Franklin Health Care Negligences Rocky Mount, Virginia

9th of Oct, 2011 by User745328

In 2005 my mother lost her sight in her left eye, we took her to an eye doctor to see if they could figure out what was wrong, well they could not so they told us to take her to a neurologist. We got an appointment for her the following day. The doctor did a CAT scan on mom's head and told her they would know something in a few days. Two days went by and the office called to tell us to come over right away. When we arrived there the doctor called us back to his office, he put her x-rays on the light and showed us that momma had an aneurysm that was 12mm deep inside of her brain that pushing against the optic nerve causing the blindness in her left eye. He referred her to University of Virginia Medical Center for emergency brain surgery to hopefully remove the aneurysm without permanent damage or death. However the aneurysm burst during surgery causing my mother to have a hemorrhagic stroke and she was paralyzed down her right side and could not speak or communicate. She laid lifeless in the hospital for 10 days after her surgery. Her kidneys started to shut down, she couldn't breathe on her own, and had many bags of different IV fluids and medications strung above her head on a shelf, there were at-least 20 different kinds of drugs keeping her alive. On the 11th day the doctor came into mom's room where we were and told us that there was nothing else they could do for mom, that in the next 24 hours if there wasn't any change that we should think about the alternative and unhooking everything and let her rest in peace. Evidently she must have heard him talking to us, because shortly after we went to the hotel room to rest and think about what was about to happen, the doctor called and told us to come back quickly. We went back to the hospital and the doctor said it was a miracle that she made it through this. Well, due to the stroke they had to put a feeding tube into mom's stomach and suggest that we send her to a full service rehabilitation facility. When we came home my Aunt and I went to different facilities and checked them out to make sure that they were clean and that people were well taken care of. According to the administrator of the nursing facility it was a nice place to leave your loved one while they get well. The first 3 months mom was there it seem that they were doing a nice job, she was getting physical therapy and progressing along to getting well. As time went on things slowly started to go down hill. They stopped therapy, let her lay in wet and soiled diapers to the point where she was getting bed sores. There were bruises appearing in different places on her body that were unexplained how they got there. Over the course of time they had called me several times and told me that mom had fell out of the bed. Which I believe to be impossible because she could not move at all, she could not stand on her own, sit on her own, nor turn over in the bed on her own. On October 14th I received a call from the nursing home saying mom had fallen and they could not tell me how she had fell? The doctor that saw her at the nursing home X-rayed her foot and told us that she had a hair line fracture in her ankle. A couple of days passed and the foot started to swell and turn purple. I told them to carry her to the the emergency room right away. The doctor at the emergency room sent her for an X-ray and about an hour later he told us that she needed surgery, that her ankle bone was crushed and she would need reconstruction surgery. My Aunt and I went to the nursing home and demanded to know what had happen to my mother. The administrator had been on vacation but told us that one of the nurses aids had taken her to the shower room in her wheel chair and made her stand and try and hold on to a support bar while she went to get rubber gloves. Momma couldn't hold her self up and twisted all the way around on that foot and fell face first onto the cement. First off, mom should have been in a bath chair for handicapped people. Secondly, the nurses aid should have had the rubber gloves on before she went to the shower room. A few days later the nursing home changed their story and started claiming that she had just fallen out of the bed again... Why were they trying to cover up what had happened? After her ankle surgery the orthopedic surgeon came out and told us that her ankle bone was as soft as melted butter and that if she was to get better she may never walk again. After a couple days in the hospital and lots of medications her blood pressure elevated tremendously to the point of seizers. When the nurses and doctors got her stable and feeling some what better, we took her back to the nursing home. The next day I went to visit and her call button was laying in the floor behind the bed and she had messed in her diaper and it had dried. I went to the nurses station and raised hell. At that point I knew I had to get her out of there. So I went to other nursing facilities to see if I could get her moved for better treatment. That night the nursing home called and told me to get up to the hospital right away, that she could possibility have had a stroke. I drove so fast there I can't even remember the trip. I arrived at the hospital and ran back to the ER and told them who I was and I saw my doctor, he had seen mom in the ER. I asked what was wrong and he hugged and told me it doesn't look good. They had to air lift mom from the small hospital to a larger more advanced one about 30 minutes away. As they wheeled mom out the door to board the helicopter I saw her. That was a sight I will never forget as long as I live. My mom was dying, her eyes were bulging and dilated, and she had a trickle of blood running down the side of her mouth. They were using an air bag to pump oxygen into her lungs. I asked my doctor what were the chances of my mother living. He said 5 percent or less. That's when I knew she was gone. When I got to the hospital they had her in a room hooked to a ventilator and IV's. The doctor took me and my brother out of the room and told us there was nothing else they could do for her, that she was brain dead and we needed to make a decision to take her off life support. I sat and thought for a bit and I looked at her and thought about when I was a child and how momma used to tell me all about how she thought heaven was and that's when I decided that mom had been through enough, that she was ready to go and be with the Lord. Momma died on November 7, 2006. I want to say to people out there that may be reading this is - If you are paying $7500 a month for care in a nursing facility shouldn't your loved one receive the best of care? The care my mother received was horrible. Also, the nursing homes should be staffed enough where one nurses aid has only a few patients. Not a whole hall way full of patients, this place was clearly under-staffed. Where is all the money going?? Think about it.
Everyday should be spent with your family. Love and cherish them because there may not be a tomorrow.

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