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JH... Your eloquent commentary sure struck at the core of a major problem within the American medical community! It's also a major fear of most mature adults who face seeing a beloved parent, partner, or even themselves hospitalized. Maybe there's something to be said for those "unsophistocated" third world countries where it's normal for family members to remain "camped out" by the bedside of a hospitalized loved one, performing not only as kind of "relief nursing staff," but also preparing meals, feeding, and bathing, etc. the hospitalized family member. I wonder how many of us have the time and the means to remain at the bedside of a hospitalized family member during a prolonged hospitalization, and would the hospital let us stay if we wanted to do so? And I can just imagine the reaction of the nursing staff if assorted family members were always "on duty" by the bedside of a loved one, watching, and judging the them and the medical staff. Barb Mallut [log in to unmask] ---------- From: Parkinson's Information Exchange on behalf of BMIS08 Sent: Monday, August 11, 1997 9:30 PM To: Multiple recipients of list PARKINSN Subject: drug problems Lucy and anyone having or watching this hallucination problem: I can only relate my uncle's problems. He had only an internist and the drugs often got to him; the balance with eating and sleeping and drugs is SO tricky. My uncle would get hallucinatory and see monsters and people. The only thing we could do was give him a total pill holiday until his system was clear. It seems to me that drinking water (and most other liquids) is a problem for pwp. Since water is necessary for flushing medical waste the problem gets serious at times of crisis. He would clear up and be his normal self, then we would start again. We also began to recognize signs of other medical problems as the irritants - he had prostate problems and got infec- tions easily. Once we began to pay attention, we also noticed that change in schedule caused problems. He would go into the hospital fine and after a week become a maniac. At 81, in what most of us would see as frail condition in the hospital, he punched a male nurse in the face. It took 4 of the staff to hold him. We learned to get him OUT of the hospital inside a week when- ever humanly possible. Hospitals and doctors are one of the big problems in medicine today. We had to fire more than one doctor and verbally thrash more than one hospital employee, including the administrator, to stop them from driving my uncle crazy. They insisted on calling him the wrong name, yelling as if he were deaf, ignoring him because he was old, and oon and on. It is a disgrace to this country that older people are treated as if they are in the way, as if their lives are not meaningful anymore, as if they should ALL be in nursing homes waiting to die, and on and on. Our family motto now is not to ever have anyone in a hospital who is not monitored by family on a random schedule. Sad to say, hospital personnel watch very carefully to see when visitors come. Of course, this is not ALL hospitals. It is, however, more the norm than not. Doctors are the same - overbooked and too busy to care. They book patients every 10 or 15 minutes here. Who can even get a story from the aver- age 80-year old in 10 minutes. The theory seems to be that your time is not worth anything - but the doctors' and medical staffs' is priceless. If the doctors refuse to talk, fire them both. Threaten the hospital - use whatever is available - local tv if necessary. Fight for your parents. Make your moves count. Find doctors who care and will fight with you - they CAN keep people in hospitals when they want to, despite drg's. My thoughts and prayers are with you and all in your plight where I shall soon be with my own parents. It is heart-rending enough to see parents in such difficult circumstances. Not to be able to help is unbearable. JH