Some have not seen this so I have edited it and am reposting: On Thursday, September 15th 2012, I lost my father, Curtis James Bentley. He was driven by me to the ER for bleeding. After hours of waiting and tests, they admitted him to ICU. That was on 09/15/2012. Once he was situated he and I began watching an old movie. He loved them. I decided to take a break and go the restroom and call my husband to say goodnight. I also stopped at the snack machine. After I called my husband, I sat for awhile in the waiting room and watched a knife infomercial. Suddenly I heard a code blue on ICU. At first I thought it was my father, until I heard the room number. I sat a little while longer, but then I had an uneasy feeling. Something told me to go check on him. Normally you have to get someones attention to get back into ICU, but a nurse was coming out, so I was able to get back in. You could see my fathers hospital room as you enter. The closer I got, I could see he was not quite in the bed right. I walked into the room and asked, Poppy, what are you doing? He didnt answer. The room was semi dark because the TV was going to a commercial or something, so I couldnt see his face. Again, I asked, Poppy what are you doing? As I was asking him, covering him up, and putting his leg back in the bed, I caught sight of his face and realized he was literally taking his last breaths. I recognized this, because my step father literally died in my arms a few years ago while in hospice. He asked me to hold him and I talked him to sleep... And I also held the hand of a patient of mine as she took her last breaths. Ive recently learned these breath patterns are called Cheyne Stokes. After sitting for hours going through his medical records, I found some other information, that I wont share at the moment, but I will say I wrote down every medical term that described his condition, things theres no way he could have walked in that hospital with. I looked them up and researched them until the wee hours of the mourning. I WAS SHOCKED BEYOUND BELIEF! Anyway... I screamed and ran out the room for help. They were ALL in the room of the person adjacent to my fathers room. One of the nurses came out and dropped his bed and started CPR. During this time Im yelling, Where were you, where were you? One nurse had the nerve to tell me, YOU NEED TO CALM DOWN! The look I gave her was enough to kill her!! I told her, dont tell me to calm down! Where were yall? Why wasnt a code called for him? All she could do was try and hold me. Of course she couldnt, I had to be in the room with my dad. I called to him, I begged him not to go. I called my uncle, his brother and his response was, Just let him go! NOT!! They worked on him and finally got a pulse on his leg, but it was faint, so I called my mom to talked to him. He loved her voice and I thought that would bring him back to me. He ended up on life support in a grade 4 coma (which I found out by reading his medical records. They never told me)for seven days and never came to... I talked to him, because the hearing is last to go. I finally had to let him go. My sister and I lay on his chest until... My baby sister and best friend was in there for support. During these seven days, I talked to the charge nurse about her staff on that awful day. She brought one of her fellow nurses in as a witness, I guess. My sister was there, too. My witness. I explained to her how there was NO ONE around when my dad coded. NO ONE was at the station monitoring him, nor the other patients for that matter. She proceed to tell me, and Ill put this comment on a line of its own... Charge Nurse: WELL, WHEN OUR ADRENALINE GETS GOING, OUR FOCUS IS ON ONE PATIENT. After taking a few deep breaths, the tears was rolling by then, I asked her, You mean to tell me if you have 15 patients on ICU, they are going to go uncared for because your focus is on one patient!? She couldnt say a word. I asked her, What if 3 or 4 patients code at one time, then what? She couldnt answer that one. She knew that was the wrong thing to say to me right then. Then she she said, Im sorry, someone IS suppose to be monitoring these patients at all times. YOU THINK!! I expressed guilt, that I had left my fathers side. I told her, had I been in there, I would have caught the code instantly and he would be alive today. She proceeds to tell me this story about, feeling guilty after sending her mom home alone from some surgery she had, while she went to do some personal things. She said she called her mom, but got no answer. Thats because she had died. She proceeded to say, as a nurse she should have none better. Um, was this suppose to make me feel better? NOT IN THE LEAST. To this day I still carry guilt. I told her I wanted to know how long my dad was down and gone without oxygen before I found him. SHE NEVER CAME BACK! I told other nurses what happened and one had the nerve to say, SOMEONE DROPPED THE BALL! HELLO! MY DADS LIFE WAS NOT A BALL TO BE DROPPED! IDIOTS!! The brain doctor they so graciously sent in, said one can only go without oxygen for three to five minutes before sustaining damage. I was gone at least 20-30 minutes. To this day I still have no answers. In August of 2013, I submitted a letter to the hospital, with 10 questions I wanted answered. I got one reply from them stating it is under investigation. A few days ago I got a so called letter and still my questions have not been answered questions. I sent another letter and the second response was no better than the first. Hence my reason for my page. I wonder how many out there have gotten a call in the night saying, we done all we could do, but you really dont know if they did. You werent there. Or you stepped away and suddenly they are gone. Just how much trust should we put in the hands of these doctors and nurses? They take this so called Hippocratic Oath, but dont live up to it. Then they try to blame everything under the sun as for the reasons that lead up to our loved ones death, except for one critical reason, NEGLECT, and short staffed or under trained. My father and I was going fishing that next day. Thats just how good he felt. He went in for bleeding and never came home... My page is to bring awareness in the name of my father, Curtis James Bentley, to people who have loved ones on ICU, to take notes, get involved, know every nurse, doctor, procedure, times, machine hookups, medicines and everything about your loved ones. Dont assume when you walk out the doors of the hospital, that your loved ones are in great hands. Know the hospital you are choosing for them. Know what their success rates and complaints are. Piedmont Hebry Hospital was a ghost town at night and running over each other during the day. Just because they may be sleeping doesnt mean they dont deserve the same kind of attention they get during the day. I sat an watched how they argued and disagreed about different procedures.One nurse wanted to give him dopamine, the other disagreed. One nurse didnt want massagers on my fathers legs, because of the risk of clots and another tried to put them on him. I stopped her and she said in a harsh tone, that she would note his chart that I refused. Um, NO your colleague said not to! Just back and forth! There was another nurse who laughed at me because I wouldnt leave my fathers side for a minute, so I brushed my teeth in his room. She stated his room had more germs than the bathrooms in the hallway. REALLY? So our loved ones are staying in a germ infested hospital room in order to get well? WOW! Well how about creating an area for the patients family to freshen up, so they can stay by their side and be involved in their care, especially since they choose to be short staffed! One nurse noticed I was loosing weight, because I refused to leave his side, not even to eat, after what they had done to him. Piedmont Henry Hospital was only 5 minutes away and I was not highly favorable of them, but I was too lazy to take him to the best one. Thats where my second guilt comes in at. Seems like everything has an, AWARENESS. Why not the care of our loved ones, in ICU... Please help me bring awareness by sharing my page with everyone you know and sharing your story, too. Thank you in advance for reading, sharing, and for caring.
Posted on: Sat, 18 Jan 2014 04:58:23 +0000
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