My mother was under the care of Dr. Alex De Moraes at The Meadows Of Napa Valley Skilled Nursing Facility while convalescing from surgery for a small bowel obstruction.
While the most alarming incident -- involving verbal abuse -- occurred just before her discharge, there were other episodes of negligence during her stay there that can be attributed to Dr. De Moraes.
During her stay at the facility, my mother was having very severe breathing problems related to chronic heart failure and post surgery complications. Dr. De Moraes was very resistant to input from both family and cardiologist regarding my mother's heart failure-related breathing issues that are relieved by diuresis. He was extremely upset that I was advocating for urgent attention to this matter and he complained vigorously when I consulted with my mother's cardiologist from UCSF and asked her to call him. The first time Dr. De Moraes spoke to my mother's cardiologist, he denied any signs of fluid overload in my mother and rejected the possibility that this could be causing her breathing issues. Based on my experience as her main caregiver and, seeing that her breathing continued to worsen, I contacted my mother's cardiologist once more and asked her to please call Dr. De Moraes again to try to get him to begin diuresis urgently. After speaking to the cardiologist the second time, Dr. De Moraes finally proceeded to prescribe a version of the recommended treatment. However, Dr. De Moraes refused to administer the medication in the correct dosage and manner and, had my mother complied with De Moraes' dosing, it would have been in great excess of what has been determined as the maximum dosage she can tolerate without experiencing acute kidney injury. My mother, knowing this, was able to refuse the quantities that Dr de Moraes had prescribed and instead she took the medication according to her cardiologist ongoing recommendation. Soon the diuresis began and within 24 hours, her breathing began to improve dramatically.
After a few days at The Meadows Skilled Nursing, my concern was increasing about the care of my mother was receiving under Dr. De Moraes and so I began to make plans for her discharge early the following week.
Beginning on Saturday afternoon, my mother began having painful spasms and cramping in her rectum and anus. After multiple telephone calls to the facility alerting them of the situation and suggesting that they evaluate her for a fecal impaction, the head of nursing examined her late Sunday afternoon and consulted with Dr. De Moraes. I assume they concluded she had hemorrhoids because De Moraes prescribed Hydrocortisone cream which was administered 16 hours later. All day Sunday, all day Monday and all morning Tuesday, my mother was experiencing waves of spasms and cramping every 15 to 20 minutes and would cry out in pain with each of these episodes. I continued to make contact Head Of Nursing by phone and was told that the doctor had decided the plan of treatment and that I should not continue to interfere.
Finally, on Tuesday morning when she was about to be transferred back home, I insisted that they not release her without the doctor examining her. O was told he
Had already seen her but actually that was before the fecal impaction symptoms emerged. So I insisted they allow me to speak to the doctor directly by phone. He became very upset with me, calling me the worst family member he had ever had to deal with and saying that I was creating a "barrier of care." I told him that I was acting out of love for my mother and that I was very concerned that she was suffering from a severe fecal impactation and did not think it was a good idea for them to release her from their care without addressing the acute condition and determining whether or not she was in any danger. At that time he made several threats about refusing to discharge her and cutting off our ability to communicate by FaceTime during the rest of her stay (this is all taking place during the Covid-19 crisis and visitors are not allowed into the facility). He finally agreed to examine her and within five minutes was in her room.
Upon examination, my mother was found to be fecally impacted and the impaction was cleared. She was then discharged and transported home. The pain did not come back and has not come back since. Her 48 hour ordeal was now over. However during the process Dr. De Moraes proceeded to verbally abuse my mother calling her the worst patient he had ever had, a disgusting person and other such things, and saying that she "didn't deserve to be alive."
My mother has been very upset in the time since she experienced this abuse. Her memory of the constant waves of excruciating pain, the negligence and the doctor's verbal abuse run through her head throughout the day causing her a great deal of PTSD-like distress. She has had several nightmares involving the doctor as well. read more