Hendersonville Health and Rehabilitation, Flat Rock NC. SanStone Health and Rehabilitation, Dr. Larry Joe Russell, Dr. Harold Picus, Susan Habel RN., Lara Mooney LPN, Maud " Cookie" Romeo, Christopher Sprenger, Mike Deloach, Paul Shogren.
Mom was gone , my heart was hurting for myself and my family. My soul was rejoicing that Mom had moved on from the struggles of this world. As a Christian, I knew that Mom was somewhere better. That thought was the only comfort that I could find.
In the following days, my sister and her family arrived from Atlanta, and all the brothers and sisters were here. My house was the central gathering place where we would eat, and begin to plan the funeral service. My sister and I had to go to the mortuary and make the arrangements to have Mom cremated, signing that paper was quite difficult for both of us. As we were planning the funeral, we would sit around and talk about what happened. Several things did not make any sense, and the story from Hendersonville Health and Rehabilitation was inconsistent.
Mom passed on a Thursday, and the following Monday when I returned to work, I visited Hendersonville Health and Rehabilitation, to get the whole story. I met with Susan Habel RN, the director of nursing, and Tammy Mace RN, the nurse that found Mom that morning. The story was a little bit different than the original one, and the timeframe didn't add up. I went home, and as I told the rest of the family what I had been told, it only added to the list of questions.
After the funeral, I was unable to make any sense out of what I had been told about Moms passing, that's when it all began.
The first place I went was the EMS office, where they provided me with the call sheet, and all the information they had. Again, the times were inconsistent with what I had been told by the staff at Hendersonville Health and Rehabilitation. The next stop was the emergency room at Pardee Hospital, where I waited patiently for a long time. Finally I approached the desk, and began asking questions of the attendant in my not so quiet voice. I was immediately taken back to the same "family" room I had been in just days before. I was met by the emergency room charge nurse on duty that shift. She was comforting, and listened to my questions.
I had Mom's death certificate and it was signed by Dr. Larry Joe Russell. I was confused why the Er. physician Dr. Boleman didn't sign it. This was the first time I had ever heard of Dr. Russell. According to the nurse, he was Moms doctor at Hendersonville Health and Rehabilitation. Not one family member had ever heard of or met Dr.Russell.
The cause of death was listed as " acute coronary arrhythmia " . There were no contributing factors. The nurse did her best to explain how things worked, and who does what. She was gong to check Mom's records for more information. She left the room to get the records from the ER visit. When she returned, she told me the records had been sent to the records room. The next day I went to the records room, and was told that I had to have legal authority to obtain the records. I also called the medical examiner that was on duty November 3, 2011, Dr. Loken. I asked him what tests were done to determine the cause of death. He told me he did not see Mom, but felt he should have. He was on call and never received a call.
The next step was getting my brother and three sisters to sign a court document to give me the authority . Finally, on December 14,2011, I became the administrator of Mom's estate. This gave me authority to request Moms records from Hendersonville Health and Rehabilitation, and Pardee hospital.
When I requested the records from Hendersonville Health and Rehabilitation, the records clerk, Jennifer Thomas told me she would copy them, and call me when I could pick them up. She called about an hour later and said she had them copied, and I could come get them. When I arrived at Hendersonville Health and Rehabilitation, I was greeted by Maude " Cookie " Romeo, the administrator. She told me that the records were being sent from the corporate office in Biltmore Park, and I would have to come back.
Later that afternoon I received a call that I could come get the records. When I got there, I met Jennifer Thomas and she gave me the "sanitized" records from the corporate office. I asked her why she didn't just give me the copies that she had made earlier. Ms. Thomas informed me that she was told not to give me the records she had copied because that would be a waste of paper. This made no sense at all, she had already made the copies. What was the difference in the two sets of records ? The next time I called the records room, Jennifer Thomas was no longer working there.
All of this was making me wonder what they didn't want me to see. If you don't have anything to hide, why try so hard to hide something?
More to come tomorrow. Yes it gets worse.
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