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This is frustration and craziness. My brother has court ordered guardianship of Dad. Due to Dad escaping three times from the nursing home, they pressured my brother, and he had to move Dad to a locked behavioral facility. He was moved there several weeks ago, and my brother is calling us to see if we know where the monitor is.


On one of Dad’s flights (at 2 am) he might have taken the monitor with him to his ex girlfriend’s daughter’s house.


My problem with any of this is, How did no one notice Dad has a pacemaker, but no monitor?

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Many of the newer pacemaker monitors do not require that the patient be brought to the phone and the phone held to the patient's chest while the pacemaker is evaluated.  Many monitors can be placed on the bedside cabinet or dresser and evaluate a person's pacemaker while the person is sitting in the room or lying in bed without any assistance from someone at the facility.

Depending on the type of monitor, the company that owns the monitor is the one who should have noticed that the monitor was not working properly and they should have contacted your brother or the old nursing home and asked why the pacemaker monitor was not working.  Unless the new facility had been told by your brother that your Dad used a pacemaker monitor, they might not have realized that it was missing or they might have thought that your brother had yet to bring it to the facility.  With your father changing facilities, it is possible that the pacemaker monitor company tried to contact someone but were unable to.  You need to contact the pacemaker monitor company and let them know that your Dad has moved to another facility and that his pacemaker monitor is missing and that they need to provide a new one.
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PL, to be honest in my experience you're doing pretty well if you've got anyone to notice that Dad has a pacemaker. This information was on all my mother's records, and I got her a MedicAlert bracelet, and obviously there was the telltale lump under the skin on her chest; but I still lost count of the number of times I had to intervene and call attention to it. I used to fantasise about tattooing PACEMAKER on her face but I wasn't sure that even that would have worked.

Fortunately, the pacemaker will continue to work regardless of the monitor so you have some leeway. If necessary, check the serial number (it'll be in his records), contact the manufacturers and source a replacement.
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I understand that it’s the principal of the thing that’s irritating you. The only big complaint I’ve ever had about my mom’s facility was the constant loss of things; her partial, her glasses, and for Heaven’s sake, her chair! How can someone lose a chair! The facility told me they sent it out to be cleaned, and we never saw it again! I know she threw a lot of the stuff away then said someone took it. That’s can you check with Medicare to see if they would cover a replacement?
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If its monitored, is there a way for the company to "find" it. Like GPS thing?
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Yes, it is the principle of the thing-trouble is, doesn’t the staff read the chart summary when he is admitted.
One of my brothers said the issue is that all over America, facilities are very short staffed and always advertising for more RN, LPN, CNA’s. So I can see how even big things can get overlooked. And my Dad is so angry that he might have hid it, thrown it away , thinking that would be his ticket out of this place. He also talks about suing the NH so that also might be a motive.
My brother will handle it, I just need to stay out of the drama. I am 1000 miles away.
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Ahmijoy Jun 2019
Yes, it’s probably a good idea to stay out of the drama. None of us needs more of that in our lives. In my mom’s facility, every one of her possessions was listed and recorded in a book that was kept at the nurses’ station. I mean, everything down to her underwear. I wonder if your dad’s facility has the same record. If he never came in with it, it wouldn’t be on their list. My mom would throw things away too, or just throw things. Once I got her a new bedspread and she didn’t recognize it, so she threw it out the door. They finally started closing her door part way because she’d throw stuff and they were afraid she’d hit somebody. Talk about anger!
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