hopefully none of you ever, ever, ever have to go through anything like this, but i feel like i need to share it so people are aware. i'm going to try to make a long story as short as possible.
on tuesday, my GF's mom (we'll call her barbara) was released from the hospital. it was her 3rd time there this month. she's been in pretty bad health. they told her it was time to discuss palliative care. so my GF gets to the hospital to pick her up. she sees pretty quickly that her mom is struggling just to get dressed. there is something posted on the wall that says "daily walk." the last day on it was saturday. she questions whether her mom should be released. her mom insists she's ok, and the nurse says she's good to go.
they get to barbara's apartment. it takes her 20 minutes just to get out of the car. it's about a 20' walk to the door. barbara doesn't make it. she collapsed, gasping for breath. she stopped breathing just as the EMTs arrived. (that part of it is another frustrating story all to itself). she had a DNR.
ok, that's bad enough. we're still somewhat incensed that the hospital let her go in that condition. although, knowing barbara, we think she may have insisted they release her. but here's the part that.... i don't even have the words.
so the EMTs are there. 4 sheriff's deputies are there. barbara is there, on the sidewalk of an apartment complex. the deputies are not allowed to move the body. and, because the death happened in a public place, the EMTs were not allowed to move the body. they literally left. at least they had a sheet to cover the body. the deputies were pissed. they called their supervisor to try to get the EMTs back to take the body. no luck.
barbara was on that damn sidewalk for just over 2 hours before the coroner got there with a body bag, and they were allowed to bring her into the apartment, where she stayed for another hour before the funeral home took her.
this whole thing started around 5:15, so people were getting home from work, and there were kids around. i can't even imagine what this was doing to my GF, as people were just gawking at her dead mom on the sidewalk.
god forbid this happens to anyone who reads this. and, of course, sometimes this shit is out of our control. it's also possible that the policies of your local EMTs and police are different. but if you do ever find yourself in a similar situation, i guess just do everything you can to get them into their home.
on tuesday, my GF's mom (we'll call her barbara) was released from the hospital. it was her 3rd time there this month. she's been in pretty bad health. they told her it was time to discuss palliative care. so my GF gets to the hospital to pick her up. she sees pretty quickly that her mom is struggling just to get dressed. there is something posted on the wall that says "daily walk." the last day on it was saturday. she questions whether her mom should be released. her mom insists she's ok, and the nurse says she's good to go.
they get to barbara's apartment. it takes her 20 minutes just to get out of the car. it's about a 20' walk to the door. barbara doesn't make it. she collapsed, gasping for breath. she stopped breathing just as the EMTs arrived. (that part of it is another frustrating story all to itself). she had a DNR.
ok, that's bad enough. we're still somewhat incensed that the hospital let her go in that condition. although, knowing barbara, we think she may have insisted they release her. but here's the part that.... i don't even have the words.
so the EMTs are there. 4 sheriff's deputies are there. barbara is there, on the sidewalk of an apartment complex. the deputies are not allowed to move the body. and, because the death happened in a public place, the EMTs were not allowed to move the body. they literally left. at least they had a sheet to cover the body. the deputies were pissed. they called their supervisor to try to get the EMTs back to take the body. no luck.
barbara was on that damn sidewalk for just over 2 hours before the coroner got there with a body bag, and they were allowed to bring her into the apartment, where she stayed for another hour before the funeral home took her.
this whole thing started around 5:15, so people were getting home from work, and there were kids around. i can't even imagine what this was doing to my GF, as people were just gawking at her dead mom on the sidewalk.
god forbid this happens to anyone who reads this. and, of course, sometimes this shit is out of our control. it's also possible that the policies of your local EMTs and police are different. but if you do ever find yourself in a similar situation, i guess just do everything you can to get them into their home.
