Need advice, nowhere else to turn!

[SCNJ1006]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New Jersey

This is quite a lengthy story, so I will try my best to shorten it.

In June of 2009, my father, a completely healthy 57 year old male, started feeling ill and went to the doctors for what he thought was the flu. His doctor recommended he go to the emergency room for x-rays, concerned that it may be pneumonia. Later that night, we took a trip to the ER. My father was admitted on the basis that his x-ray did show some markings, and was diagnosed with pneumonia. Over the next 4 days, his breathing and oxygen levels started to deteriorate and drop quickly. On June 15th, his doctors made a decision to transfer him up to ICU for proper monitoring and treatment. After the transfer, we saw almost an immediate improvement with all of his levels. The following day after being transferred to ICU and after nights of begging for something to help him sleep, the doctor put in an order for Ambien.
At 6 A.M. the following morning, my family received a phone call from his nurse letting us know that my father had fallen out of bed the night before, hit his head, but that he was okay. She told us the doctor had put him on a ventilator because his breathing had decreased, but reassured us yet again that he had only fallen out of bed and was doing alright. My mother and I arrived at the hospital around 6:30 A.M., and again met face-to-face with his nurse (the same one from the night before) and had told us yet again that he had only fallen out of bed. A few hours had passed, when we finally found out that that wasn't exactly the case. That night there were two nurses on duty in the ICU, one being his nurse (nurse A) and the other (nurse B) assigned to other patients. His nurse (nurse A), went in to check on him right after giving him the Ambien, and he was fine. As soon as she left, my father proceeded to pull out his PICC line, pull off all his leads, disconnect his oxygen, and walk out an exit door that was located right next to his room (entirely undetected...please keep in mind the nurses station was directly across from his room, which is also where the patient monitors are kept). The hospital reassured us that there WAS a nurse sitting at the desk. Being in a weakened state, we were amazed that he was able to push open this heavy steel door, walk down a 50 ft. hallway, push open ANOTHER steel door, where he then collapsed at the very top of a narrow staircase due to a heart attack. My family was FIRST utterly disgusted at the fact that the hospital and more importantly, his nurse, had lied not only over the phone, but to our faces as well as to what had happened. Secondly, the fact that we talked to just about everyone at the hospital that we possibly could have, and still have no answers as to why he wasn't being watched, or to why no one ran in as soon as they heard the monitor flat lined after he pulled everything off.
Once they realized he was missing, they called a CODE GREY (patient missing), found him in the hallway, brought him back to his room and intubated him. He was then restrained and on a ventilator for 5 days. When he woke up and came off the ventilator, he had no use of his left hand. We were told that was because he hadn't been active and that it would come back. Now over two months and an unimaginable amount of tests later, doctors have determined that his heart attack was caused solely because he went without oxygen for so long, and the hand weakness is nerve damage due to a fall. I was just wondering if this was considering lines for a lawsuit? I have days worth of notes and information (I took notes on EVERYTHING, for every day that he was there), and like I said, am looking for justice. This isn't the first time I have heard of this hospital screwing up, and I want to make sure it doesn't happen to anyone else.


Thank you so much for taking the time to read the whole story.
-Sara

[barry1817]

Originally Posted by SCNJ1006

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New Jersey

This is quite a lengthy story, so I will try my best to shorten it.

In June of 2009, my father, a completely healthy 57 year old male, started feeling ill and went to the doctors for what he thought was the flu. His doctor recommended he go to the emergency room for x-rays, concerned that it may be pneumonia. Later that night, we took a trip to the ER. My father was admitted on the basis that his x-ray did show some markings, and was diagnosed with pneumonia. Over the next 4 days, his breathing and oxygen levels started to deteriorate and drop quickly. On June 15th, his doctors made a decision to transfer him up to ICU for proper monitoring and treatment. After the transfer, we saw almost an immediate improvement with all of his levels. The following day after being transferred to ICU and after nights of begging for something to help him sleep, the doctor put in an order for Ambien.
At 6 A.M. the following morning, my family received a phone call from his nurse letting us know that my father had fallen out of bed the night before, hit his head, but that he was okay. She told us the doctor had put him on a ventilator because his breathing had decreased, but reassured us yet again that he had only fallen out of bed and was doing alright. My mother and I arrived at the hospital around 6:30 A.M., and again met face-to-face with his nurse (the same one from the night before) and had told us yet again that he had only fallen out of bed. A few hours had passed, when we finally found out that that wasn't exactly the case. That night there were two nurses on duty in the ICU, one being his nurse (nurse A) and the other (nurse B) assigned to other patients. His nurse (nurse A), went in to check on him right after giving him the Ambien, and he was fine. As soon as she left, my father proceeded to pull out his PICC line, pull off all his leads, disconnect his oxygen, and walk out an exit door that was located right next to his room (entirely undetected...please keep in mind the nurses station was directly across from his room, which is also where the patient monitors are kept). Being in a weakened state, we were amazed that he was able to push open this heavy steel door, walk down a 50 ft. hallway, push open ANOTHER steel door, where he then collapsed at the very top of a narrow staircase due to a heart attack. My family was FIRST utterly disgusted at the fact that the hospital and more importantly, his nurse, had lied not only over the phone, but to our faces as well as to what had happened. Secondly, the fact that we talked to just about everyone at the hospital that we possibly could have, and still have no answers as to why he wasn't being watched, or to why no one ran in as soon as they heard the monitor flat lined after he pulled everything off.
Once they realized he was missing, they called a CODE GREY (patient missing), found him in the hallway, brought him back to his room and intubated him. He was then restrained and on a ventilator for 5 days. When he woke up and came off the ventilator, he had no use of his left hand. We were told that was because he hadn't been active and that it would come back. Now over two months and an unimaginable amount of tests later, doctors have determined that his heart attack was caused solely because he went without oxygen for so long, and the hand weakness is nerve damage due to a fall. I was just wondering if this was considering lines for a lawsuit? I have days worth of notes and information (I took notes on EVERYTHING, for every day that he was there), and like I said, am looking for justice. This isn't the first time I have heard of this hospital screwing up, and I want to make sure it doesn't happen to anyone else.


Thank you so much for taking the time to read the whole story.
-Sara

If you want to make sure it doesn't happen to others a report should be filed with the hospital adminstration/ombudsman and perhaps with the appropriate state agency.

If you are looking to sue, then you need to speak with an attorney, and it becomes your burden of proof that the care given was negligent, that the patient suffered harm because of the negligence and that there is a financial component to the harm suffered.

In order to prove negligence you would need to research the codes that are mandated for treatment of the patient and be able to cite where they were violated and have another doctor support that point of view. a malpractice attorney would have access to doctors that could review your case to see if that is true

[lya]

Depending on the number of nurses per shift in the Unit, it is highly possible that calling a Code Grey is the only recourse available to the nurses. They cannot leave the other patients to find one who 'got away'. I realize you think this is a once in a lifetime happening, but not so. Patients do the darndest things, including cutting IV lines, calling a taxi, and leaving--all from ICU.

ICU nurses know the difference in monitor sounds, changes in beeping, etc. A flat line and the associated sound rarely mean the patient's heart has stopped. There is a rhythm that precedes a 'flat line' and it's 'sound' is an attention-getter.

In the past, it would have been more difficult for a patient such as your father to do what he did, but with all the objections to patients' being restrained, patients now get a chance or more than one chance to do exactly what your father did. You may thank those who just can't stand to see a person restrained like "an animal" and run to their attorneys and file lawsuits.

As for lying to you, it's more like you didn't get the whole story until you got there and proper resources were in place.

I don't doubt such physical exertion from one in such a compromised condition resulted in a "heart attack". I doubt it is due to negligence, though.

You may certainly contact an attorney and seek justice, though revenge is the proper term for what you seek.

Best wishes,

[SCNJ1006]

Barry1817- Thank you for the advice, my family is planning on taking action and looking into the situation further.


Lya- I understand that this has happened in the past to other people, but under the circumstances given, it shouldn't happen anywhere. None the less, they did lie to us. They told us that he had fallen out of bed and was on a ventilator as a precaution but was O.K., multiple times, when in fact he had never fallen out of bed (in his room they told us, may I add), but had gotten out of bed and fallen quite a while away. It may be revenge I am looking for, but with over $200,000 now in medical bills and permanent nerve damage, I am looking to take action for justice in my own mind, to make this hospital realize they can't get away with things like this.

[ecmst12]

Wanted to point out that it would have taken only seconds for him to pull out his lines and get out of the room; it doesn't NECESSARILY mean he was unattended for a long time or the nurse was negligent; she obviously can't be looking at the monitors every second, since she has to check on all the patients in the unit. It could have just been a tragic accident with no negligence at all. Only a full review of the records will be able to say for sure. And if he had given no indication that he would try to get out of bed before that, there wouldn't necessarily be any cause to restrain him.

Anyway, you don't get justice from a lawsuit. Justice is usually something you CAN'T get. Nothing can make it so these injuries did not happen, nothing can change the past. And if there was no procedural error or negligence, then there's no issue to be addressed and improved with the hospital. Sometimes bad things happen and there's no one to blame for it.

[SCNJ1006]

Originally Posted by ecmst12

Wanted to point out that it would have taken only seconds for him to pull out his lines and get out of the room; it doesn't NECESSARILY mean he was unattended for a long time or the nurse was negligent; she obviously can't be looking at the monitors every second, since she has to check on all the patients in the unit. It could have just been a tragic accident with no negligence at all. Only a full review of the records will be able to say for sure. And if he had given no indication that he would try to get out of bed before that, there wouldn't necessarily be any cause to restrain him.

Anyway, you don't get justice from a lawsuit. Justice is usually something you CAN'T get. Nothing can make it so these injuries did not happen, nothing can change the past. And if there was no procedural error or negligence, then there's no issue to be addressed and improved with the hospital. Sometimes bad things happen and there's no one to blame for it.

First of all, there was a nurse sitting at the station (which I had mentioned was directly across from his room). Second of all, if someone flat lines (which is what they told me had happened to the monitor), a nurse, as his/her responsibility, should run into that room without hesitating. To say that he showed no indication that he wanted to get out of bed ahead of time, that's fine, but he was in the (I'll say it again) ICU...there is NO...NONE, zip, nada, NO excuse that this should happen to a patient. NONE. And for you to tell me that I don't get justice from a lawsuit, if I feel that I get justice, I WILL get justice. As far as blaming someone, there were two nurses that night to blame for a few different things, and we actually had found out that they were "taken care of" which may mean something or may mean nothing at all.

Also, I must say, for you to say this:
"And if there was no procedural error or negligence, then there's no issue to be addressed and improved with the hospital."
Nothing to be improved? We met with quite a few "higher up's" of the hospital, and every single one was embarrassed as to what happened. I would be too, if it were my hospital. This situation shouldn't happen in ANY case what-so-ever, let alone for someone to think it isn't something that should or could be improved.

[JillyBrown]

Originally Posted by lya

ICU nurses know the difference in monitor sounds, changes in beeping, etc. A flat line and the associated sound rarely mean the patient's heart has stopped. There is a rhythm that precedes a 'flat line' and it's 'sound' is an attention-getter.

As I understand it, the OP's father was on a ventilator. My husband was on one, too. When it disconnected, the vent sounded a LOUD alarm.

So if he pulled it out/off, why didn't it sound? Or did it, and the nurse ignored it?

[Proserpina]

Originally Posted by JillyBrown

As I understand it, the OP's father was on a ventilator. My husband was on one, too. When it disconnected, the vent sounded a LOUD alarm.

So if he pulled it out/off, why didn't it sound? Or did it, and the nurse ignored it?

OP hasn't been back in a month....just fyi.