Once upon a time, a blog was started at AOL Journals. The scales fell from the eyes of The Creator and it was moved to Wordpress. Then Journals tanked and all old posts were moved here for safekeeping.

Saturday, December 23, 2006

Not a fan of the medical establishment

I was hardly a cheerleader for our medical system before but jeez.  I went to see Justin yesterday.  He looks like he was in a bad barfight.  With gravity.  I pointed out to my mom that if you stay seated on his right side, it just looks like Justin wearing a fancy high-necked collar.  Look, everything's okay over here!  yay!  No, no, don't stand up.  And ignore the beeping.  I'm sure it's just a phone.
He's in the ICU.  His nurse popped in a couple of times, and was a very nice guy.  But we never saw a doctor.  He's been there since Wednesday and my mom has been there most of the time.  She finally asked to see a doctor Thursday night, because one never entered the room.  There's a "critical care team" of what appear to be 24 year old girls.  They walk up the hall, chatting, and turn their heads from side to side as if looking for someone in a supermarket.  I understand that there are lots of machines that will tell them if something is wrong, but how hard would it be to stop, say, "Hello Mrs. Whitaker.  How is it going?  I'm on round, so I can't stay long, but do you have any questions?"  There were four or 5 of them, so it wouldn't even take that long, splitting up the job. They just sent him in for an MRI last night.  They've been saying he'd get this MRI for two days.  But no one has given an update, or explained, it just hasn't happened. Further, he keeps getting regular meals.  Turkey and potatoes and beans.  Chicken nuggets and mac and cheese.  His face is broken.  he can barely open his mouth at all, let alone CHEW.  And they just plop it down and leave. No attempt is made to see if he can eat it. No comment is made about the fact that his food is totally uneaten.  My mom got him some boullion and he took a couple of sips.  She tried to feed him Jell-o and it stuck to the roof of his mouth and had to be sponged out.  Yet they bring him turkey.  WTF?  Again, this is not something that adds a whole lot of extra work.  This is not something that costs money.  Give the man with the broken face some soup and a straw.  I mean, seriously.  When Mom spoke to the doctor, she mentioned the food problem and he was surprised and made a note on the chart.  He's supposed to start getting reasonable food today.  Because it takes a WHOLE DAY to shift gears enough to get a cup of soup.  I think more is broken than just Justin's face.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Deana, this is absolutely insane.  Your poor mother and Justin deserve much better treatment than this.  You might want to check and see if the hospital has a patient ombudsman or something similar.  I had to do this when Mike was in the hospital for so long.  In ICU, he should have a nurse dedicated to just him or perhaps one other patient, not someone popping in and out.  WTF?  When he's moved to a lower level room, tell your mom to suck up to the charge nurse in his section.  These are wonderful, helpful people to know.  I'm so sorry you are all having to deal with a crappy hospital.  If I can help at all, let me know.

Anonymous said...

WOW --- that sounds beyond awful. Might as well send him home so your Mom can at least feed him properly.

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