Maria Garza’s Story on 3/15/2023, as told to Diane Martin, interviewer

Husband: David Garza, age 44

Symptoms began on 12/13/2021; entered hospital on 12/23/2021.

My husband was having trouble breathing, he was dehydrated and having trouble speaking and getting oxygen to his head.  So, I took him to the hospital.

The moment I took him there, the woman at the hospital asked if he was vaccinated.   The woman started telling about all the things they were going to do to my husband while at the hospital, and I thought, wait a minute, I thought he was going in for an IV for dehydration and oxygen, and then he would come home.  Then she acted like he was going to pass.

By this time (he began having symptoms on 12/13/2021, entered hospital on 12/23/2021), I thought my husband should be over Covid since it was well over 10 days, but the hospital said they don’t test until 20 days have passed.

David was always looking up things and researching.  Right away, they gave him remdesivir.  If my husband knew what the side effects were for that drug, he would have never taken it.

On 12/23/2021, I believe they put David on the vent.  He was able to talk, so not sure if it was the vent or something else.

January 3, 2022, the doctor said he was doing well, and they were going to take him off the vent.  Then all of a sudden on January 4, 2022, David began having chest pains.  When they took him back to ICU, I was unaware that they were doing that.  After that, the doctor said, “Didn’t they call you?”  No one has ever called.  They told me they would call daily, but they never did.  No communication whatsoever.

After they had taken him back to ICU, the doctor called to tell me my husband was the “sickest patient in the hospital.”  They tested him and did a CT scan for his chest pains and said it showed nothing.

Finally, I had the doctor on the phone and he said, “He’s steady.”  He never said anything about taking him to ICU.

These doctors never gave status on my husband’s well being.  I only spoke to them twice, and that’s only because I asked for status .

This doctor did not communicate with me until the day of my husband’s passing.  When they were giving my husband blood on his last day, he [my husband] was asking the pharmacist a question about how much of something they were allowed to give him, and the pharmacist didn’t even know.  He had to Google my husband’s question.  It seemed like the whole staff was clueless.

Even when I called, the only ones that gave me status were the nurses, and somehow, the sound of their voices always sounded like they were hiding something.  I asked repeatedly to check my husband for Covid, because I was confident he didn’t have it anymore, but the nurse refused and said they check patients after 20 days.

Then I asked my husband if he wanted me to discharge him.  He said, “No, let them do their thing.”  I trusted them going in, and so did my husband.  The only communication I had was through my husband.  He kept responding, “I’m okay.”

This is awful everyday, everyday.  There are no words.  He is gone, and he should be here.  He was very loving and a wonderful person.  A loving husband, father and son.  This shouldn’t have happened to him.

I felt like they didn’t want to help him, but to use him as test with the Remdesivir medication.

Additionally, I would like to tell the world, when you take someone to the hospital, fight.  If they don’t allow it, take them to another hospital.