Vitas HealthcareReviews of vitas.com

The IPU in lecanto as a RN has been the worst experience of my life. Do not send your relatives there…. No wonder they have a 75 million dollar law suit!

No zero stars as an option. A sham. A waste of time. Pure garbage.

I made my concerns clear to the management team however nothing came of it. It started out well the first two weeks of at home care for my grandmother. That quickly changed as we constantly had different nurses assigned therefore no consistency for the patient nor the family. We would be told conflicting information by each nurse all the way up to her passing. It was an occasional occurrence but literally we saw a different nurse 2-3 times a week and was advised “I don’t know why they would tell you that because that isn’t right”…We were never provided guidance on how to do things such as appropriate method to move patient from bed to bedside commode, etc. We were left to searching YouTube to get guidance that we anticipated the agency to assist with. When we called after hours to ask questions it would take often times 3+ hours to get a call back. When you have a family member in pain and air gasping that is tooo long for a simple call back. On the day she passed VITAS didn’t even send out a nurse to pronounce the death, they sent a chaplain who was completely unaware of anything. In the state of FL it is against statute for a chaplain to pronounce death, must be a doctor or RN. Then took them over two weeks to sign death certificate for the funeral home which by law must be done in 72 hours. It was a circus to say the least. If I could do it over I would certainly have researched and went with Gulfside.

I am writing to express my extreme dissatisfaction with the services provided by VITAS Healthcare Inc., primarily due to certain employees' reluctance to take responsibility for their actions and inactions. My mother has been experiencing persistent diarrhea as a result of the formula administered to her for several months, despite my repeated complaints. A dietitian was dispatched, but appeared to prioritize representing VITAS Healthcare's interests as a legal council over providing assistance to my mother. Charge Nurse Charlie declined to conduct blood labs for my mother, even after her primary care physician requested them in response to my mother’s headaches, sore and dry throat, and hallucinations. VITAS Healthcare initially refused to conduct the blood lab, prompting me to contact state officials and the corporate office to secure the local office's cooperation in ordering the labs. Following the eventual completion of the labs, the staff displayed a negative attitude towards me due to my contact with the corporate office and state officials. The lab results revealed that my mother was suffering from dehydration, which explained her symptoms. If they are unwilling to address my mother's symptoms, I will not hesitate to take further action by contacting state authorities and Vitas corporate office. I had previously reported one of their doctors for not providing my mother with the necessary care, but later dropped my complaint against that doctor; I am now reconsidering and contemplating resubmitting the complaint to state officials. Furthermore, I was shocked to discover that a sick staff member came to my mother's home to provide care. When I contacted Charlie, the team leader and nurse, some of Vitas Healthcare's staff expressed discontent towards me, stating that sick staff may not have sick time off and won't get paid, but they seemed unconcerned about my mother's potential exposure to illness. Please note that Vitas healthcare inc. does have some highly competent nurses and staff members.

Can I take away stars? Vitas single handedly made my father’s dying THE MOST traumatic event of my life as well as my children's life. Not only did they send a nurse over that openly said she didn't know what to do when my father was actively dying. She crushed up pills and put them in water and put them in my dad’s mouth. And then let him try and walk to the bathroom. He died on the bathroom floor and I had to have my neighbor carry my dad’s dead body to the bed . I had to call 911. I missed my dad’s final moments because I was on the phone with 911. She left us there with my dads body, two hours before her shift was supposed to be over. I repeatedly asked for medical equipment, which was never brought, and I believe the lack of this equipment directly affected my dad's dignity in his death. They sent over people the next day to apologize and told me, when I asked, they had complaints about the nurse previously but it “hard to terminate minorities in California” . Stay far away from this company. Vitas, you will hear from me soon

Serious issues with this hospice organization. Communication is poor, supply management is unreliable, and follow-through is lacking. Despite repeatedly stating that wound care was a primary and urgent need, supplies were delayed or not provided at all. We had to order essential wound care items ourselves on Amazon and pay for overnight shipping just to avoid running out. That should never happen in hospice care. Staff responsiveness has been inconsistent, and the visiting nurse demonstrated concerning incompetence. At this point, we are actively considering transferring to another hospice provider. This is a negligence issue that places patient safety and families at risk. Proceed with caution.

I am very upset with how Vitas and the nurses who were assigned to my mom dealt with the situation. We chose Vitas because her doctor recommended this option for us, and we trusted them. It should've been a bad sign already if they all of a sudden want to change the schedule they had agreed on. They even said how a nurse would come every day since we were doing hospice at home, and my mom was already nearing the end. The first day, which was the first nurse came in, but didn't care much about how her blood pressure wasn't being picked up by their device. It was more like they just took note that the patient would be dying soon instead. Also, not sharing all the possible options we could've ordered for my mom. Only the oxygen was ordered, and the medicine was given without clear instructions on how to use the pill when my mom can't even swallow it. The second day of my mom being in home hospice care, the second nurse we met was nice, though they still didn't care much about not being able to get a reading of the number for blood pressure. It wasn't too bad, but they were supposed to order the fever medicine as well, which came very late. The third day was terrible; the third nurse barely even checked anything at all, and even lied to my dad about checking when I was watching her every move. All they did was check the temperature and explained to me the same medicine I already knew how to use, plus it was very difficult to hear them with their accent and mask on. My dad even asked me if they really did check her properly, which they did not. The fourth day was the WORST experience we had dealing with Vitas. That fever medicine that should've come sooner came late, but there were no clear instructions on how to use it since it was also in pill form. Not only that, but the nurse who came on the second day never came on the day they were supposed to be scheduled. I personally had to call Vitas to ask where the nurse was, but they lied, telling us that the nurse would arrive in the next 2 hours, but they never did. Not only that, when my mom died, they were also late to arrive, and I had to call again to ask when the nurse was even coming. If you deeply care about your loved ones, please don't use Vitas and find other options, not just following your doctor's recommendation. Vitas from this experience has caused us a traumatic experience and shows a lack of urgency in situations. The medicine and nurses were always arriving late. They even told us that they are available 24/7 and will be on standby, which is completely untrue. No one came when it was really needed, and even so, the person to announce the death was late. Afterwards, they give you a death certificate, and there will be no other support; they do not care. Philadelphia, PA

Vitas Healthcare Hospice Care at Home is a poor choice for any family seeking care during a loved one’s final illness. During our mother’s final illness, Vitas personnel (with one notable exception, addressed below) wasn’t there for their patient, nor for the family. Our 97-year old mother suffered extreme anguish and was in painful extremis -- and during her last full day of life, we had NO nursing care present. Clearly this is no way to treat a patient or their anguished family. During the two-day period preceding our mother’s death (with the exception of Joan Bell, RN) we received incorrect and often conflicting information from every person (Ezekiel, Camille, Mary) we interacted with at Vitas. On the day prior to her passing, we made many calls asking for a nurse to visit and were told that no one was available. Vitas sent a social worker, rather than an appropriately trained medical provider to our home. The one bright light at Vitas Healthcare is nurse Joan Bell, RN, who kindly made herself available to us by phone (on her day off no less). When our mother mercifully passed, Joan obtained permission from Vitas to come to the house and pronounce her. Ms. Bell epitomizes the true and highest standard of professional nursing practice. We are grateful she was there for us and for our mother, at the end of her time. Our time dealing with Vitas Healthcare was one of the most unpleasant and traumatic experiences we have ever had – it was very much “do it yourself” critical care at home. We cannot recommend them to any family needing guidance and compassion at such a difficult time.