My husband was on Lasix for two weeks to treat for pleural effusions that were a side effect of the drug Revlimid. After two weeks the effusions were almost gone, And the PCP told him to stop taking the Lasix because he was dehydrated. Three days later he was given an IV of Lasix in the oncologist office because he had high Uris acid, which comes from dehydration. He continued to become more and more dehydrated and three days later had to go to the emergency room because he was too weak to stand. Even though they had in writing what had transpired that week, the first thing they did was give him double the dose of Lasix he had before. They never diagnosed or treated him for dehydration. Instead they diagnosed him with sepsis, pneumonia and respiratory failure. He had none of those. The hospital made him DNR and hospice comfort only care without any permission from anyone. Even though he was alert and oriented to person place and time, and was repeatedly asking for water, he was given nothing to drink, nothing to eat and his daily meds were stopped. He was in no pain or discomfort but he was drugged into an unconscious state with lorazepam and fentanyl. I finally told them to stop the narcotics. A few hours later he was awake and alert answering questions and talking. I was then told he had leukemia and two days to live. I wanted to get him out of that hospital, so I brought him home with hospice care. I planned on having him transferred to another hospital after I got home . I left the hospital to come home for the delivery of the hospital bed and three minutes after I left they started drugging him again. I was shocked when he arrived home unconscious. The hospice nurse immediately started to giving him lorazepam and oxycodone. When I ask her why she said he probably won't make it through the night and you don't want him going through with draw. So for 20 hours the drugs were put into his mouth until he died. After he died I searched hospital records and there's no diagnosis of leukemia, only a high white blood count which of course goes with dehydration. This was no accident, they intentionally killed and active extremely active man, who loved his life and his family. This was not a mistake. this was deliberate. One has to wonder how many other people this is being done to?
Deliberately causing someone's death is called murder. If the hospital did all the things that you allege, you should contact the police for criminal prosecution and hire an attorney for a multimillion dollar lawsuit.
My condolences on the passing of your husband. You must be heartbroken. God's peace to you.
Your husband was a very sick man as evidenced by his taking Revlimid. This drug promotes an immune response to slow tumor growth. Its used to treat bone marrow cancer, anemia in patients with
myeloplastic syndrome and lymphoma. Both the patient and the doctor must be registered in a special program to use this drug and the patient signs a paper that outlines all the potential side effects of the medicine (many).
Sepsis is diagnosed by blood tests, pneumonia by XRay &/or broncoscopy and respiratory failure by blood gasses.
These results would be available in his chart.
"The hospital made him a DNR and hospice comfort only care without authorization from anyone." Did he have a DNR form on file that he had signed at an earlier date. It's called an Advance Directive. Legally neither the hospital nor the doctors can make him a DNR without his consent (or yours if he can't speak for himself). Check for a previous Advance Directive in his chart. (It could have been many years old.)
I'm wondering, since he was so sick, why bring him home, only to transfer him soon to another hospital? Wouldn't a direct hospital to hospital transfer have been easier (especially on him)?
I'm also curious as to how you found out that he was medicated 3 minutes after you left? Is that in the notes (medication sheet)?
I'm assuming your husband had one type of cancer mentioned above. It wouldn't be too surprising that it had metasticized and spread into his blood. Had all the final reports been put in his chart when you examined it?
Hospitals and doctors are in the business of saving lives, not extinguishing them. You can disagree with the treatment but then have to be responsible for the outcome. Did your husband disagree with his treatment too?
Have you had his primary cancer doctor explain your husband's illness to you in detail with the chart present? If all these things were happening (Lasix, etc.) that you didn't agree with, did you question the doctors right there? If so, and you still disagreed, was it your husband who agreed to the treatment?
I'm sure your husband was once an extremely active man. But his disease ravaged his body, so much so that the doctors felt his death was near and suggested hospice. Did hospice talk with you and did you sign the hospice papers?
What I'm trying to get at here is; Were you an active participant in your husbands care with full knowledge about how far the disease had spread?
I hope you revisit your husbands records with the doctors on his case and have them explain every step to you. I hope you will be at peace after that.
Rest in the fact that your husband is once again an extremely active and disease free man now who still loves his family and now has a new eternal life.
Again, I'm sorry for your loss.
Do you mind answering what was the cause of death via the Death Certificate? I am so sorry for your lost, and this this continuing search for answers.
I have a feeling that your husband may have died from complications of pneumonia.... one doesn't need a chest x-ray to see if a patient has pneumonia, the lab can pin point pneumonia from a blood test and that blood test can tell what germ is causing the infection. Blood tests, such as a complete blood count (CBC) can also see if his immune system is actively fighting the infection. Maybe it wasn't.
As for no liquids given to your husband, that is because the organs were shutting down. If liquids were given, it would sit in the stomach and in the kidneys, which would be quite painful. Same with food, the food would just sit in the stomach. Most men won't say they are in pain to a love one, they wait until the family member has left the room.
When we are in the hospital with a love one, it is so easy to be a deer in headlights. Information is thrown at us from every direction, and it is simple to miss out on hearing important information. We hear and remember as much as we can. That happened to me when my Dad had aspiration pneumonia, sadly there wasn't anything more the doctors could do. All food and liquids were going into his lungs. He had passed a few days later.
I hope you find the answers you want.
You sound like you are on top of it.
Get the lawyer and make them give you the info.
I'm sorry you have to fight for this in your time of grief.
I’m sorry for your loss and terrible grief.
Your story is very complicated and confusing so I know how frustrating it must be.
Are you aware that some of the answers your getting are really challenging your thinking about this event. It sounds to me ( a retired RN of over 40 years) that the whole treatment you described would be malpractice and maybe criminal.
Who was your husband that an entire medical team conspired to murder him.?
My nursing career was in psychiatric/mental health nursing.
Many times I’ve seen patients so overwhelmed by grief that their thinking gets confused, and because of their suffering they start trying to put things together that makes sense to them, but not others.
A lot of people get angry if someone suggests that they may have some mental health problems. But these symptoms are just from your brain being overwhelmed by grief and depression.
The brain is just another organ in your body and it can get ill from stress just like any other part of your body.
And because of that it can be treated just like any other organ that is not working just right.
The job of the brain is complicated. But it takes in information and tries to make sense of the thinking. So if your brain is not working right then it can not think clearly.
I know this is hard to hear, specially from a stanger, but I think you are truly suffering.
Maybe you could talk to your doctor to get an evaluation from someone you trust. Or ask for a referal to a counselor so you can talk about your loss, and pain. There are many good medications now that treat anxiety and depression with few if any side effects, and they are NOT related to opiates, and are not addictive.
I wish you comfort and peace of mind.
Carly is a board member of the Hospice Patients Alliance. Her show airs live every Tuesday at 8pm EST.
The Hospice Patients Alliance is a patient advocate organization and an invaluable resource. There are hundreds of stories like yours on their website. The book, "Stealth Euthanasia; Health Care Tyranny in America" is free to read there.
I am so sorry for your distress of the way your husband died.
I actually have no experience of Revlimid so had to look it up. The side effects are absolutely horrendous.
There is little I can add that others have not said..
Make sure you have your entire copies of your husbands records and include the nursing notes, copies of blood tests and x-rays, CT scans etc. You are entitled to them free but you need to remember to specifically ask for some things.
There may have been negligence, or malpractice and the ER doc could have mixed his patients up when he wrote his note. ER is a very busy and exhausting place and after many long hours it is easy to get confused especially if you are so busy you can't imediately write the notes. Actual murder, what would be the point of that?
The fact that a Dr is trained in another country does not make them incompetent, ignorant or likey to practice negligent medicine. Any foreign trained MD is required to perform a specified time, I think 2 years as a resident and take similar licensing exams as a US trained Dr
Sometimes helping the patient pass over may seem the only way forward as in the case of the nurse during hurricane Katrina who was not able to evacuate bedbound patients and saved them from the horror of drowning in their beds. that nurse was charged with murder for her compassion.
If you do proceed with a lawsuit be aware that the financial award may not be huge because your husband did have a potentially deadly disease so although his life is very valuable to you others will simply consider the amount he would have been capable of providing for his family. Do you actually want to put yourself through this kind of stress? It won't bring your husband back sad as that may be.
You are still in great deal of pain from your loss so try and let your grief run it's course possibly with professional councilling or by joining a grief group. Often sharing experiences can be very helpful and provide some answers. Blessings, this is a very hard time for you.
Do you wait until your head feels like it's going to explode before you take an aspirin or Tylenol for headache? Probably not (or at least I hope not!)
If you had menstrual cramps, would you wait until you were doubled over in pain before popping a pill that would reduce your cramping? Again, I think you would get to a moderately uncomfortable level and then get yourself something to relieve it.
I don't think you understand the "dynamics" of pain.
As mentioned above, you want to "catch" the pain in the mild to moderate stage so the pain medication PREVENTS the pain from getting real bad, out of control or as you said "lots of pain".
If you wait until you HAVE lots of pain (or severe pain), the pain medication is not as effective because it has to work harder to bring the level down to a tolerable point.
Actually, you would be doing yourself (or anyone) a favor by "catching" the pain at a mild to moderate point to get the maximum effect of pain relief from the medicine.
Pain level is now part of the vital signs assessment. Many doctors now say to take pain relievers at the first sign of pain (for better pain control).
Are you aware that everyone reacts differently to pain?
Some close their eyes, some make fists and tense up muscles, some frown and grit their teeth, some rock back and forth, some moan (that's not the whole list, just examples).
Many don't want to admit (especially around their loved ones), that they are in pain. It could be a sign of weakness or they don't want their family to know because they would feel bad). Many cultures don't complain (of pain or anything else) so the diligent nurse needs to find other ways to assess pain.
I hope this explanation helps put things in perspective as to why dying people in pain are medicated earlier rather than later.