Due to gallbladder surgery, my mother was transferred to the most horrendous nursing home in the state of Ohio--Broadview Multi-Care in Parma, Ohio. In addition, she was assigned to the most horrible doctor on staff at this facility named Dr. Vivian **.
When your loved one is transferred to a nursing home and your personal physician does not have jurisdiction at that facility, the nursing home assigns the doctor of their choice to care for your loved one. Our family physician has always been an MD and believed in medicine, but Dr. Vivian ** chose not to give my mother any medicine (including seizure meds) for the entire month my mother was under her care.
My mother had been on many meds for the almost 6 1/2 years I had cared for her at home, and this doctor chose to remove her cold turkey off all meds. Of course, my mother died. I find out now that Dr. Vivian ** is quoted under a "Visionary" site called "Partners In Syzygy" who taught "mind/body work and healing techniques."
Dr. Vivian ** billed Medicare for this witch-doctor care she gave to my mother, and Medicare paid her. I had Power of Attorney for my mother, and Dr Vivian ** never once contacted me. I asked numerous times to speak with my mother's doctor and was not permitted, so I had no idea what type of care my mother was receiving. I would have never permitted this self-healing type of care that Dr. Vivian ** gave my mother!
Before admitting your loved one into any facility, before your loved on is in any facility, first, ask for an Admission Agreement to take home with you to read and second, ask what type of doctor your loved one will be assigned to. Go home and look that doctor up. Make sure that the Admission Agreement has no Arbitration Clause (a clause that waives your right to a trial in court even for a wrongful death--80% of nursing homes have this clause).
On September 2, 2004, I went to visit my mom in the evening. The nurse said to me that my mom didn't seem like she wanted to exercise or do anything, so the nurse just let my mom rest. She said my mom had been through so much that it was a good thing to let her rest for a bit. I thought that was a good idea too.
I left in the evening and gave my mom a kiss, and my mom smiled. That was the last time I saw my mom alive. At 2:09 AM, I received a call from one of the nurses at the nursing home saying that when she walked in the room, my mother was not breathing; she was dead.
We were still all confused as to what happened to my mom. The funeral home picked her up from the nursing home and took her to the parlor. I received a call from the funeral home the next day, and the funeral director said that my mom's body was the worst body they had ever seen. They called the coroner and requested an autopsy, because they said that they were not allowed to embalm a body that had broken bones.
The coroner refused to perform an autopsy, because of my mother's age and condition. The funeral home was very uneasy with that decision, but she told me that could not make the coroner perform an autopsy if they declined. Still feeling uncomfortable about the whole situation, they decided to take pictures of my mom's body before embalming her.
The day before she was buried, the funeral home called me with some bad news. The doctors, who originally said that they would sign the death certificate from the last nursing home where she was at, now changed their minds. The funeral director was angry and told them that this woman was to be buried tomorrow, and since she died at their facility, it was up to them to find someone to sign that death certificate. A person cannot be buried without the death certificate signed first.
In the evening, the funeral director came to me and said that she had good news that my mother's long-time doctor signed her death certificate, Dr. Vivan **. I said, "Who? That is not my mother's long-time doctor!" Who was this doctor who signed my mother's death certificate and claimed to be her long-time doctor? I didn't recognize the name.
I took the doctor's name down and then called the Ombudsman Laura. I asked Laura what the name of the doctor was who took care of my mother at the nursing home, and Laura told me that it's Dr. Vivan **. It was this same doctor who signed my mother's death certificate. As a matter of fact, it was the very same doctor who took care of my mother at Parma Hospital. How could this be?, I thought
There was a different name above my mother's head in the hospital. The name of the doctor who was to have supposedly taken care of my mother at Parma was the associate of the same doctor who cared for my mother at the nursing home. This doctor followed my mother right to her grave!
It all made sense now. They took my mother to the hospital where the doctor practiced and who took care of her at the nursing home. Then, apparently someone told the funeral director that this same doctor was my mother's long-time doctor. Why would the previous doctor want anyone else to look at my mom? If they would have sent her elsewhere, someone might have noticed that her seizure meds levels were way down, and perhaps, she was not taken care of correctly. This doctor knew what she was doing, and she was going to cover her behind anyway she could.
After the funeral was over, I called Laura and told her that my mother had died only 1 day later after she came from the hospital. Laura, the state Ombudsman, tried to get my mom's file at the nursing home, but they declined her, repeatedly saying that her file was all over the building and they had to get it together.
Laura had to go back 5 times, before they finally gave her my mom's file. Of course, when she received the file, all of the I's were dotted and all of the T's were crossed. The nursing home made sure that my mom's file looked perfect, and you guessed it, Laura couldn't find a thing wrong with the file. So the nursing home got away with murder.
The doctor at the nursing home blamed the hospital that she came from in, saying that there were no instructions from the hospital that she came from saying that my mother was to receive any medicine. The doctor also said that my mother had osteoporosis, and her bones were so brittle that they could break from her lying in bed--what a crock that the nursing home doctor could get away with that.
After my mother's death, I also filed a complaint with the Department of Health. Laura told me that after the investigation was over, the Department of Health would contact me. I never heard from them. I tried calling them and left a message, but I never received a return phone call. Now I couldn't sue Broadview Multi-Care, because of their Arbitration Clause in their Admission Agreement that I was forced to sign. I was told to either sign it or get her out! I had no choice but to sign! I had nowhere to take my mother.
Not long afterwards, I received a letter from Laura with an article that she felt would benefit me. It was an article about illegal phrases placed in Nursing Home Admission papers. The article stated that another person who signed the Admission Paperwork at a facility won in court, because the clause that the nursing home states in the paperwork is illegal. The article said that the person who was signing was signing under duress. Laura hoped that this would be helpful for me, but it was not.
I looked at the Cuyahoga County Home Page's Civil records and found that another person was suing the same doctor that my mom had at the nursing home for wrongful death. So I contacted the same attorneys. When my daughter and I went for an initial consultation, the attorney said to me, "How can we convince a jury that your mother didn't die of natural causes like the death certificate said she did? After all, your mother had a complicated medical history."
You see, because someone is old and sick, it appears that their life suddenly has no value; thus, they are tossed aside in society. In the meantime, doctors and nursing facilities are able to get away with murder each and every day, and there is nothing that can be done to them. It appeared that in spite of this nursing home having many citations and complaints, it was still allowed to operate.
Was Laura ever able to write this nursing home up for any citations? None that I am aware of. I was shocked to see the pictures of my poor mother's body that the funeral home took of her before they embalmed her. This funeral home said that my mother's body was all bruised and twisted, and it was the most horrible body they had seen in all of the years they had been in business. I cried my eyes out. I am including a picture of my mother's body before she was embalmed which the funeral director took along with a picture of her broken ankle.
I finally spoke with Dr. Vivian ** after my mother died, and she denied receiving any file with my mother's medication in it when she was transferred to Broadview Multi-Care. My family physician called her a liar, and he said that those medical records were given when my mother was transferred.
I have taught classes for the past five years at 11 different schools and colleges in the state of Ohio and told my story of how my mother was killed along with a class on How to Get Paid for Caring for your Loved One through Ohio's Medicaid Programs, and I will continue telling this story and teaching this class until the day I die.
You may see how this "Visionary Identity Conscious Unity" site quotes Dr. Vivian **. I never wanted this type of healing for her, but we had no choice, because I didn't know and my mother was unable to speak, because she suffered numerous strokes and seizures and 3/4 of her brain was damaged. If we don't do something as a society to stop this from happening, we are the next in line for this type of treatment.
This happened in 2004, and thanks to the Admission Agreement that I was forced to sign at Broadview Multi-Care, I was forced to waive my right to a trial in court even for a wrongful death.
