Gina Babauta suffers from a rare neuromuscular disorder called Myasthenia Gravis. On Saturday, she admitted herself for her usual treatment at Scripps La Jolla.
Everything seemed pretty normal up until around dinner time. She waited over 40 minutes on the phone to place an order with the cafeteria.
“They answered and they said, 'We can’t help you, we aren’t taking orders,' and then hung up,” said Babauta. “I was like, ‘Wait what?’"
According to Babauta, cafeteria staff told her they couldn't accommodate her special diet because all instructions for what to prepare for her were lost in the computer. A ransomware attack locked Scripps Health employees and patients out of their online network on Sunday and the issue still hasn't been resolved.
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“She said, ‘Because you have a special diet we can't accommodate you,'” said Babauta. “We can only give you what we have and they gave me yogurt.”
Babauta had yogurt for dinner and was told she needed to have someone bring her food to get through the next day when they eventually gave her oatmeal.
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“I thought that they would figure it out,” said Babauta.
But the issues continued. Babauta was discharged on Sunday. She was set to return to the hospital on Wednesday to meet with her doctors to talk about her upcoming open heart surgery but the meeting was canceled.
“They said they would call me when everything was normal again and reschedule me,” said Babauta. “I don't know how long that's going to be because I thought this would’ve taken 2 to 3 days, not a week.”
A week of uncertainty has left patients like Babauta with no other option but to hope for the best.
NBC 7 reached out to Scripps Health for comment but has not heard back.
