MY HUSBAND HAD DAYS LEFT TO LIVE: WIFE
Part two of special report into scandal at nursing home
A DISTRAUGHT wife has spoken out after her husband’s three-month stay at the Millmerran Centenary Retirement Village ended with doctors at Toowoomba Hospital saying he had “days to live”.
In a report by the Aged Care Complaints Commissioner that was finalised on July 25, the ACCC found the Millmerran Centenary Retirement Village, also known as Yallambee Aged Care “failed to adequately document” the man’s clinical notes “or escalate his condition to a doctor when he was unwell” over a three-day period prior to his hospitalisation in Toowoomba.
The ACCC said as a result of the complaint, the service had implemented “a range of quality improvements”, which included “a review of policies and procedures, provision of training to staff, and system enhancements”.
A DARLING Downs nursing home is at the centre of a scandal surrounding the care of at least four of its residents. A nine-month long investigation by The Chronicle can reveal multiple cases involving the Millmerran Centenary Retirement Village, also known as Yallambee Aged Care, have been probed by health authorities. This is part two of a four-part series. Names have been changed at the request of the family.
MENTALLY exhausted from fighting her own cancer battle and caring for her dementia sufferer husband Steve*, Susan* placed her high school sweetheart into the care of Yallambee Aged Care on October 13, 2017.
While he had dementia, diabetes, and epilepsy, Steve was, according to his family, a relatively healthy man for the age of 64.
After three months in Yallambee, his doctors told his family he had days to live.
At first, Susan said Steve complained about being hungry.
“He was very upset about being in there,” Susan said.
“Because he reckons he wasn’t getting enough food – and we used to find food in his pockets – jam, sugar, crackers, cheese. We’d say, what are you going to do with the jam? And he goes – I eat it. And I would say, why would you do that? And he’d say: I’m starving.”
As time went by, Susan noticed Steve’s weight was “falling off him”.
He entered Yallambee in October 2017 weighing 106kgs, and left in January this year weighing 90kg, Susan said.
DOWNPLAYED
When Susan asked staff how her husband’s health was, she said they downplayed the seriousness of the situation, suggesting the man was overstating the problem.
“I did get a phone call late one night to say he’s got a coat on and pretending he’s sick again. That same night he ended up in Millmerran Hospital,” she said.
From Christmas, Steve had recurrent admissions to the Millmerran Hospital. Susan said on January 10, an allied health care worker went and saw her husband.
The worker rang Susan, she said, telling her that she had asked for a blanket for Steve “because he was shivering”. The worker told Susan she was informed the facility “had no spare blankets”.
By the time the worker rang Susan to tell her how her husband was, he had been taken to Millmerran Hospital, she said.
“My daughter actually rang too and had a talk to them about (her dad) being so sick… and they reckoned his observations were fine, although he ended up in hospital the next day.”
IN HOSPITAL
Steve’s health became so poor, he was eventually transferred to Toowoomba Hospital on Thursday, January 11.
On the Friday, Susan was called into a meeting with two doctors and a nurse and told her husband had days to live.
“He went septic. His organs shut down and we were told he had days. That was Friday morning, and they asked me not to resuscitate him, because his organs were so badly damaged. They said he’d have no quality of life,” she said.
“So then Friday afternoon, all the family got called in, to tell them the same thing - that he had days to live and for me not to resuscitate him, to stick by me when I made the decision.
“It’s not nice when you get told that someone you’ve been with since you were 16, and I’m 59, that he had days to live. And your grandson is begging you to resuscitate Poppy, you know, bawling his eyes out, because he was outside the door, listening, and he comes running in and begging us not to let Poppy go.”
A REPRIEVE
But that was not the end of Susan and Steve’s story.
On the Friday night, a surgeon at the hospital made the decision to treat Steve with a broad spectrum antibiotic. After a few days, Steve slowly began to recover.
According to Steve’s medical records, he was admitted to Toowoomba Hospital suffering Klebsiella sepsis, right low- er lobe pneumonia, cholecystitis, acute renal impairment and constipation.
The records also show he had suffered a prolonged seizure, and had aspirated. But Susan only found out when she got a copy of his hospital file.
The illness irreparably damaged his gall bladder, and five months into his recovery, he still can’t walk properly, Susan said.
He was released from Toowoomba Hospital on January 18 and spent a month recuperating in Millmerran Hospital before moving to another nursing home.
To this day, Steve remains a very ill man.
To top it all off, Susan said Yallambee had never been able to explain how he became so sick.
“They never once rang when they found out that he was septic, and not once have they rung to give me an explanation why he went septic, why he had a bacteria in his blood and why he ended up with pneumonia.
“And they won’t. They’ve got no explanation for why he was so sick.
“He was very healthy when
‘‘ HE WENT SEPTIC. HIS ORGANS SHUT DOWN AND WE WERE TOLD HE HAD DAYS.
‘‘ ... WHEN I WALKED IN THERE I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW WHO HE WAS, HE WAS THAT SKINNY AND YELLOW AND HIS EYES, THE WHITES OF HIS EYES WERE GREY.
he went in there except for his dementia and his diabetes, which he’s had for years. “To what he was when he came out of that nursing home into the hospital - when I walked in there I didn’t even know who he was, he was that skinny and yellow and his eyes, the whites of his eyes were grey.
“And you know what, I apologised to my husband for putting
him in such a place. And everyone said it’s not your fault, you didn’t know. You put him in there to be cared for.
“I just wanted them to answer how he got so ill, and I haven’t got that answer.”
RESIDENT WELLBEING ‘A PRIORITY’
The Chronicle contacted the board of the Millmerran Centenary Retirement Village with details of the families’ stories, and concerns.
The board issued a statement saying they took “all matters
that relate to the quality of care we provide extremely seriously”.
“Millmerran Centenary Retirement Village is a community owned not-for-profit aged care facility which places the wellbeing and safety of our residents as our highest priority,” the statement said.
“The board which oversees the administration of the Millmerran Centenary Retirement Village comprises local community members who volunteer their time for no payment.
“Our mission is to promote and maintain a community where older people and people suffering from dementia can live with confidence of their self-worth.”
The board said it would not comment on specific matters relating to residents or former residents due to “privacy requirements”, unless The Chronicle was able to provide written authorisation from the residents, or their legal representatives.
Susan authorised the facility to respond to The Chronicle’s questions about the care Steve received while at Yallambee.
In a statement through their lawyer, Yallambee disputed the accuracy of Susan’s account.
“Our client has provided a substantial body of contemporaneous medical material to the ACCC addressing, and refuting, Susan’s complaints,” the statement said.
Yallambee also disputed whether Susan had authority to allow a public discussion of Steve’s affairs – arguing that “despite his various ailments” the dementia-sufferer had the capacity to make his own decisions. Speaking generally about the aged care industry, Yallambee said that “it is important to understand residents are typically entering aged care at a later stage in life than has previously been the case, which means they have more complex care needs”.
“According to the Federal Government’s aged care data, 92 per cent of residents now have high care needs (in at least one care area).
“Unfortunately, elderly residents now have more chronic conditions and age-related diseases that also make them more vulnerable to other illnesses (e.g. UTIs).
“The resident’s emotional state when entering aged care can also have a direct effect on their physical health.”
‘‘ I JUST WANTED THEM TO ANSWER HOW HE GOT SO ILL, AND I HAVEN’T GOT THAT ANSWER.