My dad recently died in a "nursing home" he was in simply for rehabilitation. He died of cardiac arrest, but he had a long history of heart trouble, even including needing a implantable defibrilator. He had been in the hospital for about a month with pneumonia and severe back pain. My problems with the circumstances come from the facts that his heart rate was not being monitored in any way, after he went into cardiac arrest it took 40 minutes for an ambulance to arrive, and my father had even told more than one person that he thought this place would kill him. The last time I saw him it looked like he had had a stroke at first they said it was his meds, but upon review of his medical records they said he was on nothing that could do that. That night there was only 1 doctor for the entire facility. My father could tell immediately when his heart was acting up, anyone that looked at him for 5 seconds could tell, he had a look of pure terror. They said he was agitated and uncooperative in the last hour and they left and when they came back to check on him he was in full arrest. To many things seem wrong with the way this happened so any advice would be appreciated, Thank You.
smartestmanintheroom
Don't sue, healthcare costs are high enough already, no need to make them higher by raising doctors insurance costs. Money wont make you feel better.
LemonFresh
While I'm not familiar with the health care system in the US, or with how the legal system applies to it, it seems terribly unfair that nothing would be done. From what you say here, something definitely seems wrong. Even if you could report this facility to a regulatory agency, or have the news do a story on them... if they were this unsafe for your father, how many more people might they be treating badly?
CrabApple
I'm really sorry to hear of your loss. I couldn't assess the medical facts, but it is really sad sad that your father spoke up, advocated for himself, but was unable to get the help he needed. I know that you must be hurting a lot now, and the natural thing to do is to want the people who contributed to this, to be help accountable.
If the process was simple, quick and you knew there would be a fair outcome, it would be worthwhile looking into. However, from what I know of investigations of issues such as these, is the there is mountains of paper work, lots of red tape, and it will cost you a lot of money. These processes will probably drain you and your family, and you may not get the answers you need to move on. The legal system doesn't always worry about what is just, rather just what was agreed on at the time. The medical system is structured to protect itself and not bring people or organisations to account. It is very hard to successful sue, or even get an apology from any medical institution.
Perhaps the best thing you can do is seek healing for yourself and your family. A psychologist can help you through this process of grief if you need additional support. Otherwise stick together as a family, talk about what happened and remember to celebrate everything you loved about your father (this stands whether you decide to take legal action or not)
Take care.
Orignal From: Tips: should my family sue for medical malpractice?
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