Grief after losing mother to C.Diff Complications.

[chrismc]

I am writing from ENGLAND and just want to vent some of my frustration at the way I lost my mother to C.Diff complications.
My mother aged 83 was admitted to a local hospital, with a broken arm after a fall at home. My mother was recovering well from an operation to repair the break and was transferred to a rehabilitation ward which is where the first symptoms started and I was told she had C.Diff.
She was put in an isolation ward after 2 days in this room, my mother fell whils,t a member of staff was putting her on the commode, which I obviosly complained about this fall resulted in a broken hip which required surgery for a half hip replacement.
After the hip operation my mother sufferd dreadfully, needing to empty her bowels constantly,with her not being mobile this was very degrading and she was very depressed. My mother deteriated as the days went by, but the bowel problems seemed to be O.K. I kept telling the staff that my mother was very ill and even began to think she would die. The staff did not inform me why she was deteriating so badly and more or less said it was depression. On Friday 3 Nov, I was told the doctor wanted to see me to ask if my mother's condition deteriated would I want to resussitate ,he advised me that it would just prolong the pain and suffering, I knew myself that my mother had had enough and had said, her time was up and she wanted to die. I decided to let my mother go peacefully and she passed away in the early hours of Saturday morning on Nov 4. The death was referred to the coroner and the post mortem result showed the cause of death as, heart failure due to sepsis caused by C.Diff. There is now to be an inquest. I am now in the process of obtaining my mothers medical records as I do need some answers. I am greiving deeply at the moment as I loved my mother dearly and feel so frustrated at the staff at the hospital whom I feel have shown neglect and lack of care.
Thank you for listening
Christine X

[Nancy1]

chrismc,
I am so very sorry to hear about your mother's death from cdiff complications. That is terrible, and it appears to be so unnecessary. I agree with you about the hospital. And it seems to me that you were misled at best about your mother's condition. It is good that there is going to be an inquest. I hope you get some answers. And I hope that you eventually find some peace. With warm wishes to you on your grief journey, Nancy

[cindym]

Sorry for your loss. May God be with you and help you through this trying time.

[chrismc]

I am so humbled by your caring replies I have just looked at some of your posts and wish everyone who is suffering from this terrible infection,
the strength, courage and hope, to beat it, my hope for you all is medical science will find a way to WIPE IT OUT. I will be praying for you all.
GOD BLESS
Christine

[Bobbie]

chrismc,
I am so sorry about the loss of your mother. I was in the UK recently and met the founder of an active C. diff. chapter there founded by a woman and her brother who lost their grandmother from C. diff.

There are so many deaths from C. diff. in the UK. The founder (Graziella) might be on a local TV show soon. To contact her, www.cdiff-support.co.uk.

Again, our condolences.

[chrismc]

An update,
I have regularly visited the U.K. Site www.cdiff-support.co.uk after being directed their by you.
I am just so grateful for your help.
If you would like to follow my progress on this site you are most welcome.
I have sent a PM to Bobbie to show my appreciation we are all fighting the same battle.
Take Care and God Bless to you ALL.
Christine X

[Bobbie]

Thx. for the thx., Chris. (I also PM'd you.)

Graziella & her brother have done a wonderful job on their site. Hopefully, some day we can all combine forces & help find a cure for this awful disease. So many have it, and so few know little about it.

[julieh]

Christine,

I am so sorry to hear of your loss. C-Diff is the most awful thing to have to endure for both the patient and their families.

My father contacted C-Diff in hospital in Dec 07, was very poorly for a number of weeks. He was moved to another hospital in Feb 08 and he contacted it again. Since contacting the C-Diff his health seriously deteriorated, pain, sickness, stomach cramps and 'the obvious' of course. He was terrified to eat anything worrying about what would happen shortly afterwards.

My Dad started to 'swell up' shortly after the second bout of c-diff, the swelling became worse, he developed purple pimples and was admitted once again to hospital in late March. He died 3 days later. Although C-Diff or its complications was not mentioned on the death certificate, following a request to the NHS trust for further informtion we have been informed that my Father was admitted to hospital with sepsis. We have only just found this out 5 weeks after his death.

Do you think the sepsis could be related to the c-diff?

Regards



Julie

[jenkelly15]

My grandmother just passed away too and she was suffering with c-diff. I'm so sorry for your loss and you have my sympathy. They are saying my grandmother died of a heart attack, but I am very frustrated with her care as well. I just talked to my aunt and as I already have told some of you she was puking for like 2 weeks straight and now I found out she hadn't eaten in those 2 weeks either. You think they would have put her on IV food since she was 81 years old. Of course, she is not going to make it with eating nothing and puking every day. Then, my aunt also told me they took her off the vanco and flagyl on Thursday night because they said she needed to eat, but I wonder if that had anything to do with her death. Also, they put her on cipra for a UTI, but wouldn't that just make the c-diff worse. It is just so frustrating the way the hosptial treats their patients. Anyway, I completely understand all your frustrations again I am so sorry for your loss!!!

[robindin]

My mother passed away one year ago and I'm still haunted by the events that led to it. I read your note and see many similarities. My mother also entered the hospital with fractures and contracted Cdiff while in Rehab. They decided that she had a UTI and treated it with antibiotics whcih, we later learned was the begining of the end. They did not make us aware of how dangerous c diff could be and we thought she just had a virus. She became dehydrated and delirious and the Nurses informed me that she had dementia and that I should just accept it. They did not care thatsomething was terribly wrong. I had to fight with them to treat her appropriately. She did reutrun to her original mental staus but She became so weak and to make a very long story short, the infection spread and we had to take her off life support.

Since her death, I had the hospital do an investigation, contacted the
Dept of health, congrssmen, assembly women etc. NO ONE CARESthat my mother entered the hospital healthy and died because of an infection she contracted during her stay there. I know that this will go on if changes aren't made. I wish that I could form of be apart of a group to make a difference. Is there any one else that is interested in changing the way hospitals treat people with CDiff?

Robin

[Nancy1]

Robin,
Please accept my condolences on your mother's death. Cdiff is a lousy way to die. I think that everyone here cares about the way hospitals treat people with cdiff. We have tried to get more publicity about this and about cdiff in general for years, with not much in the way of results. There was a recent show on ABC television, though. Search the site for more about that. You might try contacting your local media. Good luck. Let us know how it goes.

[feelinghopeful]

Robin,

I was thinking of starting a website where people could tell their experiences with hospitals. I get so incredibly angry when I read stories like these. I have no idea how to be an activist for C-Diff. There are extenuating circumstances, like the fact that many hospitals are short handed and overwhelmed. This could be very naive, but what if every hospital should be required to have a staff member not paid by the hospital so they can think and act independently who overseas the conditions and treatment of patients and is fluent specifically in contageous diseases. There needs to be some oversite. My friend arrived at the hospital with C-Diff from the prior place, where she arrived with C-Diff from a prior place, and in the last hospital I witnessed with my eyes her not being tested for weeks with chronic, green, smelly C-Diff D.

And yes, you can certainly get sepsis from C-Diff. I'm very sorry.