working from home.

He didn’t want to go but I insisted (something I now regret). He walked in on his own, was not struggling and we felt he would be in and out. They told me to come back in 2 hours to pick him up, 30 minutes later he called and said they wanted to keep him overnight to give him some oxygen. By midnight they called and said they were taking him to the Covid ICU for more individual care. Nothing to worry about! What I know now is that when he was in the ER they gave him 2 doses of Remdesivir without his consent or mine within 3 hours of being in the ER. Also his lab work came back with a highly elevated CRP level and a high dDimer level indicating that he had a PE or DVT. This was left untreated for 2 weeks.

When a Dr finally ordered a CT scan on July 18th 2021 that’s when they started to treat it with a Heparin Drip and ordered to check labs every 6 hours however the labs were done twice (12 hours) and the Heparin was working. But the next Dr came in and took Jeff off the Heparin drip and put him on Eliquis for what reason I don’t know because the Heparin was working. The labs were never checked again on the PE. So essentially it was not treated. Back to July 5th 2021 He was administered Tocilizumab a monoclonal for the amount of $26,878.80 and at this point wasn’t going to help him. A doctor called me and asked me why we didn’t get vaccinated and I told her because it’s experimental, they didn’t have any studies on it and we were going to wait to see.

Jeff was a healthy 61 year old man, taking no prescription medications, no health issues as a matter of fact we had just had our yearly check ups and our PCP said we were the healthy couple of his practice and should put our picture on the wall! We took really good care of ourselves with diet, exercise. Jeff was walking 3-6 miles a day on average. Once he was admitted I was not permitted to see him, but we talked everyday and texted throughout the day until he was put on the ventilator.

On July 6th his nurse (a traveling) called me crying and told me that Jeff was upset because the Dr was talking to him about the ventilator. He told the Dr that he would not go on the ventilator and that his wife wouldn’t like it. The Dr told him well she will like it or you’re going to die. Jeff said then send me home right now and let me die at home with my wife. I told the nurse that I needed to see my husband and she told me to come and she would get me in. So that’s what I did and she snuck me in. He was crying and so upset. I was able to calm him down and stayed for about an hour and a half. I reassured him he was going to be ok. I believed he was because we trusted the Dr’s & Nurses were there to help him. Why would we ever think anything different?

I called the hospital every morning and night to get reports on him. I requested that the Dr call me with an update and what the plan was for his care. When I talked to Jeff I wanted it to be all positive and not all questions. Some of the Dr’s would talk down to me and be very short just tell me something to get me off the phone. Some were gloom and doom saying he was going to be there for weeks. One told me he gave him a 10% chance to survive if he didn’t go on the ventilator.

I was able to get on Jeff’s patient portal after the first couple days so I could keep a better track on who was seeing him and what they were doing. I also printed the progress reports everyday so I could make notes on them and know what questions to ask. I did request a meeting with the team of Doctors treating him to go over his situation and what

the plan of care is. They refused. After a while Jeff was struggling and I knew he needed me so I tried to get in again and I was refused. So I requested the Administrator to come speak with me and she did. I finally convinced her to let me see him for 15 minutes. It was so hard to go see him struggling and getting worse. But we remained positive and he was fighting like hell to get better. He said he was fighting hard because he had a lot of life to live and he had his grandchildren to live for. He was such a good grandpa and he loved being a grandpa. We finally got a baby girl in the family after waiting 64 years so she was his special girl!

I pleaded all the time for them to let me come in because Jeff needed me by his side. He was so isolated and not being taken care of properly. I was able to see him again for 15 minutes and after this visit they told me in 2 more days I could start coming in daily because it was past their 20 day Covid protocol. We were so happy. That was Thursday July 22nd. He was in rough shape but he was still fighting. His muscles were total mush at this point because he had not been out of bed for days and days, not being fed on a regular basis. He was given Ensure from time to time, he was not given water and was getting dehydrated. I brought strawberry shakes to the hospital to be delivered to him and he never got them. He lost 47 lbs in 15 days.

When I left after the 15 minute visit I said I would be back as soon as visiting hours opened and I would stay until they kicked me out at the end of the night. I called and checked on him with the nurse at 10:00 pm and she said he had a little ice cream and he was resting while watching TV. Which made me happy. At 10:35 the hospital called me in a rush and told me they were putting him on the ventilator because he had a panic attack…. But only for 3 days to let his body rest… They asked me if I wanted to facetime with him and I said yes. We got about 20 seconds enough time to tell each other we loved each other… our last I Love You!!! I’ll never forget how scared his eyes looked. But I told him everything would be ok.

I believed that. I never thought Jeff was going to die. So for the next 20 days it was a mess. They were doing all kinds of things to him and telling me a lot of different things. Eventually telling me they were doing everything but he was getting worse. Then the next day things were better. So the Drs and nurses were all over the place. I facetimed with him every night even though he was in a coma, drugged and paralyzed. I knew he could hear me so I wanted him to hear my voice everyday. I still was not able to go see him, they told me I would be in the way. They put him on the CRRT dialysis machine because now his kidneys were failing.

August 10th I called to check on him and the nurse taking care of him (if you want to call it that) told me his body temperature was at 90.7. I was shook and asked what she was doing to help him and she told me she had an extra blanket on him. Then, I asked her if she had called the Dr and she in turn asked me, “do you want me to”!!!! I screamed yes! She was so cold and callous about this it seemed as though she just wanted to let Jeff die. We hung up so she could call the Dr and I called her supervisor on duty and she had the same cold and callous attitude. I said you need to do everything you can to save my husband.

I spoke to Chaplain Linda about what had happened and she said she would talk to them about how they acted. August 11th The Dr called me in the morning and told me Jeff was tolerating the CRRT, he was playing with the pressures and things sounded as ok as they could be at this point. Then he called me a short time later on the morning of August 11th and told me Jeff was going to code out, I was in shock and insisted that they let me come in. They agreed, so my son and I went up there and it was horrific to see him like that. They were only going to let me look at him through the glass to say goodbye and I told them to figure it out because I was going in to be with my husband. They agreed to let me in for a minute or two.

So I got to hold my husband and tell him I love him for the last time and how sorry I was that this happened to him. Then when I came out they asked me to put a DNR on him and I told him my sons and I need to talk about this. So we did and decided that we would not put a DNR on him and that this was between Jeff and God. I called and told them that, and that they should do everything to save him at all cost and they screamed and yelled at me on the phone and said that I was going to make them break his ribs and hurt him because this was between God and Jeff. It was awful how they treated me as my husband lay there dying. They called us a little while later to tell us he died.

The worst day of my life. I never imagined that taking my healthy husband into the hospital ER to get a simple chest X-ray and he would end up dying. I now know what they did and why they did it. During Jeff’s entire stay at the hospital, he was not given proper nutrition, hydration, lacked getting him up and moving around, Isolated for 5 1/2 weeks in that room without his family to support him, make decisions for him, and encourage his healing. He became depressed and beat down. Bathing or cleaning him up was something I had to request because it was not being done for him, his clothing was not changed, his bedding was not being changed. When I would get upset and ask the nurses to do this, Jeff would say don’t make waves because they are taking it out on me.

It’s beyond my understanding that this was an ICU and this is how he was being taken care of by the very people who are supposed to take care of him and make him well and send him home. Not one time was I asked for consent to do anything, they did what they wanted per the hospital protocol. Jeff never signed anything nor did we make any decisions about what they were doing to him. He was told just like I was told. They totally took away all his and my rights as his POA. Pure neglect and it must stop! Unfortunately it’s too late for my wonderful husband Jeff Smith. I vow to be my husband’s voice and fight for justice if it takes me to my last breath. I love my husband Jeff Smith and he will not die in vain.