Hospital COVID Rules Need To Be Changed - And Response

  • Monday, October 18, 2021

My whole life changed the day my mama got sick. She had been coughing for a week and was not getting any better. It was a Tuesday morning, my cousin called and said my mama wouldn’t eat or drink and that she had fallen and the side of her head was black and blue. She hadn’t been out of bed to even use the bathroom in two days. I rushed to Sale Creek from Chattanooga to make her go to the hospital. I made it there in 13 minutes. 

When I got there her temperature was 101.7 and her Oxygen level was 83, which is way below normal. I sat her up and helped her change her urine soaked clothes, brushed her hair and carried her to my car. I made it to the hospital in 10 minutes. We talked all the way there. I made her drink water and let her know that at the hospital they wouldn’t let me stay with her in the ER, but that I loved her. 

Erlanger Hospital was so busy that I couldn’t even get her a wheelchair or anyone to help me get her out of my car. We left and went to Parkridge Hospital, which is who I work for. Her doctor is affiliated with Erlanger, and he assured mama three days earlier that she didn’t have COVID. He was wrong. When I took her to the ER I told her that I loved her and that everything would be okay, but it wasn’t.

All I wanted was to hold her hand and be there for her. I could have helped her survive, to want to live, if I just could have been there with her, but rules are rules right? Two days in the hospital and they put her on the ventilator to die. I needed her and she needed me but because she had pneumonia and COVID I had to wait 21 days to see her. That is a long time to be alone and sick.

She was scared and I assured her on out last phone call that she would be ok. I lied. 

I called twice a day, every day with positive news. “Nothing unordinary” they told me. “She is hanging in there”. They lied. On the 19th day, Palliative Care called me to make me decide what to do if she gets worse. It is like they gave up on her and all she needed was me. 

When people are sick they need medicine, but they also need love, their family, and reassurance, but instead they just lay there alone, sad and scared. If I had known the last time I saw her was going to be the last time I would have pitched a fit to be with her. I would have stayed every day. I would have never left her. 

On day 21 when I finally got to go visit her in the ICU, the Palliative Care Doctor came to me and asked me to call in hospice because she wouldn’t survive without the vent at this point. This was the hardest decision I have ever had to make. I called all of my family and everyone came to see my mama and tell her they loved her and to be with her before she passed. Hospice said as soon as they take the vent out that they would fill her full of Fentanyl and Xanax so she wouldn’t suffer. 

Not only did I lie to my mama, but I had to sign papers to medically overdose her. They turned her feeding tube off, they turned her paralytic off and she started to wake up. She blinked her eyes and shrugged her shoulders and squeezed our hands. The nurses would come in and give her more pain meds. Any hope of survival was being pushed out with every dose. All so she wouldn’t suffer. 

Twenty-one days without my mama turned into a nightmare. My best friend, my mama, is gone forever and she was alone with COVID at the hospital. No love, no family, no reassurance. I believe in my heart that my mama would have had a chance if I could have been there with her.

The rules of COVID took away my last few days with my mama. I’ve had both doses of the Moderna vaccine. I always wear a mask and wash my hands. I work for a doctor’s office and I know the rules, but the rules suck. Exceptions should be made in certain situations. 

Tracie Whitt

* * * 

Ms. Whitt,

My heart goes out to you and your family in the loss of your mother and the situation surrounding it at Erlanger.

I too have had relatives which spent an extensive amount of time recently in the ER and I will say that the staff did their best to see to the needs, but due to being short staffed they had their limitations and if I were the COO of Erlanger I would have had a hard time taking over $800,000 a year knowing how understaffed his operation is even to the detriment of patient care.

If I were to guess your mother probably was fully vaccinated and suffered a “breakthrough” case which shows the ineffectiveness of the vaccine. As we have been bombarded and brainwashed by the COVID propaganda which is a cover for billions of dollars being dispersed to big pharm and health care facilities including Erlanger.

I would also venture that your mother’s viral load was zero as she entered into Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome at which time she should of had family around her, not only for her sake but yours.

I’m still trying to get the word out there that the virus has been treatable all along. I am not a doctor but I can read and research that which is available online and use a little common sense as for what other countries are doing to treat their people with a greater success rate than the United States under the direction of Dr. Fauci, but because these treatments don’t add to the bottom line and fear factor they are ridiculed and dismissed.

If I were a doctor having to deal with this I think as I experienced failure after failure leading to the deaths of people that I would be doing a little bit of research concerning alternative treatments.\ 

And with that said, not only the rules for families but also treatment needs to be addressed.

Again Ms. Whitt, my condolences.

Jay Reed


Opinion
Capitol Report From State Rep. Greg Vital For March 28
  • 3/28/2024

Budget becomes central focus in final weeks of 113th General Assembly Members of the House Finance, Ways and Means Committee this week were briefed by Finance and Administration Commissioner ... more

Senate Republican Caucus Weekly Wrap March 28
  • 3/28/2024

This week on Capitol Hill lawmakers were hard at work passing meaningful legislation to improve the lives of Tennesseans as the General Assembly begins to wind down. Public safety was a big focus ... more