On January 6, 2022, my husband Charles Shepherd was admitted to Honor Health Deer Valley Hospital due to covid dehydration.  During his stay, I was not permitted to visit him or be his advocate.  From the beginning, I believe my husband was treated differently due to his vaccination status (un-vaxxed), as evidenced in several exchanges with staff and his level of care he received while there.  Below, is a brief list of events:

REMDESIVIR– At the time he was admitted to the ER he was immediately isolated from me.  After a long while waiting for information, I spoke with a doctor and emphatically stated that I did not want them to treat him with Remdesivir.  I wanted him to receive rounds of Ivermectin (which he had been receiving at home) and monoclonal antibodies.  The doctor stated that he probably didn’t qualify for the antibodies, and they didn’t treat anyone with Ivermectin.  The doctor stated that another doctor would call me to discuss treatment.  Soon after, I learned that they administered Remdesivir without my knowledge or consent.  My husband had a history of kidney issues, and I did not want that drug administered.

DRUGS– My husband was alert when he entered the hospital and after a few days, I was contacted that he was well enough to be transferred to a rehab.  I was to choose one of the facilities that they named, and they would then have him transferred.  He then began having cognitive issues, and the staff blamed it on dementia.  He never had dementia.  I found out that it had been caused by dexamethasone.  I called the nursing staff for two days to make sure that they would STOP administering it.

NEGLECT – His blood sugar levels were not being monitored.  I contacted nursing staff several times to find that it was at dangerous levels.  I also learned that he was not being fed.  Because he wore dentures and those were not with him upon admittance, they chose to give him foods that he was unable to chew or consume, then left it with him.  I kept being told that he didn’t eat.  Over the course of two days, I had to make several calls to senior staff managers to get him something that he could eat and have someone there to make sure that he ate and drank as I was not allowed to be there to help him.  A nurse told my daughter that he was not infectious, but we still could not visit him due to protocols.  We requested that he be moved to another floor where he would be unrestricted so we could visit him, but our request was denied.

Additionally, he said he was freezing several times and often stated that he was hungry.

ABUSE – When my daughter called one time, she overheard a nurse harshly yelling at my husband when he was bleeding. We don’t know why he was bleeding or where he was bleeding from, but at one point she yelled “THE DOCTOR WILL SEE YOU LAST BECAUSE YOU HAVE COVID!”  He was trying to advocate for himself and ask when the doctor was going to see him. This is only one incident that we overheard where he was verbally abused. What were the other encounters with my husband behind closed doors?  Why was he bleeding?

When he first arrived, he sounded upbeat and sharp, but each day he stayed in their “care”, he kept telling us that he wanted to go home. After a time, he became too uncomfortable to talk on the phone, and would abruptly hang up on us repeatedly, which is VERY out of character for him. He sounded increasingly distressed, frustrated, confused and depressed. We feel it is possible that he was being mistreated by staff and that he was too drugged, distressed and possibly restrained to speak up about what was really going on.

LACK OF TRANSPARANCY – The doctors and nurses did not communicate with me with updates or status of his care.  I kept calling to speak with staff and no one would return my calls.  The hospital staff did things to him without my consent.  I was in the dark the whole time.

BLATANT DISHONESTY – There were several instances where they said one thing and did another.  They said he was doing well, then they said he had to be kept for another day or two because of his kidneys, and then a bladder infection.  There were always new reasons to keep him longer, while simultaneously telling us that he would be able to leave soon. They kept moving the goal post.  It was like he was being held hostage.

Overall, my husband was alert and ready to come home after a few days, but they kept finding reasons to keep him longer.  The longer they kept him the more he began having cognitive issues and the more his health declined.  They kept telling me that he was getting better, and he would be going to rehab soon.  Then in the early morning of January 16, they called me stating, emotionless, that “Charles has passed”.  Not only that, but she told me that NOW I WAS PERMITTED TO COME TO THE HOSPITAL TO SEE HIM!  This has been so deeply disturbing, heart wrenching and maddening.  This should have NEVER happened to my husband and to our family and it is my belief that he would still be alive today had it not been for hospital “protocols”.  I strongly believe the hospital was incentivized to murder my husband under the use of covid protocols.