My mother Thelma Jean Robinson died on 1-8-2009 in Tacoma General Hospital’s new Cardiac ICU that had been open for less than 6 weeks. She was given the wrong medication by an incompetent, unqualified nurse on a holiday weekend in ICU on Jan 2nd 2009 at 3:08 am. Nurse Wendy skipped every basic safety rule of administering medication and over dosed her with 10 CC of insulin and then charted and monitored her going through classic hypoglycemia distress.
4:00 am she woke and was panicking and feeling claustrophobic.
4:46 am she reported she was hot.
5:00 am she told the nurse Wendy that she was having a nightmare there were alligators under her bed, hallucinations occur when blood sugar levels are at dangerous levels she then had a seizure that last 2 to 3 min.
5:51 she was drowsy, lethargic and restless, her speech was unintelligible and sluggish.
6:15 she was un-responsive and in a level 5 coma.
Nurse Wendy noted and charted her behavior. No action was taken to save her life.
7:00 to 9:00 am, 4 -6 hrs after the overdose of insulin she then went into convulsions and irreversible coma; she was then on full life support. Her blood sugar level had dropped to 7. My mother seized and twitched every 2 to 3 min for 6 days while on life support.
She was schedule to be released from ICU on Jan 2nd in the afternoon.
We were not told what her current medical condition was for 5 days. It took 3 family meeting for the hospital administrator-lawyer to tell the family there was no chance of recovery and we needed to give permission to remove her from life support. The family was never told that the hospital administrator that was speaking to us was really the hospital’s lawyer. We latter discovered that the hospital lawyer knew in less than 24 hours her condition and what caused it. It’s a common legal tactic to wait and see if patient passes way from other complications to avoid telling the family the truth. Thinking of the patient first is clearly not the best legal maneuver.
My mother did not die a quiet death after life support was removed; it took almost 24 hours for her to pass. In that time she was moved from the nice ICU suit to a room the size of a closet and we were told only one family member could fit in the room with her. We did not listen and found our own chairs to sleep in and took shifts so she did not die alone. No concern for how the family was treated or the dying patient.
3 days before her funeral I was informed that her body had not been sent from the hospital. I had to call and track down where her body was. The hospital had requested an autopsy to be done and they did not release her to the funeral home in a timely manner.
30 days after her death the hospital administrator (lawyers) called the family back to the hospital and disclosed that the Nurse Wendy had overdosed her with insulin. I think we had a right to know what truly happened as soon as the lawyers were told, not 30 days later.
We latter discovered that Nurse Wendy had overdosed a patient with insulin 2 years prior to my mother case but that patient was saved by other more competent staff on duty. Nurse Wendy was released by the nursing commission on Jan 6th 2009 from the first patient; 4 days after she over dosed and watched my mother die. The hospital disclosed my mother’s medical condition on Jan 7th 2009. This was also a legal move from the hospital attorney.
The administrative dept made a mistake on verifying her insurance; my mother had no insurance coverage. The hospital filed a claim against her estate for $715,000 forcing the family into a lawsuit. They did not bill us for the 6 days of life support, as a favor to us. The hospital collections dept called my 82 yr old Great Aunt trying to collect. The family was never offered help with the medical expenses. They wanted financial leverage to use against the family. This legal maneuver by the hospital was extremely insulting to the family.
We settle out of court for a modest settlement in 2011. We were promised a medication training program named after her “Jeanne Robinson medication training program” The hospital did not follow through with the program.
Families and patients have the right to know, if a medication mistake occur. They definitely have a right to know prior to disconnecting life support.
Families and patients have the right to competent medical staff in ICU. Tacoma General still does not require that ICU qualified nurses work in ICU.
Families and patients have the right to be treated in a moral and ethical manner after a mistake has occurred. After a medical mistake the hospital first concern should be the well being of the patient not what is the best legal move.
Jaycie Giraud
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