On Wed. my mother had burning sensations in her legs with nausea and vomiting, she laid down to take a nap and awoke with her left leg completely numb and unresponsive. The E.R doctor said he was sure that it was a stroke, did a 10 minute Cscan on her brain and said there was not any evidence, just symptoms. She was admitted and now has 5 different Dr.s running their own independent tests on her, and they are not even consulting each other much less my mother or myself. She still cannot feel or use her leg. She suffers from high blood pressure, diabetes, weight loss. In May she had neck, heart, and kidney surgery for blocked arteries. l am convinced this was stroke, but l feel the Dr.s are taking advantage of the fact the she is on Medicare. They have not sent in a therapist to work her leg, much less let her sit in a chair. l wanna move her to a larger hospital (Baylor Dallas) What is everyones opinion. Am l overreacting?
Actually, l am on the list for people that the Dr.s are able to discuss her care with. The problem l am having is that all of these Dr.s that are coming and going are all doing the same tests and are not her primary Dr.s. She has her primary Dr., who is her cardioligist, and primary for her kidney. We have yet to see a neurologist, no one has discussed what they are looking for, and they have no plan of treatment. l have left a note on her chart for these Dr.s to please specify to the nurses (they are great) what it is that they are looking for and ruling out. Today during her latest MRl for her back this time, she said she experienced dizziness and that her other leg went numb for about 15 minutes. l have a scheduled call into her Dr. this afternoon to discuss her treatment or lack there of, and to request that she be moved. Having only one kidney, functioning at 70%, she should not have had a foley in for 6 days.
l can take care of her at home. If there is another impending stroke looming ahead, than l feel we should be treating her for that. If she loses her other leg, or becomes too imoble, l will not be able to bring her home, and there is not anyone else in the family who is willing to or can take care of her.

Each Dr writes a note in the chart, the other Dr is read it, that is kind of the way they communicate with each other & know what the others opinion r & test they r running...If ur mother is able to make her own decisions, they Dr is may not tell u all that is going on with ur mother.you must have her permission or it is a violation of her privacy. l would suggest u at least be appointed as her health care surrogate (they can arrange that at the hospital) that way u can find out exactly what is going on.if u move her & do not have that authority u will more than likely encounter the same problem of not being in the loop so to speak

Sometimes a stoke will not show up on a CT scan. If she had blocked arteries in her heart, carotids & kidneys, it is possible she had a stroke, especially with those symptoms. The doctors will know what the other docs r doing by looking in the chart, & talking with the nurses. Your mother has a right to ask questions about her care, & get . If she is not getting them, then she needs to start getting more firm with the docs & nurses. If u want to get info too, u can be put on a list of people that is privy to her info- u will have to sign a special form to release info to you- the nurse will know what u r getting at. Start by writing down ur questions, & then request a meeting with the primary doctor, yourself & ur mom, to get them answered. Finally, doctors do not ''take advantage'' of medicare. l can tell u for sure, that medicare does not reimburse hospitals nearly enough for tests & cares that r billed. Unfortunately, hospitals actually lose money on medicare people. l think u should work to get ur questions answered, & ask the staff what the plan of care is. If u do not find that u get the , or u find the care is not up to snuff, then go to a larger hospital. Someone needs to stick up for ur mom- u may need to be the one to do it! Good luck to u both

It sounds like the hospital where she is at is taking ur mom is symptoms seriously to get to the bottom of what is wrong before mapping a course of treatment. They may not be ''working on her leg'' because they suspect blood clot or something where that would not be advisable just yet. Or she may not be medically stable enough at this point in time to do the rehab therapy for her leg.

As for ''taking advantage of the fact that she is on Medicare''.that does not make sense because Medicare usually does not want to pay for half the stuff most doctors want to run/do.

As others have said ur mother has a right to ask questions. Call the hospital social worker or patient liaison. He/she can help u get an over-view of what & why this or that is being done.