After calling the reception of the Kaunas clinics, the relatives received an unpleasant surprise: the grandmother disappeared

He was admitted to the hospital for lack of air

“My grandmother, who was in a nursing home in Panemunė, was taken to the Kaunas clinics on Thursday 2 September morning due to lack of air. In the Kaunas clinics, the mother’s sister, who has the right to care for a person in great need, was not admitted. She ordered to call and contact the doctors every 2 hours. An investigation was underway at the time. We called 10 times, it was difficult to contact, the specific condition of the patient was not discussed, until the resident nurse who attended at 4:30 pm reported that she had a heart attack, the condition was bad, she told me to call again 2 hours, ”Nerija said.

During all this time, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., according to the interlocutor, in the Kaunas clinics, the grandmother was not given food or water, and the diagnosis, according to Nerija, changed with each call.

“At approximately 7 pm, a family member disappeared on a call to inquire about the condition. Not knowing how the man could have disappeared an hour after the heart attack, we asked him where he was. He said only up to a point that he was taken to the hospital for residency. The doctor communicated very rudely. After all, a close person wants to know what the patient’s condition is and where that patient is in general. They did not admit us or tell us, “said the girl.

The patient was found in the Kaunas Clinical Hospital.

Following this call, the relatives began calling all the hospitals in Kaunas and looking for where the patient had disappeared.

“We call all the hospitals and look for them. We talked to the administrators of the Kaunas Clinical Hospital a little more and the administrator said at the time: I see a new patient has just been added to the lists. It was already night, we didn’t talk about it anymore. The next day she was examined and died that night. Not a day went by that she was in that hospital. Water accumulated in the lungs and suffocated on resuscitation. I did not receive food or water all day, ”recalls the granddaughter.

According to Nerija, when asked about the diagnosis of this patient established in the Kaunas clinics, the answer was received that no heart attack had occurred.

The relatives of the deceased patient did not hide their resentment due, according to them, to the scant attention of the doctors, and above all because of the fact that the transfer of the grandmother was not reported.

The Delfi editorial office contacted the two Kaunas hospitals. Here is the response from the Kaunas clinics.

A 77-year-old woman was transferred to the Kaunas Clinics Emergency Department due to respiratory failure. This condition can be due to acute myocardial infarction, pulmonary embolism, exacerbation of chronic heart failure as a result of comorbidities and age-related changes, as well as other lung diseases.

The patient was consulted in the ward by a cardiologist, who underwent the necessary blood tests, ultrasound of the heart and computed tomography of the chest. After these studies, the diagnoses of acute myocardial infarction and pulmonary embolism were ruled out and were aggravated by comorbidities and exacerbations of chronic heart failure aggravated by the age of the patient, who could be treated at the Level II health center to which he was transferred.

Patients who are unaware of what medical interventions may be necessary during treatment should not eat or drink, as the accumulation of food and gas that occurs in the intestine during digestion can complicate the course of the study and the quality of the images.

In this case, maximum attention was paid to the patient and a very detailed examination was performed to determine the cause of the exacerbation. We regret that due to the high occupancy of the unit and the changed working conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic, staff were able to pay less attention to the patient’s family members.

Emergency department staff receive a large number of calls from loved ones of patients, and a particularly high number of them during a COVID-19 pandemic, when visits from loved ones and visitor access to the hospital are restricted. We understand that this is a concern for loved ones, so hospital staff are constantly striving to provide family members with the necessary information about the patient’s condition and reassure them, but due to intensive work, they are not always able to answer calls and respond. Any worry.

Approximately 200 people apply to the Kaunas Clinics Emergency Department every day for a variety of reasons, some of which need help immediately, and as flu season approaches, the flow of patients will increase even more, for which we want to apologize in advance if we cannot always show as much attention as we would like.

The response from the former Kaunas Clinical Hospital, now LSMU Kaunas Hospital: “We cannot release medical history and other information about our patients. Also when they die. We just want to emphasize that we always provide all possible medical care and services. “