Below is a complaint written which describes what happened to Mike O’Dell.

Susan Edwards  – February 28, 2022

On January 10, 2022, my husband Michael O’Dell was taken to the ER at WMH.  He had Covid 19.  I was at home sick with Covid myself so my daughter in law brought him in.  I instructed my husband to call once he was in the ER, which he did.  The ER nurse who was assigned to him was also present when he called me on speaker phone.  I instructed her to put on his chart that he did not want to be put on a ventilator, under any circumstances. (We had discussed this prior.)  Her reply, word for word: “Is this true?  You don’t want to be put on a ventilator; you want us to just let you die?”  Things just went downhill from there!  She also asked him why he wasn’t vaccinated and when he answered “for religious reasons” she just huffed.  He also told her at that time he did not want to be treated with the drug Remdesivir.  He was admitted to the hospital later that day.

On January 11, I call the hospital and am told he is no better and no worse.  January 12 is when I received the first call from the hospital from his attending, Akbar.  Very little concrete information regarding his condition.  January 13, Mike called and said he hadn’t been given any food.  He got a milkshake.  When I called, I was told his pulse-ox went from low 80s to 97 and he was improving. January 14 was called by hospital requesting a copy of the POA for health care.  On January 15 I received cold-hearted, uncompassionate, apathetic call from Akbar’s P.A.  Her tone was so horrible that I told her if she dares speak to my husband the way she spoke to me it would be disastrous!  I told her Mike said, “they’re trying to kill me” and her answer was that he had hypoxia to the brain so he’s not making any sense!

January 16, I called his nurse Paul.  Paul was the first person to speak to me kindly.  He told me Mike had just had a chest X-Ray and the pneumonia hadn’t gotten any worse.  I could not speak to Mike as he was sleeping but was told he would help Mike make a facetime call later.  The call never came.  That evening Paul called to tell me he was not doing well; he was being transferred to the ICU. He also suggested we bring cards, pictures, and drawings from his grandchildren as that is all he talks about.  My daughter in law came to the hospital the next day and your receptionist refused to take anything but personal grooming supplies or clothing, as it was not allowed.  She was very rude and told her she had to leave.  I called his nurse when she told me what happened, and he advised us that he would tell her it was OK to bring everything back.  Your staff was not good at communicating!

On January 16, I was able to facetime Mike for the first time.  Mike was alert but looked so terrible.  I could see that he had lost quite a bit of weight.  January 17, I call ICU and am told Mike is stable.  Later that day I was called by his ICU nurse who sounded a little hysterical.  She said I needed to talk sense into him.  She said he was combative, and they had to call security and restrain him because he kept yanking off his mask.  The exact words she yelled at me were: “This has got to stop!”  I would be happy to have the EMT who came to our home during Mike’s final days explain to your ICU nurse why Mike was doing this.  He told us that since he couldn’t breathe Mike thought the mask was suffocating him!  He calmly spoke to Mike in a very tender manner and Mike never ripped off the oxygen mask again!

On January 18 our family decided that Mike was coming home.  We’d had enough!  At first, the path was not made easy for us.  The coordinators were dragging their feet and didn’t think they could get him home until my son exclaimed “get it done”.  We spoke to the palliative care unit and made the arrangements to put Mike on what you call Comfort Care.  Our two sons and I were finally able to see him in person.  We received permission from the ICU to visit.  We arrived at 5:00 PM.  We were informed that Mike had another “episode” and they had to sedate him.  I was shocked at how he had physically deteriorated in just 8 days.  We left at 8:00 PM.  He never woke while we were there.  In three hours, the ICU nurse came into his room ONCE!

On January 19, my son and I arrived at the hospital to stay with Mike until the ambulance would get him out of your hospital.  When we arrived, I was confronted by Akbar’s N.P.  She was so wicked and vile!  She pointed her finger right in front of my nose, with her teeth gritted, and said “You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into.  You’re going to watch him die gasping for breath.”  As I was shaking, I told her I didn’t care, this is what Mike wants!  I also had a document SHOVED at me by a clerk behind the desk in ICU who said I needed to sign it as Mike could die in the ambulance on the way home.  I signed because I wanted nothing to delay Mike’s homegoing.  When I finally got to be with my husband, he was able to talk to me.  He was so happy he was finally going home.  He told me your staff, except for nurse Paul, treated him like a piece of crap!

Taking Mike home was another nightmare, caused by your staff.  We were given written prescriptions he would need at home.  My son was told to go the hospital pharmacy to get the RX’s filled.  After waiting for over a half hour the pharmacist told my son Mike’s insurance wouldn’t cover the cost.  He told the RPH that we would pay for them. Then the RPH came back and said they were out of what we needed.  We had to go to Walgreens to get my husband’s RX’s filled.  How could a hospital be out of morphine and Ativan?  I’m sorry, I don’t believe we were told the truth.  Bell ambulance arrived to bring my husband home at 3:30 PM.  We were told that everything we would need would be in our home when we arrived.  My son and I arrived first.

I realized immediately there was no oxygen!  Palliative care had only ordered a CPAP machine.  My son phoned the Hospital and was told Mike didn’t need oxygen.  I’m quite sure your staff heard me screaming “he can’t be without it.  He was on 100% oxygen in the hospital”.  The EMT from Bell shook his head and said we are not bringing him in the house until everything is in place.  We don’t have enough oxygen in the ambulance, so we are taking him back to the hospital until everything is delivered, hooked up and ready for him.  Your staff person from the ICU said “whoops” when she realized the mistake made by YOUR STAFF!

My son has the great fortune to be able to call and speak to his personal physician by phone.  When we brought Mike home, we were all hoping for a miracle.  When my son spoke with his MD about his father, he asked us to find out what steroids and antibiotics he was on, and he would continue them at home.  We called the ICU once again and were told that Mike had never been prescribed antibiotics!  WOW, it would have been good if antibiotic therapy would have at least been attempted.

The home hospice team was also negligent.  They should not take a case if there is not enough staff to accommodate someone who is dying.  When Mike ripped his mask off at home, we called immediately, and hospice could not arrive for more than an hour.  My son called 911 and they arrived minutes later.  Four EMTs were at our home for over an hour and got the situation totally under control.  In addition to telling us Mike had a very strong heartbeat they noted he was very dehydrated.

We asked the home hospice nurse for fluids the next day and she told us we could dip the sponge swab in liquid all we wanted!  What a joke.  Mike was well known and loved and once we put the word out that he needed IV fluids a friend sent an anesthesiologist to our home who administered almost 4 bags of fluids.  He stayed at Mike’s side for over four hours.  He told us that Mike had not had enough fluids for some time!  Interesting, isn’t it?  After Mike received fluids, he was so much calmer.  He had more urine output, his color improved, and the abdominal bloating lessened.  Did you not only deprive him of food but also water?

Mike died on Friday, January 21, 2022.  He woke up for about an hour before he passed on.  We were all able to say goodbye.  His last words were “I love you”.  We are so grateful he was at home, conscious before he died.  If hospital staff had their way he would have died in a coma on a ventilator.  I’m sure it was very disappointing that you were denied the extra benefit from Medicare for a vented Covid patient.  It’s about $40,000 if I remember correctly.  Mike can no longer speak for himself so my family and I will speak for him, as loudly and as publicly as possible.  I have the text messages on his phone that prove your hospital staff were shaming him for not being vaccinated.  SHAME ON YOU!