Dying patient, 30, 'was kicked out of hospital for being "uncooperative" and forced into a taxi wher

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Daily Mail

Dying patient, 30, 'was kicked out of hospital for being "uncooperative" and forced into a taxi where he was found dead by his mother when he arrived home'

• A'Darrin Washington was found 'cold to the touch' in the taxi after being discharged from a Fayetteville, North Carolina hospital in 2011
  
• A nurse ordered Washington, who had cancer and pneumonia, to be discharged after he became 'uncooperative' and 'refused to talk or move'
  
• Security guards carried him from his wheelchair and strapped him into the taxi - even though other hospital staff expressed concern
  
• His distraught mother is now suing the hospital's security company
  

By Lydia Warren
PUBLISHED: 15:03 EST, 18 December 2013 | UPDATED: 15:04 EST, 18 December 2013

A dying patient who was escorted out of a North Carolina hospital for being 'uncooperative' was loaded into a taxi where he was later found dead by his mother, she has claimed.

Deborah Washington has filed a lawsuit against AlliedBurton Security Services claiming their staff at Cumberland County Hospital forcibly removed her adult son even though he was dying or already dead.

She claims that the guards took A'Darrin Washington, 30, from the hospital, carried him from his wheelchair to a waiting taxi, buckled him up and sent him home even though he was gravely ill.

Mr Washington was found dead in the back of the taxi when he arrived home 45 minutes later.

He had been discharged from the hospital on November 22, 2011 after undergoing treatment for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and fungal pneumonia - after initially being misdiagnosed.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2525957/Hospital-guards-escorted-dying-patient-unresponsive-cab-dead-mother-arrived-home.html#ixzz2nrNwinaJ

[Squinch]

1. Is North Carolina becoming hell? I've been there, and it's really pretty, but

WTF is going on there????

[truedelphi]

10. Every day of the week, strange and horrid decisions are made in hospitals

across the country. Doesn't only happen in the Carolinas.

Marin General Hospital released a mentally unstable patient, in wee hours of the morning, without notifying family or friends. And the patient died on the grounds of the hospital, with someone finding the body the next day. This was several years back, but I doubt anything has changed.

Marin County is one of the top three most affluent counties in the nation, but they don't seem to have Hospital Administrators that are any the wiser for it.

Then at San Francisco General Hospital, there was a friend, who requested oxygen after a hysterectomy. The nurse told her that she was a spoiled princess, and took oxygen away from her. "You don't really need it 48 hours after a surgery."

In reality, T's need for oxygen indicated that there was a clot inside her lungs. And had a resident not checked up on T later that day, gotten her back on the oxygen, and treatment for the clot, she might have died.

Deciding someone is uncooperative, or a "princess" is extremely bad way for medical personnel to behave.

[yurbud]

13. nursing shortage means the right credentials are nearly all that matters

when my wife was giving birth we had some excellent nurses--and some whose bedside manner left a lot to be desired.

When she was having contractions, one nurse told my wife she could make all the noise she wanted, this was her delivery. But when another relieved her later and my wife screamed a bit, the nurse shushed her and said she would scare the other patients.

After the delivery, my wife was nursing the baby on the way back to her room and a nurse told her it was indecent to expose her breast in public.

Meanwhile, the rest of the nurses were all about encouraging breastfeeding.

[FrodosPet]

68. After taking care of my paralyzed father for 4 years

I would rather pass away than take a job as a nurse, no matter what it pays.

The nursing shortage is unfortunate, but understandable. It is a massive emotional drain, and you need to be a superhuman to do the job well (forget perfectly - it AIN'T happening). I have nothing but respect for nurses, and I am not in a hurry to judge them harshly. Especially without hearing the whole story.

[Skeeter Barnes]

21. The same sort of scenario was reported on in the movie Sicko.

IIRC, the patient didn't die but he was kicked out of an LA hospital onto the street in his hospital gown while still under the effects of anesthesia after surgery. He was found lying on the sidewalk outside a walk in clinic where the cab evidently dumped him. Is California becoming hell? Already is, IMO.

I might remember wrong about where this happened but I'm pretty sure it was a prominent hospital in Los Angeles.

[Diego_Native 2012]

28. 18 months ago

I was diagnosed, through a freak occurrence, with having colon cancer. I had no insurance, no money. I was living in my car. Wasn't even on California's version of Medicaid. One day after my diagnosis, Scripps Medical Center in San Diego operated and removed the cancerous growth on my colon. That left me with half a dozen staples and the inability to walk more than two steps. No way would I be able to recover on my own, in my situation.

Every nurse, every orderly, every doctor that saw me cared nothing about my circumstances. All they wanted was for me to survive and get better. I was never made to feel "less than" others, never marginalized, never mistreated or ignored. I certainly wasn't dumped out the door. I'm pretty sure had this happened in the southern state where I used to live, I would have never gotten the care I needed.

California is, IMO, the reason I am alive today.

There are good people and bad people everywhere.

[Skeeter Barnes]

33. I'm glad to hear you were taken care of and I hope things continue to improve for you.

[deurbano]

49. So glad things went well for you! My daughter is in hospital now at UCSF in SF, CA...

with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (like the man in the OP, though it may be a different version, since her type is rather rare)... and she has been treated with the utmost respect and caring by the nurses, doctors and other staff. She is severely disabled (with Medi Medi for insurance) with a speech disability, and she was worried she would be patronized, marginalized and treated in a condescending way (as the doctor who originally misdiagnosed her with allergies did!)... but her experience has been the opposite. We have been very impressed with the level of professionalism... and humanity.

[rms013]

51. UCSF

Your daughter could not be in a better hospital. My son spent most of 2012 in and out of the 11th and 14th floor after being diagnosed with T-cell ALL. He was 3 days shy of being 30 when we got the diagnosis. It was a long and difficult road from there. He received a bone marrow transplant on Nov. 7, 2012 and was determined to have NED (no evidence of disease) in May of this year. We just celebrated his 1st re-birthday.
If it wasn't for the highly trained and professional staff at UCSF I don't believe he would be with us today. There were many complications from the disease and the treatments that he endured. I empathize with you so much. It is so hard to deal with the feeling of helplessness that we feel watching someone we love go through this. Fortunately his attitude was "It is what it is" and we have to deal with it.
If you haven't found out already there is a network of people within the hospital who will help and guide you through all phases of her treatment and care to include the social workers.
He just went for his 1year checkup (he was going once a week in the beginning and now it is down to once a month) at the blood clinic across the street.
I wish your daughter a complete and speedy recovery from this disease.

[deurbano]

82. Thank you!

Thank you so much for relating your son’s story! (Stories like his are very uplifting to my family right now.) And congratulations! I am so happy for his NED status (I hadn’t heard that acronym before, but it sure has a beautiful ring to it), and also so appreciative that you took the time to share his/your experience.

My daughter has a very good prognosis, but is also going through a lot of crap on her way there. She checked into the hospital (11th floor) for what she/we thought would be a week , and has now been there more than 5 weeks (thru two rounds of chemo… and Thanksgiving), and it looks like she will be there through Christmas and the third round of chemo (out of 6 total), too. The disabilities she brought with her have combined with her particular type of lymphoma and the chemo to create a rougher than average experience … but the good news (and the most important) is that the chemo has been very effective, and her tumor shrank more than 40% (better than expected) after just the first round. So… she has to (and we have to) keep the focus on that most important part… and keep going. Some days, that is harder to manage than others, but the wonderful support from the nurses, doctors and other staff have helped sustain her (and us) through this unexpected journey.

Thanks again for taking the time to relate your own experience… and to extend your kind words of support. This is a such a rough time, and as you said, I feel so helpless (while trying to act much stronger and more upbeat than I feel—for my daughter’s sake, and the sake of her younger brother and sister), but there are also some moments of pure beauty in this experience (if experience this she/we must), and your post is a perfect example.

[loudsue]

72. Short answer: YES! We've been taken over by the Koch brothers, and it started in about 2009.

In 2012, for the first time in over 100 years, we ended up with a republican house, senate and governor. We've been going to hell ever since.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

2. merry christmas . . .

It's worse than Dickens' England.

[In_The_Wind]

3. That was a horrible thing to do to any sick person!

[FarPoint]

4. wondering who actually wrote the discharge orders?

That is a key to saga. Did the patient refuse further treatment? Was an AMA signed? I believe there must be much more to the story..What was patients mental capacity?

[ninjanurse]

17. I wondered that too

There had to be something in writing that said the patient was ready to go home, and the patient would have had to sign it.
And who was responsible for discharge planning?

[FarPoint]

29. Another thing....

We do not know what the cause of death was either at this point....we only have cherry picked information which is inflammatory at this point....tugging at our heart strings. I want more information to be fair.

[okaawhatever]

41. I've read several articles about it. Some in the hospital questioned his being kicked out. He was

non-responsive to requests to move, open his mouth, etc. (while someone may have thought this was defiant behavior, based on what we now know it was likely something physical). he was misdiagnosed to begin with and had been in the hospital sis or eight days. It wasn't a taxi cab per se but a van that the hospital uses as a charter. The van driver questioned the decision and asked that he be re-evaluated. Request denied. (poor taxi van driver now has to live with all of this, especially him dying in the guys van). The facility had been cited one month earlier for having another patient die from a security guard. The state inspectors already had an inspection set up for a few days after this happened. The facility was put on the medicare "probation" three times during that year.

[FarPoint]

47. There has to be a discharge order by a physician or FNP.

Unless and AMA is involved and that requires a signature. We need more facts. I so want to follow this case. I hope I can because it stirs my inner ninja.

[okaawhatever]

53. There was definitely a release order signed. That isn't in question. He didn't go AMA. The hospital

called his aunt and said they were releasing him/kicking him out. That part was from an article in Dec of 2011 or early 2012. The aunt wasn't blaming anyone and seemed decent in her quote. Ill try to find a couple of links.

[FarPoint]

55. Great if you could find the links.

This is an interesting case to follow.

Sounds like a Hospitalist physician may of written a discharge....that in itself would be a case breaking little story. What kind of exam was preformed?

[Pretzel_Warrior]

71. why are you defending the rapacious hospital? I've had to deal with hospitals with sick relatives

and they really put it out front and center that they are trying to run an efficient illness/operations/medicines factory. They fuck a lot of stuff up in people's lives for the sake of the dollar. Not all hospitals. But quite a few.

[FarPoint]

75. I'm seeking more information.

I don't judge a situation on a few cherry-picked, inflammatory views.We need more details.

I agree that the hospitals have degraded over the past 10-20 years to a business format. I am appalled and sense there is indeed some validity to this heartbreaking story.

[Pretzel_Warrior]

86. Point taken. I just think victims of malpractice already have deck stacked against them

And no coincidence...it is usually poor and minorities most impacted.

[FarPoint]

87. Agreed...

I would thoroughly enjoy following this case. .. Hospitals have fallen below the standard of care. Exposure of the negligence is a valuable tool.

[dixiegrrrrl]

52. Well, the story says he "would not talk or move"

which leqads me to believe he may have been dead.

I do hope when the attorney gets involved, they look at the each page of the charting very very closely.
esp. for white-out or more than one ink color.

[FarPoint]

54. Thats a really, really dumb nurse if that is indeed the case...

I can't see even if this nurse didn't recognize death...as bizarre as that may be, others would of picked up on the fact. You know what they say about "dead weight". It's heavy.

I understand the outrage because healthcare has become an uncaring business of late...and they push out new nurses from an assembly line....read a book, take a test...presto...you are a nurse.

[Bradical79]

5. Don't know what to say

That's just a monstrous thing to do.

[Blue_Tires]

6. kick for truth

[PatrynXX]

7. what death panels

oh those death panels yeah thats what the ACA is trying to get rid of right. X_X

[Comrade Grumpy]

8. Sue those motherfuckers into poverty.

[Systematic Chaos]

9. How about stripping the certification from that shitstain "nurse"?

How do you trust someone like that with any sort of job?

[FarPoint]

30. Someone had to write the discharge orders....either a FNP, PA or Physician....

Unless the patient signed out AMA.....I'm saying there is more to this hospital scenario.

[Warpy]

34. More than I'd trust somebody who made up their mind on the basis of such a thin article.

Last edited Wed Dec 18, 2013, 08:38 PM - Edit history (1)

One scenario I can see is that the patient refused treatment and said he just wanted to go home. He didn't make it.

Dying patients usually know what's going on and a lot of them want to go home, they just won't survive the trip. I don't know what's worse, keeping them in a sterile hospital room against their wishes or sending them on a clearly fatal trip to their homes.

I'd have to know a lot more about this case before I pilloried some overworked nurse for dumping the dead. Nurses don't have that kind of power. Docs and administration do.

By the way, cold happens fairly quickly. Stiff takes a bit longer.

ETA: I should also remark that short staffing causes nurses to rush and that means some of them can miss the obvious. Staffing in a lot of hospitals is worse than dangerous, it's lethal.

[okaawhatever]

46. No, the patient wouldn't respond to requests. Whether the physician thought it was an act of

defiance or whatever I don't know. I have researched the info (which is very hard to find btw) and both staff at the hospital the taxi van driver questioned the guy's health. He made a request that the guy be re-evaluated which was denied, and so on. It's also important to note that the hospital had been put on medicare's immediate danger list three times during that year. They almost lost medicare funding. Another patient died a month before so it was already under investigation.

It's bad all the way around. Even if the goal was for the child to die at home, not being able to judge that a person can't make it home is suspect. He had pneumonia so it would be curious to know if he had any kind of oxygen with him.

The whole thing sounds bad, sorry. I've investigated as much as possible and while there is more to it i'm sure, the bottom line is this was still horrible.

[Warpy]

56. Yes, extremely hard on both the taxi driver and his mom.

However, a whole bunch of people had to have dropped the ball for this to occur, it's not just one nurse.

It also sounds like the place is so incredibly understaffed it's a wonder anyone gets out alive, including the staff.

[csziggy]

62. From the lawsuit

&quot A) nurse called for security to escort Mr. Washington from his hospital bed to the lobby for discharge because Mr. Washington was allegedly 'uncooperative' and 'refusing to talk or move,'" the complaint states.
"Upon information and belief, prior to his discharge, Mr. Washington was extremely weak and ill and in pain and had sought not to be discharged before he became unresponsive.
"When Mr. Washington became unresponsive he was unable to talk or move.
"Mr. Washington was unresponsive due to the fact that he was dying."
http://www.courthousenews.com/2013/12/13/63716.htm

[paleotn]

38. Ummm, I'm almost certain....

said nurse did not order the discharge. RNs do not have that authority. More than likely it was an MD. And I bet you dollars to donuts there's a whole lot more to this story than what is reported in the article.

[dembotoz]

11. why do we have to find this in an english newspapers--can't our news outlet cover anything.....

[BlancheSplanchnik]

16. I noticed that too.

Monstrous.

[Beaverhausen]

19. here is another link from an Atlanta TV station

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/national/lawsuit-dying-or-possibly-already-dead-man-forcibl/ncNxg/

[tblue37]

50. Well, we wouldn't want to waste the space. After all, the media need to reserve

enough space for all the Miley Cyrus butt cheek and Lindsay Lohan side boob reports and pictures!

[warrant46]

76. Disgusting isn't it

Hardly a day goes by without seeing some crap like that

The media is great for finding garbage like the Kardashians to mesmerize the sheep

[avebury]

64. English papers seem to be a lot better

at reporting these kind of stories then the US MSM. If they don't report these stories maybe they think stuff like that doesn't happen. The days of investigative journalism just doesn't exist in the country anymore.

[mwooldri]

88. And the Daily Fail at that too!

It is a tabloid after all... but sensationalist stories will make their way overseas. And a certain part of society inhabiting the British Isles will always feast on stories like this one. Especially when it's a situation that would be pretty much unheard of over there.

[bobGandolf]

12. WTF! that is crazy! n/t

[KamaAina]

14. Guess what color A'Darrin Washington was?

Yup.

[FarPoint]

32. So you believe this is a racial hate crime?

Tell me why if you can. I couldn't determine that by the vague article.

[KamaAina]

36. No, I believe a white patient wouldn't have been treated like shit like that

[FarPoint]

37. So, you know the race of the nurse to be white or being a nurse not black?

I think the nurse, who could be a black nurse, was following orders. I'd like to know who wrote the order to discharge.

[KamaAina]

39. The race of the nurse is less important than that of the security guards

Tough to imagine them, white or bloack, throwing a white person into a taxi.

[FrodosPet]

69. Have I got a job for you!

Get a gig driving cab. I bet within 2 weeks you have a white person who should remain in the hospital in your back seat. And an upset guard of whatever color giving you a stink eye and threatening to call your boss and his boss and even the police when you refuse to take them.

[paleotn]

40. Proof?? (nt)

[KamaAina]

45. Proof?? I said, "I believe..."

Can you prove your beliefs?

[Judi Lynn]

48. I believe your belief is entirely well-founded. Someone absolutely despised him for no good reason

in order to be able to do something so shameful to the human race.

I hope so hard the people involved will be completely revealed. They should not be able to find protection from the consequences of what they have done.

[LeftyMom]

57. A hospital in the Napa Valley turned my (white) mother out to die, and a second almost did.

If I hadn't been there to insist that she was loopy from pain medication and fever and not uncooperative and refusing tests, they would have turned her loose and she would have died. As is, they ran the test, she was diagnosed and over 100 days of hospitalization later she surprised her doctors by surviving. That's the SECOND time my mother has almost died of what one hospital diagnosed as the flu, and a second hospital correctly diagnosed (the first time was a pulmonary embolism.)

Here's the deal: if you don't have insurance everything is the flu, and any time you insist you don't have the flu you're either pill seeking or uncooperative. The color that matters here is green.

I'm not saying racism isn't ever a factor, but the primary determining factor in the quality of your care is the thickness of your wallet.

[KamaAina]

60. But the security guards would not have shoved her into a taxi.

Assuming they'd even been called.

[LeftyMom]

61. Judging by how hard the hospitalist was trying to convince everybody she was an IV drug user

(in the absence of any evidence because she's not) I suspect they'd have stuffed her into a police cruiser if I hadn't been there to insist they get another doctor and start treating her like a patient and not a suspect.

[dgibby]

65. He wasn't shoved into a taxi.

He was put into the van the hospital used to transport pts, but not before the driver questioned the decision and asked that the pt be reevaluated, according to info posted up thread.

[onpatrol98]

80. Maybe her daughter was there to protect her

[Burma Jones]

83. If that white patient was broke I believe the system would treat them like shit........

Broke and angry and depressed and all the other shit that ca happen when you're dying......

[idwiyo]

15. I am not sure WTF to say...

[CFLDem]

18. More evidence

our society has lost its humanity.

What a horrible fate...

[okaawhatever]

20. The hospital is Cape Fear Valley Hospital. They had another death a month earlier by a security

guard putting a choke hold on a schizophrenic patient. They were investigated by the state and put on jeopardy status for Medicare payments three separate times. They are a safety net hospital (whatever that means) but the article implied mediare/medicaid is a large portion of their business. I looked up info on the hospital and it is community owned so it's not a profit thing. This was all back at the end of 2011 and they haven't had articles on problems since then. (not that I could find)



http://www.fayobserver.com/news/local/article_a0e9784d-5e2c-55d8-b3ec-f40a8063ed9e.html

[greiner3]

24. "... community owned so it's not a profit thing."

I beg to differ as another post says this happened in an affluent county.

Just because an entity is 'non-profit' does mean that someone, or a lot of someones, makes a lot of money.

[okaawhatever]

59. The post that stated 'affluent county" was referring to a similar incident in Marin County

California. This happened in Cumberland County NC which isn't affluent (I was born there and have family there, lived there many years) Fayetteville is largely a military town as Ft Bragg and Pope AFB are there. I looked into the hospital situation because I suspected a reason that was financially motivated. After many, many articles (they don't want you to know this sort of thing) i realized it is still a community hospital and has a board of directors of 22 that includes City Council members, Doctors, Nurses, City Manager, etc.
While many medical decisions are still made with revenue in mind, in this case it wasn't the sole motivation. Also, the board of directors is diverse culturally. It had race and income representative of the area. (which surprised me). Just thought i'd let you know.

[Hissyspit]

25. I live near there. I would never ask to go there, unless

I had absolutely no choice.

[VA_Jill]

26. I have heard about this hospital

I used to be a travel nurse and it is one that has a bad rep among travelers, as do several in that part of NC. On the travel forums nurses were constantly being warned away from it (but the various companies were always recruiting for it, usually the shadier companies---reputable ones apparently knew about it).

[bananas]

35. "Cape Fear Valley" - the name is like something from a horror movie. nt

[okaawhatever]

58. Yep. You're right. The movie Cape Fear was filmed nearby and the Cape Fear river and cape fear

valley are the reason for the naming of the hospital and the movie. Fayetteville is about two hours west of Wilmington NC where there is a big ovie studio. I'm thinking they may have filmed from there.

Now they can do a sequel to the movie as horror movies often do, Cape Fear: The Hospital

[Judi Lynn]

42. Doesn't sound as if they have any standards whatsoever about whom they hire,

or their responsibilities to their fellow human beings.

People must learn about places like this, and not simply look the other way, as long as it doesn't happen to them.

This condemns the whole country if they are allowed to operate freely this way.

[FrodosPet]

70. Where are the superhumans who can and should become nurses all hiding?

If you do an extensive background check, you are too nosy.

If you don't do an extensive background check, you are too lax.

If your standards are too high, you will have severe shortages. Too low, you get incompetence.

It's a no win situation, and that is why I will NEVER be in the medical field, and why I would suggest anyone else stay out of it. The field wrecks your body and wrecks your heart, and sometime, some way you WILL make a very costly mistake, or have to follow a ridiculous order. And if that mistake is made public, you WILL be branded a monster, regardless of how much good you have done.

[VA_Jill]

85. See my post above

about the hospital, and maybe you will understand a little better. There are some places that are so bad reputable nurses won't work there. That's just how it is.

[stage left]

22. He wasn't moving because he was dying.

[TexasProgresive]

23. Maybe he was already dead.

That would be pretty uncooperative.

[Judi Lynn]

43. He should have had more respect for others after he died. It's so damned sad.

One might wonder about his last day, or any other day there. It can't have been good.

[mother earth]

27. There's that wondrous social network the GOP raves about, where are you, Huckabee? nt

[Kelvin Mace]

31. Huh?

A nurse ordered Washington, who had cancer and pneumonia, to be discharged after he became 'uncooperative' and 'refused to talk or move'

Maybe, just maybe it was because DYING PEOPLE DON'T DO MUCH TALKING AND MOVING!!!!!!!!

[TRoN33]

44. Oh it's in...

North-fucking-Carolina. This part is the bitter coldest story regarding the hospice stories. If I ever decide to make a trip to North Carolina, I'll make sure it's drive-through in less than a day!

[Incitatus]

63. Can a nurse disharge a patient? I thought a doctor had to do that. nt

[burnsei sensei]

66. Dishonor! Evil!

There is no hell hot enough for the people who did this!

[lonestarnot]

67. Motherfuckers!

[quadrature]

73. put the dead person in the cab...

save yourself a lot of
trouble and paperwork

[PyroManic]

74. Motherfuckers..

...must have wanted it easy that night.

Condolences go out to the patients family.

[JustAnotherGen]

77. This man was dying

Of course he was uncooperative and not responding.

Anyone who has been with someone their last days would know that - especially with a cancer diagnosis. Shit - my dad had rumors in his throat. He could barely breath yet take a few sips of contraband coffee I snuck him from Dunkin Donuts.that was my first death I've observed. I can't believe a single person in that hospital didn't have the experience of last days AND hours and realize he was winding down.

He should have been cozy in a bed with pain management - not a cab.

[liberal N proud]

79. The hospital should loose its accreditation

That is just cruel!

[jsr]

81. Recommend

[niyad]

84. according to the article, the hospital had been treating him for ten years. one would think they

were well aware of his condition. this is a horrific story, but, sadly, not the only one of its kind (see "sicko&quot .

[grahamhgreen]

89. Now, now, they just gave him a cab ride to heaven, is all.

[Butterbean]

90. I'm a nurse, I live and work in NC, and Cape Fear

does not exactly have a stellar reputation in professional circles. I have heard numerous horror stories from both residents (docs) and nurses who worked there, plus, yes, they have been cited a few times for some pretty grievous violations.

I don't know the details of what happened here, but it looks pretty damning from the outside. I have heard of nurses doing some pretty awful things that would shock the shit out of you, so it's not entirely unbelievable to me that she even could have written a discharge order without authorization (nurses can enter verbal orders from docs) and discharged this man.

Regardless, somebody's life was lost, and he died cold and alone, and his mother had to find him in that state. I cannot imagine losing one of my children, period, much less like that. The thought is nauseating to me. I hope the mother sues them to kingdom come and back.