This time five years ago, I was excited that Mom was going to be discharged from Hendersonville Health and Rehabilitation. She had been getting stronger and it finally seemed things were getting better. My wife and son had taken Mom out to get herself ready to go home. She went to the bank, and to Walmart for a new outfit to wear home. She was in good spirits and looking forward to leaving "that place". She was scheduled for discharge on November 3, 2011.
On the morning of November 3,2011, I received a phone call at 5:07 am. I was already awake and getting ready for work. The voice on the other end of the phone told me that there was a problem and that Mom was not breathing. She said they were working on her and that I should get there as soon as possible. I finished getting dressed and drove there as fast as I could. I had no idea things would turn out the way they did. When I arrived there was a Blue Ridge Fire and Rescue truck out front.
I had to ring the bell and a younger woman let me in and directed me to the desk that was right across from Mom's room. It was eerily quiet and there was one nurse behind the desk, and no one else in sight. The nurse told me that they had taken Mom to Pardee Hospital and that she wasn't responding. Her name was Tammy Mace and it turns out that she was the one who found Mom unresponsive in her bed.
I drove to Pardee Hospital as fast as I could, not knowing what to expect. When I got there,an ambulance was taking someone into the ER. I went to the desk and was told they had just brought her in. I was directed to sit in the waiting room. I called my wife and she and my son headed that way. A nurse came and took me back into a room with a couch and chairs. I was told that Mom had not made it. My wife and son showed up and I had been calling my brother and sisters to let them know what happened. Soon the whole family was there.
The story was that the nurse at Hendersonville Health and Rehabilitation had walked by the room and saw Mom slumped over in her bed, she called out to her and when she didn't answer went in. According to the records she called for help and got Mom ready and started C. P. R. There was no defibrillator on site. The paramedics showed up and continued C.P.R, along with other medication.
That is how this all got started, I had no idea what I was getting into. I began at the hospital, where they had no records at all. The records were all at Hendersonville Health and Rehabilitation. Something just didn't seem right so I started looking at obituaries, and there seemed to be way too many from Hendersonville Health and Rehabilitation.
As time went on I learned that the ER doctor did not sign the death certificate. That seemed strange as he was the one who pronounced Mom dead. The doctor that signed her death certificate was Dr. Larry Joe Russell. No one in the family had ever seen or met Dr. Russell. According to the records he was Mom's Dr. on record at Hendersonville Health and rehabilitation.
Things just kept getting stranger and stories didn't seem to match. I had finally gotten the records from Hendersonville Health and Rehabilitation and they were full of mistakes. They actually had the wrong room number on the records. I'm not sure they knew what patient was in what room. My brother and I filed complaints with NCDHSR, and the fight began.
I had been doing research as to how they determined the cause of death. According to the NC State Medical Examiners office, if someone dies in a nursing home from something they are not being treated for, they are supposed to do an autopsy. There is a stipulation regarding the age of the patient, but there is no specific age. According to Dr. Russell, Moms poor health and age were explanation enough. Keep in mind they were discharging Mom due to her reaching her goals and improved health. I requested an autopsy from the local coroner and was denied. I then called Dr. Russell and he said he would see what he could do, I never heard back from him.
I called the NC State Medical Examiners office several times. One of the discussions I had with them I revealed that Mom had fallen a couple of days before. That was enough to get their interest up and they requested the record of the fall from Hendersonville Health and rehabilitation. That's where it gets really suspicious. The records stated that nurse Lara Mooney LPN had witnessed the fall. The strange thing is that the record of the fall was dated December 2011, a month after Mom's death. It was faxed somewhere the day it was created. I am assuming that is what was sent to the Medical Examiner.
The family had gotten close to Mom's roommate, and my sister called her to get her version of what happened that night Mom fell. According to her, she woke up to see mom lying in the floor. She then pushed the call button and waited for someone to help. Eventually she heard people talking in the hall and called out to them. The CNA's called the nurse on duty, Lara Mooney who came in and told them to check her blood pressure and get her back in bed. The roommate then swore to her statement and had it notarized.
Over time, I discovered that Dr. Larry Joe Russell was one of the owners of Hendersonville Health and Rehabilitation. He was instrumental in organizing a group of local doctors to buy it From Pardee Hospital. After looking further into it, there were a couple of doctors on the papers but there were also others. My brother and I started looking into the whole thing and kept seeing the name Christopher Sprenger on documents, he was the registered agent with the Secretary of State. Turns out that Christopher Sprengers family owns a chain of nursing homes in Ohio. Mr. Sprenger and his partner Michael Deloach have bought lots of nursing homes in North Carolina.
As the search continued, we found out that the owners of the pharmacy providing the meds for Hendersonville Health and Rehabilitation were also part owners. The group is making quite a living off of Medicare dollars. Dr. Russell is the number one Family Practice biller of Medicare in the State of North Carolina. Several of his FNP's and P.A's are in the top five billers as is Blue Ridge Pharmacy, the other owners. All of this doesn't seem to alarm the people that oversee nursing homes like the NCDHSR or Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services.
This is just a small portion of what I know today that I wish I didn't. I find it hard to write about this but people need to know what happens in nursing homes, especially Hendersonville Health and Rehabilitation. More to come.
