ICU + Patient Rules

[lovelylady67]

Fairly Healthy to Dead Within a few weeks

Well before I go on with a very sad long story about my father .. I would just like to know

what the legal rules are for a person in ICU , bleeding internally ( we didnt know he was bleeding ) ,under the influence a narcotics for the pain of his tumor .

My father informed staff if he did

not see or spreak with his MD he would sign himself out after he was waiting almost 12 hours for anyone that would even give him the time of day , he wanted to know what was going on with his germ cell tumor that was in his liver , his life was being shortened by every second and even I called his doctor a few times with questions , I got no reply , I also physically wrote a letter to the doctor asking him to call me ( the nurses placed this letter right inside my fathers chart info ) and he never called me . He was very weak , he needed a toliet , he was telling the nurses for 3hours ( the nurses station was appox 15 feet from his bed ) and he said all they did in reply was point to a very public toliet in the corner of the ICU that had appox 20 patients.

To make a long story short .... I was called in the early morning hours by ICU staff , stating my dad signed himself out and is waiting outside the hospital ... I asked them to go get him , he was heavily sedated , they told me its not there reasonsiblity to keep a patient there if they dont want to be .

Upon my arrival at the medical center my father was standing in the middle of the street , lost and confused. He told me im sorry I just couldnt talk it there anymore w/ the lack of not knowing anything about his condition and that he messed himself because there was no one to bring him a portible toilet or help him to one .

Within 20 minutes the MD calls my cellphone and says , your father is bleeding internally , that he was scheduled for surgery that morning to stitch up the hole they put in his liver during his biopsy and if he didnt return he would live more than two days tops .

My father asked me to drive him to another hosptial , with a very good reputation in NJ , I drove him there and he was admitted quickly . I told them we needed his medical records from Clara Maass and I tolf them all I knew ... well appox 3 days later they were faxed the info .

We found after waiting so long that he did have a germ cell tumor of his liver ( which was very much treatible ) and he a small malignante tumors throughout his intestinse . Well he passed away night before they were going to begin his chemotherapy.


I think it was wrong of hospital #1 to allow him to leave .

I think it was wrong with the lack of knowlege and unanswered questions .

I think it was wrong that not one person told me or my father or any family member that he was bleeding internally .

I think he was treated poorly .

What can I do ?

I have many details that I can provide , but just wrote some short here to see if I can do anything ..

I would be more than thankful for some information or advice

 

[rmhtrauma]

Hi there. I am terribly sorry that all of this happened to your father, you and your family. I have worked in the medical field for a while now, and know that there are a few people/hospitals that just are not worth the time. Every place is different, but there are a few national laws mandated on the medical profession. The biggest, that most people have heard of now is the HIPPA law. This law was set up for the privacy of the patient. This law states that it is not lawful for anyone in the medical field to divulge personal information about a patient unless they have a specific release of information signed by the patient. This release has to state who can be told what and for what reasons. This is probably why no one gave you too much information about his diagnosis. It would be up to your father to tell you, unless he signed a release of info., or you had power of attorney. The only information that can legally be given over the phone if you are not the patient is the status ie. critical, stable. Also, it was not very polite to tell you that it was not their responsibility to keep your father at the hospital. There are definitly better ways of handling this. Again not illegal. Getting medical records transfered is also another tricky subject. If it is not handled the right way, it could violate the HIPPA regulations. Basically, they were covering their butts. As far as being treated poorly, not getting a bedside commode, you may have a leg to stand on IF you can prove it. Which will be very hard to do. Patients are given a list of patient rights when they are first admitted to a hospital. If you do not have a copy, you can call to get a copy from that particular hosp. This list should have resource numbers and addresses that you can contact if you feel the patients rights were violated. All complaints will be investigated but I am unaware as to how long this takes. The more complaints the state level gets about the same hospital the further the investigations will go. The state wil then fine and mandate the hospital for every violation that they find. This will benefit you, if they find a recurring problem, by helping you prove that your father was not the only person that had his rights violated. In other words, if your complaint leads to fines and adjustments, seek an attorney and keep copies of all findings, so you can see if there is any action you can take against the hopital. Remember to keep your chin up, and don't let the anger or frustration overwhelm you. Keep your wonderful memories of your father close to you, and don't let the hurt shadow over them!