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If you have a loved one that is brought to Baptist Bethesda, appoint an advocate
"I can't breathe" were my moms last words I heard. After every short breath her lungs could no longer take in. I arrived at 8:30AM, she has been battling colon cancer related illnesses that lead to a hospital stay at Bethesda. When I arrived she was fighting for air. There was no nurse around. I called her nurse and told him that my mom was struggling breathing. He said he would be making his rounds in about 5 minutes, clueless of the fact that my mom was fighting for air. The night nurse turned off my moms vitals monitoring, oxygen saturation etc sometime before morning came. Once I finally got attention from the staff, one nurse called a code blue. Some phrases I heard from the response team were "why isn't she in ICU already?". And while they were frantically preparing her for ICU another medical staff made a comment "If she goes on intubation she will never come off" while my mom was still conscious and already suffering and fearing the inevitable. My mother passed away a few hours later. We knew that her terminal illness was imminent, however the care, empathy and attention that she received in her final days makes me question health care in general, especially Bethesda in Boynton Beach. If you have a loved one that is brought to Bethesda, be prepared to be an advocate or appoint an advocate 24 hours a day. Your loved one will not get the attention they deserve otherwise.
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