Fighting for Mobility

By Christopher Nobriga

My name is Christopher Nobriga I am 36 years old. In October 1989 I sustained a Brainstem injury in a MVA, which rendered me paralyzed from the shoulders down and wheelchair bound for LIFE. Others like me depend on our customized electric wheelchairs for all forms of mobility, safety and quality of life. Like many others my injuries leaves me with numerous medical issues. A wheelchair that could be customized to address my INDIVIDUAL medical issues has to be sought out.

The search for my wheelchair took me months. At that time, I resided in a Nursing Facility in Upstate New York. From the initial time of contact with the wheelchair company until I actually received the wheelchair a period of 1 year and 2 months had passed. After the wait, there were issues that had to be corrected and these issues took time. Below is a list of problems with my customized wheelchair that I waited over a year for. Please remember, this was custom made specifically for me.

1. The first day I received the wheelchair, the charger required a 15amp fuse; it came with a 10amp fuse.0 days to fix.

2. The wheelchair was programmed to be EXTREMELY sensitive when turning left.0 days to fix.

3. The foot straps were to short. 0 days to fix

4. The chin cup was made out of plastic, which made it slippery. Nothing I could do at that point.

5. The chin cup was too small. The company sent a larger one but it was made of black foam and turned my chin black, thus I covered it with a plastic bag. Not much more I could do.

6. A shoulder strap broke. {If I were standing when it broke I would have fallen out of my wheelchair}. This happened within the first 5 days.

7. The part that supports the back broke TWICE. {If I were standing when it broke it would have snapped my back in half. This took 7 business days to fix each time.

8. The battery has malfunctioned TWICE. The company mailed me new ones. It took 10 business days each time

9. The cable to my chin cup has malfunctioned TWICE. It took 7 business days each time for that repair.

10. The bolt for my chin cup mount became stripped. (I use vice grips and super glue to hold it.

11. When I came to a complete stand still and I change my mode to recline the whole chair goes down. This took 7 business days to fix.

12. The cable running from the battery to the chin cup malfunctioned. (This made the wheelchair unsafe to operate. This took 7 business days to fix.

13. The right motor burned out. This made my wheelchair inoperative for three weeks.

June 30, 2000 I was driving uptown and my wheelchair literally died. My aide had to push me all the way back home in manual.

After all of these problems the company FINALLY took the wheelchair back to Arizona and performed a completely overhauled my wheelchair. This took two months. What an inconvenience. Operating my manual wheelchair caused great suffering for me in my back and buttocks. Since the return of the wheelchair, the foot plates continued to rubb on the front tires. OK, so remember that the company overhauled it so that it would be like new again. It wasn't even old when they took it back. Since they returned the overhauled wheelchair I have had the following problems:

1. The Velcro on my neck became worn and will no longer stay attached. (This is on-going now)

2. The Velcro around my waist that holds the chin-control became worn and will no longer stay attached. (This is on-going now)

3. The Velcro around my feet which holds my feet to the foot plates became worn and won’t stay attached. (This is on-going now)

4. The cable to my chin-cup malfunctioned for the THIRD time. This took 7 business days to fix the first two times and is on-going now)

5. The Actuator Lighting Module malfunction. (This caused my wheelchair to run into a MOVING VEHICLE almost breaking my toes)

6. The battery charger malfunctioned and wouldn’t charge my wheelchair. (This is on going now)

7. The chin-cup malfunctioned. This made me smash into a vehicle almost breaking my foot. (This also caused my wheelchair not to charge or work correctly) (This is still on-going, but so far my wheelchair has been inoperative for 3+ weeks as of June 3rd, 2002)

I called the company. They replied by saying, "call a local vendor." Which I did; they will do the work and bill Medicaid for the labor and parts. But, I have to bring my wheelchair to them. My wheelchair is stuck in the standing position, which makes it impossible to get out of my home. Medicaid will not pay for the companies’ mileage to come here. Thus, I called Medicaid to get approval for them to pay for a rental wheelchair. Medicaid said, "OK." But, when I called a local vendor, I was told that my primary insurance is Medicare and Medicare won’t pay for a rental wheelchair. So, I’m back to square one! I called the original wheelchair company to get a date when they could send a wheelchair technician to work on it. But, they never replied to my phone calls.

Now, I have filed Chapter 18 Section 505.5 of the NYS Medicaid Rules & Regulations. (Lemon Law for Wheelchairs) I am waiting for a definite date for my hearing. This concludes my story. I hope no one else has to endure this much "run-around"!!!

Christopher Nobriga