My Aunt went to the hospital last night.....

[DanielleNDerek]

I'm very sorry to hear about your aunt, that sounds awful. I hope she can get the help that she needs. the first hospital sounds awful.

[ACDCDCAC]

OMG rach i'm just getting caught up on all this, and i cant believe what im hearing!

 

i dont give a flying fuc* what the hospital policy is about already having released her, were they too freaking scared about the good samaritan shit that they wouldnt even help a human in obvious distress? what absolute freaking morons!! i never. your family HAS to speak with a lawyer to find out what to do, at the very least get this published in some way, paper, local tv, national tv, whatever. the word needs to get out so this doestn happen to some other poor sick person.

 

you poor girl rach, hang in there and keep being an advocate for auntie. and report back to us every step so you have a written document of the account for later!

[jajajaja]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nrvsbride At the risk of sounding mean I'm about to get real nasty up in here: 1. First of all I don't mean to sound ignorant but how small is this first hospital? How could they keep telling you to go to a neurologist? WTF? Aren't there any neurologists in the hospital? Who does rounds and treats patients that are admitted for neurological problems? Glenda- the hospital DOES have a neurologist on staff. I asked the nurse this after I was crying my eyes out. I admit I was probably being kinda bitchy but that seems pretty understandable to me. Anyways, she was such a bitch and told me in such a snotty tone "why yes we do. His name is Dr. ____". I then was a little irate and asked then why don't you go get him! She told me that she would speak to the ER doctor about that. He later came out and talked with us all. He was a cocky, arrogant ass. He did a seriess of tests on my aunt in the waiting room- in front of everyone! He had her walk through a tremor and would snottily tell her husband to not prevent her from falling. He then made her touch her f'ing nose making her repeatidly hit herself in the face. He told us he would go check to see if the neurologist had free time to check her out and the fucker never returned. 2. Do you mean to tell me that this hospital doesn't even have residents or med students? Hell at that point I would have taken an intern. They are perfectly capable of at least doing something. Geez! This is not that small of a hospital either. I just looked up some facts on the hospital and oddly enough one of the specialities they list is "neurology." 3. I can't believe the neurologist would tell you 2 weeks. Like I said before I used to work at a neurologist office and if we got an emergency call from a potential new patient we would fit them in no questions asked. An emergency is an emergency. Then we used to tell our patients that had to wait for a long time b/c of the added patient that this person had a life or death emergency and that they would want the same courtesy if they were in the person's shoes. Not one person complained. And we are talking about cranky NYers here. This situation really pissed us off because we kept asking the hospital to contact one for us and tell them it's an emergency. They wouldn't and insisted that she was not in a serious life or death position. Bullshit- they have no idea whether that is true or not. The only testing they did on her was a CT scan and bloodwork. They don't know if her brain was being affected by all of the convulsions. I just don't get this. Writing a letter to the 1st hospital is not going to do anything. Someone will read it and file it somewhere. You need to go to your local news station or contact the local papers. The journalists will be all up in their faces with camera crews and microphones and put them on the spot. This is the only way to get to these people. We plan on not only writing the letter to the hospital but to also send it to our local newspaper. I hope these assholes get fried! I'm glad your aunt doesn't have something serious (well it is serious but you know what I mean). Hopefully she can find a way to manage her stress in a way that will be more beneficial to her healthwise. I am praying that she gets better soon.

As for today, she went to her primary physcian and he said her seizures, convulsions, tremors (I don't know what to call them!) are too frequent and too violent for ones he has seen in the past for pseudo seizure patients. He is referring her to a neurologist. My aunt is starting to get stubborn about doctor's visits which I don't really blame her. I hope we can make her realize she needs to keep faith and get this sorted out. She can't live like this.

[Maura]

my dear rachel, i am so sorry your family is suffering like this right now. the substandard care your aunt received at the first hospital must be dealt with. when you are ready to contact the local media, let me know. i will help you since obviously this is my specialty - i know people and can make calls and give you contacts to get this aired prominently on television and in the papers. there is NO excuse for what happened at the first hospital.

 

i am praying for your aunt that she can at least get some rest. do you know what the cause of all the stress is that is causing this kind of physical breakdown?

[jajajaja]

She and her husband had a seperation a couple months ago. They are back together now, but my aunt had lost a LOT of weight during the process. She doesn't look very healthy to begin with. She isn't the stressing type but she also holds everything in. She really need to obviously seek professional help to deal with all these issues.

 

Oh and Maura,

Thank you for the offer to get this out to the public. I have emailed my grandmother this morning telling her I would like to begin a formal letter. Of course, I dont' want to really take any action unless it's ok with my aunt.

[Nrvsbride]

Uggh Rachel it is all so frustrating. I guess I don't know how the hospitals in Salem work but in NY if a patient comes in with certain symptoms as severe as your aunts, they admit the patient and then call in a consult with the physician who specializes in that field who can come see her after his office hours are done.

 

In other words the very least they could have done for her is monitor her and keep her under observation until the neurologist was available to see her, or they called in another neurologist.

 

I really hope she starts to feel better soon.

[Chiquita]

Wow Rachel. I don't even know what to say about all this! It's just so crazy. I don't think a formal letter is going to do it. You definitely need to get the media involved and I'm glad that Maura can help with that if need be. Hopefully your aunt is feeling better soon in any case! What an ordeal your poor family has been through.

[A10CalGal]

Wow Rachel - that is so fucked up! I cannot believe the treatment, or lack thereof, your aunt received at hospital #1. I am glad you've gotten some answers & I'm really sorry your family had to endure such unneccesary bs.

[StephanieMN]

Just now catching up. This sucks @ss! Sorry they are putting your family through all this.

[Martha]

That is crazyness about the hospital Rachel! I would be livid!

 

I know this may be a far reach, but have you Googled? If her primary care physician doesn't think they are psuedo seizures, what could they be?

 

I was born with seizures and had them until I was 2. The doctor said that with the medication I was taking I just kinda grew out of them. I hope they can find something for her that will make them stop or be less frequent.

 

You and your family are in my thoughts.