Even more shameful

Well, it just goes from bad to worse. I thought that my mother would get good care at Healthsouth Rehabilitation Hospital and would be on the road to recovery from her stroke. WRONG! She was there about 5 days and during that time, she seemed to get worse. She looked haggard, developed a pronounced tremor, moaned constantly, seemed agitated much of the time. The physical therapy assistant told my brother that my mother seemed not to know where she was, this on the same day that Mother had managed to communicate to me that she didn’t think the hospital was helping her, that she wasn’t getting what she needed. The PT assistant also said he felt that, after discharge, she would need 24 hour in-home care or a nursing home. Well, the next day I got a call that my mother had collapsed and had been rushed back to the ER.

It turns out that Healthsouth allowed my mother to become seriously dehydrated, causing her blood pressure to drop to a critically low level. It’s absolutely outrageous that someone who was dependent on others to get her water would be allowed to become that dehydrated in a HOSPITAL! Outrageous and disgraceful and shameful!

My mother was taken to the ER at the hospital where she was a patient right after the stroke (the one that didn’t give her dinner) because it was right across the street from Healthsouth. When it was determined that she needed to be admitted, I insisted that she be transferred to a hospital in Fort Worth, part of the Baylor system. She has been there for 2 days and her condition has improved 1000%. The nursing and therapy staff have been so kind to her, are provided attentive care, and actually talk to and listen to her. I’m much more hopeful tonight that my mother will be able to return to independent living, with some home health services.