Tracy's Story

Dothan, Alabama

My sweet husband, Ray Hamiliton.

This was a video I found on his phone after he died in the hospital.

The ER

“I dropped him off at the Emergency Room and the REAL nightmare began.”

My husband and I were diagnosed with Covid 19 on August 31, 2021. My case was fairly mild however his was not. The next day I contacted a Physician friend and he prescribed Ivermectin. It took Walgreens 3 days to get medication in stock. There was a 7-day waiting list for the monoclonal antibodies. He wasn’t able to get that until September 8th. On September 9th his oxygen was holding in the mid to low 70s and he was weak. I knew it was more than I could manage at home. I dropped him off at the Emergency Room and the REAL nightmare began. I wish Instead of taking him to the ER I would have taken him to commit a crime because he would have had more rights and better healthcare in jail!!!! He was admitted to the Covid unit at Southeast Health on that day.

The day after he was admitted he was telling me his left foot was hurting and he felt like “it was losing circulation. ”I asked him if he had told anyone and he replied, “I have barely seen anyone to tell. ”I found out on this day they gave him his first dose of Remdesivir which continued for a 7-day course. On September 11th he continued to complain about his leg. On September 13th, I had texted him around 9 that morning and when I didn’t hear back, I called him (we mostly communicated via text instead of calling to help keep his oxygen levels up). When he answered the phone, he was crying. He was having severe abdominal pain. The nurse came in the room to give him pain medication while I was on the phone with him, so I had him put the phone on speaker and I told her to have the Doctor call me.

I’m Not Any Better

At 11 am I still had not heard from anyone, so I text him. He replied, “I am not any better and they won’t get the Doctor.” Another text immediately followed “I am bleeding from my rectum.“ I called the nurse's station and left a message for someone to call me. At 12:19 pm his text, "this Morphine has not put a dent in this pain”. I had not heard from anyone at the hospital and my calls to the nurse's station went unanswered. Finally, at 3 pm his nurse called me back and let me know Dr. had ordered a CT-A scan. At 7 pm his nurse took him down to radiology for a scan and basically had to demand they do it.

At 11:25 PM results from the scan showed blood clots so they were starting heparin drip and he also had a bowel obstruction. His pain medication was changed at this time as well. An ultrasound of his left foot/leg confirmed clots there as well. On September 16th they attempted to place an NG tube and supposedly “scratched his esophagus “and remember he is on heparin so you can imagine the bloody mess that was. He also informed me that his O2 monitor had come off his ear and had been off for several hours. He had reported it and they had not bothered to put it back on. I attempted one time to call the nurse's station and of course, that was unsuccessful. At that point, I called and asked for a house supervisor and explained to her that he was hospitalized with Covid pneumonia and was receiving high flow oxygen and his O2 levels had not been checked in hours.

No Information

“I never spoke with the GI Doctor even though I asked several times to be called back.”

September 18th 9 days after he was admitted was the first time I was able to speak with a Doctor. On September 20th I was informed he would be going down to the cath lab for angioplasty and possible stent placement and they would also begin to administer TPA drip (major clot buster), and he would be moved to CCU for monitoring. They would repeat the procedure for the next three days. The Hospitalist called me and explained what they would be doing, and she also said: “Oh he’s a diabetic we are giving him insulin now, but he will probably go home on something by mouth. I replied, "Ok well, why don’t you just give him something by mouth there?” She didn’t have an answer for that but twice he had to be given glucose because his sugar dropped so low.

The second day when he went down for procedure, he asked the tech to be careful when he moved him from the bed to the table because they had placed catheters in bilateral femoral arteries. Well, the tech just snatched him over and pulled one of the catheters out. Pressure had to be held over that area for over an hour before they could start the procedure. He ended up having the procedure done 4 days instead of 3. I was told he would more than likely lose his left leg.

They were doing plain films of his abdomen (KUB flat and upright) because of the bowel obstruction. I had access to his radiology reports so I could see that with every report the obstruction was worsening. When I asked, the answer I was given is “we are just going to monitor. ”On September 25th he started vomiting blood. He was still in CCU. The doctor was contacted and new orders were given and GI was consulted. I never spoke with the GI Doctor even though I asked several times to be called back. At 12:57 that day I spoke with his nurse and he informed me they had gotten an NG tube in.

I Will Look Into It

“these people DID NOT take the same oath I did (To do no harm).”

At 4:57 I get a text from him “Did they tell you the wouldn’t give until.” I called the nurse's station back and his nurse informed me “Oh we gave him some Ativan before we put that NG tube in so he’s groggy.” I called several more times through the day and night to check on him. I was told, “he’s resting “. Around midnight when I called, I told the nurse “If he’s resting that much then there’s a problem.” She told me she would have him call me. A few minutes later he did call me and that’s when he told me he was trying to text that they (2 nurses in CCU) HAD TAKEN HIS CALL BUTTON AWAY from him and placed it out of his reach because he kept asking for water to rinse the blood out of his mouth. So, this man is lying in CCU, vomiting blood (I later found out it was LARGE amounts of blood) and they took the only way he had to call for help and put it out of his reach!

September 27 which was a Monday I called and asked for a supervisor for CCU. I explained everything that had gone on over the weekend and was told “I will look into it.” I also asked him to have the Dr. call me. I got a text from my husband “All they keep saying is we are going to monitor it. Love you anyway maybe you can capitalize on my death.” At 2 pm the Doctor calls me back and she is going on about his leg/foot, but I stopped her and asked: “What are y’all waiting on as far as this bowel obstruction, it to perforate and kill him?” She acted like she didn’t hear me. Finally, after about the 4th time of me asking her, she said, “it’s not perforated or his labs would show but we will do a CT for your peace of mind.” My next question was “When can I visit.” She informed me that his isolation order would be lifted the next day and I was allowed to visit 10-6.

On September 28th at 5 am they took him for a CT scan of his abdomen. At 7 am I get a call from him telling me he is going for emergency surgery for a perforated bowel. I get in my car and head to the hospital, and they did let me in before visiting hours. He had the surgery and his bowel had been perforated for a while. He was septic from it. I was beyond LIVID. I stayed that day until 6. He rested most of that time after he got back from surgery. Now what I didn’t let these nurses and doctors know is that I am a nurse and have been for 25 years. I wanted to see for myself just how things were being done. Let me tell you these people DID NOT take the same oath I did (To do no harm) when I graduated Nursing school.

On September 29th I returned to the hospital during visiting hours and he was very sick but still awake and we had some very difficult conversations. He informed me as well that he had left a couple of videos on his phone. On September 30th I returned to the hospital and the more medical negligence I witnessed the angrier I got. So, when the hospitalist came into his room I unloaded on her and the CCU manager.

No Vent

October 1st, I returned to the hospital and when I rang the buzzer to get in CCU I was told “let me check with his nurse. “I waited and I waited until another employee swiped their badge and opened the door, so I walked in with him. When I entered my husband’s room, I knew immediately that he wasn’t going to make it. Another supervisor of CCU was on duty this day and after I had been there about 10 minutes, he called me out into the hallway and asked me “who authorized me to visit?” I said, “excuse me” He informed me that his isolation order had not been lifted from his chart. I told him I wasn’t surprised because after everything I had witnessed the last 3 days an isolation order not being lifted was minor. He said to me “if there are any issues, we can stop him from having visitors. “In other words, sit down and shut up or he dies alone.

After being there about an hour they told me his Oxygen levels were not going above 80 and he was maxed out on bi-pap and would need to be placed on a ventilator. My husband pulled the mask away from his face and said, “NO VENT.” I told the nurse you heard him. The nurse then told me “Well he’s not capable of making his own decisions so you will have to sign DNR”. I replied “Well he made that pretty damn clear.” Later that day we were moved to palliative care hall and he passed away 2 days later.