Jess Cook

Review of Lovelace Medical Center

I want to clarify that the care teams who do the h...

I want to clarify that the care teams who do the hands-on work of taking care of the elderly and sick are wonderful. My problem is with the admin - specifically the discharge planners. Because they're given incentives for clearing the beds as quickly as possible with little regard for the patient or family, the process leaves much to be desired. Families, get involved! Learn all you can about the coverage they have and the places they may want to discharge your relative to, as well as whether your relative should indeed be discharged yet. You have rights, and if you simply let the hospital tell you what's going to happen, your relative may end up being traumatized. Mine was. There is one particular barracuda in this department who actually got angry because she was working her agenda and I wasn't going along by calling her in time for it to happen before a weekend. She turned me into the Adult Protective Services for "neglect" after I had moved here temporarily to make sure my dad was ok. He is thought to be dying now, and this is indirectly or directly related to a previous discharge by another barracuda who sent him to a horrible nursing and rehab facility. He wound up back in the hospital and every day I wish I had chosen a different hospital after what they did with him at discharge. Sneaky tactics and threats shouldn't be part of this picture, but they are. Change won't happen unless people complain. You have rights. Find out what they are, and pursue them even if you are threatened. Dad lost all his resolve to get well enough to live with me, and he became depressed at the thought of being moved again. There is more, but it is complicated and I don't want to go on and on. My message is to get involved. Make sure you do not just go along with somebody else's plan for your relative, because their motivations are not the same as yours. I'm filing a grievance with Medicare, but I don't expect it to change anything since an "investigator" who seems to be on the hospital's side already is on the case. It takes a lot of people to make change happen. Get involved! Report skilled nursing and rehab facilities where neglect occurs. You can find out where and how to report these facilities online. I'm not sure what can be done about the hospital itself, but I do know you can file a grievance with Medicare. It's about money, and if you don't have the money to hire a good elder attorney, at least pursue the avenues you can. These are people, not pieces on a game board. I wish a good reporter would do an investigation and a story.