Saturday, August 28, 2021, while out of town at Michael’s high school reunion across the state, we began to exhibit symptoms of something and drove home to quarantine. Our PCP refused us early therapeutics. But after a week a telemed provider prescribed steroids, and antibiotics and found mab in our area, which we both received. Eighteen days after the onset of symptoms, the telemed provider advised us to get Mike to the hospital for oxygen and fluids.

Once at the local hospital, following a PCR test, Mike was told he was still contagious with COVID and needed to be transferred to another hospital. A ‘covid bed’ was found at the University of Washington Hospital Northwest, but to be transferred to UW required Mike be sedated and intubated or sign a DNR. Mike called me at home to tell me where he’d be going, that’s the last time we spoke. He was flown to Seattle, put on Remdesivir, and died a week later.

The day before Michael died the nursing staff allowed an epinephrine bag to run out. His heart stopped and in the process of getting it going again (CPR) several ribs were broken and his liver was lacerated. According to the autopsy I demanded, over the next several hours he essentially bled to death as they kept adding meds to keep his blood pressure up. I received the completed record of the autopsy after 9 months. I contacted an attorney regarding a medical malpractice suit who claimed that as long as the hospitals/doctors practiced the standard of care they have a defense that I probably would not be able to overcome. So, people are still dying in Washington under the ‘standard of care dictated by public health policy.