Disease
Coma
Doctors gave up
Transferred to a major teaching hospital
Aggressive treatment
Woke up
Regained most of her mental facilities.
Regained physical ability.
Transferred to nursing home
Very active - Too active
Tied to a wheel chair
TV and meals
Nothing else
Her ability to walk faded for lack of attention and exercise.
Request for bathroom necessities denied - put in diapers.
Her mind diminished to a shell of what it was a few months ago.
Recognition is gone.
She is dying from neglect.
She sits.
She sleeps.
She waits.
And waits.
And waits.
She is dead, yet she breathes.
During the 10 days I recently spent in the hospital, I had TV (awful trash), no music and blank walls to stare at. When I went home, I had trouble walking due to inactivity, and the sound of music brought tears to my eyes.
How this woman has lasted this long with NO stimulation is beyond my understanding.
Will she be autistic in her next life experience?
I have made my wife promise to assist in removing myself if I should ever be placed in such circumstances.
Death is better than living death
Fortunately the woman in this article is finally at peace. Her death was a great relief to the many people who knew her. Unfortunately, hers is a common experience with the warehouseing that the elderly often find themselves.
Reviewed by M. B. (Reader)
Reviewed on January 26, 2005
Oh my god! This is a travesty!! The treatment of this poor woman sounds like something we read in Third World countries, or something from the Dark Ages, but this is in our own contemporary front yard. I've always been repulsed by hospitals, with the fear that if I ever have to be admitted, god forbid, I would never leave. I have yet to see a hospital that was conducive to healing, i.e., music, art, living plants with compassion, understanding and human touch as a part of daily life.
