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Good Samaritan Nursing Home
QUESTION: At 3 A.M. February 1st, 2000, Irene Williams called me and I told her to
immediately call Babylon Central's Emergency number 226-1212. She had severe
trouble breathing. Irene is 79 years old. She was rushed to Good Samaritan
Hospital in West Islip, NY where she was told she had pneumonia. She complained
loudly about her inability to breathe and was agitated as a result. To quiet
her, she was forced to take haloperidol aka "Haldol" (a mind altering drug used
on schizophrenics, psychotics and those with Tourette's syndrome and was being
tied to her bed. (Irene is none of these) She lay there soaked in her own
urine and was barely conscious and was having great difficulty breathing. The
haloperidol was causing her great distress physically and mentally. (Is this
Good Samaritan Hospital's preferred method of treating the elderly and sick?)
On Feb 10th, while under the influence of this Mind Altering drug (Haldol),
Irene was subjected to a psychiatric evaluation by a Dr Nass at Good Samaritan
Hospital in West Islip NY. Naturally, she failed the test and Dr Nass wrote her
up as "incompetent". Yes, it does appear that Dr Nass is truly the incompetent
one by permitting this test while his or her subject was drugged up) but
apparently, it's common practice and no one seems surprised or alarmed at this
unethical behavior by so called "professionals"
Under protest from Irene's interim lawyer and myself, the hospital agreed to
re-test Irene. They then re-canted and refused to re-evaluate her while not
under the influence of Haldol. In the meantime, the hospital and social workers
and affiliates were attempting to obtain guardianship over Irene and her
assets, something Irene strongly objected to when she was between doses of
haloperidol. Meanwhile, Irene had stopped eating and this was not being
monitored by Good Samaritan hospital. She lost lots of weight, grew weak and
was near death. When I called the Assistant Administrator of Care Management,
Claire Kramer, regarding Irene's not eating and weight loss I was told "It's up
to the floor nurses to see to that". The uncaring attitude was appalling! I
began bringing in cans of "Ensure" strawberry which Irene enjoyed immensely.
Jim, Irene's good friend and Taxpac Board of Directors member, brought in Jelly
donuts and coffee. I do believe that without these, Irene would have died of
starvation at Good Samaritan Hospital under the very noses of all those Social
Workers and Administrators. No one could blame the nursing staff because it was
quite obvious they were being overworked while the floor was understaffed. I
witnessed one woman's plight first hand. She was on medication for "TIA"
(mini-strokes) and was in the hospital due to having one. She was there over 12
hours before she received any of her prescribed medications and was highly
agitated. Other elderly patients were crying out for help to me as I passed
their rooms. I personally went to the nurses station on more than one occasion
to advise them. The little lights that go on when a patient rings the bed
button were being ignored. I felt that the level of care Irene was receiving
was reprehensible. When I went to visit her almost daily, she was tied to a
chair soaked in urine and her own feces. She explained she rang the bell,
called for help to go to the bathroom, but no one came. The only time, it
seems, a patient would get help was if a visitor complained loudly enough. God
only know what goes on there after visiting hours.
After nearly two weeks, Irene literally escaped from Good Sam Hospital's grip.
This incident brought back memories of the "Angel of Death" - a big story back
in the 1980's when it was discovered someone at Good Samaritan hospital was
"terminating" elderly patients) . Irene finally escaped, went home, received
assistance from myself and her neighbors. How she managed to muster the
strength to walk right passed the nurses station and leave Good Samaritan's
chamber of horrors and get to North Babylon is a story of extreme courage and
fortitude. Irene has a strong will to live! Obviously, Good Sam hospital is
extremely embarrassed by this. Their legal dept refuses comment.
Mentally and physically, it was apparent that Irene had suffered greatly from
her "treatment" at Good Sam hospital. She could hardly walk, lost weight and
was severly emaciated . My own Mom stayed with Irene and was helping her regain
her strength. We also employed another assistant, Daria who was very efficient.
While in this compromised state, a woman representing herself as from
"Visiting Nurse Services" stopped in without prioe notice and was banging on
Irene's door like she was trying to knock it down. She was admitted and began
badgeing Irene with questions like "What day is this?, what year is this?".
Luckily, I was there at this time and it was me who admitted her to Irene's
home thinking this woman would check Irene's vital signs. She did not do this
and when I asked her to please check Irene's pulse, blood pressure, oxygen
levels, etc, she became agitated, refused to check Irene and stormed out of
Irene's house. Later, a man arrived also unannounced and showed ID. He checked
Irene's oxygen level and said it was "95" . Not low enough to require oxygen.
Next day, two Department of Social Service workers "dropped in unexpectedly"
early one A.M. and wrote down that Irene was incompetent. One of these workers
was Dolores Thaxter. Who wouldn't be declared "incompetent" if given "haldol",
subject to a starvation regimen and tied to a urine and feces soaked chair for
hours on end? It takes time to recover from that! Why did Good Sam hospital do
this? Was Irene's breathing problem actually a complication of the Congestive
Heart Failure and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease later diagnosed at
Southside Hospital? Is that the reason Irene complained so loudly about lack of
oxygen.. which resulted in Good Samaritan forcing her to take Haldoperidol to
quiet her down? Is today's treatment of choice for elderly patients "Drug 'em
up - to shut 'em up" a medically sound treatment? Where were these Social
Workers in Irene's time of need while being subjected to this torture at Good
Sam hospital? In a week after leaving Good Sam's grip, Irene was putting on
weight again and was just getting comfortably settled in when she developed
edema of the ankles and myself and Daria, an aide we hired, drove her to
Southside Hospital where she was immediately diagnosed with Chronic Obstructive
Pulmonary Disease and Congestive Heart Failure. (Note that we avoided taking
her back to Good Samaritan at Irene's request!) She received excellent
treatment and was set to be released in about 10 days when medicare would no
longer cover her stay and she was pronounced well. At the strong urging of the
social workers at Southside Hospital, I obtained "Power of Attorney" which
Irene wanted me to have. They suggested I use Southside's notary to obtain this
document and said Irene was competent enough to understand what she was doing.
I called his office but since he was booked up for that day, I brought in an
outside notary where the Power of Attorney was signed by Irene and witnessed by
the notary. On the suggestion of Southside personnel, I placed Irene at an
interim care facility for assisted living (Senior Plaza in Hauppaugue) while I
arranged for a live-in aide so Irene could return home where she wants to live
out her remaining days. On March 12 - I had arranged for my sister to care for
Irene at her home until I could hire a permanent live-in aide. My sister was
all packed and ready to come from Queens to help out for a month. I went to Kim
Parbst at Senior Plaza and said "Irene would be leaving the next day". She said
fine! I told her to please arrange for Irene's prescriptions to be ready. Once
again she said "fine"! That night I received a visit from a Detective Krebs of
the Suffolk County District Attorney's office and was advised that the Power of
Attorney document Irene wanted me to have was not valid due to the evaluation
done by Dr Nass at Good Sam over a month previously while she was under the
influence of haloperidol.
I told Detective Krebs "..he would be declared incompetent if he himself was
placed under haldol too", but, he was just doing his job. I told him the DA
should be investigating what Good Samaritan hospital is doing to the elderly.
Krebs questioned me about Irene's finances. I told him I had been paying
Irene's bills under POA and Irene was sufficiently funded to be able to go home
and live the rest of life in a familiar and comfortable home with a hired
live-in aide to assist her. He asked me the names of the banks Irene's accounts
were in and I gave him that information.
Although I had arranged to take Irene out of the assisted living facility , I
was told by the Detective Krebs that Irene cannot leave the facility I placed
her in. Apparently, Good Sam's report and the DSS and County of Suffolk is
acting to obtain "Guardianship" over Irene, despite her objecting to them doing
so. Apparently, Kim Parbst of Senior Plaza had called the Dept of Social
Services advising them that Irene was to go home the next day. Detective Krebs
advised me not to take Irene to her home. I was shocked! I had already told
Irene she was going home and she expressed delight. How could I break this news
to her? ...
ANSWER: This is an off-topic post. This website is for the discussion of
Scientology. Hence the name - alt.religion.scientology. All your posts
are anti-psychiatry posts just like this one. They do not belong in this
website. Your posting them here constitutes a lack of consideration
for others and netiquette rudeness. Are all Scientologists like you?
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