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[goldenheart]

This message was self-deleted by its author (goldenheart) on Tue May 15, 2018, 04:09 PM. When the original post in a discussion thread is self-deleted, the entire discussion thread is automatically locked so new replies cannot be posted.

[avebury]

1. Where was her family while this was going on?

While the nursing home plays a role in her deterioration if they didn't get her proper medical care, I would hope that her family would have noticed that something was very wrong and insisted a thorough medical evaluation.

[malaise]

2. You stole my post

She was neglected by more than the nursing home folks

[avebury]

9. Sorry! I didn't meant to steal your post.

The first thing that came to mind was, if she had family, I would hope that you would visit her and notice the deterioration of her health. It seems like everyone failed this lady.

[malaise]

10. Just a joke:

hi:

[avebury]

11. It just proves that great minds think

alike.

[malaise]

12. LOL

[Kittycow]

6. The article says that the daughter was nearby and visited often.

The families were kept in the dark about the scabies ravaging through the home. The patient was prescribed worm and scabies medication but records apparently show it wasn't regularly given.

I question the family on one point, though. Why didn't they move her? If she was on Medicaid, though, it can be hard to find a bed someplace else.

[haele]

8. Reading the article, the married daughter would come by as often as she could.

Probably once or twice a month, reading between the lines. Which is typical for people with relatives in nursing homes that are not close and who may also be working or caring for other family members.
The lady was suffering from severe dementia and other issues, so her ability to let the daughter understand something other than aging was affecting her was seriously diminished.
The scabies outbreak that killed her occurred in the final three months of her life, and the severity may not have been immediately apparent to the daughter until it got bad enough to turn the hand black.

Nurses (typically overworked and undertrained) and other staff can always say "well, what you've been seeing is age spots and other normal geriatric issues that happen to the elderly as these diseases progress and she gets closer to her natural end. That's why she's in our nursing home, so we can take care of these things and keep her as comfortable as possible..." While they go on about doing no more than their cost-cutting for-profit employers allow them to do.

Quarantine patients and their bedding during scabies and lice infestations? Too expensive, just wash everything together and re-use all the medical appliances. A little bit of Lysol goes a long way, donchaknow?

It's easy to convince relatives who aren't knowledgeable in physiology other than basic first aid that scabies and bedsores are "normal", especially when the patient is pretty much out of it due to dementia - or over-medication, another issue that for-profit nursing homes are guilty of.

I've visited critical care/hospice nursing homes as "support" for a couple friends and neighbors over the years. I was always asked because back when I was on active duty, I took some Corpsman courses just to pass the time underway on 12 hour shifts and could at least recognize if the level of health and care of their relative was close to what the nurses and doctors would tell them in the one or two hours that the patient would be alert enough to observe.

It's easy to fool most relatives on the quality of care when corners are being cut - especially since most don't know what they're looking at, and don't usually have either the time or resources to take a few basic physiology and nursing courses while they're trying to take care of their own lives.

To ask your average 68 year old or so housewife Nancy or retired shift manager Bob - who are already heartbroken they can't take care of an 80+ year old parent with all sorts of debilitating geriatric issues - to understand what's going on in a nursing home when they've not been trained in medicine to begin with is pretty much blaming the relative for not being superhuman.

It was "cover your ass" nursing and the cost-cutting business model measures that made this lady's last few months horrific.

Haele

[Denzil_DC]

15. I was unlucky enough to catch scabies from taking apart bedding

while I was working in a hostel for homeless youths quite a long time ago.

I had a very small hole in the leg of my jeans. That was enough to let the little buggers through when I was manhandling the sheets to put in the laundry, and I developed a "mystery" lesion at exactly the point on my leg where the hole in my jeans was (I guess I was naive, as I had next to no idea about scabies before then). The rash spread, obviously, and I got diagnosed and given the usual revolting all-over ointment as treatment. It's a miserable and embarrassing disease (stigmatized at the time as plainly venereal) even for the able-bodied and relatively sound of mind.

Ours was a shoestring operation - shamefully so, but we were the last backstop before the streets for these young folks at the time, so we kept going as best we could.

Nevertheless, all hell broke out among management (about the only time they paid us much attention). A number of us were put on leave while our infections cleared up, and the hostel effectively shut down during what we saw as a crisis. We identified the source as a couple of the clients, and got them checked out and treated along with the others. A furious clean-up and ass-kicking contest was instigated. We junked all the mattresses and begged sterilizable replacements from charitably minded local firms. All the bedding was trashed and replaced, along with soft furnishings and such carpets as we had. Nevertheless, it had spread through other staff who'd had minimal or no contact with bedding etc. before we finally got on top of it.

That was in a badly resourced facility used too often as a social dump. It's horrific that a nursing home for highly vulnerable people could let the situation get so out of hand.

[orleans]

18. thank you for those words. very thoughtful and insightful. n/t

[Iggo]

20. More importantly, and to the point: It's a nursing home. Where were the medical professionals?

[karynnj]

23. My thought when I read the excerpt, but her daughter visited daily

That makes the story harder. Was she too intimidated by the nursing home to demand action? Did she feel she had no choice? This story is nightmarish.

[shenmue]

3. Lord have mercy

[MFM008]

4. The family can make a difference

You don't have to just stand by and ring your hands helplessly. My mom was in at least three facilities last year after varying incidence with her health and I personally stayed on top of it, believe me the squeaky wheel does get the oil.
Unfortunately a lot of older people don't have annoying advocates for them, in fact I noticed many didn't have any visitors at all or very few.

[Dave Starsky]

5. That is just horrifying. How sad and terrible.

I mean, that is the stuff of freaking nightmares, right there.

How unfathomably cruel.

[MineralMan]

7. Scabies is fairly common in nursing homes. Bedbugs, too.

In a well-run place, either results in a thorough cleaning and eradication effort. In a poorly-run place, the problem gets hidden and gets worse. Facilities that have mostly Medicaid residents can be the very worst. Money is the issue. They don't have enough of it.

However, even in good facilities, problems can develop. Families need to keep a close watch on their relatives in care facilities. When they spot problems, they need to make noise and be the squeaky wheel. That helps. Still, you can't be there all the time. Neglect, lack of care, and outright mistakes happen all the time.

It's not a good thing. We need to do much better at caring for our frail elders.

[Jane Austin]

13. Scabies is/are lice.

Just so you don't think it's some rare disease.

It's a matter of hygiene.

[MattBaggins]

16. Scabies and lice are not the same

[Jane Austin]

21. You are right.

In dogs, which is all I know about, it's a kind of mange. Sarcoptic or Demodectic, I forget which kind.

It's caused by mites, not lice.

Please forgive my confusing mites and lice.

[Stuart G]

14. k and r...nt

[oasis]

17. Truly horrible.

Prosecute to the fullest extent of the law.

[tblue37]

19. In happier times:

[Raine]

22. Beautiful woman

Thank you for posting her pictures.