Hendersonville Health and Rehabilitation, SanStone Health and Rehabilitation, Dr. Larry Joe Russell, Susan Habel RN, Tammy Mace RN, Lara Mooney LPN, "Cookie" Maude Romeo, Mike Deloach, Christopher Sprenger, NC Board of Nursing, NC Medical Board and NCDHHS.
Yesterday,I mentioned Dr. Larry Joe Russell, had signed the Mom's death certificate. This was the first time I had heard his name. I wanted to know why the death certificate was not signed by Dr Boleman, the ER doctor who had pronounced Mom dead. I called Pardee hospital, and asked them why Dr. Boleman had not signed the certificate. I was told that Dr. Larry Joe Russell, was Mom's doctor. Thats why he signed it. Dr. Russell had never even seen my Mom, how did he come up with a diagnosis.
I called Dr. Russell, and he said, the diagnosis was based on her age and her declining health. Then he backed up and said, oh wait, your Mom was getting better. So basically his diagnosis was based on her age alone. Mom was seventy six when she died, and before her surgery, was able to take care of herself just fine. Thats when I started hearing how people die when they get older. Really!!! A person who was basically healthy , could have surgery, and then just die because of their age. I wonder if they told her that before her surgery. We can do the surgery, but because of your age you could die!
I wondered if Dr. Russell didn't sign all of his death certificates the same. Well an afternoon trip to the Henderson County courthouse would answer that question. First thing is Dr. Larry Joe Russell signs a lot of death certificates. I couldn't go three pages without finding another one he signed. I thought acute coronary arrhythmia would be the normal cause, I was wrong. The cause of death on more than half of the ones I looked at was " failure to thrive ". I had never heard of that before, I looked it up, and it is mostly used in infants.
If you are in a nursing home, they are supposed to feed you, assist you with hygiene, make sure you are hydrated, and administer your medication. How could so many people fail to thrive under those conditions. The funny thing is " failure to thrive " is not used as a cause of death by most of the other doctors. It is used by some, but it is rare. It alarmed me how many of Dr. Russell's patients failed to thrive.
Then I started looking into this Dr. Larry Joe Russell, and found out he was one of the owners of Hendersonville Health and Rehabilitation. He was also the owner or registered agent for several other businesses in Hendersonville. His name is on documents from several doctors practices, TST Medical, Family Medical Center, and others. He is the medical Director at the Laurels of Hendersonville, and sees patients at all the nursing homes in Henderson County. At least all of them that accept Medicare and Medicaid.
He also supervises at least eight nurse practitioners, and several PA's. I found where another PA, Todd Stone, had been in trouble with the Medical Board, Dr. Russell was now supervising his office. And another physician who was supposed to be mentored, as a provisional licensee, was also being monitored by Dr. Russell. The second doctor mentioned was arrested by the Asheville Police Department for writing bogus prescriptions. I began to seriously question Dr. Larry Joe Russell's credentials. This was the way all of this got started. Two years of research and countless hours of reading medical terms. I know things some medical professionals don't even know. Mostly I know that the NCDHHS does not do their job in monitoring these facilities. They ignore obvious violations of their regulations, and allow these places to operate without fear of any action.
I think the thing that bothers me most, is the lack of concern by law enforcement and public officials. I cant even list all the people who I have tried to get to help. Congressmen, Senators, NCDHHS, law enforcement, both State and Federal. None of them can seem to find anything wrong. If you were to take the regulations and walk into any nursing home in any State, you would find violations. How come the ones that do the inspections cant. I'm guessing that money and political corruption is the only reason.
I will continue to write until I get someone's attention. If I have brought up something you are aware of, share your comments on this blog. It takes more than one elderly patient dying needlessly to make a difference. I wonder how many have to die before we say that's enough!
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