Hospitals do not like to bear the cost of a patient’s long term care. When it becomes obvious that an accident victim will need ongoing care, he or she gets transferred to a rehabilitation facility or to a nursing home. The patient’s family usually plays a part in deciding which of the available facilities seems to do the best job of meeting the patient’s needs.
Family members should take the time to become familiar with any considered facility
• Does it have plans for helping patients with their hygiene and grooming?
• Does it have plans for helping patients get to doctor’s appointments? Does it assist with transporting patients to a center that conducts tests or obtains images of patients’ internal organs?
• Has anyone made note of any strange behavior on the part of one or more patients? Have any of them been found wandering around on the facility’s grounds?
• Do the staff members that work with the patients seem to be aware of what medications each resident is taking?
• Does this facility have the type of equipment that must be used by a patient with continence problems?
Do those men and women in the families of the facility’s patients get a chance to speak with and listen to the hired caregivers?
Are reviews of the facility’s plan for each patient carried out at least 2 times each year? This repeated procedure provides concerned family members with a chance to offer their input.
Does a considered facility recognize the extent to which someone with a power of attorney has a right to say how a patient’s treatment should get delivered?
Does the person with the power of attorney for a given patient get consulted before any medical intervention takes place? Is the considered facility prepared to respond to any word from someone with a power of attorney, as opposed to someone that has suddenly sought to have a say in what happens to the injured victim?
Even in a family with an MD, the person chosen by the patient as the one with power of attorney should make the medical decisions for that same patient. Even if a patient used to have a personal physician with a specific name, that same professional does not get to overrule a decision made by someone with a power of attorney.
Can family members say with confidence that their loved one has close to 0 chances for developing institution-related problems?
A list of such problems would include things like bedsores, lice, food poisoning, dehydration, a feeling of distress and unexplainable weight loss. If other patients have such problems, then it seems best to search for a different and more caring facility. Additionally, if you feel the accident occurred due to negligence or carelessness of the staff, you are eligible to file a claim on behalf of the victim after discussing with the Injury Lawyer in Mississauga.
