This is a story about Cancer care @ Emory Healthcare at John's Creek, Georgia.

This is a MUST READ for anyone seeking treatment for Cancer at Emory...
AND IT IS IMPORTANT TO HELP ME GET THIS STORY TOLD. PLEASE SEND PEOPLE TO THIS SITE AS OFTEN AS POSSIBLE.

May 15th , 1946 May 9th, 2011 Darla B. Schafer picture taken in March, 2011

Emory loses track of recently diagnosed cancer patient, who dies in 4 days with seeing an Oncologist !
       

My wife Darla and I walked into their Emergency room on a Thursday May 5th, at 3:30PM, with what appeared to be the flu, and she was seen within 15 minutes.  Three tests later, and less than 2 hours in, she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, that had gone into her liver.
We were told she has had to have had this for quite some time to be so progressed, but she's been in great health except the flu this week... how could this be ?   She's not a drinker or smoker, has a healthy life-style,  maybe the tests were wrong ???  

       She was immediately admitted, and the ER Physician assured us that Emory had one of the best Oncology programs in the world. They would immediately start running tests. make sure she was comfortable, and we'd have a plan of action and information so that we could move forward and seek the best outcome.  Thank God at least we're at Emory... she had wanted to stop at either of the 2 hospitals that we passed to get here, but I had made the best decision on this one !
 

        Beautiful room, great nursing staff, and they visited with us one by one, and assured us that as soon as our Oncologist arrived, they would be there to do everything that was decided to help us move forward with some answers and solution. We watched TV, ate some dinner, and waited for the Oncologist.

        We were visited by the on call OB/GYN, a Dr. Gerber,  later that evening, who made it clear that he was not a Oncologist, but would actually phone the head of Oncology and get us some answers as quickly as possible... for sure, we'd be visited by an Oncologist in the morning.

May 6^th  Friday   9AM, Dr. Gerber OB/GYN, stopped in to visit with us and said the Oncologist that he wanted on this case was in surgery all day, but would be in as soon as that surgery was completed.  Darla and I remained in good spirits, knowing that there was a course of action, tests, and Emory experts getting involved later that day.  No-one showed up, and we slept there together that night. Found out from asking the nurses that no oncologist orders were even in Darla's chart yet ???  

May 7^th  Saturday - 10AM, Dr. Gerber came to visit and briefly told us that  the (apparently only one) Oncologist in the hospital had to go out of town until Sunday evening, and that he was assigned to handle the treatment until the Oncologist returned. He mentioned that he "had never been the assigned physician for a cancer patient, but had been told by the Oncologist to just keep her comfortable until he could return…   Darla was feeling much worse today, and was bloating in the stomach area… but with no tests, examination, or Oncologist on the case, nothing could done.

May 8^th  Sunday - Darla was progressively getting worse, and the nurses offered Morphine which made her sick, and from online Internet information (our only source…) we did not want conflicting drugs in her system that would interfere with  all of the tests and diagnosis,  so she wanted the morphine discontinued, and would simply take Advil for pain and discomfort until we saw the oncologist this evening as promised (when he returned from vacation). Note: No Oncologist today, and her OB/GYN did not stop by today either. This was clearly the worst day of her stay, but no-one knew it but us.  (it is interesting that Dr. Gerber has tried to bill me, and billed and received payment from Medicare for a Sunday visit !)
Sunday evening - Darla continued to feel worse... we considered moving her to another  hospital, but decided to wait until morning. We both drifted off to sleep around 11 PM...
 
        She awoke at 2AM  in excruciating pain... She said to me "Jackie, we had a promise about not letting each suffer... " I said I know baby... and I'm so sorry... there's nothing I can do... she said, "you've got to let me go".    The nurse came back in and crushed Darla's Advil it into some Jell-O so she could get it down, and around 3AM, she drifted off to sleep, and I went back to sleep on the couch as well.

May 9^th  Monday  -  I was unable to wake Darla at 8AM, she was having difficulty breathing, and remained asleep with eyes half open, fixed pupils and dilated.  Finally at 9:30 AM, the Oncologist came to the room, walked 2 steps inside the room, glanced at Darla introduced himself to me. I extended my hand, but he did not shake with me... From 2 steps inside the door he said "there was nothing that could be done. He would order Hospice care, and they would be in touch with us later that day".   Then he walked out.   I went to the parking area and caught up to him on the way to his car so I could at least ask some questions... how, what, why ???  Four days ago we were confronted with the word Cancer, and no-one came... now I'm hearing Hospice later today PLEASE tell me something ???
Instead... he never broke stride, simply glanced as me as if I was violating his space, and told me again: “I told you Hospice will contact you later today”. 

Darla never woke… she struggled on with each breath. Hospice did arrive later that day and worked with the nurses to make her passing easier and much of the contact that  day was done with others family members.. and I remember very little after I woke and realized she was gone.    She took her last breath at 4:30 that afternoon and Dr. Gerber the assigned OB/GYN showed up an hour later and he said to me "he had no idea she was so sick... "     ??
 

 If you ever met Darla you were privileged... and God gave me the opportunity to be with her for 26 years ! 
She was a loving soul, absolutely beautiful on the inside and out. To know Darla, was to know what Love and God looks like.
She and I were connected 24/7/365 and loved every minute of it. We were addicted to being in touch with each other constantly,
and loved what that meant to both of us.  How do you get over that ???
Now she is gone, she will never come home to me again, and I really, really miss her terribly.

                          I love you Sweetie...  always,
                                                                                      Jack

 

The story of a life, death, and misplaced trust... Emory Hospital @ Johns Creek, Georgia Events leading up to the death of: Darla B. Schafer

<---     Just copy & paste everywhere you can. No-one should have to go through this at Emory !

Someone like Darla can never go away, and those of us who knew her, will never forget the love that she left with us. 
Want to help ???   Get people to visit the site. Contact Emory and ask questions... Run an advertisement in a newspaper, send everyone on your mailing list here.  Don't let this story, this site, or the memory of Darla ever leave us.
Contact me at: JFSchafer@aol.com
Help keep this memory and site alive: Jack Schafer - 284 South Main Street Suite 1000, Alpharetta, Ga. 30009
 

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DISCLAIMER THE INFORMATION PRESENTED ON THIS SITE IS BASED ON INDIVIDUAL  OPINIONS OF THE CIRCUMSTANCES AS THEY PERTAIN TO THE FINAL 4 DAYS OF LIFE FOR DARLA SCHAFER -  THERE IS NO INTENT TO HARM THE REPUTATION OF ANY ENTITY OF INDIVIDUAL, AND WE WELCOME ANY AND ALL ADDITIONAL COMMENTS TO THIS PUBLIC INFORMATION FORUM. THOSE COMMENTS WILL BE POSTED WITHOUT EDIT.  SENT TO: JFSCHAFER@AOL.COM