think there is another center that would be a better fit for Aman’s rehabilitation.
The doctors at UCSF who have taken care of Aman since the injury occurred recommend Craig Hospital in Colorado, a world-renowned rehabilitation hospital that exclusively specializes in neurorehabilitation and research for individuals with spinal cord and brain injuries.
The facility also offers Teen Rehabilitation at Craig, an adolescent-focused program for Craig patients provided during their stay. TRAC is a comprehensive and inclusive opportunity for teen patients and their families to empower each other during the rehabilitation process.
The program also fosters positive peer support, having the teens together to encourage each other.
It’s the same center where another Foothill student following a similar injury was assigned for rehab.
“We talked with the parents, and they highly recommended Craig,” Joglekar said. “You work together with other teens. It builds camaraderie and a support system.”
The problem is that Kaiser would need to recommend Craig as the best place for Aman — something they have done before with other patients. At this point, Kaiser has not done that for Aman and has opted to decide that Aman will be better served at SCV.
“They have said they are going to recommend what they think is the best place for Aman,” Joglekar said. “But they have not told us why Santa Clara, which does not have a teen specific section, is better for Aman.”
Both the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center acute care rehab and Craig are “out of network centers” for Kaiser and as mentioned before, Kaiser has recommended Craig before for patients.
But despite sending letters from experts that have been attending physicians at UCSF, which all clearly state Craig is best for Aman, there has been no explanation for why not Craig, other than the decision has “zero dependence on financial criteria, that it is driven solely by clinical factors”.
It is a mystery on so many levels. Follow along and draw your own conclusions.
A committee that has yet to care for Aman is deciding against the strong recommendations of the experts that have been treating him.
It seems like a slam dunk that Kaiser should be able to supply tangible evidence why they feel Santa Clara Valley is better suited for Aman’s rehab.
The family has responded to Kaiser with questions such as: “How do you plan to address the lack of crucial elements at SCV such as lack of a teen SCI cohort, lack of a dedicated schoolteacher, lack of appropriate therapeutic recreation options that Aman’s care physicians have highlighted are important for acute rehab for Aman? What is the clinical team’s concern about Aman’s respiratory state? Please provide specific information (website link, news articles, awards, brochure, etc.) of how SCV is the only respiratory hospital/rehab facility to serve Aman’s needs as you mentioned during the call.”
Thus far — crickets from Kaiser.
How does that make any sense?
Insurance companies in this country are taking a PR beating right now, and it’s easy to see why with the way Kaiser is handling this case.
It is almost impossible to believe Kaiser would be purposely ignoring what’s best for Aman but at the same time, when recommendations from doctors who have been treating him are being ignored, where else does that leave your belief system to go?
“He is working very hard every day,” Joglekar said regarding Aman’s current rehab work. “We have been told the first three months are crucial — we just want what is best for our son.”
If you are curious as to how you can help, other than sending prayers and support for the family, friends have started an online petition to advocate for Aman.
There have been thousands who have signed the petition from across the United States, and there have been numbers from outside the country.
It would be wonderful if as a community we could all come together, sign the petition, as well as find out if there are other ways to help.
I have always thought Pleasanton is a wonderful community and rallying together for causes such as this is one of the reasons I feel this way.
I hope Kaiser sees the light and does what is right for Aman and his family. Make sure to check back here each week, as I promise to provide updates as to what is going on.
Editor’s note: Dennis Miller is a contributing sports writer for Embarcadero Media Foundation’s East Bay Division. To contact him about his Pleasanton Preps column, email acesmag@aol.com.
