I read an article in the newspaper (StarTribune, March 12, 2013) tonight. The front page title caught my attention "FAMILIES WANT VOICE IN NURSING INQUIRIES". However, after reading the first couple paragraphs, I couldn't even figure out why they had chosen the introduction they did.
It begins like this:
"No evidence of neglect. Sheila Van Pelt couldn't believe it when she received the letter from the state health investigators in 2011. Her mother had suffered a stroke at an assisted-living facility and later died, and now she wondered: Did they even bother to seriously review the case? Investigators never formally interviewed her, Van Pelt says, even though she found her mother, with her legs twitching as she suffered convulsions from a severe stroke. No one was ever held accountable for the incident and she says, investigators didn't seem interested when she tried to bring information forward."
What is she talking about? Why should someone else have to be held accountable for her 'the incident' when her mother suffered a stroke, especially at an assisted-living facility and not a hospital? I don't get it - is it really that bad out there now that people don't expect their loved ones to ever die of natural causes? And when they do, it has to be someone else's fault?
Although I am an LPN, I still have very little experience. I continued in nursing school and am hoping to have my RN by the end of the summer. When I read articles like this, I feel discouraged before I even try. Why are people so unrealistic? We can't save every life, nor can we be there every time something is going wrong.