Has the high health cost led to the shortage of staff in
hospital or employment of less qualified or insufficiently trained
staff ?
The article in the link to
the health discussion forum in channelnewsasia says that "My mum
was hospitalized recently due to dengue and to our horror, we
discover for ourselves the quality of the Mount Elizabeth
hospitalization service which would have killed her if we had not
been cautious."
The url link is
http://forum.channelnewsasia.com/viewtopic.php?t=127972
My mum was hospitalized
recently due to dengue and to our horror, we discover for ourselves
the quality of the Mount Elizabeth hospitalization service which
would have killed her if we had not been cautious.
On the 3rd and 4th day of hospitalization from high fever, my mum's
condition became worse. This was when we had the horrific
experience from the hospital staff. Each time I returned to the
hospital, I discover that my mum was not being monitored for her
condition. The nurses were not aware whether my mum has taken her
meal and medication or that she was having diarrhea. They were also
unaware of her pains or complications arising from the dengue fever
complications.
My mum was weak and semi-conscious from high fever initially and
her condition got very much worse. She was barely able to speak and
was unconscious most of the time. We saw that the nurses were
unaware of her conditions, did not chart her progress, and did not
check on her. My mum would have died as she was a case of dengue
fever with complications. Patients with her similar conditions had
died. If not for our own efforts to monitor her, we would have lost
her to the hospital service which we were willing to pay dearly
for.
When my mum was having diarrhea and I returned to the hospital to
discover that myself, I asked my mum what happened and she mumbled
in her weak condition that the nurses only took her to the toilet
and left her there after she rang the bell. My mum had to clean
herself every time in her weak condition. For information, my mum
could hardly walk and was shaking badly.
My mum has existing high blood pressure and diabetics which she
takes medication for. Upon the doctor's instruction, the nurses
were to instruct us not to administer my mum any high blood
pressure medication on 13 Nov 07 while no family were not around in
hospital. The nurse did not check my mum's medication but asked my
mum, who was semi-conscious to sort out the medication herself. I
returned to the hospital a few hours later to find my mum taken the
medication she was not supposed to take. She also has her pack of
medications lying around her bed and has 'passed out' while trying
to pack them. I looked at the medication and found that she has
also packed aspirin which could have jeopardized her condition into
her medication box. The next day, my mum's blood pressure dropped
below the normal range due to the medication at 97/64.
On 15th Nov Thursday 9pm, my younger sister found the nurse giving
my mum an overdose of medication as the previous administration had
not been charted on my mum's patient records.
On 4 other occasions, the nurses forgot to administer my mum
necessary medication until we rectified the situation. (*Once, her
diabetic medication, twice her high blood pressure medication, and
another her cough syrup)
On 21st Nov morning, mum asked a nurse to assist her to sit up in
bed. The nurse rudely replied, " Auntie, I don’t have the strength
to pull you up." she walked away and mum assumed she went out to
ask for assistance. She did not return to help mum further.
20th Nov 8pm. my sister found that the diabetic medication is not
administered at all even though the rest of the medication has been
administered
18th Nov 10pm. Mum high blood pressure went up to 170/110. The
nurse said she will call the doctor for advice but did not. I
approached the nurse station and the nurse asked me to speak to the
head nurse instead. The head nurse then called the doctor.
19th Nov 10am. Doctor came at 9.30 to see mum. She prescribed mum
to resume her high blood medication atenolol. I passed our supply
of atenolol to the nurse immediately. I approached the nurse
station at 10am. The message had not been passed down to administer
the medication.
On the day of admission at the A&E, the nurse (unknown name)
who took my mum's blood for testing spilled blood over the floor.
Her method for drawing blood is unnecessarily painful as described
by my mum.
During my mum's hospitalization, a Philippine nurse came to take my
mum's blood for tests daily. I witnessed her as very clumsy. She
poked my mum 3 times on the second morning, once on her elbow and
shifting the needle around under her skin, another on the back of
her hand and another near her wrist. The then decided to draw blood
from my mum's finger. During the 4 days which I were aware of her
taking blood, she dropped the cap of the tube on the floor, always
forgetting and reaching for things from the trolley, and I had to
hold the cotton over my mum's wound every time. Worst of all, blood
never failed to spill over the floor and bed sheets. My mum would
wince with unnecessary pain during her lengthy process.
On 16 Nov 07 afternoon, I found some plastic wrap drenched in
carrot sauce in the lunch served to mum. My mum has false teeth and
could have swallowed and choked on the wrap given her condition at
that time. For information, we asked for soft food due to my mum’s
condition.
One nurse (GW) came over one day at 3pm and ask my mum if she still
needed a certain pink tablet medication called Nexium. My mum was
in semi-conscious condition for some days and was not fully aware
of the medication taken. Therefore, my mum did not understand what
she said. So I asked the nurse what the drug was for, she said it
is to aid digestion. I said my mum was not taking any drug to aid
digestion. She then said it was for the bloated feeling on which I
said again that the medication was in liquid form. She became
frustrated and told me off saying she was asking my mum. My mum
guessed and asked if it protected the stomach from the medication.
GW then said yes. Since we said my mum has been eating some food
and we did not know if she still needed the medication, GW said she
would take the drug off. My sister later said that the drug was
prescribed because my mum was having low platelet counts due to
dengue and was prescribed the drug to protect the stomach from
bleeding during food and medication.
The next day, GW forgot to administer cough syrup at dinner time
and I went to ask for it at 8pm. She came in with the cough syrup
and asked my mum how long the effect of the syrup usually last. Due
to the last experience, GW refused to ask me who was there right
then when I was in a better position being there at the hospital
most of the time. She left immediately after my mum said she did
not know.
On 20Nov 07 evening, the nurse forgot my mum's evening dosage of
Glipizide, until my sister asked the nurse for it.
First and most important of all, the staff should be monitoring the
conditions, not coming in to ask my mum only when she got better.
This happened to be after we made complains to the hospital
customer service of the happenings. This applied to everything from
medication to my mum’s progress.
Secondly, my mum was in semi-conscious condition for the first week
but GW insisted that my mum replied her questions. Her actions
would have further complicate mum’s conditions and killed her. When
GW decided for the doctor whether to administer the drug without
understanding the purpose of the mediation, she almost caused
internal bleeding in our mum. She also should not be randomly
presuming what the medication was for. Medications were also often
forgotten.
Thirdly, patients would have choked on foreign particles in their
soft diet.
How unconcerned of the patients can it be at this private
hospital?
If my mum had been alone, a spinster or widow with no children or
maid to look after her, she would have died from negligence in
Mount Elizabeth hospital and her death reasons covered up as dengue
fever complications. No one would discover that she had diarrhea,
painful bloating in her abdomen or choking due to bloating in her
lungs. She would have died from overdose (cough), wrong
administration (high blood pressure medication) and under
administration (high blood, nexium, glipizide) of drugs.
Shandy Soo
There is another case reported in ST Forum. The url link is
http://www.straitstimes.com/ST+Forum/Online+Story/STIStory_223485.html
He was treated and the doctors assured my family that my father
could be discharged soon. But five days later, we were told he had
to stay back after he came down with jaundice. On March 12, after
the doctor drew out his stomach fluids for tests, his condition
worsened. He started to vomit and had diarrhoea. He could not eat
or drink and requested to see a doctor at 6pm. Even after pressing
the emergency button several times, no doctor or staff nurse came
to attend to his condition.
It took four hours and much pleading before the nurse gave him
painkillers. The doctor arrived at about 10.35pm, but as he was not
the doctor in charge of my father's case, he said he could not
explain the reason for my father's worsening condition. He could
only make arrangements for my father's doctor in charge to see him
the next day. He assured me that my father would be all right.
At about 6.20 the next morning, we received a call from SGH to
inform us that my father was sent to the Intensive Care Unit. When
we reached the hospital, we were told that my father's heart
stopped beating when a doctor was taking blood samples at 6am. A
professor then informed us that my father had cancer which my
family members were not told before. The professor had no answer as
to why my father's condition suddenly worsened and told me that
further investigations would be needed.
All we want is to know why my father died after spending 10 days
in the hospital. According to the coroner, the cause of my father's
death was a heart attack. Ten days before he died, he was normal,
having just enjoyed his overseas holidays not too long ago. The
hospital has not agreed to my family's request to meet and explain
what happened. He died on March 13. We are still waiting for
answers.
Low Chee Siong