In Last August my 87 year old grandmother was taken by ambulance to the ER because she had two seizures in my home. I take care of her/grandpa/mom full time.
She went to the hospital and was admitted and was there for approximately 3-4 days then sent home only to have another seizure less than an hour later. After her previous visit the she told the paramedics she refused to go back to the hospital so I just took very good care of her and checked on her all day.
The explanation above is for the following reason.
One morning during my daily long visits the nurses too busy giggling about something didn't see me go to my grandma's room.. She was in tears and was saying she needed some help getting to the bathroom or something that a nurse should have helped her with. I pressed the nurse button no one answered. Checked all the wiring making sure it was all plugged in but everything was fine. I again pressed the button heard someone pick up then hang up. For approximately 20 minutes I tried to press this button...
Went to the nurses’ station and told them the button was broken. They replied with no she just kept calling us every 5 minutes for little reasons that weren't important so we don’t answer them. Asked my grandma she said they stopped answering since the minute I had walked out the night before (8pm visiting hours) Mind you she was there for seizures...

#2 Same hospital different family members
On Jan 9th, 2013 My mom with a Grape Fruit sized Hernia in her stomach, complained of severe stomach pain fell to the floor taken to the ER. The took her to x ray for her stomach and put the heart monitors on her checked blood pressure took blood. A few hours later a Doctor came in with x ray image and said see look you have gas on this side of intestines and poop on this side. Your OK, and checked her out of the hospitol with follow up with family doctor (who they have listed in files) if pain continues after two days. Also read the letter a little closer stating it takes 24-72 hours to get some of the result and if they found anything abnormal they would notify her and her family Doctor.
Jan 1, 2013 Mom Complains of severe pain again. She didn't want to go to the ER again so she asked to go to her primary Doctor. I got right in and seen her primary Doctors new partner Doctor. She wrote up a quick letter and stated clearly what my mom had been seen there before and what other ailments she had. (Previous Severe alcohol abuse, current alcohol abuse) seizure previously 3 years ago, two gastric bypasses, two disks replaced in her back that 2011 never healed and needs two more, larger abdominal hernia, severe back pain, depression, memory loss, confusion, chronic all over pain. She also noted what test she recommended and stated she recommended she be seen at the ER. Mom hates hospitals... so Jan 29th, 2013 mom collapses to the floor in the same type of pain from Jan 1st 2013 and said I need to go to the ER (not the doctor) I took her to a different hospital a bit further away and the did a couple x-ray’s blood work EKG and a few other tests. Couple 30 minutes or so later doctor came in and said she has Chronic Pancreatitis. Her something levels were in the 4400's and they said they should be in the double digits. So the fed her ice chips on and off with a clear liquid diet as her levels kept going up and down. According to the Doctor there isn't any way that her pancreas has been bad for a short time... long time he said at least a year.
A week has passed and they released her today on a clear liquid diet with no real food said pancreas OK now. (Does not speak perfect English) she came home with and needed a walker to get around now all she wants is food and sleep. I pretty sure the first hospital should have found this problem fairly easily with a simple blood test...
I called the CEO of the first Hospital and told him of the two incidents. He said he just became the CEO only a few months ago and he has been making a lot of changes and gave me the big spill bla bla bla fired some people. He said he would pull the records for both stays for them and send them over to his hospital liability person. He asked me "What is it you want to make this right? What would you like us to do? Some people just want a letter of apology some ask for other stuff. “I stated back to him if it was one of your nurses or Doctors or staff being rude yes a letter might do it but I might have just lost my mom and very well could have lost my grandmother in your hospital due to your nurses thinking she was annoying not sick or dying.
Your thoughts?
I can't afford a lawyer but he also said if I hire a lawyer I am not to contact his hospital again.

If there is really a viable malpractice case, you can find a lawyer to take it on contingency. But I'm not sure there is a real case here.

I also do not really see a case, sorry but hospitals miss things, and I see that she did not follow hospital orders in second case, to follow up with her own doctor, she waited to have more pain to go, not go next day.

Also sounds in second case she has many self causes issues that could easily get confused and unless it can be proved they were careless and you can get other professional medical people to testify against hospital, I don't see a case.

And in first, while it was bad management, there was no harm done, you were there and I have no idea why you did not walk out to get help much sooner.
And yes if she had been a pain pushing the button every 5 minutes that is what happens, so she may have caused them to ignore her more than they should.

If you can find an attorney willing to do it, but he will need to see
actual value of real harm done to her by any of the actions. How were they hurt.

Next you can't do anything, you are not the person harmed, so you can not hire an attorney, the people harmed would have to hire separate attorneys, these are not related cases.

I also do not really see a case, sorry but hospitals miss things, and I see that she did not follow hospital orders in second case, to follow up with her own doctor, she waited to have more pain to go, not go next day.

Also sounds in second case she has many self causes issues that could easily get confused and unless it can be proved they were careless and you can get other professional medical people to testify against hospital, I don't see a case.

And in first, while it was bad mangement, there was no harm done, you were there and I have no idea why you did not walk out to get help much sooner.
And yes if she had been a pain pushing the button every 5 minutes that is what happens, so she may have caused them to ignore her more than they should.

If you can find an attorney willing to do it, but he will need to see
actual value of real harm done to her by any of the actions. how were they hurt.

Next you can't do anything, you are not the person harmed, so you can not hire an attorney, the people harmed would have to hire separate attorneys, these are not related cases. I arived in the morning they had the button off all night... and secondly she did go to the hospitol just a couple days later because she ends up with a pic line if you have ever had one of those you know you wouldn't want that either. She worked in an underground mine for over 10 years she can handle A LOT of pain but is scared to death of needles...
So in your opinion because my mom already went to a ER and they told her its just gas and poop its her fault for not running back to the ER...
And no case for my elderly grandmother having her nurse call button shut off from the minute I leave due to visiting hours (against the law) because when I got there in the morning trying to find out what was wrong with it before getting a nurse? I was only there for 20 minutes if she started to have another eppisode over night while I wasn't there the nurse button was OFF... She dies and it was my problem? I do not think you read what I typed correctly at all...

If there is really a viable malpractice case, you can find a lawyer to take it on contingency. But I'm not sure there is a real case here. Did you also read the bottom part where the CEO of the hospitol wants to know what they can do to keep me from going to a lawyer?

So the CEO does not want you to go to the lawyer, save them legal costs. They often will pay out a few hundred dollars or even a 1000 or so, just to keep you quiet

As others pointed out, if you have a case, the lawyer would be paid on contingency. If you are not familiar with that term it means that you don't pay them anything unless you get money from the people you are suing, and then you would pay a percentage of whatever you are awarded to the attorney.

On the other hand, in order to have a case you have to be able to demonstrate damages and that is hard to do. In the first case, it just sounds like bad bedside matter and service. In the second case, it is hard to hold medical people accountable for finding a medical condition on a first visit. It is not uncommon for medical ailments to be hard to diagnose or for possible issues to be missed. They would have had to be grossly - very severely - negligent for malpractice to stick and this does not sound like it. Your mother has multiple complex issues and a very general symptom that could signify countless medical issues. Particularly in a situation with compound factors and compound issues in the patient, it would be nearly impossible to argue malpractice. Again, damages would be hard to establish.

The kinds of medical malpractice suits that are successful are things like operating on the wrong limb, administering a drug after the patient advised they are allergic to it, overdosing someone with IV meds or things like that. Simply providing bad service in the hospital, or missing a diagnosis in a complex patient in a single visit - not enough, I would think.

What the CEO said doesn't prove anything. Proving medical malpractice is not very easy.

For example, with your grandmother, I'm sure she was being monitored by other sensors. Just because the nurses were ignoring her calls doesn't mean she wasn't being monitored or cared for.

... I might have just lost my mom and very well could have lost my grandmother ... due to ... nurses thinking she was annoying not sick or dying.
...

But you didn't loose either one of them, fortunately. Had you lost them, you would perhaps have one or two viable awsuits. You didn't, so it's hard to prove damages. As the saying goes, "no harm, no foul."

Was either one of their conditions made worse by what you described? I don't think so in the case of your grandmother, and also doubt it in the case of your mother.

What the CEO said doesn't prove anything. Proving medical malpractice is not very easy.

For example, with your grandmother, I'm sure she was being monitored by other sensors. Just because the nurses were ignoring her calls doesn't mean she wasn't being monitored or cared for. I spoke anonamosly with a nurse that works there and she said it is not only against the law its also a very strict policy by the hospitol

There are things that are managed badly in medical facilities that are against the law or against their own policies that, when they happen, still do not constitute malpractice. I will give you an example:

My grandmother, at 94 with severe dimentia and also legally blind (she could see shapes and shadows and identify very large objects only), walked out of the locked alzheimer's unit of her nursing home. She wore an ankle bracelet which we found out later, did in fact sound the alarm that a patient was leaving. The staff ignored it. They did not know my granmother was missing until the hospital called and asked them to come pick her up. She had been gone for over four hours, in over 100 degree August heat, and had walked many blocks on a very busy road and saw a firetruck. Her father had been a fire chief, one of very few things she still remembered. She sat on the running boards to wait for him, though he had been dead for probably 70 years.

She was severely dehydrated, had a terrible and painful sunburn and was terribly frightened. The paramedic/firefighters took her to the hospital after finding her on their rig. The next day she fell in the nursing home - she had gotten up to find the firemen. She broke her hip but was not stable enough for surgery. She never got out of bed again, and died a few weeks later. We know that the dehydration contributed to her fall and the whole experience contributed to her greater confusion. They could only give so many fluids at a time to rehydrate her as she had kidney issues.

The nursing home was fined - hugely. They were sanctioned and put under a probation from their reguatory agency. So there were serious consequences for their errors. That said, we had no case at all for malpractice - nobody would take it. They told us had she died while she was lost and wandering, or even the same day, we would have had a case. It took her "too long to die" for their to be a legal case. Very harsh, but to prove her death was precipitated by them, we had to show direct cause, which often comes down to times and dates.

So, you can try to get a settlement because they may not want to defend against even an unwinable case - keep talking to this administrator, let him know what you want. He may play ball. It's expensive to defend against even frivolous suits, so they might do something for your relatives. A malpractice case though - probably not going anywhere.

Thanks again... Sorry to hear about your Granmother. My mom was in another hospitol a few years ago that was a lockdown type thing and even with restraints she got out and fell out of the bed several times even with bed monitor going off for a long time) broke her thumb and gosh only knows what but she was there for liver failure and brain damage due to her boyfriend trying to kill her off for life insurance policy with Vodka nothing but Vodka for 6 months. I had to kick down the door because he wouldn't let any one talk to her or see her. He had her laying on a blanket on the floor orange head to toe and orange eyes. Not breathing at all... (waiting to make sure she was really dead before calling anyone) Because it was booze they just treated her like she was just a dumb alcoholic who cares... She is alive now.. discharged today from the new hospital. Confused why though she was on a clear liquid diet at time of discharge but papers said continue with NORMAL DIET?? Never been easy with her but it's what I do.. I take care of them all...
Bless you
There are things that are managed badly in medical facilities that are against the law or against their own policies that, when they happen, still do not constitute malpractice. I will give you an example:

My grandmother, at 94 with severe dimentia and also legally blind (she could see shapes and shadows and identify very large objects only), walked out of the locked alzheimer's unit of her nursing home. She wore an ankle bracelet which we found out later, did in fact sound the alarm that a patient was leaving. The staff ignored it. They did not know my granmother was missing until the hospital called and asked them to come pick her up. She had been gone for over four hours, in over 100 degree August heat, and had walked many blocks on a very busy road and saw a firetruck. Her father had been a fire chief, one of very few things she still remembered. She sat on the running boards to wait for him, though he had been dead for probably 70 years.

She was severely dehydrated, had a terrible and painful sunburn and was terribly frightened. The paramedic/firefighters took her to the hospital after finding her on their rig. The next day she fell in the nursing home - she had gotten up to find the firemen. She broke her hip but was not stable enough for surgery. She never got out of bed again, and died a few weeks later. We know that the dehydration contributed to her fall and the whole experience contributed to her greater confusion. They could only give so many fluids at a time to rehydrate her as she had kidney issues.

The nursing home was fined - hugely. They were sanctioned and put under a probation from their reguatory agency. So there were serious consequences for their errors. That said, we had no case at all for malpractice - nobody would take it. They told us had she died while she was lost and wandering, or even the same day, we would have had a case. It took her "too long to die" for their to be a legal case. Very harsh, but to prove her death was precipitated by them, we had to show direct cause, which often comes down to times and dates.

So, you can try to get a settlement because they may not want to defend against even an unwinable case - keep talking to this administrator, let him know what you want. He may play ball. It's expensive to defend against even frivolous suits, so they might do something for your relatives. A malpractice case though - probably not going anywhere.