My father went for pain management to Ct Hospice Branford on May 14 2010. My family was told by my father's home care nurse(Hospice employee)that my father's Oncologist wanted him to go there for a couple day stay for pain management. My father drove him self to Hospice and walked in the door. On admission Hospice had him sign a DNR form. The same day the Hospice social worker wrote in his summary notes. Patient does not fully understand what DNR means. Hospice still made my father a DNR I guess it doesn't matter if you don't understand what it means. It's only your life. On the Hospice admission the Hospice physician signed my father as being terminal. We were never told my father was terminal? My father's Oncologist said he didn't know my father went to Hospice. My father's Oncologist's name was on all the admission paper's. Hospice regulations say Hospice will be in touch with the Physician they never called any of my fathers Doctors. How can a Hospice physician sign someone is terminal when they have no idea of their medical prognois?After my father drove and walked into to Hospice they hooked him up to a PCA Morphine pump. Within a couple of days they gave him
Trazadone,Ativian,Thorazine,Morphine pills. They put my father in diapers something he never wore before Hospice. My father was not allowed to get up and use the bathroom. Within a few days he was unresponsive his mouth was hanging open he was not eating or drinking any fluids. My mother kept saying that Hospice must know more about my fathers prognois then we did. Hospice was telling us my family was in denial. That my father would be dead shortly. How could this happen? We had just been to his Oncologist a few weeks before and all his blood work was in the normal ranges. My fathers radiologist had just done a head to toe bone scan and said he was going to be around for a long while. The radiologist said the radiation would get rid of the lower back pain from the cancer in his bones. When he had the radiation that's exactly what happened. My father has been pain free for 8 months.
The only reason my father is a live today is because I stopped by one evening and I asked the nurse why they don't use alarms under the bed so they know when a patient gets up. She told me they use medication as restraints! That is the only reason my father is still alive today. At that point I realized what they were doing to my father. Hospice told us we were in denial. Even though we kept telling Hospice my father was only there for pain management.
Finally after having my father transported by ambulance to Saint Raphael then to sister Grimes Rehab total cost of bills $70,000. There was no other reason for my father to be in the hospital except for what Hospice did to him. I have been down to Ct Hospice and they have appoligized for what they did to him. Hospice did an Internal Investigating. Hospice said they don't know how he got into Hospice with no referal letter from his doctor. How could he get in with no terminal diagnois except for the one Hospice signed???? Hospice doesn't know how it happened?? It's unacceptable what they did to my father. My father has panic attacks now and doesn't want my mother to leave him alone. In September my father did drive to Hospice by him self from Hamden to Branford and walked into Hospice to meet with the head of nursing and Pat the director. He wanted to show them he was a person that Hospice can not assume all patient's are terminal and that they made a big mistake. He asked them why did you try to kill me? Why didn't the nurses listen to my family. Hospice had no answer. The Hospice social worker came to my parents home. I showed her the list of medication they gave my father. I asked her is this pain management or end of life care she said this was deffitnley end of life care. Nancy Rogers the social worker said it was the perfect Storm.
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