Family sues caregivers to stop feeding mom:
"A lawsuit has been filed by the daughter of a Canadian Alzheimer’s patient against members of a nursing home staff claiming that their actions to spoon-feed her are akin to “battery” and she should be left to die."
---------------------------------
I worked for 9 years as a Certified Nursing Assistant. Although I drive fork lift today (a much more macho job!), I still miss my work as a CNA. I have taken care of many patents like the elderly Alzheimer's patient in this news story. I remember one in particular. I will call her Hilda, although that was not her real name.
Hilda was around 90 years old. She too was in the very last stages of Alzheimers disease, and she was in very poor health (even for a 90 year old!). One day I came to work - it was a Friday - and the charge nurse told me that she did not expect Hilda to make it through the weekend. Given her advanced age, her Alzheimer's, and her poor health, this was not unexpected.
But there was a problem with Hilda. She was a "Full Code." That meant that the nursing staff was required to do everything in their power to keep Hilda alive. If her heart stopped, they had to try to restart it! Or at least do CPR until the paramedics could get their with their 'shock treatment!' (That was back in the days when portable defibrillators were not as widely available as they are today).
Anyway, the charge nurse called this ladies daughter who held the power of attorney for health care for her mom, and tried to talk her into signing the papers to make her mom a no code. Her daughter was indignant. "Oh no," her daughter said. "You do whatever you have to do to keep her alive - until Monday. After that I don't care what you do."
You see, the daughter was in the process of selling her mom's house, and she did not want her mom's death messing up the process!
Recommended podcasts by Pastor Kevin Swanson:
The Loneliest People in America: Visiting the Elderly
Abortion, Drugs, Euthanasia & Crime Rates: Drug Boys, Kill the Elderly
