I don't consider myself "elderly" although I'm no youngster. But the things that are done to old people are sometimes truly horrifying.
My mother-in-law was killed by incompetent doctors. Warning, this gets gruesome. She was 85, and was admitted to the hospital with an apparent bowel blockage. My wife could feel a lump in the area of her descending colon, so that would appear to make sense. The doctors didn't believe it. One of them said something to the effect of, "Well, by God, she's going to poop." He loaded her up with laxatives. Within a day or so, she had a ruptured diverticulum in the area of the sigmoid colon. The surgeon performed a colostomy, but he screwed it up. Cut the mesenteric artery, and also left the colostomy too short so that it receded. So he had to do it again. She never regained consciousness. My wife and I had to make the decision to pull the plug. Not a great feeling. Before she died, knowing that she had serious reflux issues, the hospital served her tomato soup and other acidic foods. She had the worst reflux attack I've ever seen. I asked the nurses for something to alleviate the situation and got no response for maybe twenty minutes. I then went to the nurses station and demanded help. I told them I was not leaving until I saw action. Fortunately there was someone there who had an ounce of human kindness and took care of the situation. She was very nice, and moved quickly. Everyone else seemed to have the attitude of, "She's just an old fat woman, so what's the big deal?"
Now I've read maybe the most horrifying story of elder abuse I can imagine. A woman named named Rebecca Zeni died from a scabies infestation in a nursing home. There is absolutely no excuse for such a thing to happen. My wife works for a public school district, so I know a lot about scabies. Scabies are nasty, and curable. They burrow under the skin, which causes severe itch, and lay eggs under the skin. I can't imagine a scabies infestation going on for so long that it causes blood poisoning and death. The medical examiner who looked at her said he was leaning toward homicide by neglect. She had dementia, which was why she was in the nursing facility. I can't imagine the suffering she experienced.
My own mother died from a brain tumor. For the most part, her decline and passing was peaceful; it wasn't the kind of brain tumor that is overly painful. However, she did suffer some abuse at the hands of one of her hospice nurses. This nurse thought the solution to every problem was morphine. My mother didn't react well to morphine, and would become agitated. Fortunately, we finally got someone from the hospice to listen, and she was able to pass from this life peacefully. The nursing home she was in for the last two weeks of her life was very much the opposite of the above facility. When she finally did pass, I went down to see her, and they had made the bed up and folded her hands so that she looked at rest.
My mother-in-law was killed by incompetent doctors. Warning, this gets gruesome. She was 85, and was admitted to the hospital with an apparent bowel blockage. My wife could feel a lump in the area of her descending colon, so that would appear to make sense. The doctors didn't believe it. One of them said something to the effect of, "Well, by God, she's going to poop." He loaded her up with laxatives. Within a day or so, she had a ruptured diverticulum in the area of the sigmoid colon. The surgeon performed a colostomy, but he screwed it up. Cut the mesenteric artery, and also left the colostomy too short so that it receded. So he had to do it again. She never regained consciousness. My wife and I had to make the decision to pull the plug. Not a great feeling. Before she died, knowing that she had serious reflux issues, the hospital served her tomato soup and other acidic foods. She had the worst reflux attack I've ever seen. I asked the nurses for something to alleviate the situation and got no response for maybe twenty minutes. I then went to the nurses station and demanded help. I told them I was not leaving until I saw action. Fortunately there was someone there who had an ounce of human kindness and took care of the situation. She was very nice, and moved quickly. Everyone else seemed to have the attitude of, "She's just an old fat woman, so what's the big deal?"
Now I've read maybe the most horrifying story of elder abuse I can imagine. A woman named named Rebecca Zeni died from a scabies infestation in a nursing home. There is absolutely no excuse for such a thing to happen. My wife works for a public school district, so I know a lot about scabies. Scabies are nasty, and curable. They burrow under the skin, which causes severe itch, and lay eggs under the skin. I can't imagine a scabies infestation going on for so long that it causes blood poisoning and death. The medical examiner who looked at her said he was leaning toward homicide by neglect. She had dementia, which was why she was in the nursing facility. I can't imagine the suffering she experienced.
My own mother died from a brain tumor. For the most part, her decline and passing was peaceful; it wasn't the kind of brain tumor that is overly painful. However, she did suffer some abuse at the hands of one of her hospice nurses. This nurse thought the solution to every problem was morphine. My mother didn't react well to morphine, and would become agitated. Fortunately, we finally got someone from the hospice to listen, and she was able to pass from this life peacefully. The nursing home she was in for the last two weeks of her life was very much the opposite of the above facility. When she finally did pass, I went down to see her, and they had made the bed up and folded her hands so that she looked at rest.