My mom was injured in her nursing home. She had huge hematomas to the front temporal area and back of head which resulted in 3 brain bleeds. She had a couple of bruises on her shoulder and broken ribs too. The nursing home did not seek send her to the hospital for 16 hours. By then she had brain damage that would have left her a non responsive person.
We spent every minute with her from Sept 9th to the 17th when she passed away. During this entire time, she never had a bowel movement. One day they were changing her bed and the pad had blood on it. This is the one and only time this happened. Would that be something normal? Her coumadin was up to 5 when she was admitted so they began pumping her with vitamin K and fresh frozen plasma.
I have been going over Mom medical records and I personally do not see how my mother could have just rolled out of bed during the night and sustained such severe injuries. Anymore, everywhere I turn, I am hearing about an elderly patient who "fell out of bed" and died from the injuries they sustained. This sounds like a convenient excuse to me.
The nursing home decided to "hold" Mom's bed at no cost while she was in the hospital, I asked them the other day if I owed them any money and the girl would not even turn around and look at me, she just shook her head "NO." They have not billed Medicare for her two weeks in their facility either.
It seems like they are telling me they are at fault by their actions, but no one is going to tell me the truth either for fear of losing their job.
I don't know how things must have got crossed but I did appreciate your offer of help!
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The following day when they finally sent her to the hospital, my sister and I were both getting phone calls and we heard 4 versions of what happened and at what time. We knew they were lying to us that day. My sisters and I wanted to go over there and beat the crap out of them, but we knew that we couldn't. There is still one complete set of clothes of Mom's that went missing from that day at the nursing home. We have asked for them repeatedly, her name was written on everything with black marker about 1 inch tall. It is not that we have to have that set of clothes, but we wondered if they were torn or had anything on them that could prove or show that Mom did not fall out of bed during the night. They have never shown up. A woman my sister works with said, "Her clothes were burned that day." She refused to say anything further all we know is that she use to work in a nursing home herself.
I am fairly sure that the blood on Mom's sheet that day was due to the coumadin level being too high, it was just shocking that from the 9th to the 17th there was never a bowel movement and then when they were straightening her up one day there was a bloody mass on the pad. The nurse quickly pulled it out and took off with it. My sister was asking her where it had come from but received no answer.
I just found out yesterday when reading a CT Scan report that Mom actually did have diverticulitis and it said a "partially collapsed stomach." Two things we did not know, nor were we ever told. I have tried to find info on the stomach via the internet but not found anything. I had never heard of a partially collapsed stomach before.
What will that do? one thing you can do is report the incident to your State Health Board and they will do a thorough investigation and insist on changes in protocol if appropriate.
i think it is time to let this rest for your own peace of mind. By all means have Boni's brother check the records and take his advice on if you should proceed. Email information is quickly removed by the admins so you may need to go through the admins to exchange emails.
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Their story changed 4 times and they kept telling me Mom was fine until they called and said they were sending her to the hospital 16 hours after the fall. The clothes she had been wearing "disappeared" and we asked for them numerous times. We wanted to see if they were torn or showed any signs of a struggle but they were missing, including her shoes!
I love my mother and I do think that someone has to answer for what happened to her because the nursing home has done nothing but lie to us. They have even decided not to bill Medicare for the two weeks my mother was in their care. Although I think they are trying to make it look like they are sympathizing with us and this is how they are showing their grief, it really looks like they are not reporting her as a patient because they do not want to have to report her injury which led to her death.
Look at the statistics that tell the number of fall injuries and those that lead to death in nursing homes, it is an epidemic. Knowing this and knowing my mother walked perfectly, I feel that I owe it to my mother to at least stand up for her and if there is a wrong here, try to "right it" for the others in her place.
It is up to what you really want to do. Do you want this to drag on and I mean drag on, or do you want to grieve this, try to forgive, and "I would personally, pay one attorney 3 hours of time to show up with me to the facility" unannounced to ask them questions. Many of you will say that is illegal. But… what if that person is a friend?
I don't know, it is very sad and I am very sorry for you and your family and your dear mother, and my heart goes out to you, but when I hear 80% go not told, that is a "crime". This is different than being in bed. We are responsible for them in bed.
The Nursing Home is responsible for them, we are paying them, or the State is paying them money.
Much Love,
My Dad was on Coumadin, he kept falling in his house or out in his yard, and one day he fell in his driveway and broke his nose. While in the hospital the doctor on duty felt Dad was more of a risk of falling and bleeding out then he was for having another heart attack, so Dad was taken off of Coumadin. That was several years ago, so far so good. But I wouldn't sue my Mom for not calling 911 immediately when he broke his nose and had trouble trying to stop the bleeding.... I was told about this hours after the fact, and I called 911... goodness sake, Dad could have bled out.... [sigh]
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