Our 90 year old dad fell and fractured his pelvis on Monday, was admitted to Presbyterian Hospital and on Wednesday they decided to discharge him despite the fact that he could not walk, was disoriented from pain meds, and had not been gotten up for PT. Because our home is not accessible we asked for a delay. So they transferred him to The Vintage on Thursday, and as of late Saturday afternoon he is showing signs of pneumonia and NO DOCTOR HAS SEEN HIM YET AFTER 48 HOURS IN THE FACILITY. He has not been assessed by a doctor or a physical therapist. He is coughing up phlegm and is disoriented.
We visited at 11 am Saturday, he didn't even have any water by his bedside. Someone sitting behind the counter--no name tag--looked up from her book long enough to tell me he had not been seen by anyone. She showed me the chart, it was blank, except for the meds he's being given based on the order from the hospital. I asked for assistance in clearing his lungs and it took her forever to get his chart and flip through it. She said she hadn't seen him yet, either. I asked for the charge nurse and she said she'd call the on-call nurse and ask her to call us. He was asking for a drink. She took him "thickened" water because she said he hadn't been evaluated by a PT yet and she didn't know if he could swallow. There was evidence of crushed pills on his lips and he said his throat burned. She was completely indifferent to him. I told her I thought he was getting pneumonia and she said "Well, these old ones, they fall and then they don't move around and they always get pneumonia." She showed no emotion, no concern. She called someone and ordered a chest x-ray "STAT" and said we'd hear something by 3 or 4 pm! This was at 11 am.
We were told that there is only one doctor for the whole facility, and he comes in a couple of days a week, and he's moving office right now and they can't reach him at all.
Later we were able to reach the weekend on-call nurse on her cell phone. She barely speaks English and very rudely said, when I asked why no doctor had seen him in 48 hours, "That's the way it is in long term care, you don't get to see the doctor when you want to."
So, in this place that is full of old people sitting in the hall drooling, there's only one doctor, and he doesn't come every day? This isn't a healthcare facility, it's a warehouse where they leave people drugged up until they die. And the one, indifferent staff person sitting behind the counter on a Saturday morning (I still don't know if she's a nurse or what) can't be bothered.