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Volume 21, NO. 1211 |
HOSPITAL IN COMPLETE
DENIAL EPILEPTIC PATIENT Autistic
woman held by bureaucratic stranglehold treated under veil of secrecy by
Harry V. Martin Apparently
bent out of shape, the intern called Adult Protective Services and reported that
the parents were abusing Nancy by over-dosing her, in contrast to both
Nancy’s neurologist and the Stanford Hospital neurologist. Adult Protective
Services did an extensive investigation. But they failed to note that the two
neurologists sided with the parents that they had provided an adequate dosage
to her. Adult
Protective Services provided their reports – minus any confirmation from
either neurologist that the parents were following proper medication
procedures. From that point on, Nancy’s life and that of her parents turned
into an abyss of hell. The
parents fought the system and each time they had their visiting rights
reduced until it finally came down to one small visit a month. Nancy could
never understand why she was being “abandoned” by her parents. Many times on
their visits the parents would find Nancy in a comatose state. She was being
given psychiatric drugs which countered her anti-seizure medication. Donna
Crowder, a nurse who has reporting responsibilities, went to visit Nancy in
the care home that the State of California placed Nancy in. The nurse was not
allowed entry into the home and when she spotted Nancy, Nancy was rushed back
into her room. The nurse asked to speak with the administrator. The
17-year-old girl placed in charge of the facility said she did not know who
the administrator was or how to make contact. Then she admitted that her
parents were the administrators and they were in the Philippines. “I was very
unhappy as a nurse, who works with medical and mental clients at what I heard
and observed at this group home as it really appeared that this home was
covering up,” Crowder said. “I came home and was so disturbed by what I
considered abuse, that I called the State ombudsman.” At
the care facility Nancy has suffered lower esophageal injuries, hernias,
broken collarbone, dislocated shoulder and neurological injuries. It is also
suspect that Nancy has developed cancer of the esophagus from the psychiatric
drugs she was being administered. The
nurse, who tried to visit Nancy and was refused, felt that Nancy was being
abused. But the real abuse surfaced just last week when Nancy was rushed to a
Mt. View hospital. Nancy’s family was not provided any information, but, in
fact, they were escorted out by security guards on instructions from Nancy’s
State-appointed conservator. Nancy looked half dead with an IV and main lines
in her neck and scrapes and lumps all over her face. She was vomiting blood
and chunks of her esophagus due to the ruptured esophageal injuries caused by
the drugs the care home had been administrating. The Hospital reported the
abuse of Nancy by the care home to Adult Protective Services, not knowing
that Adult Protective Services and the regional center have never
investigated the care home. The
parents were finally allowed 10 minutes to visit their daughter. But
apparently the nurse that allowed such a visit got into a lot of trouble. The
next day, when the father of Nancy called the hospital to inquire of Nancy’s
condition he was told that Nancy wasn’t there. In fact, the hospital told
others, including Crowder, that Nancy has never been in the hospital. The
nurse on the fourth floor of the hospital where Nancy was located the night
before said that the patient had asked for privacy and that no information be
released. Nancy is autistic and doesn’t speak. The condition and whereabouts
of Nancy are not known by the parents at this time, even though they do have
visitation rights to see their daughter. Even
more interesting after investigating the case of Nancy, documents show that
the Regional Center had been receiving Nancy’s SSI (Social Security) claims
10 months before Nancy was placed in a psychiatric ward at Stanford
University Hospital and two years before they receive conservatorship over
Nancy. The
family has spent their life savings trying to free Nancy from this
“prison-type” system. The family has gone to court and been rebuffed in
Federal Court that does not want the jurisdiction in the case. Attorneys have
helped the family from time to time, but one attorney flatly warned the
family, by stating “The biggest problem with this case is going to be
bribery, that any attorney that tires to represent you is going to get a
$25,000-$30,000 offer from the State, to avoid further lawsuits like this
from the thousands of other people in State custody that can claim personal
injuries by State agents acting under color of law.” The State has spent over
$1 million fighting the family in this case. Why? The
State readily admits that they do not even inspect care homes but once every
five years, if that. (To
be continued.) |
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Napa Sentinel · 1627 Lincoln
Avenue, Napa CA 94558 |