July 25, 2021, I took my husband, Doug, to Halifax Medical Center at 5:30 A.M.  His oxygen was in the eighties.  They took him to a room in the ER immediately.  I was in the room as several people began doing all sorts of things. Nurses were asking Doug questions like,  “If you need to be intubated do you agree?”  He said, Absolutely not.”

Within a short time, a doctor came in the room in a long white coat with a mask that looked like a gas mask.  He walked right beside Doug and asked him, “Are you vaccinated?”  Doug replied, “No.”  The doctor then, said “Maybe you wouldn’t be here if you were,” and he walked out. 

I stayed with Doug for awhile.  They were talking to Him, never addressing me, his wife, in any way, “You’ll probably be here five hours.”

I went home to get him some things, and when I returned with them, they wouldn’t allow me in.  From that moment I knew nothing of what they were doing to my husband. 

He was then left in the ER for 4-5 days, not being moved to a room until July 29th or 30th. He was able to use his phone for a bit, but they did tell him to stay off his phone because it was messing with the oxygen. When I could talk to him, he seemed to get disoriented quickly.  He told me at one point he was thirsty, so I told him you ask for water. 

“You’re not someone’s husband or wife – you’re male and age – in there”

My sister-in-law, Doug’s sister, Teri, a nurse for 40 years, flew into town the evening of July 25th from Washington state. She ended up staying with me for several months.  

We called daily and several times everyday to try and get information on what was going on. The only time a call was answered and we got updates, was when he was in the ICU – between the hours of 2:00 A.M. and 4:00 A.M. in the morning.   A Nurse stated he was removing leads and such and said to him,”Why do you keep doing that?” He answered,” I’m sorry, I didn’t realize.”  She said  “If you keep doing that, you’re going to die.”  

We kept in touch with Doug’s general physician, and we asked if he could try and get us in the hospital. At one point, we told the hospital we would a hire a nurse to sit with him 24 hours a day to care for him and keep us up to date.  They said, “No, you can’t do that.”  We told them if we were just able to visit we could keep him calm.  I can’t imagine anyone being alone in such a situation. 

They called us one evening to say one of us could go in, this being the late evening, early hours of the morning.  I allowed my sister-in-law to go, my only thought at this moment was she could better understand what was going on and how to help.  This broke my heart, but I thought it was best for my love. I cry to this day and forever that I dropped him at the hospital and NEVER  saw him alive again. How does a heart survive that?

He was in the ER for so long with no visitors. With no daylight, he became very disoriented, not knowing when it was day or night.  Doug did not take any medications and had never been hospitalized before.  His system was very sensitive. 

The hospital was admittedly understaffed.  They did not do things they said they would do because they didn’t have staff.  For such a large hospital with plenty of money, to not have staff during such a time has been devastating to many.  They were supposed to turn him at one point. I read in the hospital notes they didn’t do it because of being understaffed.  Also, when you are intubated you are supposed to have an X-ray daily to be sure positioning is still correct and they didn’t. It looks like they skipped days.  At one point, a nephrologist was called and he suggested to stop remdesivir because of the damage to the kidneys. The doctor said, “NO,” and it was continued.  

I saw no evidence of proper hydration/fluids, nor food or nutrition. My Doug was 220 pounds, 6 feet tall when he went in. Thirteen days later, he was 184 pounds. The amount of drugs that they gave him, sedatives, this to counter that, that to counter this, and dextrose that only make an acidic person more acidic.  I just don’t understand the thinking behind it all, not to mention a hospital borne infection which I believe was either from catheterization or intubation – like his body wasn’t fighting enough all ready.

I spoke to nurses that previously worked for this hospital.  They stated, they had a full staff of traveling nurses that were let go two (2) weeks prior because it had gotten slow.  

Staff were wearing buffs over their faces and fabric masks, no PPE over their clothing, nurses sitting at a desk were not wearing masks, which leads me to believe they didn’t want people in the hospital so they didn’t have to deal with family asking questions and such.  

The hospital said they tried calling me at a phone number that we haven’t had since 2011.  My cell number was given along with my sister-in-laws number.  The only time they called was for permission to intubate after Doug said “no” multiple times. 

We were called July 29th or 30th by the hospitalist who didn’t want to admit Doug initially because it was “beyond her scope,” but I continued to see her name on his care list.  When she called, she was audibly distressed and frantic sounding asking for myself to give permission to intubate “this very sick man.”  Up until that point, no one called to tell me of this “very sick man.”

I feel the inadequacy of this hospital.  The doctor’s knowledge and unbiased thinking to treat and help my husband were not used. There were other protocols in place that have been used and were completely overlooked.  The financial gain to the hospital and to the physicians to stick to a political agenda is poor to say the least.  They put money and agenda above patient care.  My family and I suffer a loss so great. 

I want them to understand what they put human beings through with the choices they made, If it was a hospital CEO or a doctor’s family, they wouldn’t have sat in an ER for days and made to wait for a room and would have received better care and their family would have been able to be with there loved ones.

I’ve spoken to many a nurse who have left this hospital for inadequate staff, unclean conditions, hospital born infections, and so on when these things are fixable.  Please, please help – nothing will bring my Doug back, and our family and I suffer, but these hospitals, nurses and doctors who chose protocol over what is best for the patient, need to be held accountable.

Something must be done, something must change.  

Jennifer Mellema