My Mother, the hospital, and alzheimers?

Question

O.k....so my Mom has alzheimers, is in the hospital for cancer, and getting a nutritiion treatment before she starts on the cancer drugs. They have an alarm on her bed so if she gets up, they can monitor where she is. However, they had her setting in a chair for awhile, just to get a break from being in bed all day. So the alarm is no good for this. And then we found her walking down the hall by herself. Another thing is, they don't ask her if she is thirsty. She does not know to eat or drink. You have to give it to her personally. And don't forget, she is in there for a "nutrition" treatment! Knowing her condition, shouldn't they do this on their own? Don't they legally have to? Should we be mad and demand this and stop being nice? And how can we remedy the getting out of her room by herself? I mean, shouldn't that NOT happen even once? What do you think?

Answer 1

First - I'm so sorry you have to go through this. My Pop has vascular dementia. Very similar.

The hospital can use a "Wander Guard" ankle bracelet, if they have door alarms. Your Mom will still be able to wander the halls, but not leave the unit. I do not know of any hospital that has door alrams on individual rooms. It would be prohibitively expensive. If they do not have door alarms, there's not much they can do. Restraining patients is illegal in some states. While I understand your concern, they can't spare staff to force a patient to remain inside one room continually.

As for thirst, is she getting IV treatment? If so, her liquid levels are being monitored by the amount of solution her body is taking in. Remember - she's not a reliable source of info on her care. The fact that she says she's thirsty doesn't mean she's being dehydrated through neglect.

I have learned that it's really tricky to ask the right questions with dementia patients. Most of them think they can fool you if they give the "right" answers. When you ask "are you thirsty?" they may be thinking "she expects me to be thirsty. If I'm ok, I should say yes." and they'll say they're thirsty, because they're trying to cover their illness by giving you the "right" answer. If you want to offer your Mom a drink of water, go ahead. But don't read neglect into it if she says she's thirsty.

Be careful not to let your concern for your mother twist your own view of reality. Your worries are well-intentioned, but try to keep a cool head about this. If you're that concerned about it, perhaps you can arrange to stay in your mom's room during her hospital stay. If not, trust the staff to do the best they can.

My heart goes out to you.

Answer 2

Alzheimer Disease is a sad and difficult situation for all involved: the patient, family and hospital staff. You already know that your mother can be hard to manage at times. Maybe the hospital staff are doing the best that they can.

If you have specific concerns like making sure that your mother is fed food and liquids on a regular basis ... put your concerns in writing. Have a superior at the hospital acknowledge your concerns in writing ... a signature and date on a copy of your written letter should do the trick.

You should immediately see improvements in your mom's treatment by the hospital staff.

A private room is usually available if you're willing or your mom's insurance will pay for it. Otherwise, you have no right to demand that.

Chances are, with Alzheimer Disease, that another crop of issues, concerns and problems will arise.

Good luck.

Answer 3

Unfortuneately, people with Alzheimer's seem to be ignored in most hospitals. You should see the head nurse and strongly voice your concerns and stop being nice. You may also have to have family members spend more time there assisting her as they will probably tell you at the hospital they don't have time. Perhaps ask that she only be in the chair when family is there to supervise her, which should be regularly so she doesn't get bed sores. Sorry this will be a bad time for you and you really must spend more time with her.

Answer 4

By law today it is no longer permissible to restrain people and it is necessary for your mother to get up to avoid bed sores and increase her circulation in her legs. Hospitals are not staffed enough to watch an individual 24 hours a day any more than you or your family can be there 24 hours a day. She may be getting her nutrition intravenously along with fluids. Ask the nurse to explain to you the times she eats and drinks or refuses, it should be on her chart. You can explain the situation to the nurses and the doctor about asking her if she needs a drink or food. You could try to make arrangements for one of you in her family to be there when she is up and out of bed or hire a private duty nurse to stay with her during those times to avoid her walking out alone. I know the frustration but you need to communicate your concerns with the staff, they are not neglecting her and remember they have a large number of other patients to attend to and chart for. My wife is a nurse and I know how hard she works to provide care.

Answer 5

my grandmother has Alzheimers so i know where you are coming from, they really need to be taking care of her, people with this disease forget out to eat and that is how they usually die, my grandfather hand feeds my grandmother everyday and makes sure she is taken care of, she was in the nursing home but he brought her back home to pass away there. You need to talk to someone in charge and let them know that you don't appreicate them not taking care of her, if they don't make changed you need to record all of this and go to a attorney for hospital neglect. Just because they feel it might not be important it is important to you this is your mom and they need to respect her! They should be taking care of her, they are paid to do that !