Bishop Davies Nursing Center

My 78 year old mother fell at her apartment in October and broke her leg, requiring surgery and a lengthy rehabilitation. The morning she was to be released from the hospital after surgery, we were given a list of "skilled nursing facilities" to choose from, not leaving any time to investigate or visit any of the centers. I chose the one closest to my home...as soon as I met the ambulance at Bishop Davies Center, knew this was a bad idea.

The first thing we saw was a dining room full of (apparent) Alzheimers patients being fed. Since my mother is a healthy, vital woman, this sight frightened her - and me - and I'm sure she was thinking that her life as she had known it was over. I admitted to the staff at Bishop Davies my worry about leaving her in the facility, but was reassured that this was the right and best thing to do. I was also given a sermon about "the parent becoming the child," and since my mother and I were both taken by surprise and weren't really sure what to expect, I let myself be convinced by the staff that I was being too overprotective. I was told that I shouldn't visit too often, however when my mother began to decline just days after her admittance I let my own inner-guidance take over and began looking more carefully at the care she was receiving.

The first night, for example, they put her on a bedpan and forgot to remove it. Then they let her lay in cold wet sheets all night after she accidentally spilled water in her bed. She was routinely forgotten, and didn't receive a bath for 2 weeks. Her meds were given inconsistently, and only saw a doctor once during the 3 1/2 weeks she was there. When her diarrhea became so bad that my mother couldn't even eat, I called my friend who's been an rn for 20 years to come with me to check on my mother, and the first thing she said to me when she got me alone was "get her out of here!" My friend asked to see the rn on duty, but when we asked we were referred to an obviously-inexperienced lvn who actually argued with my nurse-friend about when her vitals had been taken and what her current status was. My friend's confirmation of what I'd been worried about triggered me to immediately order an ambulance and I got my mother to the hospital that afternoon.

The ambulance attendant told the doctors in the er that the reason for the call (according to the Bishop Davies personnel) was: "panic attack." At this point, she was experiencing uncontrollable diarrhea, and was so weak she couldn't sit up. The records sent to the er from BD also stated that she had acid reflux, high blood pressure, and osteoporosis...none of these had EVER been diagnosed and when checked at the hospital were not present. We found out then that she had been getting a stool softener all the time she was at BD, even after she started having uncontrolled diarrhea. When my friend the nurse heard my mom's symptoms, the first thing she suspected was C.diff...and that was confirmed once I got my mom to the hospital. She was at the hospital for only 2 days (because of insurance restrictions), however I was able to interview and inspect a couple of different nursing facilities while during that time and when she was released I had her transferred to Manor Care in Richland Hills, TX. The difference in care was like night-and-day!!

I truly feel that if I had left my mother at Bishop Davies just a few more days she would have died! Thankfully, my mother is now at home and getting back to her active, healthy self. She is going to physical therapy just twice a week now, and we are thankful to Manor Care for their wonderful staff and caring nurses...

We (the family of Alice Stanley) have considered suing Bishop Davies Nursing Center, and that is still on the table...however, the most important thing now that our crisis is over is to insure that the other people are aware of the sub-standard care we experienced at Bishop Davies. We truly feel sorry for the people left there in that hell-hole called Bishop Davies Nursing Center. It is only a place to warehouse dying people, although perhaps some of those people wouldn't actually die if they were in a more appropriate facility. In my opinion, it shouldn't even be offered as an option to people like my mother, who are otherwise healthy, active seniors suffering a temporary setback.