Another VA horror story

[TomInTib]

I was in town earlier today and was having a conversation with a friend.

Seems as though her 88 year-old uncle (retired military, Newport, RI) had gone to a VA hospital for a partial hip replacement (he has emphysema and his lungs are so compromised they were going to do the procedure in stages).

The surgery and post-op recovery went fine and the VA transferred him to an assisted-care facility to recuperate.

And they lost him.

They lost him.

It's been almost three weeks.

[hedgehog]

1. Lost as in misplaced?

If he was doing well when transferred, it would seem to be the assisted care facility's problem. It doesn't sound as if he was rushed out of the hospital.

[TahitiNut]

2. "assisted-care" and "skilled care" (aka nursing homes) are, in general, an abomination.

Even the top 10% are, imho, nearly horrors in terms of superficial oversight and top-heavy staffing. They've takne the required minimums of RN/LPN to patient ratios and loaded those hands-on personnel with bureaucratic bullshit beyond tolerance - 'work' that takes them AWAY from the patients. I say this with the experience of having my mother, my stepfather, and my grandmother in nursing homes and being the sole 'backstop' for when my mother was in 4 years ago. They were even saying she had age-related mental deterioration when she was actually suffering from PNEUMONIA ... and it took ME to demand that they check her for it. Bingo. After finally getting the necessary antibiotics, she was mentally acute again. (Bastards!)

[rainbow4321]

8. We got a patient transferred from one this week

Into our acute care facilty. Horrible pressure sore on his coccyx, green drainage from his penis, even more drainage from hole in his stomach around his feeding tube (looked almost like stool). Weird part is, all five of his kids are doctors themselves, how the hell could they see this stuff and let it go on??
Yet when he arrived at our place, one of the sons was all over the admitting nurse, making requests/demands left and right, qustioning care/orders being done. So where in the HELL was he when his dad was in the long term care facility? The son lives locally so he had access to his dad while he was in the other place.
First thing we do at our facility when we get a transfer from a nursing home, etc.. is take a picture of all of their pressure sores and other skin issues. Definitely covered me a few weeks back when a family of another patient tried to imply that her father's pressure sore happened in our facility..I told her straight out, "I actually admitted your father the night he got here from the other facility..he had the sore before he got here, I took a picture of it and we have it on the chart". Not a word out of her after I told her that, she just looked at me.
They are quick to go after an acute care facility but seem to turn a blind eye to the care their loved ones get at the long term care facilities.

[TahitiNut]

9. There is absolutely no excuse for pressure sores. It's proof of abysmal care.

An infection around a feeding tube is equally inexcusable. That's the total tragedy of it - without family to monitor the care DAILY, even in the "best" of the skilled nursing facilities, people DIE of neglect. It's criminal - really. Even a nurse's aide can prevent pressure sores ... it's just not something that requires much training. All it takes is minimal care.

Lord knows we have problems with the way acute care is run in for-profit settings, but the long-term care facilities have been turned into antechambers for the graveyard. They're wholly predisposed to the most pessimistic of prognoses, if only to cover their fat butts.

[Monkeyman]

3. Here one for the books

Hines VA Hospital Maywood IL . World War Two vet was being moved to a ward upstairs. The Staffer started to talk to a Nurse . And was not watching him. Some How he ended up in the basement and was there for 19 hours. These stories are very common

[Bunny]

4. I don't understand. What do you mean "They lost him. It's been almost three weeks."?

Did he die? Did they physically misplace him, and three weeks later he's still unaccounted for? :shrug:

[Monkeyman]

5. Sounds like he is missing to me

[Bunny]

7. Okay, thanks Monkeyman.

This is such a shame.

[TomInTib]

10. They lost track of him.

[jody]

6. If he's retired military and 88, he's covered up to 115% by Medicare and Tricare for Life.

He has no reason to depend upon VA for medical care.