Hospitals

I have to admit I am getting more and more sceptical each day of our hospitals. I just got off the phone with my dad's nurse and she tells me his IV was removed and they were unable to reinsert it. They even called in two intravenous nurses, both failed. Now he has to wait for further testing on his heart until Monday. Which again baffles me. After a conversation I had with my dad the other day, he has refused heart surgery. I completely understand that decision. He is an 80 year old blind man with diabetes, heart problems and the list goes on... so why the testing??? He has already said 'no' to surgery. More money wasted. Just prescribe another medication to add to his shoe box of pills.

I had my hair cut last night and my hair dresser is in a situation with the same hospital. This time they have a complaint in with an ER nurse who horribly treated her 80 year old father. Degraded and embarassed him to a point where he is afraid and very anxious to go home.

But the craziest story involves my mom and her mastectomy in October. She pre-admitted herself the day before surgery only to admit herself once again the following day (another waste of time). More tests had to be conducted and she ended up in a hallway and forgotten for over 1 hour, which of course made her late for her surgery time. On her way to the operating room, she and the surgeon had a conversation regarding her surgery. The surgeon requested to speak with us and was unable to, even though we had been given a pager by the hospital when we registered. The volunteers refused to use it because mom wasn't ready to be discharged and that was the only time they were allowed to use it. WHAT!!!! That is crazy. If a surgeon wants to speak with me, PAGE ME! Seems simple to me. When we finally saw my mom, the nurse couldn't even tell us if my mom had a lumpectomy or mastectomy. Of course, that was the last straw and my sister blew her top. I was there to applaud her.

At the end of the day, you get what you pay for. So sit back, laugh instead of cry, and hope noone dies.