I had ample justification for penning these comments 4-5 months back but hesitated to do so as I wanted to give this business an opportunity to correct an egregious wrong. It never happened. Yesterday in an ill fated attempt at forgiving (but not forgetting) I checked my anger at the door and contacted them again. As a result I now have no qualms about alerting prospective clients to a set of circumstances which could conceivably befall them as well. As I've no expectation of any resolution or even satisfaction regarding these issues my sole motive here is vindictiveness. For several years my wife has suffered from a degenerative ailment which while manageable has necessitated her oscillating between home, doctors' offices, hospitals and rehab. facilities. Over the course of the last three years my wife had been a patient at this Life Care facility three times. Her first two experiences here were beneficial so we assumed a third experience would surely replicate the success she had enjoyed previously. Having been in a non ambulatory state she was confined to a wheelchair during the day. Nevertheless this did not preclude her from getting the therapies she required. At one point a month or so into her last stay she developed edema. It was a relatively mild onset however it rendered her incapable of further physical therapy until both the swelling and pain subsided. At this juncture and rather curiously both the quality and level of care she had been receiving had changed dramatically. There were evidently no special instructions given nor precautions taken relative to the change in her condition. She remained wheelchair bound by day and bedridden after dark. None of these alleged medical professionals had considered the notion that despite my wife's temporary inertia she nonetheless required physical repositioning at intervals to obviate the possibility of additional problems. This lack of necessary attention resulted in her contracting bed and compression sores which were neither addressed during her stay nor even mentioned to either her or myself. Had she been attended to as was the case during her previous stays I suspect these sores would have at very least been noticed if not treated. I thus concluded that during her final days at Life Care she was neither bathed nor the recipient of a change of clothes. Ultimately, a phone call in the early hours of a Sunday morning informed me that my wife had been taken to a hospital for the sores as well as a U.T.I. and blood pressure issue. I elected to not consider legal redress nor to even apprise Life Care of the situation which was clearly a result of their negligence. Neither a victory in court nor a cash settlement would have ameliorated my wife's condition nor placated me. I was incredulous at the realization of just how the quality of care at this facility had diminished between her initial stays and this final one. When my wife was admitted to the hospital the attending nurse said that pictures of the sores were taken as a matter of routine. When she showed them to me I was appalled (and a bit nauseous). I asked the nurse if she was certain these were bed sores and not a flesh eating virus-the pictures were that horrifying.
My wife spent a week in the hospital where she was stabilized after which I was asked whether I'd like her to return to Life Care. I told them unequivocally that I did not. This was in early November and since that time my wife has been in two other facilities receiving care and therapy.
In Life Care's defense the therapy my wife received on all three occasions was highly beneficial to her. Her therapies include speech therapy-something of a misnomer as it has little to do with speech and everything to do with making sure that she will neither choke nor aspirate on food as this is one of the manifestations of her infirmity. Life Care has a particularly adept group of speech therapists who use a special electrical device which when properly applied aids patients with swallowing disorders. Regrettably the facilities in which my wife has been since the Life Care debacle do not offer this therapy. As a result she hasn't progressed at all in this particular discipline. My wife's health being my only criterion I decided to contact Life Care again (yesterday) to see whether I'd be able to have her re-admitted if for no other reason than this specialized therapy. I was told to come in and that I would be able to chat with the facility's director. I arrived, was spotted by the director and ignored. I was told that the director and several people were "looking at my wife's file" etc....Twenty minutes later I was told the director had no time for me and to call her and leave a message to possibly set up a bona fide appointment (the fact that I was told to come in that day of no apparent relevance). It's now over 24 hours later and still no acknowledgement from madam director. Maybe I will contact an attorney....