PREVENTABLE CAUSES OF DEHYDRATION
During a 30-month study investigating the factors influencing the care of 117 terminally ill nursing home residents, my colleagues and I observed certain ongoing problems with hydration. The case of 88-year-old Maureen Carson (a pseudonym)
is one such example.
Diagnosed with bacteremia, Ms.Carson was admitted to the nursing home from a hospital. She was to receive antibiotics and rehabilitation and be discharged home. Although Ms. Carson was not terminally ill, she was very frail, and in one month her weight had fallen from 105 to 87 lbs. This severe weight loss warranted induction into our study. She didn’t receive visitors because her niece, her only living relative, lived in Canada. The staff said that although she frequently called out “Help! Help! Water! Water!” she refused to eat or drink; when they tried to feed her she pushed them away.
Upon our first visit we noted that Ms. Carson’s lips were dry and cracked. We asked if she would like something to
drink. “Yes,” she replied. The water on her bedside stand was stagnant, as was a cup containing a commercial supplement. We obtained a fresh container of supplement, opened it, and offered it to her. She immediately drank 6 oz. Two days later when we visited, she cried out, “Water, water, I want milk and water.” Again, her lips and mucosa were dry; her teeth were caked with debris. After she’d been provided with oral care, she drank 6 oz. of water and then asked for milk. Within a brief period, she took almost 11 oz. of water and milk.
In all, we visited Ms. Carson 13 times in 26 days. On 11 of these visits, she asked for food and water. During our visits, on average she drank 11.5 oz., once taking 24 oz. Orange juice, milk, and a commercial supplement were on the bedside table, which was often out of her reach at 2 ft. away from the bed. Once, as we entered her room, she was reaching for a carton of milk; her hand was shaking. She was too weak to suck on the straw; but using the straw as a pipette, she took 4 oz. of milk. She died the following day. On reviewing her case, the physician on our research team said,
“I wonder, if this woman had received loving care and enough hand feeding, would she have recovered? Was this death, at this time, preventable?”