Remainder of week

Sunday

Before I left home to visit, P__ called and asked if I would call the nurses’ station. When I asked why, s/he stated that he had gotten up to use the portable commode and that when s/he got up, his/her nasal canula had become disconnected from the oxygen supply. S/he stated that s/he had pulled the cord for the call-light and waited for 10 minutes for a nurse to arrive while trying to reconnect the tube.

An aside: I used to kid P__ about time; if s/he said it was 10 minutes, I knew it would fall somewhere between 9 minutes, 30 seconds to 10 minutes, 30 seconds. Add the word "exactly", and the bracketed times were approximately 10 seconds either way.

I immediately called the nurses’ station and told the person who answered that someone needed to check P__ and why. That person told P__’s nurse, “You need to check room 243. S/he needs help reconnecting to his oxygen,” to which I heard the male nurse reply, “I was wondering why the light was on for the past ten minutes!” Ten minutes—-and the nurse hadn’t checked? S/he could have been having chest pains, a possible heart attack, stroke—-any number of problems.

Monday

I received a call in the morning from P__ that s/he was to be discharged that day. S/he also mentioned that his/her hip was hurting. When I inquired if s/he had fallen, s/he denied falling. (S/he had broken his shoulder in May, so I was concerned about possible osteoporosis.)

I arrived around noon and was informed (by P__) that s/he had had nothing to eat that day. There was a food cart in the hallway, and other patients were observed to have lunch trays. I asked P__’s nurse why s/he had not received any meals that day, as s/he was diabetic and required both food and medication to keep his/her blood sugar levels in check. The nurse told me that since s/he was scheduled to be released, no meals had been ordered. I had to ask her several times to have a meal brought up before one was finally ordered.

During this time, P__ continued to complain that his/her hip was bothering her/him. When I inquired about the possibility of having an X-Ray done, I was informed that one wasn’t necessary. “After all,” I was told, “we can’t X-Ray everyone for every little ache and pain.” This was said after I mentioned my concern over possible osteoporosis, both because of his/her age and the broken shoulder several months before.

Between 2:45 and 3:00 p.m., P__ said s/he needed to use the bathroom. S/he stated that s/he had used the bathroom earlier (with the help of a walker), that his/her hip had hurt when s/he had walked to the bathroom, so I asked his/her nurse if it was okay for him/her to attempt to get up and go to the bathroom and was told it was okay.

However, when P__ attempted to get out of bed, s/he fell. I pulled the cord for the call-light. When no one came, the family of another patient in the room ran out and got the nurse. She came in and stated, “Somebody put the bed too high. That’s why s/he fell.” After she helped me get P__ back into bed, she took his blood pressure, which was elevated. She then reiterated that there had been several tests run on P__ that day and that “one of the technicians must have raised the bed and forgot to lower it.”

Note: The other patient in the room was only there for part of one day and signed himself out of the hospital AMA after P__’s fall. I overheard him tell his family that he didn’t trust Northside.

Around 3:30, the nurse came back into the room with a syringe. When I asked her what it was and what it was for, she told me that it was for the high blood pressure and that I didn’t need to worry about what it was. I told her that she really needed to take another blood pressure, as it had been 30-45 minutes since the one elevated one, and that that one had been taken immediately after a fall, that there was a good probability that the BP had come down enough to either not need the medication at all or, at the very least, a lesser dose of the medication. However, she informed me, “I don’t have time to take another blood pressure right now” as she injected the medication into his/her arm.

At 4:30, the nurse stated she was almost done writing the incident report on the fall and that as soon as she was done, she’d give us the discharge papers. She also told me, "His/her doctor is on the floor. Please don’t tell him about the fall, as then he might want to keep P__ in the hospital longer.” At that point, I simply wanted to get P__ out of Northside so that I could bring him/her to Bayfront Medical.

Around 5:00, the brought me the discharge papers and a wheelchair. She informed me that since they were extremely understaffed, would it be possible for me to please bring P__ down to the main entrance and help him/her to leave? Again, I simply wanted him/her out of there. (By now, she still had not taken another blood pressure!)

I got in touch with a friend of ours who drives for cab. K. arrived at approximately 5:30. I wheeled P__ out to the cab, at which point, s/he stood up and immediately collapsed onto the ground. K. came around to help me pick P__ up but we were unable to do so. I ran inside and told the girl who was working the front desk what had happened and asked that she call for help, STAT. She assured me she’d get help right away. Five minutes later, when no help had arrived, I went back inside and asked where our help was.

“I’ll call Security back and see what’s taking them so long,” she informed me. Security. For a medical problem. Of course.

I then ran around to the Emergency Room and told the Triage Nurse what had happened and that we needed help. She informed me that if I would simply put P__ back into the cab and drive around to the Emergency Room door, they’d help us. At that point, I picked up the nearest phone and dialed 911 to get help. After being assured that help was on the way, I hung up. The Triage Nurse asked whom I’d called; when I told her, she asked me if I didn’t think that was “overkill” (her words).

By the time I got back to the front of the hospital, where K. was still trying to keep P__ as comfortable as possible, a nurse and a woman from Security were out front. The nurse never once made an effort to help, but kept asking why we had P__ on the ground. She then heard the sirens in the distance and said something about someone coming to the ER. I told the nurse I’d called 911. Her response was to ask if I could call them off; the woman Security Officer told the nurse that once 911 is activated, they couldn’t be called off, to which the nurse made a comment about my calling 911 “ridiculous”.

When the paramedics arrived, they were able to bring P__ around to the ER, where s/he was readmitted. It wasn’t until after the paramedics arrived that the nurse who had come out made a show of helping; before then, she wouldn’t call for help or make any attempt at helping.

After P__ was readmitted to the ER, one nurse worked on him/her for several hours. Periodically, the nurse mentioned P__’s blood pressure being erratic.

After, P__ suffered a heart attack...

After being moved to the CCU, P__ was hooked up to several bags of medicine. I was told that four of the bags were for medication to bring P__’s blood pressure back up, and that the medications were being pushed to the limit. S/he was also in the Trendelenburg position to help bring the blood flow to his/her brain and heart.

When P__ finally died, the nurse working on him/her said that when s/he died, his/her blood pressure suddenly went haywire.

My problem with Northside Hospital is that: 1) P__ wasn’t transferred to Bayfront Medical once s/he was stabilized, 2) the care (or lack thereof) contributed to P__’s death. Yes, s/he was in his/her early 70s and had had two previous heart attacks... However, several doctors wrote that the heart sounds were good. The heart attack that figured into the death happened after the administration of the medication to drastically bring his/her blood pressure down—and this was for a one-time BP reading taken immediately after a fall and not monitored thereafter.