COVID-19 Humanity Betrayal ㅤ Memory Project

My husband was deprived of food and water the entire week he was at Milford Regional Hospital 10/18/21 – 10/25/21. Hospital staff kept his cell phone away from his bed knowing that he was unable to reach it. We dropped off a cell phone charger for him to charge his phone and hospital staff brought it to his room but left it where he could see it but not reach it.

I don’t know how they did it, but they also managed to manipulate his cell phone into not receiving our calls and him not being able to call us. We often called the nurses’ desk so that they could transfer the calls to his room, but this was another challenge. If we were lucky, a nurse with human decency would connect us to his room. He was also denied visitors and only allowed me to visit him briefly, on one occasion, in hopes that my husband would stay at the hospital.

We have recordings of conversations between staff, myself, and paid advocates (the hospital denied him advocates) trying to help my husband. My husband begged Milford staff to allow him to be discharged home on hospice after being in the hospital for days and fearing for his life. Milford’s staff agreed but two days before he was to come home, they canceled home hospice services. And only hours before my husband was to be discharged on October 25, 2021 (signed himself out of the hospital) Milford doctors canceled his ambulance and told us that we needed to take him home in a private car. This was after they spent the entire weekend telling us that it was too dangerous for my husband to be discharged home without the proper equipment, oxygen, and support. Upon discharge, they completed a DNR form and had my husband sign it.

My husband never would have signed this under normal circumstances as this was not what my husband wanted. He tells us that he never read the document, and did not know what he was signing but at that point would sign anything they gave him just to get out of the hospital. Once my husband arrived home (via a private ambulance service that was arranged by a good Samaritan) he suffered cardiac arrest only hours later. He was resuscitated by our adult sons and family friend who is also a physician. He was then taken to Landmark Medical Center by the emergency crew. We were later told that my husband suffered cardiac arrest due to an untreated sepsis infection.

My husband remained at Landmark for several weeks where it was a daily battle to get him the nutrition, medicine, and care he needed. His nebulizer treatments were often skipped, he was denied hydration fluid, and food was placed on the tray but yet he was unable to feed himself. He was given medication that he was allergic to even after it was mentioned to hospital doctors and staff on several occasions. He was bullied daily by the hospital resident because he refused to sign an order to be put on a vent. There is much more to share.

Thankfully, while at Landmark Hospital, I was able to visit with him two times a day for two hours each visiting period and was able to push fluids and feed him although at that time he was barely able to eat. He suffered a collapsed lung in November due to the BYPAP machine and at least three Sepsis infections. He was finally discharged home on hospice the month of December 2021. Today he is only on 2 liters of oxygen and can walk again. We are still praying for a complete healing miracle. I like to add that some of the staff at Landmark Hospital showed genuine care and concern for my husband. I’d love to provide more details and specifics if you are interested. Thank you.

Note from the Interviewer: During this story you will hear Jacqueline Colón talk about the importance of faith. She mentions a powerful chapter in the Bible many times: Psalm 91. It is such an important part of their story that I want to include a link to Psalm 91: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+91&version=NIV

I hope everyone takes time to read it. The photos in this story speak volumes about the importance of Faith, Hope and Love.