Rodger at 55 was a healthy hard working dedicated UPS driver.  The day before his first Covid symptoms, Rodger had worked a 13 hour day.  He developed a fever over several days and his wife, Noreen, tested positive for Covid along with Rodger.

Rodger went to the doctor and an appointment was made for Regeneron (monoclonal antibodies).  However, once he arrived, Rodger was told he did not qualify due to a low oxygen level  His doctor advised that he should go to the ER for fluids.  His daughter, Meghan went with him but was denied hospital entry on 11/2/22 at CaroMont Medical Center in Gastonia, NC. Meghan kept texting her dad to find out what was happening and to make sure he said no to Remdesivir.  It became clear to Rodger that he had made a calculated mistake by going to the hospital.  They kept him in the ER and the next day, 11/3/21 he was moved to the ICU “to rest his lungs”.

The nurses were “terrifying” the family on the phone and thus began a campaign to pressure them to intubate Rodger against his wishes.  The medical staff kept asking Noreen to sign a DNR (Do Not Resuscitate ) .  Noreen was told no  Covid patients make it off the ventilator.  She asked the doctor if he had tried everything to save Rodger.  Would he at least try Ivermectin? The doctor’s response? “If you say Ivermectin one more time, I am going to hang up on you.”.  Meghan, Rodger’s daughter, worried about medical retaliation against her father and was spoken to “like a criminal”.

There were repeated mixed messages of “No hope, not going to survive” (delivered to his wife on his birthday 11/21/21) and “lungs take time to heal, he’s doing better” from the infectious disease doctor.  But it was clear that the treating physician was mad because Noreen refused to sign the DNR.  There was a reported attempt to wean Rodger off the vent with proning but it failed.

The family was called and advised that Rodger had died at 12:05am on 11/29/21. The cause of death according to records was Covid pneumonia.  But when you ask the family, they are clear that Rodger was allowed to die with no concerted effort to save him. The doctor or nurses never had the simple courtesy of sitting down with the family face to face to give them the news or follow up with them.

We support the family in their efforts to find out why no other treatments other than one recommended by CDC was given. What happened to “do not harm:? Is a long time safety drug given the Nobel Peace prize and used for many diseases like rheumatoid arthritis not worth trying at the end of life?  Please join us in honoring Rodger Charles Haas, beloved husband, father, and grandfather by asking your Representatives a simple question. When did American stop giving its citizens a choice in medical treatments?