I'm sick of corporate health care, sick of it! Money grubbers, all!

[Holly_Hobby]

My mother is in a nursing home, on both Medicare and Medicaid. My dad died when he was young and didn't leave much to my stay-at-home mom. She's 73.

She's in a nursing home because her bipolar meds gave her Parkinson's symptoms. She lost bladder and bowel control. She has a catheter in place. My mother want no medical intervention for anything, and has a Do Not Resuscitate order in place, as well as a very specific living will drawn up by an attorney.

She didn't want to stop her bipolar meds, she was starting to have psychotic breaks and had to spend weeks in a psych ward. That's her choice. She'd rather have her mind than her body. I'm ok with that.

Last week, they whisked her off to the urologist, without my knowledge. She has stated again and again that I must go with her. She doesn't hear well and doesn't remember a lot of her history, and they obviously try to take advantage of her pay status.

The urologist ordered a kidney ultrasound and a bladder scope. I guess he doesn't remember the first three times my mother was there that she doesn't have a bladder or kidney problem, she has a Parkinson's/med problem.

I visited her today and the nurse gave me a notice of her scan and scope appointment. I hit the roof. I told the nurse that my mother wants nothing, no treatment whatsoever, she wants to be kept clean, free from pain and to be left alone.

I figure the cost of those two procedures are at least $2,000. A huge waste of government money.

Last month, they sent her to the dentist to have an abscessed tooth removed. The dentist ordered extraction of all her teeth and replacement with dentures. That time, I spoke with the nursing director and told her that there's nothing wrong with my mother's other teeth. They're not loose or decayed. She had one bad tooth, all the way in the back, and it was handled.

The cost of the dentures were $1,800.

I'm so sick of this. Just follow her damn wished and stop treating her like a cash cow! My mother doesn't want to contribute to the bottom line of the corporate doctors via tax money!

I guess I will have the attorney send them a Cease and Desist letter. Do I have any other choice? I want my mother's wishes followed.

/rant

[Tangerine LaBamba]

1. It's horrible.............

I'm so sorry for what your mother is forced to endure. And you have to deal with it. I cannot imagine the pain of all of this. I'm so sorry.

Yes, get the attorney on it, and make sure all her charts are marked appropriately, especially with the DNR order. The way things are being done in your mother's case, it wouldn't be a stretch to imagine someone resuscitating her, completely against her wishes.

I wish you the best of luck. It's good you put this here, for any number of reasons. That's not a rant - that's a good, an excellent morality tale for all of us, just so we know what to watch out for.

Thank you, and good luck...........

:toast:

[Holly_Hobby]

3. Thank you, it's so frustrating. It's like they just ignore her wishes. n/t

[Warpy]

2. Get a medical power of attorney

that allows you to make all medical decisions. Talk to a lawyer when you get it done.

While they would have called you before sending her to the urologist, they might have told you at that time she had symptoms of a bladder infection, common with indwelling catheters. Then again, it might have been some hotshot who was new at the facility and questioned why anyone had a catheter and wanted to find out. The power of attorney and subsequent phone call would have cleared things up both ways.

As for pulling all her teeth, are you sure they did that and not just supplied her with a partial denture? If they did edentulate her without medical cause, that's assault and actionable.

You need to get your legal position in writing. You will also need to know what treatments are for her comfort (like pulling an abscessed tooth) and what are not and decide accordingly.

Good luck.

[Holly_Hobby]

4. I have an iron clad medical power of attorney,

along with my 2 brothers. My brothers are behind me 100%, and respect my mom's wishes as well. I guess I will have to remind the facility, or have the attorney remind them with a letter. We have 100% control over her care, but we do what SHE wants. When the time comes for decisions when she's not able, it will be decided between me and my brothers.

They test her monthly for UTI's, her latest test just came back negative the week before.

The problem is the catheter needs maintenance. It needs to be flushed daily. If they don't do it by 3pm, my mother raises holy hell until it's done. She keeps track of everything on a calendar, which they have confiscated more than once. They just don't get it - she has urine retention. If they remove the catheter, she can't urinate. She'd be dead in 36 hours. They continually ask her if she would rather have briefs with a pad.

The dentist only pulled the bad tooth, but put through a request for dentures to Medicare and Medicaid. I read her mail, so that's how I found out what they were planning. My mom doesn't even want or need a partial, she says she has no problem chewing, since the tooth they removed is in the back and it healed up fine.

I'm going to call the attorney tomorrow and have him send a letter. Thanks for your reply.

[Warpy]

6. Good, it's time for an attorney to write that facility a nasty letter

It sounds like your mother is not competent to make her own medical decisions and anyone who tries to get informed consent from her is making a serious mistake and can get sued into a cardboard box under a bridge.

A nasty letter from a lawyer will make that perfectly clear and won't break the bank.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

5. If your mother has a cathether, she will be more prone to UTI's.

If the nursing home DIDN'T treat or investigate, they could be subject to a malpractice suit. They are liable to state agencies who come in and review patient records and see if the appropriate reactions/responses were made by the home. A DNR order does not mean that a nursing home should ignore all medical situations as they arise.

You see the kidney ultrasound and bladder scope as a "waste of government money". My elderly mother has bladder cancer that has been treated and controlled because it was caught by just such testing. Is your mother refusing ALL medical treatment/testing, etc?

If there is an EMERGENCY, do you think the nursing home should wait for you to be available?

[Holly_Hobby]

8. There is nothing to investigate

She requires a catheter. They need to maintain it, which they do at her insistence. She doesn't want or need investigative tests. They already know why she can't urinate, and it's her decision to stay on the meds that cause it. It wouldn't matter to her one way or another if she had bladder or kidney cancer. Actually, she doesn't WANT to know.

She's tested monthly for UTI's and if she would get one, her PCP would treat it. The Urologist doesn't visit, she has to go to his office. Getting out of bed is extremely painful for her due to spinal collapse and nerve impingement.

Yes, my mother is refusing all medical treatment. Due to the Parkinsonism, she can no longer walk and languishes her days away staring at the tv. She's done, she wants nothing else.

A check up at a Urologist is not an emergency and I should have been notified. I've put it in writing twice, to the administrator. My mother has told them twice. From now on, she said if they touch her to take her to another doctor appointment, she's calling the Police. Believe me, she will, appropriate or not. I stand by her decisions.

She is to be medicated for pain and nothing else. No tube feedings, no IV's for hydration. So no, there would be no emergency. I hope you understand.

[lbrtbell]

7. Meanwhile, people desperate for treatment can't get it

Money-grubbing doctors and dentists are the dregs of humanity!

[Holly_Hobby]

9. Exactly!

That money could be well spent on people who don't have insurance or Medicaid, on people who want to continue to live.

Aren't there any non-corporate doctors anymore? My mother's doctors are more like salesman than doctors.

[quidam56]

10. Profit Care comes way ahead of Patient Care

This is all too common, we need a cure for health care in America. I am shocked to see what is deemed, defended and supported as "acceptable standards of health care" in East Tennessee. Greed and mislead has become the American way, it's time to change how health care is run, Cuba has better health care than we do.

See for yourself what Tennessee and Virginia says is perfectly acceptable to them. http://www.wisecountyissues.com/?p=62

[Holly_Hobby]

11. OMG that's worse than torture

They have no conscience to let people suffer like that. Sociopaths!

Is there anything I can do? Call someone, write someone? There is no excuse!