Beverly Peddicord Crabtree
I would like to share my story about my mother, who lost her life due to sepsis. My mother had overcome so much in her life. From the death of her dad at the age of 18, to raising four children with an alcoholic abusive husband, she had always been such an inspiration to women. She graduated with a Bachelors degree from the University of Tennessee at the age of 40, despite all her troubles at home.
On May 7 my mother walked into the ER with double vision, only to never walk out again. While in the hospital she suffered an ischemic stroke that left her paralyzed on her left side and it affected her ability to swallow. Our family agreed that a feeding tube would be best for her and that it would be placed directly into her stomach.
After a month of being in the hospital, she made some progress in her swallowing and was able to communicate with us but her speech was slurred. They sent her home on hospice and almost immediately a red spot appeared on one side of her stomach. The spot kept growing and becoming more painful and she would rub it and tell us it hurts.
The hospice staff would give her pain medication to keep her knocked out and even though we kept asking about the painful red spot, they would only give her antibiotics (through the feeding tube). A few weeks of this and one day a white spot developed in the middle of the red, swollen area. My brother touched the spot and when he did, everything that had been going through the tube came pouring out of her stomach so bad it soaked several towels.
We called the hospice staff, who quickly called an ambulance to take her to the hospital. The hospital staff said that the tube had been dislodged from her stomach for a period of time and had caused a serious infection. They replaced her tube and gave her several medications and wound care but the infection had spread so bad that they were not able to save her and within 12 days she died a very slow, painful death.
I am very distraught that the hospice staff was not able to recognize what was going on with her and blew it off for so long that it caused her an unnecessary painful death. I wish that I would have pushed more but I was not aware that this could even happen. I am so saddened by watching my mother die the way she did. I can still smell the infection on the room and it just makes me sick.
Source: by Christy Crabtree (Beverly's daughter)
