Sometimes Hospitals Should Be Avoided

Submitted by Richard Hetzler

There comes a time, if people live long enough, that hospital admission should be avoided. My mother struggled to maintain her independence into her 90s, tolerating walkers and assisted living only when necessary. Once her life was reduced to a wheelchair and skilled nursing care, she did not consider her life worth living.

While my mother was in assisted living, she appeared happy and mentally alert. After a family reunion for Thanksgiving, she developed a urinary tract infection that sent her to the hospital. She was there for two weeks, then released to a skilled nursing facility, with the goal of returning to her assisted living apartment.

The two-week stay in the hospital took more out of my mother than she could recover from. The time with no mobility exaggerated her arthritic condition to the point where walking again was impossible, even with assistance from a physical therapist. She returned to the hospital twice more with urinary tract infections, but never recovered the strength that she had prior to those admissions either. I now believe that the repeated hospital stays caused her to lose her ability to walk, and eventually the desire to live.

It was only through hospice care that we were able to stop the hospital admissions, which were counterproductive in her case. I would strongly recommend that anyone in a similar situation utilize hospice care to avoid hospital admissions for elderly relatives.