COVID-19 Humanity Betrayal ㅤ Memory Project

November 2, 2021, my dad, Robert Smith and his wife, tested positive for COVID-19.  His wife, Jessie, was on dialysis for renal failure.  November 7,2021, my dad went to get help and get the antibody treatment but was denied saying he didn’t qualify, but according to his records, he did for all their protocols except he wasn’t vaxxed.

Jessie died November 9,2021, and my dad was admitted to the hospital on November 10, 2021.  My younger sister was allowed to stay in the room with him for 6 days. My dad and sisters elected me as his Power of Attorney and advocate since I was an EMT.

He had a total of 10-12 doctors the 39 days he was in the hospital. The first doctor said he wasn’t a candidate for baricitinib because of his kidneys, but then the doctor ended up giving it to him.  November 21st, doctor called me and told me I should give him high flow O2 and morphine, and let him go peacefully.  I refused, so the next option was to vent.  I got my older sister on a 3-way call so the doctor could tell her the same thing.  We elected to vent.  He was on it until November 23, and he ended up having voice paralysis due to self extubating – even though he was restrained, the notes say.  I got to watch him wake up via video chat, thanks to the nurse.  There were no injuries on him.  November 24th wasn’t able to speak to him at all.

November 25th – no injuries as my sister was able to see him. Then he was isolated until December 3,  at which time, my sister went to see him and he had a laceration on his face.  He was in shock and the nurse was more worried about why my sister was there, and why I was video chatting to watch.  His vitals were tanking and she kept saying it was baseline.  It took 3 hours of demanding a doctor to come and see him, before I got a call.  They asked why I needed to speak to a doctor; who finally came to check on him, called me back and said they were moving him back to CCU, because he was in septic shock.  When asked about the laceration on his face,  they said it was from when he was on the vent. I have photo proof that he did not have it on November 25th after he was woken from being on the vent.

On December 3,2021, while my sister was there video chatting with me, my dad whispered, ‘I needed to go to Washington as I live in Nebraska.’  I was there by December 5th. They allowed me 15 minutes with him.  That is when I questioned the laceration on his face and bruising on his leg all on his right side.

They denied his POA papers saying they weren’t valid. I wasn’t allowed to return until December 13th. I got to spend the entire day with him. When I arrived, he was a 1:1 assist to eat.  His diet was mechanical soft.  Instead, he was given regular food, and it was across the room from him so he was unable to reach it.  He was skin and bones. Not once, did anyone come to check on him until almost 6pm.

Next day, they brought in a notary form outside to do a different POA.  When my sister and I talked to the social worker about our concerns, he stated, “What do you want me to do about it?”  We replied with, “Your job.”  That afternoon, they called about doing a chest tube because he now had a hydropneumothorax.  I agreed.

By December 15th, his right arm was swollen.  He ended up with an arm that was one big blood clot.  The picc line in his right arm still had a November date even though documentation said it was changed.  Once back in CCU, I refused to leave unless one of my sisters or I was with him at all times.  Every time we brought up septic shock based on his vitals and appearance, we were met by Dr. Chowderry that it was all covid not a new infection.  The doctor convinced me to go ahead and switch him to a DNR since he was a DNI and his body was failing him.  I do have all ER, Nurse, and Doctor reports as well as photos of lungs, etc.