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Preparing for the death of a loved one is difficult under any circumstances.
But Annalisia Wilharm said never expect a doctor to announce the bad news about his grandfather via a video screen on a robot.
Wilharm was sitting at her grandfather's bedside at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center Intensive Care Unit in Fremont, California on Monday night, when the machine arrived in her room and as a doctor, appearing via live video link, offered him his dark prognosis. His grandfather Ernest Quintana, 78, died the next day.
"I think they should have had more dignity and treated it better than them," Wilharm told CNN. "No granddaughter, no family member should have to suffer what I just did with him."
Ernest Quintana died after being informed by a doctor who had visited him by robot that he no longer had any treatment options left.
Wilharm told CNN that his family knew his grandfather was going to die soon. But they are unhappy about how the situation was handled and how the news was disseminated. She said that she and her family hoped that no one else would receive the same treatment.
"I was so scared for him and I was disappointed with the delivery," Wilharm said, stifling. "And I could tell by the look on his face what it had done to him."
A spokeswoman for the hospital presented "her heartfelt condolences to the family" in a statement sent to CNN.
"We take this very seriously and have contacted the family to discuss their concerns," said Michelle Gaskill-Hames, Senior Vice President and Regional Director of Kaiser Permanente Alameda County, in the south of the country.
"Our doctors and nurses were in regular and regular contact with the patient and his family about his state of health as soon as he entered our hospital," she added. "The evening tele-video visit was a follow-up to previous doctor visits – it did not replace previous conversations with the patient and family members and was not used for the initial diagnosis."
Doctor: "I do not know if he'll go home"
Quintana suffered for years from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a progressive lung disease that makes breathing difficult. It includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
Last Monday, hospital doctors conducted tests to assess the state of Quintana's lungs. That evening, Wilharm told his mother and grandmother – the 58-year-old Quintana's wife – that the couple had to go home and rest a bit.
Shortly after, a robot with a video screen entered the room, accompanied by a nurse who remained silent. A doctor on the screen started talking to them.
Wilharm said that she had no idea who the doctor was or where he was.
She filmed the interaction on her phone while the doctor reported the results of tests done by her grandfather.
In the footage CNN watched, the doctor on the screen told Quintana: "Unfortunately, we can not handle anything very effectively."
The doctor explains that they can administer morphine to Quintana to make it more comfortable, but it would make breathing more difficult.
Wilharm then tells his grandfather that the doctor recommends palliative home care.
"You know, I do not know if he's going home," said the doctor, adding that the best treatment plan at that time was to start focusing on Quintana's comfort.
Wilharm told CNN that at that time, she had to call her mother and grandmother so that they could return to the hospital.
"It did not matter (in the hospital) that his 58-year-old wife was not there for that," she said.
Hospital: "We did not meet expectations"
Wilharm told CNN that his family had no illusions about his grandfather's state of health.
"We knew we were going to lose it," CNN said Wilharm during a phone interview on Saturday. "Our goal is the broadcast (news), there was no compassion."
When her grandmother came back to the hospital, she asked the nurses about the robot. According to Wilharm, they explained that the hospital was small and that the robot was used to do rounds at night.
Hospital spokeswoman Gaskill-Hames said the healthcare provider "continues to learn how to best integrate technology into patient interactions".
"In all aspects of our care, especially when we communicate difficult information, we do it with compassion in a personal way," she said, adding that the term "robot" was "inaccurate and inappropriate".
"This secure video technology is a live conversation with a doctor using televideo technology, and always with a nurse or other doctor present in the room to explain the purpose and function of the technology," Gaskill said. Hames. It "allows a small hospital to have additional specialists, such as a board-certified intensive care physician, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, which improves the care provided and provides consultative expertise. extra at the bedside of the patient ".
Wilharm told CNN that a doctor had visited Quintana in person earlier in the day.
Wilharm said that the doctor in person was "very kind" and held his grandfather's hand when she told him about palliative care and its options.
Gaskill-Hames said the hospital does not encourage the use of technology to replace personal interactions between patients and health care workers.
"We understand how important it is for all concerned and we regret that we did not meet the expectations of the family," she said.
Wilharm agrees.
"It was one of the worst days of my life," she said.
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