This particular little story is from my own experience and so some of you may have different experiences but this may help anyway. I find it important to note that with our ideal presence of mind, in 2007, my mom, husband and I all set down with our attorney at the time to draw up our wishes for medical treatment and what to do in case if resuscitation is necessary but full recovery is not possible, etc. So we have created our advanced durable power of attorney for each of us, had it signed, sealed, and saved.

Then my mom got ill in February 2014 and every single hospital she went to (4 hospitals) and every single skilled nursing facilities she was sent to (2) had a hard copy of my mothers advanced durable power of attorney given to them with her making me her conservator–that is the responsible party to make decision over every step and every medication. Logical, since I am a medical professional in the area of research. But then I noticed that with the exception of a single skilled nursing facility, the advanced durable power of attorney was completely ignored as if it did not exist.

Doctors prescribed medications for all kinds of illnesses my mom did not have; they did not ask for permission, they pulled various legal RIESE 5150 and then 5250 on her so they could override my advanced durable power of attorney so they can force medications against her and my wishes and push into her whatever medications they wanted –and even restricted any and all communication between doctors and family. In some places meeting the doctor was impossible let alone having a few questions answered.

Of course they completely messed my mother up and she passed away on the 10th of April in 2014.

Now I am not a wuss so when it comes to inquiries and demands, you can hear my voice loud and clear but this was a show stopper for me. I am a medical professional and still I cannot stop clueless actions on the part of doctors and hospitals? How is that possible? Well, I found out how…

I am just now going through the medical records of my mom from each hospital and in one I find on top of the copy of my mom’s advanced durable power of attorney a piece of paper highlighting that my mom does not have an advanced durable power of attorney! This is why!

You need to know this! You need to know that someone in your family has to be after these “bastards” at every step of the way because they are as clueless as they come! I used the term “bastards” because one may have good intentions but after all if the chicken crossed the road and died, it died… intentions don’t matter. The outcome matters when it comes to medical treatment.

My mother died in the hands of such clueless acts. The only safe place for my mom was a skilled nursing facility where she hated to be since she was plucked in there from the psych ward after the 5250 where they destroyed her mind making her symptoms appear as if she had schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s (which she did not have) but at this place she took no medicines and in 3 days she started to come out of under the affects of all those terrible drugs. She also started to realize that she was in a mental institute. She wanted out of there and she let that be known to everyone. She kept on saying that she would rather die than stay here. And so she was evaluated by two psychologists there, both clearing her from mental disorders, only to be killed by a clueless doctor in the hospital she went for treatment of her heart, who… you guessed it… had ignored not only the advanced durable power of attorney but also the allergy band on my mother’s arm for serotonin.

The medicine the doctor gave her was Namenda, a drug in the serotonergic/dopanergic family that is an antagonist. Antagonist implies, as the name states “make it more excitable” and so what it does it actually increases the serotonin and dopamine receptors’ ability to accept more serotonin… hence increasing the substance my  mother was allergic to. One of the side effects of this drug listed among the side effects is TIA (“Nervous system side effects have included dizziness (7%) and headache (6%). Transient ischemic attack,… “, which is a stroke that lasts for a short time. In fact, my mom got one but the clot hit at the wrong place and her throat got paralyzed, never to be resolved so the TIA was really a full blown stroke. She died from the clueless medical system.

She also died from a clueless doctor whom I asked after I was finally able to corner at the ICU if she knew that my mom had advanced durable power of attorney. She said no. I also asked if she knew my mother was allergic to serotonin. She said “well the pharmacy catches interactions..” I said no.. no interaction. One drug that you prescribed, Namenda, that increases serotonin in the brain and she is allergic to serotonin. She first told me it was not serotonin then I pulled up on the internet on my phone and showed her that it is so then she gave me a big discussion “well you know it is serotonergic/dopanergic.. blah blah blah..” I asked her if she knew she was actually talking to a neuroscientist researcher… I also asked if she knew what dopamine and serotonin were and what they were used for the brain.. she said “no“…

I did tell her to go back to school!

Yes! Sometimes you just need to act like a total barbaric to get through to doctors, hospitals, and pharmacies to save the life of your loved ones. I failed but I hope to help by changing the system as much as I can. Please you do your share and create an advanced durable power of attorney and put it under every single doctor’s nose!

Angela