Linda S.'s

Canton, NC

My 34-year-old son Allen died after only 4 1/2 days on Remdesivir and from negligent hospital treatment and government protocols.

After choice words, the transfer did happen but it was too late for my son Allen.

A Family In Distress

“Allen had an oxygen saturation in the high 90s in the ER on low oxygen by Nasal canula.”

My 34-year-old son Allen died after only 4 1/2 days on Remdesivir and from negligent hospital treatment and government protocols. First off I want to mention that I am a clinical nurse supervisor and I am very educated in the care of ventilated and respiratory compromised patients. My 2-month-old grandson was sick and in distress and was diagnosed with Human meta virus, which is an RNA virus and presents similar to RSV and gives an appearance in the lungs similar to Covid-19. My son and his family were tested and found to have covid therefore the infant was taken to the closest county hospital and quickly transferred to a trauma 2 facility 15 miles away on Dec 31, 2021. He was transferred because the hospital couldn’t care for such a small fragile baby. In the meantime, Allen stayed at home with his two other children Owen 5, and Mason 12 but Allen became short of breath the morning of the 31st and as Maddox was being moved to Mission hospital my son Allen was arriving at the ER by EMS. A CT and labs were completed and Allen was given prednisone and a nebulizer treatment in the ER. As soon as his results came back they wanted to admit him but my son requested to be sent to Mission as this small hospital did NOT have a pulmonologist, no dialysis, and certainly, no ECMO had he needed any of these things and he knew this. Also, his small baby would be in a different hospital and his wife also had a covid diagnosis. Allen had an oxygen saturation in the high 90s in the ER on low oxygen by Nasal canula.

Denied Food And Water

He was told by the ER that his transfer request was denied because of his weight and that Mission was not taking patient transfers. All which we find out later was a complete lie. They gave him a loading dose of Remdesivir and then started to coerce him toward the ventilators, and on day one. Every day and every shift they bombarded him about the ventilator, yet he kept telling them NO he didn't want to be ventilated at this hospital. On day 2 they had the idea to give him a medication to suppress his immune system called Olumiant but they changed their minds because they said he could have an infection and get this medication. They took cultures and started an antibiotic, a black box antibiotic mind you. They also were giving prednisone which was great but it was documented in his chart as an allergy but still given daily. He wasn’t allergic to it yet they never clarified it nor changed it in his medical record. Allen was moved to ICU on the evening of the second day. He was now on BiPAP and he was on a vapotherm by nasal cannula when he was up and awake. This is where I show up.

I begin by asking if a transfer has been requested and was told that they have been told he was denied a transfer because Mission wasn’t taking patients and that Allen’s BMI was elevated and this is why they denied him. They continued to try persuading him to allow him to be placed on the ventilator, yet he continued to refuse. They attempted to scare him, which worked because he was scared to death. I questioned why the medication to suppress his immune system had not been started and of course, no one knew. So I asked about the cultures and was told: “ he had cultures done”. Allen also was not being proned nor encouraged to prone. He was not given any breathing treatments after the ER and he was not being helped to eat or given simply water. The staff would bring in zip lock bags of ice in a basin and place them on a table at the door. When I arrived I was lost as to why there were 4 bags of water in a basin at the door and this was Allen’s explanation. Even worse than not giving him the water was that during the night Allen wet himself and the nurse's response to this was to shove a dry washcloth into his underwater to keep it off his skin. I insisted he allow me to help clean him but he was not wanting his mom to clean his private spots.

No Consent!

“With no sedation they started to place him on the ventilator, the very thing he had been refusing yet now without consent.”

On the morning of the 4th day, I made a call to the Mission's transfer team and found out that not only had he not been refused a transfer by Mission but that they had not even called to request a transfer for him. I then went and asked again and when told the same answer I told them that I knew for a fact they were lying to us. So a few hours later the dr calls and we are told that he was accepted for transfer BUT…. Yes, I’m sure you can guess what they told us. We were told that they had assigned him a room but transfer was CONTINGENT on him being on the ventilator for transport. Allen was sitting debating… just him and I without any information, without any discussion with a doctor about it when an anesthesiologist walks into his room. The anesthesiologist had a puzzled look on his face and we were wondering who he was and what he was there for and why he was now in the hall with a crowd of staff and flapping his hands as if he was upset. Allen had sent for some pineapples and was up in the chair about to eat and his oxygen level was 93% on vapotherm, which is simply a nasal cannula with humidified water. He and I wanted to know what was going on so I stepped out behind the dr and overheard him saying to the staff “WTH are we doing. You know as well as I do that if we put him on the ventilator he will die on the vent ''he will never come off”. I insisted he talk with the dr and someone come and talk to Allen and explain his chances and the expected outcomes with risks involved but that was refused.

I went back to tell Allen what was going on and the staff followed me back in telling me not to tell him what was said. I tried to tell him what he had said but the staff kept making excuses as to why he said this and that he was wrong about what he had said. Knowing this dr who was to sedate Allen had left back to the OR they then remove Allen’s oxygen and had him get back into his bed yet the tubing would not reach him in the bed and the room was so crowded it took valuable minutes to get it moved, which I did by jumping behind his bed and moving the regulator so it would reach him and we could get his oxygen back up. Allen’s O2 stat had gotten to 70 and they began to bag him. With no sedation they started to place him on the ventilator, the very thing he had been refusing yet now without consent, and after they removed his oxygen being placed on the vent became emergent and no consent was needed since he was a full code. They were unable to get him stable on the vent but were able to bag him and his O2 was in the high 90s

The Wrong Treatment

“The medication for his bp did not work so they simply increased it to the highest dose possible.”

Ent could not get the settings right to get his stats up high enough. Due to this, they had to do a telehealth visit with a dr that questioned if there was an issue with the ventilator or the tubing and he was assured there was not. A family friend who worked as the director on another unit stayed with him after he was stabilized on the vent. She left the hospital at about 1:30 and shortly after she left they did a recoupment maneuver and also changed his vent setting. This began a downward spiral and caused his bp to drop and he then needed levophed, a medication to increase his bp. They could not get it up and thought he might have a pneumothorax, which is a hole in the lungs that will collapse the lung and put air in The thoracic cavity. Three X-rays were done and NO pneumonia, NO air in the thoracic cavity, and No effusions were documented multiple times before they placed a chest tube and multiple times after. They later decided to place a central line, which was needed long before now. The IV he had in the entire time was the 22 g started in the ambulance four days prior in a non-sterile area. I as a nurse believe this iv was blown and infiltrated because they want an intervention that works with anything that was given iv. The medication for his bp did not work so they simply increased it to the highest dose possible, next they had to give codeine medications that had little effect. They also could not keep him sedated, and yes he was given an iv through the 22 g. So now they began giving multiple types of sedation, which I believe had they had a good IV would not have been needed.

Always Be Proactive

One particularly was a medication I since learned was being given for the end of life patients in nursing homes. They then decide to place a central line right before the transfer was planned and the surgeon that placed it did an X-ray to confirm the placement of the line yet never mentions the chest tube laying slightly below where the central line was placed. Although the surgeon did mention that he did not see a pneumothorax, air in the thoracic cavity, and no effusion after the procedure. He also mentions the placement of the tip of the line but states he can not visualize the tip of the endotracheal tube. One would think his transfer is in order and he is being prepared for his transfer on the 4th, but the hospital diverted an elderly female covid negative patient to… you guessed it… to Mission the same hospital not taking any transfers. The hospital then comes back and tells us that Allen no longer has a bed and his transfer would not happen. Let’s say there were a lot of words said that I won’t ever take back. After choice words, the transfer did happen but it was too late for my son Allen.

He did see a pulmonologist at Mission and he confirmed there was no need for the chest tube he was also seen by a surgeon that disqualified him for ECMO because he had a chest tube, he was being coded, therefore there was no need for it at this point. To summarize my son’s story. He received Remdesivir and died of multisystem organ failure, his wife did go into the hospital the day he died and received 2 doses but left AMA after her O2 stats got worse and on top of it she was wanting to continue to breastfeed. She did hold off and pump and throw out milk until it was no longer a GREEN color from Remdesivir and she did get better very quickly after leaving the hospital. It’s too late for my 34 yo healthy son. I beg you if you question treatment or what a Dr. or healthcare person is telling you, be proactive. Be demanding. So what if they throw you out. Demanding a doctor inform you of what’s going on with your health and treatment and yes including you in making choices about your own care. What happened to a person's right to be informed and be involved in their care and treatments…. As a healthcare worker, I am ashamed.