Facility Deaths Seldom Investigated

When a baby, for no apparent reason, dies in their crib, we mourn.

When a Senior dies in a facility, we simply say it was "their time" and go on.

How many autopsies are performed on Seniors who pass while living in a Long Term Care/Nursing Home facility?

As usual, another question and my fingers begin searching for an answer.

A question brought about thinking back to our not being told about several of Mom's falls, about the real extent of her injuries and about the real reason the fall happened.

Not being told about many of Mom's illnesses until they were so advanced and the "medical facility", the Long Term Care/Nursing Home, was unable through the services they "chose" to provide, could not control progress that was controllable and we had to once again, RUSH Mom via ambulance to the ER.

I see medical incompetence, negligence or abuse. 

But then, I'm just a family member.

And, because of the horrible journey we were forced to go through with Mom preceding her death and during her final journey, her final days.

Once again, what I find is not only shocking but information we never see unless we happen to "run across it" in our busy lives. 

Yet, every day we're entrusting our loved ones to facilities, signing contracts, making commitments. 

Many walk away totally entrusting the life and death of those we care deeply about to people who are continuously hiding inappropriate behaviors and actions.

Here's my resource of the day:  http://www.propublica.org/article/gone-without-a-case-suspicious-elder-deaths-rarely-investigated

"An array of systemic flaws has led to case after case being overlooked:

When treating physicians report that a death is natural, coroners and medical examiners almost never investigate. But doctors often get it wrong. 

In one 2008 study, nearly half the doctors surveyed failed to identify the correct cause of death for an elderly patient with a brain injury caused by a fall.

In most states, doctors can fill out a death certificate without ever seeing the body. 

That explains how a Pennsylvania physician said her 83-year-old patient had died of natural causes when, in fact, he'd been beaten to death by an aide. 

The doctor never saw the 16-inch bruise that covered the man's left side.

Autopsies of seniors have become increasingly rare even as the population age 65 or older has grown. 

Between 1972 and 2007, a government analysis found, the share of U.S. autopsies performed on seniors dropped from 37 percent to 17 percent."

So what difference does it make, cause of death?

Look back to Point #1 -- cause was brain injury from a fall.”

But elderly people fall all the time, right?

Not all elderly people and not all falls are inevitable.

However, a fall in a facility reported as a cause of death would lead to another State investigation and that would be a "double inconvenience".

It might also prevent the neglect provided by low staffing, inept training and poor supervision.

Point #2: "In most states, doctors can fill out a death certificate without ever seeing the body."

Makes sense, they prescribe medications by phone on request from LPN's and often these are medications with serious side effects that are NOT fully explained to the resident and/or the responsible representative.

Mom's Dr didn't see her as she lay dying. We called upset because Mom was not being given any food or water. 

The facility had seen Mom as "dying" so they simply didn't provide any and provided absolutely no consultation or advice to us as to how or what to do including taking a damp cloth and wetting her lips. NOTHING.  

The Dr didn’t bother to “drop by” just to check on one of her patients? THIS IS LONG TERM “CARE”?  MEDICAL CARE?

Two days we went through this. On the third day, she finally passed. We have no idea how long she had not had food or water and if this could possibly have been the "cause of death".

We do know she looked dehydrated and as though she'd lost considerable weight.

When you're "run through the wringer" as we had been for so long, you function as best you can. 

You try to think and reason and act at the highest level but you ENTRUSTED your loved one TO THIS MEDICAL FACILITY and surely they will act, will provide, will ensure medical services are provided.

Once again I feel guilt. Did I do the right thing? 

Was she actually dying? 

Or was it what we did, what we went through with her the way we did that brought about her life's end before its time? 

We mourn the child because of the life that never was. 

We mourn the Senior because of the life that ended in ways that should not have been.