Hendersonville Health and Rehab, Pardee Hospital, Mountain Home Health and Rehab, Life Care Center of Hendersonville, Park Ridge Health, Brian Center of Hendersonville, Universal Health Care of Fletcher, The Laurels of Hendersonville, Sunnybrook Assisted Living, Carolina Village Medical Center, Carolina Village Care Center, and Elizabeth House of Hendersonville.
Dr. Larry Joe Russell of Hendersonville North Carolina signed death certificates of residents at all of these facilities this year. The majority of them show the cause of death as, "Failure to Thrive".
Hendersonville Health and Rehab and Mountain Home Health and Rehab, are close in number for the top of the list.
I found one death certificate for a "patient" of  Dr. Russell's, that listed the cause of death as "Failure to thrive". However for some reason, Dr. Harold Poston (one of the medical examiners at Pardee Hospital) amended the cause of death. According to Dr. Poston the "patient", died from a cerebral hemorrhage, as the result of a fall. I wonder how Larry Joe missed that one?? I spoke to Dr. Poston when Mom died, his reply to me was, " I'm not going to get involved in this".Wait a minute Dr. Poston, isn't that your job?? If someone suspects that the cause of death is not as stated, shouldn't you "get involved" ? If so, there wouldn't be so many of Dr. Russell's patients," failing to thrive".
But wait Dr. Poston, if you actually did your job, Larry Joe and his buddies may not contribute to Pardee Hospital's yearly golf tournament!
Maybe if he actually saw the bodies of his "patients" that die, he may actually know what killed them! I guess if they get dropped or fall at Hendersonville Health and Rehab, that would directly affect his income. Larry Joe is listed on the Securities and Exchange Commission as one of the shareholders of Hendersonville Health and Rehab. That may have something to do with the long list of people who fail to thrive there. If they were being dropped by the nursing staff, or they are falling due to the fact that no one is helping them to the bathroom, that would be bad for business.
I strongly suggest that if Dr. Russell signed the death certificate of one of your relatives, ask questions. Ask if a nurse dropped them, or ask if they might have taken a little fall, that didn't bear mentioning by the nurse on duty! This kind of thing happens, a lot more than you could imagine.
I have copies of thirty four death certificates signed by Dr. Russell, twenty of those have " failure to thrive" listed as cause of death. Five at Hendersonville Health and Rehab, four at Mountain Home health and Rehab, two at Lifecare Center of Hendersonville, one at The Laurels of Hendersonville, one at Park Ridge Health, two at Sunnybrook Assisted living, one at Carolina Village, one at Universal Health Care in Fletcher, and one at The Brian Center of Hendersonville.
Really!!!
       Dr. Poston and the rest of the medical examiners at Pardee Hospital. Do you see a pattern here??

This article exemplifies the AAFP 2004 Annual Clinical Focus on caring for America’s aging population.

 In elderly patients, failure to thrive describes a state of decline that is multifactorial and may be caused by chronic concurrent diseases and functional impairments. Manifestations of this condition include weight loss, decreased appetite, poor nutrition, and inactivity. Four syndromes are prevalent and predictive of adverse outcomes in patients with failure to thrive: impaired physical function, malnutrition, depression, and cognitive impairment. Initial assessments should include information on physical and psychologic health, functional ability, socioenvironmental factors, and nutrition. Laboratory and radiologic evaluations initially are limited to a complete blood count, chemistry panel, thyroid-stimulating hormone level, urinalysis, and other studies that are appropriate for an individual patient. A medication review should ensure that side effects or drug interactions are not a contributing factor to failure to thrive. The impact of existing chronic diseases should be assessed. Interventions should be directed toward easily treatable causes of failure to thrive, with the goal of maintaining or improving overall functional status. Physicians should recognize the diagnosis of failure to thrive as a key decision point in the care of an elderly person. The diagnosis should prompt discussion of end-of-life care options to prevent needless interventions that may prolong suffering.