My father was a patient with this company. His nurse, Melissa Wingfield, RN, told us in October 2013 that he likely had less than 1 month to live. At this point, he was bedridden, on oxygen and breathing treatments but was still occasionally alert with some hallucinations and confusion and was sleeping 70% of the time. When November came around and he was still alive, this hospice company decided to abruptly discontinue one of his seizure medications, Dilantin, that he had taken for 50, (yes, FIFTY) years. As my fathers primary Medical POA, behind my mother who had alzheimers and vascular Dementia at the time, Melissa Wingfield, RN, chose NOT to inform me of this decision and instead coerced my father into saying he didn't wish to swallow his pills any more without identifying what pills she was talking about. I 'accidentally' discovered his Dilantin had been removed from his medications...only HIS Dilantin, no other medications. i called the company and was given the run-around and put through to several diffefent administrative staff and was told there were NO DOCTORS ORDERS to discontinue this medication. His dilantin had been taken away from his for 8 days prior to my discovery so I immediately called his Primary Care Physician who stated he did not want my father's Dilantin discontinued and it was immediately restarted. I'd like to mention that because I work outside the home 5 and 6 days a week, it was necessary to have caregivers in place 24/7. My brother's wife had assumed the responsibility of filling my parents medication holders and meeting with the hospice staff and was also complicit in this abrupt discontinuation of this medication and not providing the information to me.
At this point, I asked to have Melissa Wingfield removed from my father's case. She was replaced with another nurse, Chuck Johnson, RN. This all happened on a Monday. By Wednesday of this week, the staff of this company was demanding a 'conference call' with all family members with the goal of changing my parent's Medical POA from myself to my sister-in-law...my sister-in-law saying that if she couldn't be in charge then she wouldn't help any more. I told them I was uncomfortable with the thread of the call and said I would be in contact.
So, on Friday evening of this same week, my sister-in-law and Chuck Johnson, RN, after ascertaining my absence from the home, descended on my father, along with the social worker from New Century Hospice and brow beat my father to force him to verbally change his Medical POA. The caregiver in the home at the time reported my father was rolling his head side to side, telling them "NO, NO, NO, I will not do it". They demanded he make a decision over and over and time after time he refused to answer him. What they do next is unthinkable and wrong in so many ways...they turn to my mother, with her dementia and ask her to make the change and with her limited capabilities, and coerced to change HIS medical POA.
End result...my father died 16 days later and it is and always will be my belief that his death was hastened by the abrupt discontinuation of the Dilantin...I believe in my heart and soul that his medication was taken away from him to 'fry' his brain and hasten his death and that this company broke all the moral codes possible to get rid of my father and his family as quickly as possible. While I understand that the reason a person enters hospice is because they have a diagnosis that will lead to their death, I recommend that if you want the best quality of life and as many hours as you can have with your loved one, you stay away from this particular company because they took both of these away from my father and his family.
New Century Hospice Reviews
My father was a patient with this company. His nurse, Melissa Wingfield, RN, told us in October 2013 that he likely had less than 1 month to live. At this point, he was bedridden, on oxygen and breathing treatments but was still occasionally alert with some hallucinations and confusion and was sleeping 70% of the time. When November came around and he was still alive, this hospice company decided to abruptly discontinue one of his seizure medications, Dilantin, that he had taken for 50, (yes, FIFTY) years. As my fathers primary Medical POA, behind my mother who had alzheimers and vascular Dementia at the time, Melissa Wingfield, RN, chose NOT to inform me of this decision and instead coerced my father into saying he didn't wish to swallow his pills any more without identifying what pills she was talking about. I 'accidentally' discovered his Dilantin had been removed from his medications...only HIS Dilantin, no other medications. i called the company and was given the run-around and put through to several diffefent administrative staff and was told there were NO DOCTORS ORDERS to discontinue this medication. His dilantin had been taken away from his for 8 days prior to my discovery so I immediately called his Primary Care Physician who stated he did not want my father's Dilantin discontinued and it was immediately restarted. I'd like to mention that because I work outside the home 5 and 6 days a week, it was necessary to have caregivers in place 24/7. My brother's wife had assumed the responsibility of filling my parents medication holders and meeting with the hospice staff and was also complicit in this abrupt discontinuation of this medication and not providing the information to me.
At this point, I asked to have Melissa Wingfield removed from my father's case. She was replaced with another nurse, Chuck Johnson, RN. This all happened on a Monday. By Wednesday of this week, the staff of this company was demanding a 'conference call' with all family members with the goal of changing my parent's Medical POA from myself to my sister-in-law...my sister-in-law saying that if she couldn't be in charge then she wouldn't help any more. I told them I was uncomfortable with the thread of the call and said I would be in contact.
So, on Friday evening of this same week, my sister-in-law and Chuck Johnson, RN, after ascertaining my absence from the home, descended on my father, along with the social worker from New Century Hospice and brow beat my father to force him to verbally change his Medical POA. The caregiver in the home at the time reported my father was rolling his head side to side, telling them "NO, NO, NO, I will not do it". They demanded he make a decision over and over and time after time he refused to answer him. What they do next is unthinkable and wrong in so many ways...they turn to my mother, with her dementia and ask her to make the change and with her limited capabilities, and coerced to change HIS medical POA.
End result...my father died 16 days later and it is and always will be my belief that his death was hastened by the abrupt discontinuation of the Dilantin...I believe in my heart and soul that his medication was taken away from him to 'fry' his brain and hasten his death and that this company broke all the moral codes possible to get rid of my father and his family as quickly as possible. While I understand that the reason a person enters hospice is because they have a diagnosis that will lead to their death, I recommend that if you want the best quality of life and as many hours as you can have with your loved one, you stay away from this particular company because they took both of these away from my father and his family.