Hospice Neglect
Posted by
GraceZ
My father had terminal cancer and his oncologist, my mother, brother agreed he should go into the hospice at my parent's assisted living facility. It was the most traumatic experience any of us have ever gone through. There had been a lot of other unfortunate events leading up to my father's death, and we wanted him to be able to to have palliative care, and my mother was very shaken and on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
Vitas hospice was no where to be seen while my father was in their care. The phycian came and he was admitted, however, his care was left to assistant care givers who were not at all gentle or giving him any relief from his pain. He had a horrible Sore in his buttocks, and they turned mom out of the room every two hours and changed his dressing as dad Screamed in pain! "Ough!" Stop!, Oh, please stop!" Help! Help! It was a true nightmare. It just was a nightmare. The head nurse tried to get a stronger prescription for Morphine, however, Vitas was not available to prescribe stronger medication. He was extremely agitated and they wouldn't increase that medication either. So, all day and all night he struggled, screamed and panicked. He had some times where ie was better, but the last three days of his life were nightmarish. I have never heard of anyone else with a similar situation, and I want to get attention from this large Hospice organization. My father lived a full life but did not deserve to be treated worse than an animal. The nurse picked up his shoulders and stuffed a pillow unider his shoulders and let his head drop back on the pillow. He screamed in pain. I told her he had tumors in his scapula and a recent broken arm, and she just looked at his chart, as if I was telling her something new. They never told us when they thought he was getting worse, what his condition was in any way and when he did die, there were suddently 7 hospice workers there trying to comfort us. They were at the end of my dad's bed a talking about how this is the worst part of their job, while my mom and I were saying goodbye to my dad. What do we do? My mother is in shock and I want to take appropriate action.
Posted by GraceZ
My father had terminal cancer and his oncologist, my mother, brother agreed he should go into the hospice at my parent's assisted living facility. It was the most traumatic experience any of us have ever gone through. There had been a lot of other unfortunate events leading up to my father's death, and we wanted him to be able to to have palliative care, and my mother was very shaken and on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
Vitas hospice was no where to be seen while my father was in their care. The phycian came and he was admitted, however, his care was left to assistant care givers who were not at all gentle or giving him any relief from his pain. He had a horrible Sore in his buttocks, and they turned mom out of the room every two hours and changed his dressing as dad Screamed in pain! "Ough!" Stop!, Oh, please stop!" Help! Help! It was a true nightmare. It just was a nightmare. The head nurse tried to get a stronger prescription for Morphine, however, Vitas was not available to prescribe stronger medication. He was extremely agitated and they wouldn't increase that medication either. So, all day and all night he struggled, screamed and panicked. He had some times where ie was better, but the last three days of his life were nightmarish. I have never heard of anyone else with a similar situation, and I want to get attention from this large Hospice organization. My father lived a full life but did not deserve to be treated worse than an animal. The nurse picked up his shoulders and stuffed a pillow unider his shoulders and let his head drop back on the pillow. He screamed in pain. I told her he had tumors in his scapula and a recent broken arm, and she just looked at his chart, as if I was telling her something new. They never told us when they thought he was getting worse, what his condition was in any way and when he did die, there were suddently 7 hospice workers there trying to comfort us. They were at the end of my dad's bed a talking about how this is the worst part of their job, while my mom and I were saying goodbye to my dad. What do we do? My mother is in shock and I want to take appropriate action.