So, my father was admitted to St. Joes here in Phoenix back on 2/28 for a left temporal hemorrhagic(likely amyloid angiopathy) stroke.
MANY, many up's and downs later he got well enough to be released to a care center(believe me it has been Hell). He did not qualify for Skilled Nursing Facility - which would be paid for by medicare so mom and I had to look for a long term care home for him. They had him in the hospital over the allotted time frame and by the time they determined he was not able to go to SNF mom and I had been getting DAYS worth of calls threatening us with being charged the entire hospital bill.
So came the day that he was found not eligible: We were told that he HAS to be sent somewhere; and since he was diagnosed with dementia with lewy bodies while in the stroke center and is still confused he might qualify for Hospice. We met with the woman from Banner Hospice and our first reaction was to turn this down - she bothered us both somehow.
Social Worker/Case manager found out that we had declined and came and told us how great this option would be - that Banner Hospice would follow him wherever he went and would be like a second eye for us; how this hospice is only one of three in the state that has inpatient care units and they could take care of him for 3 -5 days and help both the hospital and us while mom and I looked into group homes. And once we get him into a home we could always choose to revoke hospice. The doctor even came and begged my mom to get him out of the hospital because he is too strong to stay - he will just get sicker being there.
We thought - welll... it will get people to stop yelling at us and it will get him someplace that will be quieter so he can rest better and get stronger while we search out a home for him. So we signed him in - under comfort measures(allowed to eat anything he wants and pain medicine if needed). He was placed in Serenity Inpatient.
The next day we got a call from the social worker Lynda telling us the Dr thinks he will be released the next day(admitted Tuesday afternoon, set to be released Thursday) so we went to visit him and all he could talk about was how hungry he was; we asked the nurse Jody/Judy about giving him food and she said the Dr. put him as nothing by mouth but he had been getting PEG tube feedings all day. We did not like it, but I didn't see the real harm - he is getting food/water from the PEG feedings and I am going to have to find a place by tomorrow because he is doing to well to stay under symptom management. The nurse also said she would call the Hospice and try to get by mouth food orders for him since he is actively asking for food, and she thinks it is cruel when they don't feed them when they ask for food. The nurse's aide told us they would be locking the gate soon so we left..
The next day mom called and was told he was cleared to eat food by mouth and they were taking him breakfast right now. We left thinking things are great and we found him a group home, we loved the place and the woman was just adorable. It's where she lives so she is there all the time; she is a part time RN at the hospital nearest us and this place is maximum 5 minutes away. She knows we live and is excited that we might be by everyday.
Mom called the Hospice social worker and left a message. An hour later we hadn't heard back so she called her again and connected with her and asked when dad can be released and was told that the Dr won't be discharging him today. When mom asked why the SW said she will have the nurse call us. An hour later no one had called. So we called the inpatient unit and spoke with the nurse at the center who told us dad is "going backward", color is bad, not able to eat, reparations elevated. We freaked out - what the blue fuck is happening?
We raced to the inpatient unit and found my father who just the day before was talking and laughing now laying flat on the bed struggling for air, his skin was purple - his whole body was purple; the sclera of his eye was bright red and he had bruising to the side of his orbit; slightly gurgling and unable to even open his eyes. I raised his bed to about 30* to allow him to breath better and found the other nurse and asked him when my dad had last been given PEG feeding because if he was not getting water we need him to get water ASAP. The nurse goes to pull the chart and says "I don't show any PEG feeding being done here" when I asked about by mouth food and water he said he doesn't show him being given food or water at any point in time during his stay there. Oh, and you won't be locked in here - the gate opens as you pull up to it.
I asked him why the hell would he be given NOTHING for over two days and this man looked me straight in the eyes and told me "this is what hospice does to help the people who need to die."
Multiple nurses here lied to us about feeding him. How many people have been tortured to death here?
Oh, yeah... they said starvation is a beautiful death. read more
