Witness to elder abuse at work....

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

I am an LVN and I work in an acute care facility on a Surgical floor. We get patients who had had surgery or who are going to surgery for wahtever reason. We see a lot of elderly people with hip fractures.

I was taking care of an 89 year old patient who lives with her daughter and she fell at home. She's a small petite lady about 99 lbs. When I had gotten report from the Night shift nurse, she had told me that the daughter was not very nice. That she "scrutinized" everything that the nurse had done.

First thing in the morning I had to obtain a phone consent for an IVC filter placement before this patient could go for her hip replacement in the afternoon. So I called the daughter. She was very pleasant. The patient was also pleasant and although confused she knew where she was, her name and b-day and why she was in the hospital. She went for her filter, and when she returned the daughter was at bedside. I found the daughter to be pleasant with me and not scrutinizing as the night nurse had said.

About 12:30 in the afternoon the daughter called me to the room and said her mother needed a bed pan for a BM. The patient wanted to get out of bed, and I explained that she couldn't get up, as she was in traction and had a broken hip. She said she knew she had a hurt leg but that she couldn't turn to get on the pan. Anyways, in going back over this with her a second time, the daughter started shouting for her to shut up and let the nurse do her job. She shouted "mom you have a broken hip" then the patient said "My leg is broken because you shook it too hard" (saying this to her daughter) I was like....Whoa, ok, so she's a bit confused. I reminded her that she had fallen at home and the daughter chimes in yelling that "You fell because youa re too stubborn to use your walker!" I excused myself and told the patient if she indeed needed the bed pan to please call me back.

At 2:30 they were going to come get her for the OR. She had a Vanco on call to the OR, so I brought an RN in with me to hang that while I got her vitals. All the while the daughter was telling me that her mother needed her lexapro because she was "getting crazy" Even begged me to call the Dr. She had lexapro scheduled for 9PM and had gotten a dose the night before.

While attempting to get her vitals, the patient became resistant and tried to pull the cuff off her arm. I just held her hand and then the daughter stood up and kept saying STOP IT MOM and actually Yelling very loudly. I just kept about my business, and then tried for a temp. The patient, who I had done an oral temp on in the morning, pulled the thermometer out of her mouth, and again the daughter is shouting. By now I am ready to ask her to step out. I put the probe under the patients arm and the daughter took BOTH of the patients arems and forced them into the bed, holding on so tightly. Then before I could say a word the patient began yelling "HELP HELP HELP GET AWAY FROM ME" and what I saw next floored me.....the patients daughter took her hand and placed it over the patients mouth very harshly and pressed it into the patients face so hard. I finally said Please, this isn't necessary, it's ok. They can get the vitals down stairs in pre-op. I began shaking with anger, but kept calm. I looked at the RN and she had this look like, what the heck! So then we looked and the patients mouth was bleeding and her lip was fat and the patient was obviously shaken. She kept saying over and over "I'm your mother why do you treat me this way" Then the daughter said "Mother you have been picking at your lips again, I can tell because you are bleeding!" OMG, OMG, OMG!!!! I am SOOOOOO Thankful that another nurses withness this with me. I have never ever in my whole 6 years in nursing seen someone so frustrated. Imagine if she does this in front of 2 nurses who are mandated reporters....what the heck. We all began to think that maybe her hip did break because of how the patient had said. I immediately told the Charge RN, and then called the Dept manager and we had to call in social services. Thankfully both the RN who was hanging my Vanco for me and myself saw this. Even the cardiologist who went in just after we left said " man that is a family member who looks like she has just had enough" THEN we told him what happened. He had no idea of the events that just took place.

Has anyone ever seen this? I can't get the images out of my head. I was literally shaking and had the chills after this, it made me sick!

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A bleeding lip? The RN should have taken the lead on this and done an incident report as well as appropriate notifications. This is trouble in the brewing. Go to your next in line and do a report if the RN did not do so. You have to cover yourself. Hurry because there is a time frame, usually 24 hours, in which to report, otherwise you will be at fault.

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Sorry, missed the part where the notifications were done. You are lucky. But be prepared to be in situations where others may try to cover things up or keep things quiet. You always have to be prepared to bear the brunt of retaliation when you do report though. I was fired after reporting seeing another nurse commit abuse. I made a report to the police department and found out years later that not a thing was done about it.

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

We did a report that day. The manager called in our Social Service worker and she spoke to the RN and I and made the report..... I documented everything. It was my patient. Since the charge had been at lunch, the other RN just came in to hang the Vanco. Where I work I get my own assignment of 5 patients.

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Specializes in LTC, case mgmt, agency.
:crying2: OMG! I don't even know this woman and I want to give her a big hug. I have tears just reading this story. I can't imagine what you are going through having been there. Wow, a bloody lip.:nono: In front of witnesses. Like you said, if the daughter is willing to do that in front of witnesses, what is she doing at home? Glad you got social services and your management involved. I hope you guys not only reported this but documented with great detail. Nobody deserves to be treated like that. There is no reason for abuse.
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Specializes in Med-Surg.

I just called in to work to check in (I am on call today) and was told that the patient was again hit by the daughter, and it was witnessed by another staff member. I guess they had a sitter in there the first day, but not today. Oh god, that is horrible. I hope they do something before she is discharged!

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I just called in to work to check in (I am on call today) and was told that the patient was again hit by the daughter, and it was witnessed by another staff member. I guess they had a sitter in there the first day, but not today. Oh god, that is horrible. I hope they do something before she is discharged!

They should have called the police, had the woman arrested, and pressed charges. There is nothing amusing about this at all.

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Specializes in LTC, case mgmt, agency.
:( Did anybody call security? Police? Ask her to leave?
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Specializes in Hospice.

Had a very similar experience a while back. An elderly lady was admitted to my hospice unit with what was probably terminal agitation vs. brain mets. Her primary caregiver was a daughter who had been up with the pt for the previous 3 nights and was exhausted.

A second daughter (not the PCG) was staying with the pt at night as a "sitter".

As the pt became more and more restless, wanting to get up, change position, go to the bathroom, etc., the dtr became more and more frustrated and aggravated. She was dealing with the pt as though the pt was behaving this way on purpose and trying to "reason with" her.

Of course, the pt no longer had the cognitive ability to make choices about her behavior. The dtr could not realize that no matter what I did to try to teach her strategies for dealing with it.

In the morning during my end-of-shift rounds, I heard the dtr in the br. with her mom, yelling at her to take her clothes off. I went in and the dtr was expecting me to help forcibly disrobe the pt and give her a shower. The dtr said, "My sister will be furious if she doesn't get a shower!"

I had to get between her and the pt, say firmly that the yelling has to stop. I didn't get the chance to explain about assault and battery ... dtr rolled her eyes and walked off in a huff.

As it turned out, the sister who was going to be "furious" was the PCG and actually quite realistic about what was possible. When I spoke to her about the incident, she explained that that particular sister almost never cared for the pt at home and only taken care of her before the mental status changes.

Needless to say, I documented the dickens out of the incident. Had it been the PCG pulling this, I would have had social services on it like white on rice.

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Specializes in LTC, Med/Surg, Peds, ICU, Tele.

If adult protective services hasn't been notified, then you are legally obligated to do so, at least in my state. I know you notified the charge nurse and social services, did they notify the state?

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So I hope this lady is going to LTC, not home, right?

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If adult protective services hasn't been notified, then you are legally obligated to do so, at least in my state. I know you notified the charge nurse and social services, did they notify the state?

I'm sure the wheels have been set in motion. Sounds like the OP works with a good group.

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