She Says Doctors Need To Stop Fixing Broken Hips On Elderly People, Since She’s Seen It Go Wrong As A Hospice Nurse
Broken hips are some of the most common injuries among older people. To fix a broken hip, a trip to the hospital, a few screws, and maybe physical therapy are necessary.
But according to one newly retired hospice nurse on TikTok, fixing a broken hip in elderly patients isn’t always the best thing to do.
In fact, Penny (@hospicenursepenny) says that doctors need to stop fixing them altogether. She explained that for many older patients, especially those already nearing the end of life, hip surgeries can cause more harm than good.
For example, she knew of an elderly woman with dementia on hospice at an assisted living facility who fell and broke her hip.
She was sent to the hospital, and the doctor declared that he needed to do surgery. So, he talked the lady’s family into doing the surgery.
The surgery went well, but the recovery process was rocky. She was in a lot of pain, so the doctor prescribed her some morphine.
The morphine made her start sleeping all the time, so she wasn’t eating as much. She began to grow weaker due to decreased nutrition.
She could not fight infection and was no longer able to get out of bed. Soon enough, she developed pneumonia from being sedentary and died shortly after.
Penny says this happens relatively often, even to people who are not on hospice, and it really doesn’t need to be this way.
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A patient with a broken hip can choose to opt out of surgery and go on hospice. The pain and suffering will be much less with a broken hip than with an infected surgical incision.
In the comments section, several TikTok users shared similar stories. In the end, it’s a deeply personal decision.
Penny’s video is a reminder to families to slow down and ask the hard questions before signing off on surgery.
“Everyone in healthcare knows a broken bone, even in healthy elderly people, is the first step in a downhill spiral. Maybe 4/10 bounce back. I had one 94-year-old who broke a hip and recovered 100%,” commented one user.
“It happened to my healthy grandfather. He fell, broke his hip, had hip surgery, and died three weeks later due to pneumonia,” stated another.
“My grandmother was 90 when her hip broke. The surgeon wanted to do a hip replacement. A doctor on her team said he could not legally give us advice, but to research. She didn’t get the surgery, lived three more years with a slight limp,” shared a third.
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