My 81 yr. old mom has been in a short-term rehab unit since 10/20. Supposedly, I was lead to believe that by convincing mom to go here they would give her PT and get her strong enough to either go back to her home, or at the very least, into assisted living at the NH.

Well...shortly after mom arrived, she became angry, nasty, refused to take her meds, etc. So...they put her on this "wonderful" drug Risperdal. Now she's back to my sweet mom, however PT isn't working. As one nurse said, we'll take pleasantly confused over mean and hateful any day. They don't want to adjust her meds (she's on .25 of Risperdal, which is a low dosage) or give her an alternative med.

So...we meet with the care management team yesterday who informed me they will not recert her because she's not making any progress with her PT, her 20 days are up, and she needs to go to full time care in the nursing home.

Uh...ok. She's not progressing because they've got her so doped up that she can't understand such basic commands as "bend your knee", yet they won't adjust her meds. They prefer to keep her doped up and happy so their life is easier.

So, if a loved one simply must go to "short-term rehab" for any reason, keep on top of them. Heck, refuse to let them use such heavy duty meds that keep them like a zombie. Guess I learned my lesson the hard way as I was told this would alter her mood enough so that she would take her meds and continue PT. Had I known that it was going to be done so that they could simply get through the 20 days required of them before pushing her into full-time care in the nursing home, I'd have told them to shove it sideways!

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Originally posted by MSCherokee:

There is a nursing home much closer to where we live - we were given the choice between the one she's in and the one close to us when sending her to rehab. We're wondering if we can get her moved to the closer one and have her secondary insurance pick up the 80% for her remaining time alloted for rehab..

I'm almost positive you can MSC. I transferred my mother out of one facility and into another last January (or should I say, from the frying pan into the fire). They were both awful. The second one was highly recommended, everyone I spoke to said it was great.....until my mother got there. The place looked like a 5 star hotel but they're all the same crapola. It was selfishly good for me though because I didn't feel like I wanted to run away once I got there. It felt like I was in a hotel! But getting back to the transferring, I'm pretty sure your mother is entitled unless you take her home. Once you discharge her and don't immediately transfer her, it may disqualify her. And if you arrange for her to be transferred through a transport service, you will be billed for that service.

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Originally posted by MSCherokee:I cannot believe how our society treats the elderly. It just makes me absolutely sick.

I know. I can't either. It sickens me...it makes my blood curdle.

Mom has Medicare primary and a secondary insurance. I was told that the secondary insurance would pick up 80% starting with day 20, up to day 100. So I can't for the life of me figure out why they are hellbent on kicking her out. I figured greed alone would make them want to keep her the full 100 days.

Sad thing is, this nursing home has come highly recommended and everyone I talk to has heard nothing but good things about it...until my story.

There is a nursing home much closer to where we live - we were given the choice between the one she's in and the one close to us when sending her to rehab. We're wondering if we can get her moved to the closer one and have her secondary insurance pick up the 80% for her remaining time alloted for rehab. We're going to schedule a tour of this other nursing home next week.

I also brought up in the care conference that she was never diagnosed with dementia, that I even had her GP run tests to rule out dementia. The nursing director said she was diagnosed with dementia. I told her that was news to me and asked who diagnosed her - the hospital. Well, what the hell, there were no tests run that would pinpoint dementia. I feel like once she got labeled - right or wrong - they weren't going to help her. Hmm, perhaps theres a certain age limit, say 80, where everyone just assumes it's dementia and you're given a diagnosis just because.

I cannot believe how our society treats the elderly. It just makes me absolutely sick.

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As one nurse said, we'll take pleasantly confused over mean and hateful any day. They don't want to adjust her meds

I think that's right where I would have stopped her and told them, "yeah, but I don't want my mother zombified, so take her off that stuff, adjust it or whatever it takes, but return her to where she can USE what little sense she's got left to be capable of participating in rehab or discharge her to somewhere else that WILL. NOW." I also would have REFUSED to allow them to recertify her based on a drugged-up mental condition! COMPLAIN!!! BITCH!!! Throw FITS!!! Tell them that they have only seen the old lady version of your family's "mean and hateful" side - that the issue is not THEIR convenience in caring for her, it's what's in the best interest of the PATIENT'S NEEDS.

Don't lay down for this 'cause once they get that paperwork in order, you're right: it's a one-way trip. You do NOT have to accept this situation lying down!! Give 'em hell!!

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Originally posted by MSCherokee:
So...we meet with the care management team yesterday who informed me they will not recert her because she's not making any progress with her PT, her 20 days are up, and she needs to go to full time care in the nursing home.!

MsCherokee: I take it that your mother is on straight Medicare with no other primary or supplemental coverage, correct?

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Originally posted by MSCherokee:Uh...ok. She's not progressing because they've got her so doped up that she can't understand such basic commands as "bend your knee", yet they won't adjust her meds. They prefer to keep her doped up and happy so their life is easier..!

I don't know of a nursing home that has the patients interest truly at heart. That does not exist. My father was once again placed in a snf last night and I'm beside myself. He cannot be rehabilitated, this wasn't even a discussion because of his condition, this was acknowledged by the hospital but they recommended snf anyway. Why? They need to make room for others and typically after the trama that causes hospitalization, the next step is snf/rehabilitation. When I checked the facility out that was on the list from the hospital social service rep., the snf told me that "of course he'll get rehabilitation. He would not be eligible for admission if he could not have pt." I told her to call the social service dept. at the hospital and when she did and in my presence, something was said on the other end, some sort of understanding between the 2 was reached (that I'm now suspicious of) because when she got off the phone, she told me I misunderstood what the hospital told me, that "of course he'll receive pt." I didn't misunderstand a thing. This was a deal made. My father is too weak and sick for pt but yet, they'll keep him too because they've got the extra bed and so long as they receive payment from Medicare for the allowed time, keep him drugged and ignored and then tell us that he needs long term care because rehabilitation is not foreseeable. Well blow me over.....

We are stuck in a system that is so defective and will never change because they consider elderly, tremendous financial burdens and liabilities that are better off dead, bottom line. To change anything, you first have to change the way you think but everything they think is about money, not quality of care in these hell holes.