My husband and I both contracted Covid after a bus trip to Tennessee. I contacted our doctor to see if there was anything he could prescribe to make us well and I was told by the receptionist that no, there was nothing unless we were admitted to a hospital. We stayed home and rested. Doug was not as ill as I was at first. In fact, he didn’t seem ill at all until about the Tuesday after we came home. That’s when I suggested we get tested. By the Sunday following, he was weak and his breathing was difficult. His oxygen level was 88 so I took him to the hospital.

Once there, I told the nurse we had Covid and he was having trouble. They put him in a wheelchair and whisked him away, right after I was asked if he was vaccinated. I told them no, he wasn’t. That was the last time I saw my husband of 49 years alive, only the back of his head as he disappeared into the hospital.

No one called to update me on his condition. I called repeatedly and my calls were routed to the wrong floors. He couldn’t call me since he was on oxygen and short of breath. The only call I received was from the patient care woman asking me if he had a directive in place!!! How insensitive and horrifying.

It took a day, I think, for him to finally get a bed and be admitted. I had no idea what was going on. I was never called to be informed of anything. Later when I read his hospital records, it said they spoke with me about this or that, but that was a total lie! NO one called me about anything unless I called them first and asked for a return call.  Once admitted, it took me 3 days to get him a toothbrush!!! The care there was awful. It took hours to get his overnight bag to him, after I rushed it over to him. I saw later, when he was dead and they finally let me up to see him, that his room was right across from the nurses station. 6 feet away. All they had to do was toss his bag to him.

I was asked by a nurse if it was true that he and I didn’t want him on a vent. I affirmed that. I said that we felt that it would kill him. We were right. She also very condescendingly asked if it was true that he was afraid of needles and that is why he didn’t get the Covid shot. When I explained that he was a polio survivor who was traumatized by needles when he was only 2, she relied, ” Well, he certainly is getting a lot of them now, isn’t he?” So cruel. I had no idea what they were doing to him.  If they were so cruel to me, I only imagined what they were saying to him and about him to others.

When I could get through to a nurse, I was told he was holding his own until suddenly he wasn’t, and he now needed a vent. It both shocked and saddened me. His white blood count was up and they couldn’t figure out why. I finally told the nurse to check for a UTI because he was 71 years old and it’s common in older males. He checked his chart and found out no one had checked his urine in 8 days!! Once checked, they found he did indeed have a UTI! I had to tell them how to do their job!  Of course, if he was being treated with antibiotics as he should have been for pneumonia, that would have been cleared up.

I have no idea what was going on for him. I do know that in the hospital notes, it was noted that he asked why no one had flipped him to his stomach at night. Neglect it appears.  At the beginning of his stay, it says he met sepsis criteria, but obviously nothing was done.  At the end of the notes, it says Septic Shock due to Virus and sedation requirements. They killed him.

His death haunts me every day. There was no reason to kill this proud Army Veteran. He died alone. Even our pets can have us there when they breathe their last breath.