The Cellar - View Single Post - I think my mother in law is getting ready to die

glatt · 02-03-2017, 12:34 PM

Is there anyone else who might step in against her wishes and send her to the ER when you aren't around? A night shift nurse or somebody like that?

Make sure everyone around her knows what her wishes are and has a copy of her DNR and advance medical directive. That includes the night shift people.

When I went through this with my elderly cousin, they knew his wishes were to have no IVs to hydrate him, but they took a blood draw, found high white blood cells, and gave him IV antibiotics which happened to be in a saline solution delivery device. So they hydrated him under the guise that it was medically necessary to treat the suspected infection. And since the course of antibiotics was several days, they were prepared to have him hooked up to an IV that whole time. Medically necessary to treat an infection even though his paperwork said no IV hydration.

He died anyway, but the IV kept him alive a couple days longer.

Pisses me off to this day that they went against the legal documents. It was the night shift workers. He was in a rehab place that was trying to delay his move to hospice care so they could wring every last medicare payment out of him.

02-03-2017, 12:34 PM	#3
glatt ™ Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Arlington, VA Posts: 27,717	Is there anyone else who might step in against her wishes and send her to the ER when you aren't around? A night shift nurse or somebody like that? Make sure everyone around her knows what her wishes are and has a copy of her DNR and advance medical directive. That includes the night shift people. When I went through this with my elderly cousin, they knew his wishes were to have no IVs to hydrate him, but they took a blood draw, found high white blood cells, and gave him IV antibiotics which happened to be in a saline solution delivery device. So they hydrated him under the guise that it was medically necessary to treat the suspected infection. And since the course of antibiotics was several days, they were prepared to have him hooked up to an IV that whole time. Medically necessary to treat an infection even though his paperwork said no IV hydration. He died anyway, but the IV kept him alive a couple days longer. Pisses me off to this day that they went against the legal documents. It was the night shift workers. He was in a rehab place that was trying to delay his move to hospice care so they could wring every last medicare payment out of him.