How long is too long....dead body

MAISY, RN-ER, BSN, RN · Jan 31, 2008

Again, not sure you can move any bodies without chart accompanying them to morgue with final dispo and instructions.

On another note, I remember having a endstage CA patient that passed with entire family at bedside. Family washed and dressed body....body was picked up by funeral home. Whole process took several hours.

Maisy;)

Dempather, RN · Jan 31, 2008

I consider staying in the same room as a dead person for six hours mental torture. Would I have called Eyewitness New? no :) probably not.

leslie :-D · Jan 31, 2008

we had a (dead) pt stay w/us x 12 hrs...

working in a hospice facility, all our rooms are dedicated to pts.

all beds were filled, when this lady died.

so she stayed with us-

during the summer, w/a failing ac.

when i finally got a hold of the son, he asked if we would keep her there for the weekend...as he was boating in new hampshire.

:stone

anyway, after finally settling on a funeral home, pt was shipped out.

i would not want my pts to go through that again.

leslie

rnmi2004 · Jan 31, 2008

I'm sure it was very unpleasant for this patient to know their was a recently deceased person in the next bed. But "mental torture?" I'd have to agree that it looks like the family was angling for a lawsuit situation from the get go. If the patient had to ask "Is he still there?" then the deceased patient obviously wasn't within eyesight.

And if this 95-year-old man truly was "critically ill" then the hospital could not have removed him from the room to the corridor, as his wife suggested.

We don't know all the facts in this case. Perhaps the hospital was waiting for the family to come say goodbye to the body. If staff had removed him to the morgue before the family got their, we'd be reading an Eyewitness News story about how the hospital caused mental torture to the family by denying them the chance to see their loved one.

I also don't like how the hospital spokesperson, who probably has never worked the floor a day in her life, blamed the staff. Because we all know, the floor staff has complete control over situations like this. :icon_roll

We have had deceased patients remain on our floor for hours due to waiting for the arrival of family members. Our rooms are all private, but still, what if another patient realized what was going on and then went to the media because instead of a "thin curtain" it was a "thin wall" separating them from this reminder of their own mortality?

Diary/Dairy, RN · Jan 31, 2008

I also don't like how the hospital spokesperson, who probably has never worked the floor a day in her life, blamed the staff. Because we all know, the floor staff has complete control over situations like this. :icon_roll

Yeah that!!

KLKRN, RN · Feb 29, 2008

I always try to see all sides of the situation. In this case, I see where the family might have not wanted reminded of their own mortality - whether or not that includes the living patient.

I can also see problems with having somewhere to put the living patient.

I also wonder about the video camera - every hospital I've worked in has required releases for anyone taking pictures. Is what they did even legal? And if they went to the trouble (they allegedly HAD six hours, after all) to go home, get the camera, come back and shoot, it does smack of premeditation in anticipation of a lawsuit.

On the other hand, I agree that maybe the patient could've at least been put out in the hall, except that it appears he required oxygen. Or take him to another floor. Something to alleviate the family's agitation.

To answer the OP's question, though, I do know that some hospitals and SNF's have policies in place that a deceased pt has to be removed within so many hours. I'm not sure what steps would be taken if there were no one to take responsibility for them.

At any rate, from the standpoint of the nurses who had to deal with the issue all day, it had to be some tough sledding that day.