Is this a secret used by sadistic podiatrists that should not be allowed?

Do you have verification of this? It sounds a very odd story. Not a single staff member in six different facilities have noticed or resposed to complaints from patietns or patients’ family?

Not really. My mother told me he did it to her. And I remember the “inmates” discussing various punishments that would be meted out to complainers or benders of the rules. So she only told me. And I wanted to avoid getting her into trouble by complaining. This man was a close friend of my ex husband.
And in my opinion it is not a VERY ODD story. It was a fast way of getting rid of bad toenails. The only caveat I might have about it is he didn’t really do all ten toenails, possibly. thanks for your reply and have a nice day.

Does your mother no longer have any toenails? If one rips nails off, they never grown back (See the history of the Gestapo.)

Sounds sadistic to me, geesh US nursing homes suck so bad.

When nursing home residents talk about “punishments that would be meted out to complainers or benders or the rules,” it’s time to have serious doubts and find the truth. Many eldercare patients tell outlandish stories while sincerely believing every word.

First, ask the facility’s manager or head nurse about the podiatrist and his procedures. If residents are screaming bloody murder during his visits, someone would have heard and inquired. Ask this same individual to examine the podiatrist’s patients; as @gailcalled mentions, missing toenails would be obvious. Second, ask when the podiatrist will be returning again, and make sure you’re there for his next visit. Smart money’s betting that you won’t observe anything inhumane or inappropriate.

Most likely, the podiatrist did something to your mother that was somewhat painful or uncomfortable. Toenails are very sensitive.

She died in 1995. I never go near the place.

OWWWWWWWWWWW!! That’s all

This is hard to believe. The pain would be excruciating to say the least, and risk of infection etc. IF this is true, we are talking elder abuse. No sedatives, local anesthetics, cleansing and wrapping the nail beds, dressing changes. Cruel and abusive IMO.

Thanks , @Coloma. I have no idea about any of those things you brought up. And I am willing to admit that there are people in nursing homes who dream things then think they happened. I do know for a fact the doctor was there that day and that she saw him. Those are the only things for which I am positive. I am also positive, although this is a different subject totally, that this doctor was in love with two women at the same time: his wife and another woman. His wife, a friend of mine, told me lots of details about it. FWIW They are still married, miraculously.

@Aster: When you examined your mom’s feet after she told you about the podiatrist’s behavior, were there toes where the nails had been ripped out?

@Aster My mom worked in a few nursing homes on and off, when I was younger, and to me it was the absolute saddest thing I’ve ever seen. I hate them with a passion, I’d believe a lot of the bad stuff myself.

Surely you looked at her toes after she told you this? This would be the reason to get a loved one out of a particular nursing home if this was indeed true. As someone above said, the potential for infection and in the case of a patient that is diabetic, almost surely the loss of a foot. I don’t believe a doctor would do such a thing if he was reputable and there are too many family and friends of the patients that would turn him in. I think your mom might have made this up.

I did and could not look at her toes. They were wrapped up in big, plastic boots with padding so that they would not come in contact with the sheets. The sheets were very painful when they touched her feet.
This doctor was the sole podiatrist of the entire nursing home. A few voices of objection would not have had him dismissed. This is not to say she didn’t make up the story but I believe her. He also was the sole foot doctor in several other homes. His wife contacted the homes, went to visit them and had them draw up contracts. After that happened they became fairly wealthy.

I would find this story hard to believe and actually, not believe it unless I confirmed it by Googling.

In thinking about this further, in order to pull all five toenails off of someone’s foot all at once, the foot would have to be put into a vice-like device and much force would be required in order to yank the nails off all at once. I think someone’s foot and/or leg would be injured in the process.

I have decided that I don’t believe this story could be true.

I don’t believe that the toe nails were healthy nails to be able to pull them off as you say it would require alot of strength and effort to complete.
But however, IF the toe nail WAS in fact brittle, and had fungus growing beneath it, then it would not hurt as the fungus would be between the toenail bed and the toe. Thus providing an insullation for feeling anything.
The toenail would in fact almost come off easily without much effort .
At that stage of disease the nail would most definately almost fall off on its own eventually after spreading the fungus to the other nails.

A few days ago, I was visiting my Mom in her room. A couple of nurse’s assistants were laughing about something, way down at the end of the corridor. My mother said, “They’re making fun of us.” The two gals weren’t nearby, couldn’t hear what we were saying, and weren’t even aware that we were there.

A couple of weeks ago, a lady brought her guitar to lounge area on Mom’s floor and held a nice sing-a-long. I visited Mom late that afternoon. Mom told me that the lady had started the sing-a-long by saying that she was going to kill someone during her session. While Mom and I were chatting, she had “Dr. Phil” airing the in the background. The show’s subject was violent home invasion. A survivor was telling her horrifying story; a criminal entered her house, with a gun drawn, and said that someone in her family would be dying that day. Mom heard that statement and applied it to the sweet sing-a-long person.

The point of all this? That eldercare patients often tell the most outrageous stories, fully believing every word that they say. You need to believe nothing, dismiss 99.9%, and investigate the .1% that might be valid.

@Inspired_2write: I have no doubt that nursing home patients would have diseased toenails removed, and I have no doubt that there is, or was, in history, a torture device that pulled 10 toenails off all at the same time. However, that such a device was used on nursing home patients at this point in history is what I doubt. It seems to be the stuff of someone who either has dementia or someone with an ulterior motive (like getting the family to take her out of the nursing home).

By the way, it’s worth mentioning that facility residents say equally outrageous and false things to the staff members about family and friends.

My mother often tells her CNAs that I neglect her and haven’t been to visit in weeks or months; they know that I’d been there earlier that day, along with every previous day. Recently, she told a nurse that I often slap her, very hard, on her hands and forearms (apparently, I’ve figured out a way to hit Mom even when I’m not visiting); they know that I’ve never harmed her in any way or manner.

It’s all just part of the eldercare experience.