Rehabilitation Hospital Question Advice
Moms View Message Board: General Discussion Archive: Archive January 2005:
Rehabilitation Hospital Question Advice
Mother in law fractured hip and knee in fall about October.
Mother in law(79 years old) just got her soft cast off two weeks ago.
Now she can walk 30 step holding on to ballet bar.
But she can not get out of wheel chair by her self.
So the Social worker walked into my mother in laws room and said
"
Oh you are going home in a couple of weeks."
MIL looked at her at said, "I can't walk yet, that is not a good idea..."
What is going on? Is it because she is on medicaid and not medicare.
This is horrible the way our system treats old people.
There is also some talk that they want to move her to the nursing home where there is no physical therapy.
You should see Johns face. He looks so sad.
Believe it or not her Medicare company dropped her due to lack of progress about a month ago. Her doctor had ordered her not to walk on soft cast. How was she supposed to make progress under those orders?
So does anyone have any advice or personal experience with this?
I do not know how medicare/medicaid works, BUT I do know that when I was in the hospital and needed to stay longer, the insurance company balked and the dr called them and gave them heck.
Can medicare dropping her be contested?
I am sure if she cannot walk in a few weeks they will not send her home. Wouldn't they be held liable if something happened to her if they release her to soon?
I hope things look better soon.
My Mother had surgery a couple of years ago.
She had her stomache removed.She stayed in the hospital for only 2 weeks ,then was moved to a nursing home.
Then finally a smaller hospital that specia;ized in therapy after patients had surgery.
She had to go to the nursing home first because there was no opening yet at the smaller hospital.She stayed at that one for almost 2 months !(the smaller hospital ,the nursing home she only stayed at for 6 days)
You have to talk with the social worker who is assigned to her case.
Make an appointment for you and John to speak with him or her.
They will know everything you need to know .
You are right ,the treatment of the elderly is terrible !
I really think it is medicaid though or the insurance company ,they just want them out of the hospital....fast.
I remember talking with my Moms social worker about nursing homes for mom and she gave us a HUGE list of them that we could choose from,and they usually know if it is good one or not.
Good luck hope I was of some help.
It seems cruel to us that someone who is starting to make progress would be denied rehabilitation just when they are starting to make progress.
Isn't that insane?
Yes ,I agree Feona . Did you contact medicare or medicaid ?
Do you have any elder care services in your area? Every state has some agency that works specifically with elder issues. Some are called agencies on aging, etc. Go to them with your concerns...their job is to serve as advocates.
Feona, I can completely empathize with you. I am facing a very similar situation with my Mom. The doctors want to get her *healthy enough to go home by herself*, and since her cancer has metastasized to her brain, in the center that controls speech and walking, etc. she cannot walk unassisted now.
They *think* with radiation this will be taken care of, but she will probably go to Skilled Nursing and then Rehab floors first. Unfortunately, they consider if they can move about their environment with a walker, they are *able* to go home alone. Which, IMO, is not necessarily true.
I don't know what the answer is. My friend who is a hospice RN said that doctors pracice medicine - they practice on the patients until they can't find anything else to do. Then they send them home. She said that all the doctors and medical facilities want to send the patients home so it is someone else's responsibility. Once you show up to take your relative home, it then becomes YOUR responsibility and they are in the clear.
The only suggestion I have is to meet with the social worker and the case worker and INSIST that something is done. This is what I am facing this week. You have to be stronger and more aggressive than they are. It is their JOB to help.
Medicare cuts off payments after they have deemed the patient ready to be released. The health care system is lousy, IMO. Personally speaking, *I* cannot quit my job to stay home and take care of my mother. If my husband made twice as much as he did, it would be possible, but that's not my reality.
I'm sorry, I truly do understand your concerns. John needs to be very aggressive with the social and case workers. Hopefully he can get some results.
{{{{{HUGS}}}}}}
This would be drastic but you could NOT show up to take her home and then they'd have to keep her.
Karen,
She can walk 10 steps with help with a walker. She can't get up out of the wheel chair by herself yet. (John just told me this.)
We are horrified.
Please, tell John to meet with the social worker and case worker. I have to do the same thing this week, for my mom. It IS horrifying. And Colette is correct, as cold as it sounds, if you just don't show up when they release her, they HAVE to take responsibility and make arrangements for her.
I thought you guys had her placed in a nursing home??? I cannot even get my mom's doctor to give me some honest answers. I'm furious with him. I think *I* need to find a nursing home for her too.
Talk to the social worker at the hospital and see if you can appeal the insurance company dropping your Mom from Medicare. I think you can.
And, Feona, one set of magic words is "inadequate discharge planning". We used that when they were going to discharge my dad from the hospital after his first major stroke, when he could not walk to the bathroom without assistance and was still semi-delirious. We got 3 extra days in the hospital, a hospital bed and commode at home, and 8 hours a day of nursing car for him for three weeks, because of those magic words.
They said they would put her in the nursing home without physical therapy.
But she needs the physical therapy.
Feona, if she is in the hospital, what unit is she on? My mom is *supposed* to go to the Skilled Nursing unit, THEN the *Rehabilitation* unit. She is getting O.T. and P.T. However, I still don't think she'll be able to live alone again.
She is the the rehabilitation unit. The best in the tri state area.
Sad isn't it. The best treats them like this.
The social worker gave us a list of assisted living medicaid places but said they were all dumps. (3 on list)
|
Members
