Discrimination Against Elderly Psychiatric Patients
"Our facility cannot meet her needs," says the admission coordinator at a local nursing home.
That is the reality of many mentally ill, elderly Americans. Ms. Thomas is a 57 year old black female with schizophrenia. Last year, she was over medicated by her local mental health center, and suffered lithium toxicity. As a result, she had multiple seizures and was nearly dead, when the local paramedics arrived.
She arrived at the hospital and continued to convulse uncontrollably. At some point, her brain did not receive oxygen for minutes at a time. Fortunately, her brain did not die. However, this trauma resulted in a coma that lasted several weeks.
While being in a comatose state, Ms. Thomas was totally unresponsive to sound, touch, or any other stimulation. Her family spent day and night at the hospital praying for her survival. They worked closely with the excellent doctors and nurses that cared for Ms. Thomas while she was in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Her only child, a daughter, became her number one advocate.
The progress was painstakingly slow, and the physicians became inpatient. In spite of the negative doctor reports, family and friends steadily prayed over her nonresponsive body. Miraculously, she slowly awakened from her coma.
The first signs of her coming out of the coma were small. One day, she squeezed the doctor's hand at his command. Day by day, she made slow steps toward recovery. Her condition was still critical: she remained on the respirator for about 2 months.
After spending approximately 4 months in ICU, Ms. Thomas was released to a Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Birmingham, Alabama. The lithium overdose had caused severe brain damage and Ms. Thomas loss many of the everyday skills we sometimes take for granted. For example, she was no longer able to stand, walk, talk, write, eat, drink, use the restroom, or independently perform basic daily living activities.
This was shocking to Ms. Thomas and her family. They were hopeful that intensive rehabilitation and therapy would help her regain what she had loss in the last 4 months.
They were woefully disappointed at the end results of the "rehabilitation and therapy."
After the 100 Medicare days were exhausted, the nursing and rehabilitation facility quickly pushed her right out the front door. She was put in a wheel chair transport van and driven 90 miles north of Birmingham. When she arrived in Madison, Alabama, her daughter had no training on how to care for the peg tube in her stomach, manage her diabetes, high-blood pressure, and other physical ailments.
Nevertheless, her daughter squared her shoulders, and she took on this enormous challenge. Her mother now required 24/7 care.
After spending 100 Medicare days in the facility, Ms. Thomas had made very little progress. She was still unable to stand and walk. Eating and drinking were a different experience now. Her food had to be processed into a pureed form. At 57 years of age, her food had the consistency of baby food. Any liquid had to be thickened into a honey-like substance. In addition, her writing skills were like a toddler, and she had to wear a diaper.
This was very frustrating for Ms. Thomas. Due to the tracheostomy performed in ICU and the brain damage, she had also loss her ability to speak intelligibly. She could speak, but it was very difficult to understand her words.
Her daughter spent the next 2 months giving her around the clock care. Unfortunately, there was no family, no friends, and no one else that offered any relief.
Additionally, schizophrenia was rearing its ugly head, again. Ms. Thomas needed psychiatric treatment. Ms. Thomas was able to reach the phone in her wheel chair and dial 911; her paranoia was getting the best of her.
The ambulance and police arrived. In spite of her daughter's tremendous sacrifice, her mother began to tell the paramedics and police lies. She made it clear that she did not want to stay with her daughter anymore. In fact, she believed that she was being attacked every day by an intruder.
The police had to listen very intently, but they were able to ascertain that Ms. Thomas needed help.
Once in the hospital, she was admitted to the Geriatric Psychiatric Unit. Three weeks into her stay, the psychiatrist determined she was ready for release. During her stay, the discharge planner worked feverishly to find a nursing facility. Over 25 facilities responded that they could not meet her needs.
In reality, once a facility saw her psychiatric status, they decided that she was not the type of patient they wanted to accept. The denials kept coming, and Ms. Thomas was delivered to the front door of her only child, again.
The fact that her daughter suffered from Lupus did not help the situation. Once again, her daughter, barely able to get out of the bed most days, cared for her mother.
In America, the greatest country in the world, discrimination against elderly, psychiatric patients exist. Why are the nursing homes allowed to get away with this? Certainly, within a state, there must be a decent place that can meet the needs of Ms. Thomas.
However, there is a dirty, little secret in the nursing home industry. They are not interested in psychiatric patients. These patients are considered pariahs. Preference is given to those patients that will require very little, and have those coveted Medicare rehabilitation days. Nursing homes are paid almost triple for rehabilitation. Once those days are used up, nursing homes are notorious for shipping the person off to the first available dump.
TERMS OF REPRINT: This article may be reprinted on your website, blog, in your newsletter, etc., as long as the info in the "About the Author" section is included (including all links). This content may not be rewritten, revised or edited without the author's consent. Failure to include the info in the "About the Author" section is copyright infringement, and will be prosecuted as such.
That is the reality of many mentally ill, elderly Americans. Ms. Thomas is a 57 year old black female with schizophrenia. Last year, she was over medicated by her local mental health center, and suffered lithium toxicity. As a result, she had multiple seizures and was nearly dead, when the local paramedics arrived.
She arrived at the hospital and continued to convulse uncontrollably. At some point, her brain did not receive oxygen for minutes at a time. Fortunately, her brain did not die. However, this trauma resulted in a coma that lasted several weeks.
While being in a comatose state, Ms. Thomas was totally unresponsive to sound, touch, or any other stimulation. Her family spent day and night at the hospital praying for her survival. They worked closely with the excellent doctors and nurses that cared for Ms. Thomas while she was in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Her only child, a daughter, became her number one advocate.
The progress was painstakingly slow, and the physicians became inpatient. In spite of the negative doctor reports, family and friends steadily prayed over her nonresponsive body. Miraculously, she slowly awakened from her coma.
The first signs of her coming out of the coma were small. One day, she squeezed the doctor's hand at his command. Day by day, she made slow steps toward recovery. Her condition was still critical: she remained on the respirator for about 2 months.
After spending approximately 4 months in ICU, Ms. Thomas was released to a Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Birmingham, Alabama. The lithium overdose had caused severe brain damage and Ms. Thomas loss many of the everyday skills we sometimes take for granted. For example, she was no longer able to stand, walk, talk, write, eat, drink, use the restroom, or independently perform basic daily living activities.
This was shocking to Ms. Thomas and her family. They were hopeful that intensive rehabilitation and therapy would help her regain what she had loss in the last 4 months.
They were woefully disappointed at the end results of the "rehabilitation and therapy."
After the 100 Medicare days were exhausted, the nursing and rehabilitation facility quickly pushed her right out the front door. She was put in a wheel chair transport van and driven 90 miles north of Birmingham. When she arrived in Madison, Alabama, her daughter had no training on how to care for the peg tube in her stomach, manage her diabetes, high-blood pressure, and other physical ailments.
Nevertheless, her daughter squared her shoulders, and she took on this enormous challenge. Her mother now required 24/7 care.
After spending 100 Medicare days in the facility, Ms. Thomas had made very little progress. She was still unable to stand and walk. Eating and drinking were a different experience now. Her food had to be processed into a pureed form. At 57 years of age, her food had the consistency of baby food. Any liquid had to be thickened into a honey-like substance. In addition, her writing skills were like a toddler, and she had to wear a diaper.
This was very frustrating for Ms. Thomas. Due to the tracheostomy performed in ICU and the brain damage, she had also loss her ability to speak intelligibly. She could speak, but it was very difficult to understand her words.
Her daughter spent the next 2 months giving her around the clock care. Unfortunately, there was no family, no friends, and no one else that offered any relief.
Additionally, schizophrenia was rearing its ugly head, again. Ms. Thomas needed psychiatric treatment. Ms. Thomas was able to reach the phone in her wheel chair and dial 911; her paranoia was getting the best of her.
The ambulance and police arrived. In spite of her daughter's tremendous sacrifice, her mother began to tell the paramedics and police lies. She made it clear that she did not want to stay with her daughter anymore. In fact, she believed that she was being attacked every day by an intruder.
The police had to listen very intently, but they were able to ascertain that Ms. Thomas needed help.
Once in the hospital, she was admitted to the Geriatric Psychiatric Unit. Three weeks into her stay, the psychiatrist determined she was ready for release. During her stay, the discharge planner worked feverishly to find a nursing facility. Over 25 facilities responded that they could not meet her needs.
In reality, once a facility saw her psychiatric status, they decided that she was not the type of patient they wanted to accept. The denials kept coming, and Ms. Thomas was delivered to the front door of her only child, again.
The fact that her daughter suffered from Lupus did not help the situation. Once again, her daughter, barely able to get out of the bed most days, cared for her mother.
In America, the greatest country in the world, discrimination against elderly, psychiatric patients exist. Why are the nursing homes allowed to get away with this? Certainly, within a state, there must be a decent place that can meet the needs of Ms. Thomas.
However, there is a dirty, little secret in the nursing home industry. They are not interested in psychiatric patients. These patients are considered pariahs. Preference is given to those patients that will require very little, and have those coveted Medicare rehabilitation days. Nursing homes are paid almost triple for rehabilitation. Once those days are used up, nursing homes are notorious for shipping the person off to the first available dump.
TERMS OF REPRINT: This article may be reprinted on your website, blog, in your newsletter, etc., as long as the info in the "About the Author" section is included (including all links). This content may not be rewritten, revised or edited without the author's consent. Failure to include the info in the "About the Author" section is copyright infringement, and will be prosecuted as such.
Source...