December 3, she identified herself as the home care RN for my Mother to the social worker in the hospital where my Mother was being cared for after her cancer surgery. My Mother was being discharged to her home because they thought that the RN was there to care for her. She was the neighbor of my Mothers boyfriend & a good friend of his daughter. She told me that she was an RN that was working at St. John's hospital in Santa Monica.
I was told by the RN that my Mother was being discharged & when I contacted the hospital, they confirmed than my Mother was being discharged even though they hadn't told me that she was going to be discharged. I felt trapped into the situation, thinking that there were no other options.
I arrived at my Mothers home later that night after the RN was there to take care of my Mother when she arrived at her home after being taken there by the shuttle van from the hospital.
The next morning, I noticed that my Mothers wedding ring was missing off of her hand & decided to get her other valuable jewelry together & put it in a safe place. The jewelry was missing but I noticed a necklace chain on the floor of my Mothers room where her valuable jewelry had been. When we started looking for the wedding ring, the ring plinked to the floor right where the RN was looking.
I later found that a couple of checks were filled out to someone that neither my Mother nor I knew & one to cash. When I said something to my Mother about who the person was, the RN told me not to bother my Mother about getting a stop payment put on the checks. I went ahead & got the stop payments put on the checks & the check book came up missing. When we started looking for the checkbook, the RN went into the back bedroom where I was staying & leaned over the bed. Plunk... There was the checkbook... Falling down behind the bed.
The next morning, I woke up to a voice talking. I thought it was my Mother but when I stood in the hall way, I saw the RN sitting at the dining room table talking on the phone. She was giving out my Mothers name, her social security #, & her personal information. She then gave out her own name & social security #, followed by my name & social security # (both of which were wrong). I went in to get the phone from her & was met with a fight. She finally gave me the phone. I took it & walked into the back bedroom. I found out that it was American Express & they started to say more & the phone went dead.
I confronted her about what she did & was told that my Mother had given her permission. Later, she came into my bedroom crying that she wasn't thinking well because the vet had called her early in the morning telling her that he had to put down her dog that had been hit by a car.
I checked the phone chord after she left to take care of her daughter & found that the phone chord was pulled out of the connector & cut about 5 inches above that. The only working phone in the house at that point with my sick mother was my cell phone.
Later that day, I had my husband go out & purchase a new phone set for my Mothers home with a base phone & 2 head sets.
I decided at that point to contact a nursing bureau that provides licensed & bonded RN's. They couldn't provide anyone until the next day, & I couldn't care for my Mother by myself because she was too ill for me to care for. I decided to try & make it until the next day when they could get someone out.
In the mean time, the RN had fired the other person who was working the other 12 hours & explained to me that she was taking her vacation time so that she could care for my Mother full time. I knew that I would have new help so didn't push the fact that she couldn't continue caring for my Mother 24 hours a day.
The next morning, the RN ask to leave for awhile to get her daughter to school. Just after she left my Mother received a phone call. It was someone with a carribean accent (the same accent as the RN), identifying themself as a social worker that wanted to talk to my Mother. I held up the phone to my Mother & heard her saying something to my Mother about the fact that family can be controlling & that it is wrong when they are like that. When I took the phone back, I asked for name & phone #... Both of which were phony. I called the phone # & it was a web development company.
Just after that phone call, came a knock at the door. I went to the door & it was the police. They came in & the RN followed in right behind them. One went in to talk to my Mother & the other started questioning me & telling me that I knew why they were there. After about an hour of questioning, I found out that they had received an anynonomous call about me elderly abusing my Mother. It wasn't until my Mothers Trust lawyer arrived that they backed off & listened to what I was trying to tell them about what was happening in the house over the previous few days instead of telling me to sit down & shut up.
After the police left & the lawyer finished up with my Mother, the RN started getting my Mother ready for her Dr appointment. I had a chance at that time to get myself dressed to go on the appointment too. I walked into my Mothers room to see how she was doing & she complained to me that the RN had put some pills into her hand & had her put them all into her mouth & swollow the water. My Mother said that one of the pills had slipped out of her hand & she wasn't able to take all of them. I figured that it was probably somewhere in her bed & would find it later...& went back to getting myself dressed.
As I was finishing up, the RN put my Mother in her wheelchair & wheeled her into the front room infront of the heater. My Mother was shivering so bad & couldn't stop. We wrapped her in blankets & gave her some hot water. Nothing helped. She then got a phone call from a friend from church. I held the phone up to her & she was sluring her words & wasn't able to understand anything she was being told.
I asked the RN & my Mothers boyfriend to leave when the representative from the nursing bureau arrived. The RN refused angerly & took her cell phone & called 911 & said she was going to call back the police on the elderly abuse call from earlier.
The paramedics arrived & checked out my Mother. They said that nothing was obvious but they would take her to the ER if I wanted. I realized that was the only way to end everything that had been going on. The paramedics took my Mother & the RN told my husband that she would be willing to give 2 weeks notice. He told her to just get out & she insisted on getting paid for the work she did. I started to refuse because I had already given her a deposit & didn't want to give her anything more. My husband told me to just pay her & as she walked out of the door, she told me that "your mother is never coming home again".
I knew that my Mother was dying of cancer even though none of her Dr's were willing to tell us, but as I drove to the ER, her words haunted me. I thought about the missing pill & that it probably was not imodium like she said it was otherwise, how would she be so sure about my Mother. Visions also went through my mind about what I had heard about peoples homes being emptied out with a moving truck in just a few minutes.
I had my husband immediately go & change all the locks in the house & when I asked the ER Dr what might have caused my Mothers problem, she suggested that it might be too many sleeping pills.
Later that night after getting my Mother transferred & settled in the hospital where her own Dr's practiced out of, I went back to her home & located the pill that had slipped out of her hand. Sure enough, it was morphine.
The next day, I talked about what had happened with the social worker at the hospital. She filed a report with Adult Protective Services & suggested that I do the same. I did & never heard another thing from them about what had happened. The social worked suggested that I tell my Mothers boyfriend & his daughter about what had happened & his daughter got angry & refused to listen to any of what I had to say.
I had gone back to my Mothers home that night & stayed there until the next morning when I decided to go directly to the police station & report what had happened. As I was driving to the police station, I didn't pay much attention until just before the corner I had to turn. I looked into my rear view mirror & there was the RN slumpped down in the passenger seat of her red car, with the visor down & her hand just above her eyes. I wasn't followed past that point, but it was impossible to miss that it was her.
The police took the report & kept it only as ID theft but told me that if the checks weren't cashed, there probably wouldn't be a chance of catching her. They didn't consider everything that she did... Probably because I was the only one there except for my Mother who was too ill to realize what was happening. I was telling my Mother what was happening so that we could get the stop payment on the check, but all my Mother could say was I don't have anything that anyone would want. Why would someone do this to me? I don't think she realized really what was happening around her.
From the day that I filed the police report, I lived in the hospital 24/7 with my Mother as she continued to die of cancer. I had her in the hospital under an alias, not knowing if the RN might do something more than OD my Mother to keep her & myself silent.
I found out a week later that one of my Mothers credit cards had been stolen & used the day that I filed the police report. The credit card fraud group called & I had to get them to talk to my Mother in the hospital to let them know that it was fraud. The credit card had been used to purchase gas (to check if the credit card was active). Then it was used to pay a cell phone bill. Then it was used again to purchase gas (to check if the card had been caught stolen yet). At that time, the person called the credit card company & told them that her daughter was abusing her financially & they couldn't tell me if the person cancelled the card or if the credit card company cancelled it. I think that they should be able to tell who used the card by whose bill was paid using the card, but nothing seemed to be persued using that information.
I think that the RN was tring to attempt to get my Mothers home. She was asking me how much I was wanting for the home once my Mother died then she tried to get me involved in her wonderful idea to set up a care home for cancer patients who don't have any family to care for them. This is a scam for sure & I am sure that she didn't start with my mother & won't stop with her either. She had a huge tiffany diamond ring that I am sure if the code was ever read, it wouldn't belong to her.
The police ended up droping the case because the DA told the detective that he didn't have enough on her to do anything with. I guess I stopped everything too well. If I had thought about it, I might have been able to trap her, but I was reacting to everything that was happening around me. The police detective did tell me that the AKA name of Anita Suazo was an alias that she uses, but by now, I am sure that she has many other's to use.
I have since checked with the Department of Consumers Affairs, Board of Registered Nursing & she is not registered as an RN in California. She had just purchased her home in Burbank, & seemed to have left for a few months after the police talked to her. This is much more than just the ID theft.
She conned her way into caring for my Mother & she knows enough about the nursing profession that I am sure she has RN training. I think that she thought that I wouldn't be there for my Mother because my Mother didn't want me to be with her & wanted her boyfriend to be there with her all the time because I asked too many questions taking away the Dr's attention from my Mother. Besides, my Mother felt that her Dr's would tell her everything she needed to know. They never did tell her that her cancer had spread that that she was dying & I didn't have their support to actually know what was going on with her either. I think there is something wrong with that situation also, but it allowed the RN to get herself involved.
I am continually hoping that someone will be fimiliar with a similar situation & be able to put the pieces together. This fake RN needs to be put into a place where she can't harm anyone else. OD'ing my Mother on Morphine even though she was dying of cancer was wrong too but she got away with it so far.
We need to put a stop to her & people like her. If it can't help stop her, I hope that this might reach someone who can relate to the situation & maybe protect yourself from it happening to you. My first mistake was to let the hospital force my Mother to be discharged without telling me... Not knowing what my rights were in the hospital system is something that has to happen & not let things "just" happen.
0 comments