Doctor's Attitude Can Raise Red Flags about Care at Nursing Home
The mother of a friend of ours is in a nursing home in a northern Chicago suburb. She's 95, and she doesn't always remember very well. She's reverted to her native Eastern European language for conversation but, all things considered, she's doing pretty well. Plus, she is blessed with caring and attentive sons who visit her regularly and look out for her well-being.
And that's a very good thing. It keeps her doctor and the nursing home alert.
While nothing serious is wrong, there are little problems and these offer some cautions about what to look for if you have a loved one in a nursing home.
Currently, this woman (let's call her Hannah) can't hear. The problem is ear wax, something easy enough to cure.
Hannah's son (let's call him Sam) says the problem has been building up for several weeks. He and his brother have asked the doctor several times to remove the wax. She's been reluctant, saying there wasn't a problem. She even told him recently that there's no problem. "I saw her yesterday and she heard me fine," Sam quotes the doctor as saying, "She even responded in English."
That would be fine, but Hannah hasn't responded to anything in English for more than a year.
And the day after the doctor says she talked with Hannah, Sam's brother called him to say her hearing was worse. "She can't hear at all," Sam's brother said. Perhaps the wax massed up overnight.
Finally, the doctor said she would remove the wax and set a date more than two weeks off for the sons to bring Hannah to her office. The brothers decided this was unacceptable and made arrangements with another doctor who would take care of the problem much sooner.
They're doing a good job of watching out for their mother.
As to the doctor, she was caring for Hannah before she went into the nursing home. In fact, though she is not employed by the home, she recommended it to the family and makes weekly rounds there to see her patients.
Now, however, she seems to have lost interest. In fact, Sam now realizes, there were signs of potential problems more than a year ago - red flags that might have suggested looking for a new doctor then.
Hannah developed bed sores - one on her heel and one on her back - and was hospitalized so they could be treated. They were relatively minor, healed and Hannah went back to the home.
The doctor, however, had a different idea; she suggested hospice.
"What was that all about?" Sam wonders. "Sure, my mom is 95, but the bed sores weren't serious. She wasn't ready to die, and here we are a year later and she's doing fine. The doctor is a nice woman, but she was willing to give up on her."
And now, over a simple matter of removing ear wax, the doctor still seems to be saying, "Why bother?"
That's not something we want to hear when it comes to someone we care about.
Michael Kosner, President
The Kosner Firm Chtd.
