Our mom was hospitalized with symptoms of back pain and infection. Since being in the hospital she is going down fast, is receiving sub care. The doctors and nurses are mostly rude and they act like we are putting them out when we ask questions. I worry about her as she is very lonely and withdrawn. She has been losing weight and is severely undernourished and is refusing to eat. she is skin and bones. We discussed pulling her lot and moving her to another hospital but due to hospital conditions and Covid 19 we fear it will not be much better elsewhere. We are now considering discharging her and bringing her home with Medical equipment, hospital bed, IV’s thinking she will be better off. This is the worst time for any lives one to be in a hospital and we worry she will only get worse in there anyway. We worry she is exposed to COVID and other illnesses. Should we discharge her and bring her home?
I don;t have this on super authority, but from a friend who owns several NH's. They have not had COVID 19 and said they aren't a HOTEL where you can check in and out as you please. She wasn't being rude about it, it's a business plain and simple.
Her take was that people put their LO's in NH's KNOWING that they are probably going to die there. Sadly, COVID is doing that--but her response was that they lose far more patients to flu each year. Same this year.
And yes, you can take LO out of a facility, Just don't plan on taking them back to the exact same place in 6+ weeks.
Was she malnourished before her hospitalization?
Do you have a good sense of her overall health from before this acute episode?
She would not still be in the hospital if she wasn't seriously ill. The question is, with what? If she is terminally ill, has hospice been considered?
It is very expensive to provide medical care at home. If you or your mom has some money, I would suggest going to aginglifecare.org and finding a professional social worker to guide you through all your options. It will cost money, but I thought it saved us much more than it cost.
I'm so sorry your family is going through this. It is bad enough to have someone declining. Not be able to visit them must be agonizing.