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Hospice Almost Killed My Father Who is Not Terminal User Name: Remember Me: Password : Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! I know it is hard to lose a Medicare data reveals that, on average, a nurse or aide is only in the patient's home 30 minutes, or so, per day. His cancer was found way too late, but he was getting some kind of injections. She said she didnt want anything other than to be comfortable and let nature take its course. And as sharp as a tack. It was magic. So sad. Now, she wants to make sure her children don't do the same for her. Fracture or morphine caused elderly death? "If you don't, she will just spit them out," Velez says. Im just tired, honey, she said to me shortly after making her decision. The solution may have to come from consumer advocacy and better regulation from Medicare itself. Shortly afterwards, the rest of my family arrived in the room. She actually told me that hospice and my siblings are killing my mom. I couldnt promise that the book hed been working on would ever be published. Unfortunately it's all too common for what you describe to happen. That was the end. She was hallucinating, and the visions werent pleasant. I noticed changes in her. A few high-profile advocates have even started questioning whether hospice is right for everybody. "That's our situation.". I don't really know. So ask the hard questions. There are many things I've left out from this report, points about lack of basic care (like how the hospice staff never washed or brushed her hair, never cleaned her teeth, never changed her catheter bag, never washed her face, never allowed her ripple bed to be turned on to alleviate her bed sores etc). I ask them again about food and drink and get a response that I can't believe. This one was a VA which already has below average care and the nursing home had substandard care with questionable night nurses who were a problem. WebMy sister fired hospice, next day was overdosing dad with morphine, took him to the bank had him sign a POA to her. These messages are entirely unedited, except for the addition of paragraph breaks for readability. "It's ironically called the 'comfort care kit' that you get with home hospice. Quality hospice care can provide significant comfort and support to terminally ill patients and their families and caregivers. Moms health went from bad in November to worse by the time the holidays drew near. Its an emotional high-wire act, Ms. Griffin said. The fact is; after months of him being home from the hospital (still in Hospice), I was told by the first Home Care Hospice Doctor that my dads diagnosis (Parkinson) isn't one that would be considered a hospice case. I of course did not want to believe. Even though surveys show it's what most Americans say they want, dying at home is "not all it's cracked up to be," says Johnston, who relocated to New Mexico at age 40 to care for her dying mother some years ago. But we must take steps to prevent both the very human toll and the economic toll that hospice fraud takes. Throughout this time I was treated as the village idiot and left out of all decision making processes. It is FREE! But hands-on help is scarce. He fell and was found by my aunt, bleeding from his head. Also, I began taking VNA up on that 24/7 promise they had made. I had help, though, from my wonderful cousins Chris, Caroline and their son Ben and my incredibly selfless and kind girlfriend Lisa. Mum was starting to come around and was noticeably breathing again. Or they just thought they knew better than me and did not respect my opinion to keep fighting naturally without dehydration and starvation. She went over their Medicare-funded services, including weekly check-ins from a nurse and 24/7 emergency oversight by a doctor. My mom's appetite was great. At its extreme, sepsis can also lead to dangerously low blood pressure. Wed been on the phone quite a while when she asked if she could speak to mom. Be aware, their plot is to overmedicate them during the day during visiting hours so the food and drink is stopped and the family can't feed or speak to their loved ones to tell them what is going on. She was overmedicated and dehydrated to death as quickly as possible. But in practice, that in-person help is often limited to a couple of baths a week. " Enforcement of the provisions of the Controlled Substances Act as they pertain to the manufacture, distribution, and dispensing of legally produced controlled substances. " His mind was sharp as ever. A tragic end. Thank you for contacting VNA Hospice & Palliative Care of Southern California. THEY WILL KILL THEM WITH MORPHINE. We didnt know whether it He came back and was fine. It is a form of palliative care, which also focuses on pain management, but can be provided while a patient continues to seek a cure or receive treatments to prolong life. Some forums can only be seen by registered members. In the bones is NOT where you want that cancer to have progressed. Ontario, CA 91764. Some of these excessive dosages resulted in significant injury or death. John McCasland (right) of Goodlettsville, Tenn., hired a private caregiver to help with his wife, Jean (left), who suffered from dementia for eight years. I don't think I could manage, stay sane, if my job guaranteed me that every single customer I had, Hospice Almost Killed My Father Who is Not Terminal (Medicaid, in home, friend) - Caregiving -Caretakers, elderly care, nursing homes - Page 3 - City-Data Forum My dad still had pain at that time because of his BACK, NOT BECAUSE OF CANCER. Shocked by this the caregiver and I would bring food. When Velez is not around, John McCasland Jean's husband of nearly 50 years is the person in charge at home. Now my younger Brother is sick from a mysterious illness also and hospice wants him two. And it doesnt matter what your living situation is. Ways I can watch porn and mastuarbate without getting caught texted my father no reply. The physical realities of dying are messy. That is a basic need. Her last days werent ideal. Her company is a small for-profit business called Adoration; she says the agency can't provide more services than the Medicare benefit pays for. My pleas were ignored. Again, no terminal illness. But he was from somewhat rural Virginia and believed in natural medicines. Nurse said quote the doctor could lose her license if found out. For 2 days despite care the bill was endless and the charge for room only was 2000.00 billed to my Medicare. I couldnt promise he would get to see his childhood friends from England one more time. over 3 months ago. Maybe all is not lost! Our investigation in her case yielded results: The owner of that hospice company received a 6-1/2-year federal prison sentence for running an elaborate, $20 million hospice scheme that signed up patients who were not dying. He was aspirating due to a non thickened liquid and they refused to fix it. "There's a sense of comfort in knowing that they are keeping an eye on her," he says. WebSupporting a loved one at the end of their life can be difficult, but you don't have to go through it alone. The non-hospice caregiver is dismissed from taking care of my mom. Sea's family may have limited options. Nurses arrived at all hours of the night to help when things went off the rails, as they often did in those last days. But what I have to keep in mind is everybody has the same need and the same want: comfort and safety. When my father was dying from complications of dementia and diabetes, hospice caregivers sat with him, provided pain relief, and helped him be comfortable. Same thing happened to my father (the hospice had my sister administer the overdose, so technically she was the one who murdered my father under hospice supervision), and he died 24 hours after eating a good meal and being alert. Even when hospice took over, he still found he needed the extra help from Karrie Velez (center). The next day gave dad a morphine an hour until he died. But I loved her, so of course Id support her wishes. Medicare says hospice benefits can include home health aides and homemaker services. People need to know, need to be aware and need to be warned. Its a beautiful place.. In what I now see as moms final gift to us, she had about an hour of lucidity two nights before she died. It's been 2 months since my father passed away. Since her diagnosis, I had a handful of friends reach out and suggest we use VNA Hospice & Palliative Care of Southern California. Her urine bag was dark and when I pointed this out to the nurse, she said "She's not dehydrated." Horrible, horrible place. Press for an autopsy to determine how your father died. But I put the phone up to moms ear anyway. We then had an initial, bedside meeting with a doctor at the hospice and this was very negative in tone. Im too overwhelmed and too tired just trying to keep my disabled sons alive. Both are kind, friendly, caring and, as a plus for my mom, spiritually minded. And that really is the way I applied it to me; Youre okay as you are; how can I help you suffer less?. In mid-October she was complaining of back pain. They ask me to leave and that I can only come certain times. He was pretty much in a daze or sleeping the whole time he was there (not overdrugged) then had trouble breathing and developed pneumonia. But thats the beautiful part, Dr. Dauwalder said. She was then confined to a nursing home bed. Two days before she died, he learned that she had been enrolled in hospice more than a year earlier, a decision that an individual with dementia shouldnt make without assistance. Hospices receive a huge amount of fund raising here and are staffed on the non-medical side by volunteers. Like many Americans, I have a story about hospice care for a loved one. Her supervisor stopped by, showed us the proper way to deliver morphine (wed been doing it wrong) and told us a pain pump and a crisis nurse should arrive by noon. I've seen the dramatic changes on my dad once he started taking the morphine. Worse still, I saw that her oxygen, on which she relied, had been turned off at the dial on the wall. #100 Hospice is only suggested when a person is dying, that is the most important MORPHINE is what they told us to give my dad. He was as healthy as Jack Lalain. Our hospice nurses, and caregivers enjoy rewarding careers with flexible schedules: including limited weekends, after-hours and on-call assignments. When he came back home, hospice called and told us about their program and how they help patients with a long term illness and their pain. I couldnt imagine watching my three young kids grow, graduate, fall in love and start families of their own without my mothers help and guidance. How often you administer it and the dosage vary depending upon the means of administration. Id always planned on moving into moms house when the time came. Most already do that, and assist dying patients with dignity and compassion. In contrast, Teno says, in her father's final hours, he was admitted to a hospice residence. She had been heavily sedated for a week. That daily reimbursement also covers equipment rentals and a 24-hour hotline that lets patients or family members consult a nurse as needed; John says it gives him peace of mind that help is a phone call away. He ran out of 'insurance days' and 'Hospice' was the only BS option left. I can't believe I'm reading all these horrible posts about Hospice now. I told my friend that I wasnt sure what had just happened, but that I was going to try and talk to mom. "Don't you do that.". So sorry about your Dad. They did. Noon passed, then 1 p.m., 2 p.m. No nurse, no pump. "That was the lowest point. But at the very end, confronted by a sudden deterioration in my fathers condition, hospice did not fulfill its promise to my family not for lack of good intentions but for lack of staff and foresight. Your numbers look great, the doctor says, beaming at my father who is hunched in his wheelchair. Last year she was put into hospice and I still am not sure why.