Dr Jane Rimer

Dr Jane Rimer 2018-12-08 Person 1 5 0

Dr Rimer was in charge of my mother's treatment on an orthopaedics ward at St Johns Hospital Livingston in January 2014. She objected to my mother being taken out of the hospital in a wheelchair for recreation and claimed that it would pose a significant risk to her health, without there being any evidence to support this. She did not discuss the matter with me and refused to allow me (the Primary Carer) to assist the ward physiotherapists to remobilise my mother, who had dementia and osteoporosis, or to exercise her. The ward staff had difficulty communicating with her. I had walked with my mother every day before the fall which fractured her hip. I asked for a second opinion. The other geriatrician confirmed my view that there was very little if any risk involved and that it would promote rehabilitation. Dr Rimer backed down but continued to prohibit my involvement in physiotherapy or exercise. Dr Rimer's objection and prohibition probably resulted from a request from social workers to prevent my mother from returning to her home and my care. They were determined to move my mother into institutional care against her wishes. Dr Rimer preferred to hinder my mother's rehabilitation in order to please her colleagues, rather than discuss any concerns she had with me and base her professional decision on medical and physiotherapy assessments.