Elder Medical Neglect Happens in Hospital

The elderly do not heal as fast as the young, so a fall and its consequences can be quite literally a grave matter. And while there is preventative steps that can be took, such as in Oops Mama Fell- Get The Block And Tackle, there is the unfortunate moments where a loved one requires care from a hospital or nursing home after a fall, particularly if bones were broken. But are the elderly abused instead of cared for in their time of helplessness even at King‘s Daughters Medical Center?

Sadly, the answer is yes. Recently my mother (blood grandmother) took a fall that resulted in a broken hip. She was admitted into a well-known hospital, King’s Daughters Medical Center for surgery and remained in the hospital for two weeks before being transferred to her original nursing home. The duration of the time she was in the hospital became a trying moment as the family ‘knew’ she was becoming weaker, sicker and we began to prepare ourselves for her death.

Within twenty-four hours of being back in her original nursing home, the nursing staff brought me and another female family member into her room to show us why mom was doing so poorly. The surgery wounds was fine- the problem was a 5-inch diameter black, stinking, black bed sore of rotten flesh on her behind. There was also two smaller black bed sores on the heels of her feet. The nurses agreed she had definitely NOT been cared for in the least. Later on, different family members commented that they had not seen a nurse turn mom in the hospital.

Although the hospital doctors did fine surgery on mom’s hip, the nursing staff did not satisfactorily provide follow-up care. The bedsore on her bottom was a result of her body not being turned side to side on a continual basis. Although it is difficult to prevent every small bedsore, a sore of this size and condition could not have happened if she had received even half of the amount of attention needed.