My 88 year old father was recently hospitalized for severe pneumonia. He has now been moved a an LTACH or whats known as a long term acute care hospital. While in the first hospital, he had several complications, including extremely low blood pressure coupled with an attack of atrial fibrillation, most likely due to the sedatives he was given for his delirium, which he developed suddenly while in the hospital. Now 2 weeks later, he still has the delirium, even though supposedly he does not show clinical signs of the pneumonia. He is extremely nasty to the nurses, cursing at them and even threatening to kill them, or he'll bark orders at them. Other times he is almost his gentle self. And still others he is enveloped in a sea of hallucinations and delusions and almost unable to speak or be roused (almost as if unconscious). At one point he thought he was in a war training camp in 1949. Another time he thought he was in China. Other times he knows he is in the hospital and in the US. He has no history of dementia. None of the doctors at this hospital nor at the other one want to take it seriously. I have read extensively on delirium since this all started, and all of the articles say is should be treated very seriously, regardless of age. But I am not getting that feeling from his doctors here at this LTACH, nor from the other hospital. When he was brought here, I was told the average length of stay is around 3-4 weeks, but he hasn't even been here a week, and the doctor is talking releasing him to a skilled nursing facility for rehab, but I don't think he is ready. I can just see him not even be able to follow a physical therapists commands to do exercises, and then Medicare will cut paying for the rehab and he'll be left to rot in a nursing home. Is there anyway to get these doctors to look into this further? They haven't ordered any brain scans, nor any follow-up arterial blood gasses (ABGs). His ABGs were all off at the other hospital, for example his C02 level was 70 - normal is below 45. A follow-up ABG at the other hospital showed a C02 level of 63 just a few days later, still way above normal. But they won't order any follow-up ABG's or any other tests here, saying it's not necessary.

Please, keep any insensitive comments about his age to yourself. I have been getting this "oh but he's 88 years old, what do you expect" crap from the doctors, I don't need it here as well, please. I realize he is 88. I am not blind, nor stupid to that fact. When one of the doctors in the ER said that, I said so why don't you smother him with a pillow if you people want him dead so badly, and then he promptly called security on me. They don't want to treat old people, they want them to die. It's unbelievable. I just want to give him the best chance possible.