My Husband died from an Infection he contracted at a Nashua Hospital

My husband died of an infection, contracted at a Nashua Hospital. He also had a Heart attack.  My family and I were never told. They kept telling us he was dying of Cancer.

My husband walked into the Hospital on March 16th,2017. The first week, he walked around with a walker, he ate, he drank, he talked and joked around, he took his pills.The second week he was put on 220 mgs. of Morphine by a Pallative Doctor. And NO, we did NOT opt for Hospice care or Pallative care. In fact, we refused.  He stopped walking, eating,talking, everything. All he did now was sleep.

 The Hospitalist came in to see him while the Pallative Dr. was in the room. The Hospitalist tried to wake my husband and asked him if he was in pain. My husband answered, "I don't know." The Hospital got angry.  He said, "If he doesn't know if he's in pain, he isn't. He's being overmedicated. I'm taking over his medication right now."

My husband went home that day on a stretcher,by ambulance in worse condition than when he was admitted.The Oncologist told my husband they weren't sure if he had kidney cancer and they wouldn't know unless they took out his kidney. My husband refused, saying what if there was nothing wrong with it and they took it out for nothing.

His second day home he started eating again. He was doing good.The only thing he couldn't do was walk, still to weak from all the Morphine.

We opted for home care from AIM, which is part of Home Health and Hospice.   His Nurse was supposed to be the only Nurse he would see, but for some reason they sent a Hospice Pallative Nurse Practitioner after we already told them we didn't want Hospice Nurses because all they talk about his death. My husband didn't want to die and hearing her death rant for three days straight put him over the edge. I thought he had a stroke on April 18th but it was a heart attack when the NP agitated him so badly. She mentioned the Pallative Dr.s  name  and he threw up his arms and tried to yell. She witnessed the Heart attack and did nothing. When she left, he just lay there with his mouth wide open and his eyes half shut. I called his Primary Care Doctor and told her what happened.

My husbands Nurse called that night and said the NP was no longer allowed at my house and that she would be there the next day. She said he was dehydrated and called 911. An ambulance came and took him back to the Hospital on April 19th.

In the emergency room we were told he only a couple hours to live. Still no-one ever mentioned Stroke or Heart attack. They just kept saying he was dying of Cancer. They didn't want to put him on an IV, but I insisted. After doing blood work, they said he had an infection, but said they didn't know what it was or where it was, so they put him on a little IV bag of antibiotics. (In the Medical records it shows he had an infection the first time he was in the Hospital, which he got while he was there.)They were stopped that evening. His hemoglobin was 7.5 and we were told if it went down to 7 he could get a blood transfusion. His white blood cells were extremely high also,24,000, so they took him off the Saline and gave him Dextrose. Once they did he became responsive.

He started doing better and was moved from ICU to a room back on the fifth floor. He still wasn't drinking or talking. He just lay there with his mouth wide open and his eyes half shut. Still Stroke was never mentioned.

That day I requested a cat scan to see if he had a stroke. I also requested more blood tests because he hadn't had any since April 20th. I figured if his hemaglobin went down to a 7 he could have a transfusion. I was denied by the Hospitalist. He stated, "Why waste the blood on him when someone bleeding to death could use it more." I tried transferring him to another Hospital. The Hospitalist refused to give him a referral. I told him he would be better off in a Cancer facility. It didn't happen. They wanted put him on a morphine drip. I refused. My husband was responsive enough to shake his head no.He was afraid they were going to kill him. And they did.

I staid at the Hospital with him 24/7 holding his hand, as I knew he feared for his life. I watched the monitors as his heart rate was usually 90 or more and his breathing rate was always past 20 and his blood pressure always low, along with the white blood cells being extremely high,24,000, ALL signs of Sepsis, but we were never told.

On Wednesday, April 26th, my husband finally gave up and died, with his family present and me still holding his hand.

We still don't know what the infection was, or if he had kidney cancer.  I am fighting for an autopsy because there are too many unanswered questions. 

Yesterday I got his Medical records from the Hospital. They state "Possible" Sepsis. I also found paperwork which shows he had a heart attack. Again, we were never told. 

Hospitals need to be held accountable. Just because a person has Cancer doesn't mean they shouldn't be treated for other medical problems. But he Did NOT have Cancer!