Posted on 11/04/2005 3:24:09 AM PST by 8mmMauser
Family members are investigating what they consider to be suspicious circumstances surrounding the death of a nursing home patient at the center of a life and death tug-of-war reminiscent of the Terri Schiavo tragedy.
Seventy-nine-year-old Jimmy Chambers died in the early morning hours of Oct. 24 after the tracheotomy tubes that deliver oxygen from a ventilator to a hole in his neck became unhooked. Family members were told Chambers, a resident of the Anne Maria Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in North Augusta, S.C., apparently pulled the interlocking tubes apart.
"We're having it investigated. We're just incredulous," Chambers' daughter, Deanna Potter, told WND in reference to her siblings. "The last time I saw dad he was blowing me a kiss. I blew him one and he blew one back."
The retired dispatcher for Holland Motor Express died approximately 10 hours later. His death certificate indicates he died of "natural causes."
"Apparently, suffocation is a 'natural cause' when you're on a ventilator. We're contesting that," said Potter. "He suffocated. He didn't just pass away. He struggled and fought. And I'm just so angry."
Potter estimates it would have taken 10 to 14 minutes for her father, deprived of oxygen, to fall unconscious, and questions why the nursing home staff didn't come to his aid.
"The oxygen-saturation meter and his ventilator both would have had alarms going off. Four-thirty, five o'clock in the morning you'd think someone would hear this," she added. "That's the thing that really bothers me and makes me suspicious."
(Excerpt) Read more at worldnetdaily.com ...
people and beasts do change. Look at schiavo. He was big on the republican party when they were assisting him but now he's endorsing democrats. I think the aclu is probably bankrolling HINO.
Is this a real grave marker, or something someone designed?
From the New York Times, a liberal writes a book about Terri. (he takes time to bash Delay, et al too).
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/06/books/review/06saletan.html
http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/pauljacob/2005/11/06/174484.html
Ironically, the democrat who HINO supports is against capital punishment but wouldn't intervene if an innocent were being abused or murdered. I wonder which way Virginians will go? If they want to be a starvation state like Florida, Kaine's victory would lead them there.
www.jerrykilgore.com
GO JERRY!
in reguards to your NH comments....of course, strangers are not going to have the love that YOU have.....
but give NH employees a break, will Ya?...they don't have fancy unions or civil service contracts to protect them and give them fat pensions....its almost sinful what people expect "strangers" to do for the pittance they receive and absolutley little or no security in a job, let alone a future.....
my mother took care of her mother who was dying of cancer....my mom had 6 kids and my dad made poor money......but I have preserved my grandmothers prescence in my mind til this day .....so I know its doable to take in your beloved ....
that's love and devotion for ya......wonder if the younger generations will ever know it....
if the state regulators or Joint commission finds evidence anywhere in the chart where pain went untreated, its a problem, and even if its only the family members saying the patient is in "pain" and what you see is a person sleeping you still have to act in someway....
you can't win in this game....
we do have lots of "loving" family members who think that reality is like ER and that death is supposed to be pretty....
its not.....
we have those family members who DEMAND that we give more narcotic because its just so hard to sit there waiting for death ...what they mean is its too hard on THEM.....
then we get the divided families argueing over their parent in front of them......
what passes for love, I tell ya......
as far as "drugging" up patients....is not ethical nor legal from my understanding to chemically restrain anyone unless there is thorough documentation that there is a need for it and the family and doctor all are in agreement...especially if the patient poses a risk to himself or others....
you see, NH's aren't supposed to be using physical restraints anymore, so their options are very narrow.....people will sue no matter what happens.....
until the public and society understands that death is a natural and NECESSARY part of our world then we get these constant conflicts....
I wish people would stop bitching about nursing homes or hospitals or the like because the alternative is there for YOU to care for your loved one at YOUR house.....
we all know that the kind of devotion is just not there in 2005 in the good ol USA....we talk a big line but when it comes right down to it, most people will be ditching their parents in NH's no matter what.......sad...
I saw my mother-in-law in a nursing several years ago in Florida and she got good care and her husband visited her twice a day. But then I saw and heard about patients there with extended family who were lucky to have any visitors once a year. The 'disposable' elderly attitude a lot of Americans have sickens me more than almost any other issue.
BTTT! Be back later.
in my state, its MANDATED that you ask the patient if he has a living will or similar, there is no requiremnt that he have one nor is it required that he sign up "quick"......
maybe you have heard of families suing because daddy or mommy was resuscitated even though there was a "living will" at home in the safe deposit box.....
the lawyers and the courts have made it impossible .....
Geez....we have one state that voted to allow people to commit suicide by doctor, and we have families mad because dad's living will was fulfilled and mad when dad's living will was not fulfilled.......
there is no way to do the "right" thing in today's climate....
if you are a family member, you can obtain information with the patients okay of course to review all medications with the nurse or the doctor......there is no secrecy .....maybe a little more sincere inquisition on behalf of your loved ones would be more productive than just making blanket putdowns on every doctor, nurse, therapist or aides in a hospital....
Have you noticed how unconcerned and callous your fellow Americans (not to mention the Europeans)have become toward the elderly infirmed? Oh, they want to vote for politicians who promise "compassion," but their definition of compassion is "I get my way and to hell with anyone standing in my way!"
I'm sorry that my post made you angry. There are certainly good people working in nursing homes. However, it's not possible for me to discern the difference without some sort of in depth vetting process that can't be done. They are in fact, strangers to me and my loved one. They may be wonderful caring strangers, or they may be the other type. For that reason, I would choose any avenue other than nursing home care if at all possible.
susie
Do the hospices like Woodside which did in Terri really want to identify themselves with clowns? Here are some snippets from The Miami Herald:
But the dissenting artists say the mass-produced figurines are overly commercial and hackneyed. Sarasota's plan is made worse, they believe, because the figures in question would be clowns, which they say would cheapen a city that bills itself as the ``cultural coast.''
Plus, they noted, there are children and adults who harbor coulrophobia -- a serious fear of clowns.
''The clown phobia thing is huge, I had no idea. There are people who just plum hate the images of clowns,'' said Virginia Hoffman, a sculptor and chair of Sarasota's Public Art Committee. ``I'm concerned about fallout. What if there are protests by clowns haters, or people who want to vandalize clown statues?''
8mm
I guess I misread what you said. I plan on having my bf as emergency DPOA, because my aunt lives in Maine. The doctor I mentioned is someone I can trust to consult in my treatment.
2.29 is great! Jeff is filling up the tank, and I'll ask him how much he paid when he gets home.
Anyone ever notice that it mentions Terri being a beloved wife only? Nothing about being a beloved daughter, sister, or aunt. I guess I was so mortified by the other stuff Michael put on there that I didn't catch that the first dozen times I'd looked at it.
That's why I'm saying living wills are far more dangerous than they are helpful. They cloud the issues more than they solve them.
My family is lucky that Dad showed us from his own example. He was totally against them. Whether it was mandated or not isn't the issue about the health care workers asking him. They positively harassed him about them. I'm not suggesting that this happens every time, but when my Dad was adament, he meant what he said, and those people just didn't get it.
I'm sorry if this offends you, but that's the way it was for us.
I've heard the horror stories about people hurredly taking their loved ones out of hospice woodside after their condition worsened in a short time.
Someone should write a book about "Our Escape from Judge Greer's Hospice". www.judgegeorgegreer.com (dirt on Judge Greer and there are other sites dedicated to the proposition that JUDGE GREER SHOULD BE INDICTED for running a death care system in Pinellas Cty. Robbing and then killing the ward. No blanket, just the truth, cherry.
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