Covid positive hospital patient visitation policy

[fwafwow]

One thing to think about which I have seen it personally is that the drugs that are being given in the hospital *may* be negatively affecting your father's state of mind. Getting him home and off the drugs may have a surprising positive impact on his state of mind.

Apart from the steroids, the only other drug they have been giving him, and have said to continue (along with vitamin D and aspirin), is baricitinib

 

[Fatcamp]

Apart from the steroids, the only other drug they have been giving him, and have said to continue (along with vitamin D and aspirin), is baricitinib

Probably Dexamethasone. Pretty standard meds for covid patients

 

[MattB]

Thank you very much. Do you know which ones? I know he was on an IV steroid, and he was prescribed a few other meds when he was discharged the first time (which he was never able to take because he had to go back so quickly). I will ask my sister if she knows of any others, but I suspect she knows only what was volunteered or that she specifically asked about.

The level of communication was pretty weak - but each time one of us did speak to a nurse, she (it was a woman each time) was always empathetic.

I do not know which drugs she was on, and frankly not sure that you find an analogous situation in a hospital. I believe the nursing home intentionally drugged her up to make her easier to handle. The salient point is that being on a bunch of drugs can change a person's demeanor and taking them off those drugs may result in a positive shift in and of itself.

 

[fwafwow]

Dad was released today. Now the different challenges begin. Thanks again everyone.

 

[ryjack70ss]

For us it is a policy but the hospitalist teams determine when patients come off precautions.

I think the isolation of patients was the hardest thing I had to deal with in caring for patients during the pandemic. Some of those times will be with me forever.

ETA: Changed hospitality to hospitalist.

Same with me. I’ll never forget the patients we did a laryngectomy on during the early days of Covid who were not even allowed one single visitor their entire hospital stay. That means zero communication with loved ones. And for what? These patients were not COVID positive, none of them.


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[Fatcamp]

Same with me. I’ll never forget the patients we did a laryngectomy on during the early days of Covid who were not even allowed one single visitor their entire hospital stay. That means zero communication with loved ones. And for what? These patients were not COVID positive, none of them.


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Pretty sure isolated patient deaths is the basis of my PTSD. I think. ****, I don't know. All I am sure of is I am done holding the hands of people as they die of this disease. Unless our numbers get so high I need to go back. And I will. But I sure don't want to.

 

[tb27688]

Gotcha. Probably no manager to speak with tonight. First thing in the morning have someone call. The Dr can't just decide to not speak with family because they are busy.

Case management will have someone assigned to your father who participates in daily rounds and can help with communication. For my facility unless a patient is end of life or asymptomatic we are not allowing visitors.

If they do decide to allow visitors it will likely come with conditions. Be sure all family members understand and follow those to the letter. Unfortunately, nursing staff is left to enforce these rules and it is a horrible drain on morale.

So sorry you are dealing with this. Such a horrible situation. Hope you find the answers you are looking for. I have lived it firsthand and know how difficult of a situation it is.

The answer to your question is twofold. Twenty days after diagnosis and no fever. This policy is to protect other patients in the hospital that do not have Covid. If family members of patients with Covid are visiting, then it’s likely some of them were exposed as well but may not be showing symptoms. It sucks but it is the only way to keep everyone else safe from Covid

 

[Wrench]

Too many stories of family members slipping grandpa the ivermectin and him possibly responding.....literally stealing money from the hospital.

When they incentiveized the treatment and death benefits...it became a train wreck.

 

[fwafwow]

The answer to your question is twofold. Twenty days after diagnosis and no fever. This policy is to protect other patients in the hospital that do not have Covid. If family members of patients with Covid are visiting, then it’s likely some of them were exposed as well but may not be showing symptoms. It sucks but it is the only way to keep everyone else safe from Covid

For whatever reason, that was not the policy of the hospital with respect to my father (he didn't have a fever and he ended up getting visitors in less than 20 days), and there does not appear to be universal policy for Ohio (at least based on what I could find with respect to other hospitals' policies on their web pages).

 

[cuerro viejo]

My buddy had same issue. His dad was dying and Hospital wouldn’t let him see him. So he got ordained online and essentially was able to see his dad as his priest. His dad passed the next day.

 

[Fatcamp]

My buddy had same issue. His dad was dying and Hospital wouldn’t let him see him. So he got ordained online and essentially was able to see his dad as his priest. His dad passed the next day.

While incredibly sad, that is an amazing story.

 

[cuerro viejo]

While incredibly sad, that is an amazing story.

Ya, it was a tough pill to swallow. With that said I’m sure the pride in Eddie’s dad eyes was second to none when Eddie walked in, as I’m sure His dad know he would find away.

Nonetheless hopefully no one has to use that as a last resort but let it be know it works.

 

[fwafwow]

Since so many folks chimed in to help me, I wanted to give those who are interested an update.

After Dad was released from the hospital, he refused to ride in an ambulance, said he would never return to the hospital and also would not go to a rehab center. Although we all thought he needed rehab, his mental state was so low (he had pretty much given up) that we didn't fight him and he was returned "home" to their relatively new independent living apartment. Because he was so weak, we had to employ caregivers to help him use the bathroom. That went on for several weeks, and it was extremely expensive.

After his outlook improved, he reluctantly agreed go to a rehab facility. Luckily it was within 30 days of his hospital stay so he didn't have to first go back to the hospital. He stayed for just over four weeks and is scheduled to be released today. We have our fingers crossed that he's strong enough, with the use of a wheelchair, that extra help will be limited to a couple of times per week for just a few hours.

My takeaways from this and the broader "aging parents" challenges: (1) I will do my best to not leave a bunch of stuff (even cool knives and guns) that my kids have to sort through to make the keep/donate/trash decision; (2) I will start now to take steps that will hopefully mitigate my personal needs down the road; and (3) I am looking into saving a lot more, and perhaps long-term care insurance (the latter of which is something that I was averse to before). (Note - having suffered from a TBI, long term care insurance is probably not available to me.)

 

[Scoot]

What a sad and painfully frustrating process this whole mess must have been for you! Damn, that really stinks! Lots and lots of tough stories like this one- many folks have passed alone and in the hospital/nursing home without being able to see loved ones over the past couple years. Shitty deal...

One thing that MAY be helpful for you, if you're ever in a similar tough situation, is to demand a case manager for your loved one. If you get one, I've found them to be very informed and super helpful. We had two different ones through the process of my dad's death and hey were absolute angels to us. They helped us in countless ways- both were kind, compassionate, and super informed on how to deal with things as they came up. I was impressed and I'm forever indebted to those two wonderful gals.

Also, the Dr. you were stuck dealing with (or not dealing with) sounds like a real tool. He's probably over worked and completely exhausted, but to refuse to talk to family is inexcusable IMO. I'm not a "file a complaint" kinda guy at all, but if that happened to me, I'd be filing a formal complaint. Likely wouldn't do a lick of good, but I'd do it anyway.

Most importantly, I'm glad your dad is on the right path! Good luck to him and to you. I hope he continues to improve and stays healthy for many years to come.

 

[Rob5589]

Glad to hear he's making progress.

 

[jimh406]

Hopefully your dad will recover soon.

Fwiw, we recently went through a similar issue at a VA hospital with my father in law. He was transferred to a VA hospital several hours away that had a vaccination required policy to visit. My wife wasn't told that before we drove there. Even if we had wanted to be vaccinated, there wouldn't have been time for it to provide any benefit before he died. Any way, after a sleepless night and lots of crying, my wife gave the nurses station a call the next morning. The nurse gave the Dr a message who then called my wife back. We just had to agree to wear a mask the entire time. With the Dr approval, we could visit.

Note: there was almost nobody in the hospital. My father in law passed in a week. My wife was glad to be with him the last week while we stayed in a hotel. No, not from Covid and he was double vaccinated and tested negative before being transferred to the VA hospital. He lived with us and was totally fine until he collapsed.

It seems people making these policies are making a lot of assumptions. Btw, my brother had a transient stroke during this Covid reaction. His wife couldn't see him until he was released. He could have died alone, but luckily he recovered.

Probably most of us have been affected by these overreactive policies. Good luck to everyone.