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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| Glen Oaks Alzheimer's Special Care Center releases resident to funeral home prematurely |
| 2023-02-03 |
| [MAIL] An Iowa hospice has been fined $10,000 after a funeral home discovered a woman sent to it in a body bag was still alive and 'gasping for air'. Officials say the 66-year-old woman was declared dead at the Glen Oaks Alzheimer's Special Care Centre in Urbandale on January 3. The woman, whose name has not been released, had early onset dementia, anxiety and depression and had been in hospice care since December 28. She was placed in a zipped body bag and taken to the Ankeny Funeral Home and Crematory, the Iowa Department of Inspection and Appeals said in a report filed on Wednesday. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #5 My understanding is that Maxwell’s Silver Hammer is about a method of death verification. One of my ship’s had a notorious episode where a sailor gave birth to a baby on board during deployment- luckily in port. We got blasted by Rush Limbaugh in the early 90’s. Happily, Twitter did not exist. I talked to the doctor who was getting blasted worldwide. The patient was extremely thin and reported missing one period. The protocol did not require an exam. She gave birth two days later. I had traded duty so I missed the fun. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2023-02-03 21:36 |
| #4 And you wonder why people in the old days had an alarm bell buried with them. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2023-02-03 16:50 |
| #3 I wonder if the NP examined the woman in person or just talked to the staff member and approved sending he woman to the funeral home? |
| Posted by: EMS Artifact 2023-02-03 10:00 |
| #2 Good to know, Dr. Gromble. Thank you for explaining. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2023-02-03 09:43 |
#1 From a MSNBC relayed article from the Des Moines Register A report from the Iowa Department of Inspection and Appeals says the mistaken death declaration occurred on Jan. 3 after a staff member at the Glen Oaks Alzheimer's Special Care Center in Urbandale reported that the woman, 66, had died about 6 a.m. The report said the woman, who had early onset dementia, anxiety and depression, had been in hospice care since Dec. 28. On 5 Jan 2023 she ultimately died. The article doesn't give details on how that was determined. I have had a couple of patients near death whose physical exam matched that as described above, however all continued to have a sinus rhythm detectable by an EKG for many hours before that too ceased. Definitely a bad idea to not check for EKG activity in such patients before declaring them dead. |
| Posted by: Gromble Dribble4342 2023-02-03 09:20 |