Community Chat

[PolkaDotPjs]

You have absolutely no reason to feel guilty about what happened with your daughter. I don't understand why you're punishing yourself for something that you had no control over. It's not your fault that any of it happened. You were a concerned mom and acted like a concerned mom. You did nothing wrong.

[JaneMarple]

On 1/8/2014 Melania2 said:

Hi Jane...

I think I will be having nightmares tonight.

I don't doubt it.

[Financialgrl]

I don't think what you are saying is new to anyone. It's that way if your loved one is in the hospital or if they are in assisted living. Dropping in at odd hours, never the same time and making yourself seen a lot helps.

Dad was in and out of the hospital most of 2012 and he has 4 children - with dementia he'd get very anxious if he didn't recognize someone around him so we split the hrs/day up and we made sure someone was there a lot. One has to be one's own advocate for themselves or their family. I met a lot of great nurses and doctors but one thing was always very clear - - they are overworked and due to the high cost of medical care it will only get worse.

[corita]

I so agree about being vigilant and an advocate for your loved ones. Many of you know that I have lost two children. Between both, I probably have built the new wing of the hospital!! I always stayed with my children while they were interned in the hospital. One time, at night, a nurse came and gave him a scheduled injection. Within about fifteen minutes, a second nurse came and was about to do the same thing. I questioned her and stopped her by very loudly bringing to her attention that the injection had already been put in the IV. I was so mad and made a big stink about it the next day. His doctor and hospital managers were very apologetic and sorry...but I kept thinking...what if I had not been in that room at that time??

[LilacTree]

On 1/9/2014 corita said:

I so agree about being vigilant and an advocate for your loved ones. Many of you know that I have lost two children. Between both, I probably have built the new wing of the hospital!! I always stayed with my children while they were interned in the hospital. One time, at night, a nurse came and gave him a scheduled injection. Within about fifteen minutes, a second nurse came and was about to do the same thing. I questioned her and stopped her by very loudly bringing to her attention that the injection had already been put in the IV. I was so mad and made a big stink about it the next day. His doctor and hospital managers were very apologetic and sorry...but I kept thinking...what if I had not been in that room at that time??

I am so sorry to hear that you lost two of your children. How terrible for a mom to go through that, I can't imagine it. My heart goes out to you.

So far my own hospital stays have been with my mind intact. In fact, the first day of the first stay in May, they put me into a room with a woman who I heard talking on her phone "they don't know if it's MRSA or not." When she hung up, I asked her about it and she admitted she has an infection.

Since I am immune-depressed, I rang for the nurse right away and told them I wanted out of the room. I had to wait an hour or so to get another room, but they did take me out of there. The woman was all insulted, but I did not care. I was very nice to her about it, but she was ticked off at me. Imagine that.

[rondell]

On 1/9/2014 corita said:

I so agree about being vigilant and an advocate for your loved ones. Many of you know that I have lost two children. Between both, I probably have built the new wing of the hospital!! I always stayed with my children while they were interned in the hospital. One time, at night, a nurse came and gave him a scheduled injection. Within about fifteen minutes, a second nurse came and was about to do the same thing. I questioned her and stopped her by very loudly bringing to her attention that the injection had already been put in the IV. I was so mad and made a big stink about it the next day. His doctor and hospital managers were very apologetic and sorry...but I kept thinking...what if I had not been in that room at that time??

Oh dear Lord! Bless your heart, ((((((corita)))))!

This just made the tears start. I think I'll just sign off and call it a day. I'm instantly worn out right now.

Sorry if I ruined your thread, Ford. I hope I didn't.

[Melania]

(((Rondell)))) and ((((Corita))))) I am so sorry both of you and your losses.

[LilacTree]

On 1/9/2014 rondell said:

On 1/9/2014 corita said:

I so agree about being vigilant and an advocate for your loved ones. Many of you know that I have lost two children. Between both, I probably have built the new wing of the hospital!! I always stayed with my children while they were interned in the hospital. One time, at night, a nurse came and gave him a scheduled injection. Within about fifteen minutes, a second nurse came and was about to do the same thing. I questioned her and stopped her by very loudly bringing to her attention that the injection had already been put in the IV. I was so mad and made a big stink about it the next day. His doctor and hospital managers were very apologetic and sorry...but I kept thinking...what if I had not been in that room at that time??

Oh dear Lord! Bless your heart, ((((((corita)))))!

This just made the tears start. I think I'll just sign off and call it a day. I'm instantly worn out right now.

Sorry if I ruined your thread, Ford. I hope I didn't.

How could you ruin my thread, Rondell? No way. Corita has suffered what to most of us is the ultimate nightmare. Who cares about a thread when someone has suffered losses like that. All of our hearts go out to Corita.

[arrabella]

On 1/8/2014 azterry! said:

On 1/8/2014 Sushismom said:

I don't think anyone is denying mistakes happen in hospitals. And most have said if the hospital was at fault, they need to be held responsible.

However, the fact remains that only one side of this story has been told. That's the point many are trying to make.

ITA.

There will always be mistakes because medical personnel are human.

This was a horrible thing for your daughter, Ford, but I do have to add that this in no way "proves" anything for the Oakland case. We do not have all the facts and the rush to paint the hospital as the wrong doer is just as wrong as vilifying the mother.

Very well said!

[arrabella]

On 1/8/2014 pridequeen said:

lots of misinformation going on here. I worked on developing electronic medical records for a LARGE hospital for many years. Everyone who has access to enter information into a patient's chart has a unique numbered sign-on. It is monitored daily for any type of fraud. It is almost impossible for someone to falsify a medical record since they leave behind a "thumbprint" and would get caught. The doctors who review the records on each patient has to sign off on entries made by other personnel with a time/date electronic stamp. Never in my 25 years of working in healthcare did I see a doctor cover up or falsify a record. That is not to say it has NEVER happened in history but if and when mistakes are made (and I said mistakes) they are brought into the open and more investigation goes on to see what could have happened, every day hospitals work on protecting patient privacy, who has access to medical records and as I said daily monitoring.

As for the incident with the tonsillectomy, I have had several surgeries in my life and coming out of anesthesia can cause hallucinations, bad dreams for days, movements that to an observer might appear the person is having a seizure and so on. To the uninformed, it can be scary, but not malpractice or cause for lawsuits. Certainly mistakes can happen but as I said they are then used in M&M conferences to discuss how to not let them happen again. And I am not making light of a medical mistake that anyone personally has experienced, I'm only saying that medicine can be scary when you think about the fact that these doctors cut open your chest, your brain, your gut and do the impossible. When I first started out, I was allowed to observe 3 surgeries, a brain tumor removal, a colon removal for cancer, and an orthopaedic surgery. All of those were when I worked in anesthesia and there is a lot going on in OR's. Anyway, just thought I would give my perspective on medical records since I spent 4 years developing and training on electronic medical records.

Thanks for the info. IMO there is too much SPECULATION going on!