Vitas HealthcareReviews of vitas.com

negligence. neglect after seeing my father very ill and then failing to make any notifications. I found my father Lysergic, with two infections and not eaten in three days. Extremely upset that because of his condition little to no care for my mother was provided. Cant see how any reasonable person would react that day. Had to call 911 on the Friday after thanksgiving and he was admitted for treatment. Spoke later with the social worker and she was extremely defensive failing to show any responsibilities. She even went as far in criticizing my voice saying that I was yelling and didn't like my tone. I explained to her that I have an inflamed esophagus condition and I am being treated by the VA for that. COPD, heart, Vascular, Dizziness, etc. I became then very upset because I considered at that time that she was mocking my illness and when advised of that little to any concern was expressed. My voice in essence sounds like the solicitor general addressing the Supreme Court. She then no it was really the yelling, it was the tone. Are you kidding me. no apologies and no further corrective actions taken. Place of occurrence 103 Holloway Ct, Sanford Fl. I would like to know why on the following week she returned with two Police Officers. Was it for me, a 100% disabled veteran that can barely walk. Shame on her and all involved including Vitas Healthcare. Worst experience ever with a medical provider charging substantial amounts.

I was referred to Vitas Healthcare by a friend on October 29, 2023, while my husband was in the hospital at Memorial West in Miami Florida. Upon reaching out to Amy, the representative, she came out the same day to perform an assessment of my husband, Mr. Jerry Dinkins and to make sure we had valid health insurance to cover him. After said evaluation, my husband was enrolled under Vitas hospice and was released the following day from the hospital under Vitas hospice. My husband was considered terminal at the time of the decision by said doctor. While under Vitas staff, there were different incidents that transpired by nurses and CNA; Thievery, broken furniture, and intense arguments with me concerning my husband's medication. One night my husband text my phone and told me to come down to his room, upon walking in I observed the Spanish night nurse rambling through my personal closet where my clothes and purses are. I immediately asked her what she was doing in my closet, there was no verbal response, she just sat down. A couple of days after that, I entered my husband's room to clean him and the room up, I noticed my vanity chair was broken and hidden back under the vanity. I contacted Vitas to report the situation to report this to a supervisors: Ms. Yannie Avita, and Ms. Gordon, Ms. Sherayl Hayes, after being given the run around, months later, after my husband's passing on December 13, 2023, at 3:33pm, They finally replaced the vanity, but my purse was never replaced. My Dooney and Bourke purse was never replaced. these items I hold dearly because they were gifts from my departed husband for my birthday. Approximately a week after that, I had to go pick my great granddaughter up from school in the afternoon at about 2pmI informed the CNA I would be gone about 30 minutes to an hour. She asked me about my husband's medication since he was one serious pain meds. I let her know has had his dose for the day. She was insisting that I leave my husband's medication with her, I said no. After giving my husband his medication, I always locked it in the safe due to me having small children in the residence, the CNA became very hostile and aggressive asking me questions, and I quote her exactly "You don't trust me?", I said my husband had his afternoon medicine already for the third time Period! I then exit the door after locking my bedroom door to pick up my grandchild from school. After my husband hit his rials of the bed for the second time while under the night nurse care, Ms. Hynes, and exchanging shift with CNA Lisa, my husband hit his head on the bed rail. I immediately called the charged nurse whose name is Ely to inform her of the accident. She informed me to call the on-call doctor at Vitas 1-800 number. Nurse Hynes and CNA Lisa were outside moving their vehicles to change shifts. This was the major incident of my husband hitting his head for the second time under Vitas care, due to this accident my husband loss speech and hearing. In my opinion, after no doctor arrived at my property, by my husband being terminal, his accident didn't matter. I began to see that my husband, Mr. Jerry Dinkins, didn't matter to Vitas because of him being terminal and this is sad, because my husband of 35 years MATTERED to me. All the way down to his last breath, and even after has gone, he still matters. Vitas crossed boundaries after my husband's accident and demise on the 13 of December 2023. Let me digress. After said accident, Vitas sent out nurse Wilda to write out the two accident reports of the injury my husband sustained under Vitas care. After my husband passed, I couldn't think, not even to file insurance claim. When I was able to file the insurance claim, to my surprise, Vitas had already submitted false documentations to file the two different insurance claims on my behalf. I never gave Vitas permission to file any insurance claim. After phone calls with two insurance companies, the paper Vitas submitted was authorization to release information which originally supposed to have been accident reports that nurse Wilda had me sign and I made my statement on those reports. THIS WAS A DECEPTION AND TRICKERY. I've heard rumors of hospice taking out their own insurance on terminal patients, but I refused to believe it. With that being said, I personally feel like there's nothing these palliative agencies won't do for a dollar. I would never ever refer Vitas hospice to anyone especially after referring them to my neighbor and what happened over there. I've been in the fight of my life since 2023 and todays date being sep 8, 2025, I'm still fighting, I'm still fighting with these agencies as well as me fighting depression, anxiety, panic attacks, full body pain while going through the grievance process. Nothing has been easy. Vitas never supported me. Vitas are a disappoint 💯

I am writing this with a heavy heart after the devastating experience my family had with Vitas Hospice Care while my brother was under their care. What we went through should never happen to any family. On Saturday, we asked the supervising nurse, Matt, to classify my brother as imminent so he could receive proper comfort measures, including morphine. Matt refused, saying it wasn’t necessary. By Sunday evening, my brother began shutting down, and his breathing became labored. We called for help immediately, but the nurse did not arrive until nearly an hour later. At that point, we were told morphine was needed, but because Matt had refused to mark him imminent the day before, no prescription had been issued. From midnight until 3:00 AM, we were on the phone for hours with the nurse, the pharmacist, and the doctor, desperately trying to get the prescription approved. We were sent to a 24-hour Walgreens, where we stood waiting, exhausted and terrified, while the nurse assured us the prescription would be ready by 1:00 AM. But at 3:00 AM, we were still waiting — the doctor hadn’t signed the order, Walgreens was waiting on the insurance company, and my brother was at home suffering without relief. My brother passed away at 3:20 AM, still in pain, without ever receiving the morphine he so desperately needed. This experience was beyond inhumane. We trusted Vitas Hospice to provide compassion and comfort during my brother’s final moments, but instead, we were left to fight for basic pain management while watching him suffer. No family should have to go through this. Vitas failed us when we needed them most, and I sincerely hope they review their protocols and hold their staff accountable so no other family has to endure what we did.

Aggressive Respiratory Therapist So far everyone who has come to my parents home has been wonderful to care for my father except one very Aggressive angry and inappropriate Respiratory Therapist . I only had one question about a piece of equipment in our home , he refused to answer any questions that I had, instead he talked condescendingly towards me and asked me what did I know about Respiratory Therapy even inquiring and demanding to know where I worked for my entire career as a Registered Nurse then where did I work as a Nurse Practitioner and what did the Respiratory Therapist where I work was responsible for. Then he said over and over I wasn't giving him the type of RESPECT that he deserved . He really upset my Dad who is terminally ill my Dad was screaming at him . Then he insisted on telling me how his own father died and said I wasn't thinking clearly. He Then accused me of calling him a slang name .... which I didn't . I may forget after a few years exactly what he said BUT I WILL NEVER FORGET HOW HE MADE ME FEEL . Embarrassed, angry , defeated. Unheard . Very inappropriate. I've been in Healthcare for over 40 years and would NEVER talk to a grieving family member in that way . SHAME ON YOU !!!!! Terrible how one bad apple can ruin the entire cart.

After waiting several days for the VA to coordinate care with VITAS, we finally were contacted and my dad was in the final days. The first hospice nurse did not exhibit much empathy or patience. She also did not ensure that my father was positioned safely and securely in the hospice bed. This resulted in his oxygen line being blocked and he was gasping and choking for air. In addition, she did not have some of the basic necessities including items to help give him water and keep his lips moist. She prescribed pills that needed to be crushed rather than liquid. She also demonstrated judgment of our choice to have him receive an IV with a private company the day before and said not to do it again. Finally, the next nurse did not show up as expected and we waited for about 12 hours to finally receive support. She reported to her supervisor that we told her verbally (on the phone) not to come, which was a blatant lie. We were desperate for help and communicated that fact. My dad died just hours after that nurse (who was incredible, but a bit too late after everything my father had been through.) Then, they sent the same no-show nurse to the house once my dad had passed away and she didn't apologize or help in any way.

My father did not ever receive a comfort care kit, and he went into terminal restlessness that was the most heartbreaking event I've ever experienced. The nurse called to help with it would not stop talking and flirted with my brother. My father was clearly suffering from pain, organ failure and lack of oxygen. He was picking and pulling at his bedsheets in a fetal position, as his caregiver (private, not a Vitas CNA) woke us up in the early morning hours because it was so disturbing and unmanageable. We had no idea what to do, had no morphine or anti anxiety meds to give him while he struggled, and we were horrified. 10 days leading up to this, he was poorly managed with inappropriate medications, there was complete chaos with delivering equipment and meds that were not appropriate to his condition, and nursing staff who couldn't be bothered to work weekends, leaving us to try to figure out what would happen if he died, since he willed his body to science and a nurse needed to be there to confirm and record his death. Even when he was imminent, we were left alone with him to figure it out on our own. Ten years later, it still haunts me, and my father was treated horribly by Vitas. The night before he died, I fired Vitas and brought in St. Michaels, who took over and made the experience calm and professional. Vitas was terrible and I would not recommend them, not ever. Some of the nurses were incredibly good, but the administrators don't listen and don't help. The chaos that went on in our home from the lack of organization at Vitas is unforgettable and unforgivable. It happened in October of 2014, but I can't push back that far in time in this post, but it still haunts me horribly to this day the way that Vitas cared for my father.

It feels like it just happened today because the bad memories of Vitas are forever in my mind. It has been over 10 years since I fired Vitas less than 24 hours before my father died, and hired St. Michael's in their place. I am still traumatized by my experience with Vitas. There were so many problems administratively and structurally, but the nursing staff who helped my dad were fabulous. It's not their fault that the company sucks. They had drugs delivered from a pharmacy that was at least an hour's drive away, so everything was always late. They never gave us a comfort kit to manage my dad's anxiety or pain when it got really bad. They often did not have any staff available on weekends, and when my dad was close to death, we needed a nurse to pronounce him because he willed his body to science, and without a medical professional there at his moment of death, that would not have been possible. Vitas was well aware of this condition. We could not get anyone to be there, and when superior staff came to evaluate him, they would stand around in his room talking on their cell phones, sometimes three at a time, and he was easily agitated since he had a series of strokes. So we had more people than needed when we didn't need them, and no one available when we needed them the most. Getting my dad set up for hospice with them was a nightmare. Constant phone calls to deliver things he didn't need, always checking to see if someone would be home to sign for deliveries, duh, he was dying, we couldn't leave him by himself! The chaos was unbearable. When they told me we would have no one on the weekend when he was the worst, and two women were in his room laughing, joking around while he was in a coma, then told me no one would be able to be there for the weekend, so I asked them to leave and not come back, since they clearly could not provide the service we desperately needed. Then I immediately signed up with St. Michael's, and my dad died the next day, with a competent nurse taking care of him. We were then able to fulfill his body donation, and I found out that he had not ever been properly medicated by Vitas, that St. Michael's did things in a much better systematic way with more appropriate medications. To this day, I feel terrible about the way Vitas treated my father and me. It was such a horrible experience, and it still haunts me, and it should have been so much more professionally managed. It was a chaotic mess, and by comparison with the calmness with St. Michael's, I would caution anyone from ever using Vitas. Some of the nurses were great, but the administration of their hospice program, and their administrators, are absolutely the worst. At a time when things should have been focused on my father, I had to focus on what Vitas wanted. It was so unjust. And really sticks with me to this day, especially because I cannot change what Vitas did to make my father's ending worse than it had to be. It's unforgivable.

As an analytical, quality manager I am attuned to a lot. We chose Vitas because of their mitigation plan. However, shortly into this program… I had to request specific wound products and educate the nurse about wound care and other fluid management. This enough is reportable to the health governing bodies. In addition, their team competency of the doctor to manage pain is sub par, logistics and delivery management of care products is ridiculously ineffective, requested and required items were either “unavailable or delayed,” without notice for weeks or simply revoked the order because “ the secretary didn’t believe it was needed.” Indicating this is a RoI issue not a care issue. They have no wound care specialist for a hospice team which is the number one issue hospice patients need education and action. Vitas has had many opportunities to initiate, educate, and perform even with my detailed help and education; they refused to deliver properly. Their manager on staff of teams, does not have the insight or access to basic metrics. Their LCSWs are useless as they complete no due diligence in evaluating proper care and treatment for respite locations. Unable to manage a proper schedule, teams inundates with facade actions. Instead they recommend their newly built facility to fill beds and pockets because of the new trend of health facility demand going up because of the poor health providing in the first place. I would hate to have a family go here to receive support when you are overwhelmed, uneducated in the field, does not inquire, trusting, and/or has faith in humanity. What a joke. Below status quo of the u.s.