Posted on 05/29/2020 8:42:25 PM PDT by george76
A Colorado mom hospitalized for 21 days died Tuesday without seeing her husband or two children, despite the family’s repeated requests for an exception to a policy barring visitors during the coronavirus crisis
...
Elizabeth, who had autoimmune issues and heart problems for years, was at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora for three weeks with severe infections in her lungs and blood. Her family was not allowed to see her because the hospital, like many during the coronavirus pandemic, has enacted a strict no-visitor policy
...
No matter how many times Reiter asked to visit Elizabeth, even when he tested negative for the virus and when he told them he had never seen his wife of 19 years so depressed, and even on Mother’s Day, he was denied. Hospital officials would not make an exception.
Then .. Elizabeth went into cardiac arrest and died.
...
The ambulance brought Elizabeth to UCHealth Memorial Hospital in Colorado Springs, but within a couple of hours she was taken to University at her doctor’s request. At home, Reiter was making plans to stay in a hotel near the hospital in Aurora when Elizabeth called to say she was not allowed any visitors.
...
Eleven other hospitals in the UCHealth system, however, are now allowing patients to have one visitor per day.
...
Elizabeth, who tested negative for coronavirus a second time while in the hospital,
...
No one should be isolated in the hospital without a loved one,” Reiter said. “No one should be at risk of dying alone.”
...
The day after his wife died, Reiter was overwhelmed. His words were interrupted by heavy sighs. His sons, he said, are in “absolute shock.”
“They are really hurt that they couldn’t see their mother at any point during the last three weeks,”
(Excerpt) Read more at coloradosun.com ...
It is beyond sick! To essentially hold people hostage from their families in their most vulnerable/critical time — just unconscionable!
Tell them you have Covid and they’ll let you in
Cousins husband had a stroke April 30. Went to hospital 7 days. Once confirmed he didnt have covid he went to nursing rehab facility.last time wife saw him was when ambulance took him from their driveway.
Cousins husband had a stroke April 30. Went to hospital 7 days. Once confirmed he didnt have covid he went to nursing rehab facility.last time wife saw him was when ambulance took him from their driveway.
I hate this.
Only the precious COVID gets preferential treatment with doctors and hospitals.
And regardless of your medical issue, you’re swept away from any direct contact with your relatives, etc.
This touches me too cloasely as it is. My dad died on Thanksgiving. Thank God he didn’t die alone thanks to this nonsense. So grateful some 30 people were able to stop by exactly because we feared he would die.
Then I was terrified when my mom got sick around Easter. Does she need to go to hospital? How much should we push it before doing so? If she goes, everyone recommends ambulance to spare her the extra agony of huge waits in the parking lot due to COVID concerns. But then she will be taken from us forever, perhaps, either way.
Luckily mom got by, but then her friend HAD to go to the hospital and was taken from her family and us. She was very sick with pneumonia but it was not COVID. She did manage to barely coherently listen on a phone. Midweek her sons and my mom had to try to explain to her that they could not be with her (she was really mentally impaired from this). And thank God, she got back home a week later, and she is better.
It’s bad enough being concerned about your loved ones, without being able to check directly or console or reassure them in person.
My friend had her first grandchild just as everything shut down. She lives only 15 min from her daughter. Never saw him in person yet.
In some ways it was worse because her daughter is herself a medical research professional who is also being transferred far away now, and she was toeing the line on absolutely no visiting.
Many, including the hospital that delivered my son and I was born, have shut down their nursery windows. Within a few years of his birth that hospital covered it over. So much concern about “privacy”. Gotten ridiculous. Babies are the only happy thing going on in hospitals. My husbands grandmother got a little joy looking in nursery windows when she was hospitalized for breast cancer before she died.
This is happening to everyone. Three close family members died the same week,all alone, and their children were devastated that their daily care for their elders stopped once the parent was hospitalized. These sick elders died alone with no hands and hearts of loved ones around.
It’s a crime against humanity to deny people a goodbye with their loved ones. WHY THE F DO WE BUMP PEOPLE FROM PLANES TO GET LOVED ONES TO THE BEDSIDES OF DYING BELOVEDS?
Because we know that it’s the highest priority. Higher than being there for the birth.
All for what is basically like a flu which also kills seniors. There is no precedent for avoiding the dying. It would be understandable if the illness were Ebola with many cases coming from funerals and also a 50% death rate. Corona kills 0.2% at highest.
“Cousins husband had a stroke April 30. Went to hospital 7 days. Once confirmed he didn’t have covid he went to nursing rehab facility.last time wife saw him was when ambulance took him from their driveway.”
All of our hospitals out here have been doing the same thing since 13 March.
How do I know the date so well?
My has a bad neck and shoulder, and she received an injection in her neck on 13 March at the big HMO out here.
Being semi observant, I noticed she was the last one in the OR and there was one other patient, @ only 2 pm.. Who was hustled out after we got in the pre op area. Other times, on Friday it was usually big time removing cataracts and replacing with the new lenses (she was there twice for cataracts and once before for the injection!).
After her procedure, she was the last patient at 3 pm.
The recovery RN recognized me and asked if I remembered my duties for my wife postop, from the last times. I said, yes, and signed the papers.
The doctor came into the recovery area and said the procedure went well. I asked if he wanted us to call on the way home as the last time. He said “Call in 3-4 weeks)”. That was another red flag that something was different.
As soon as he left the regular recovery RN and an asst. came in and proceeded to remove my wife’s surgical gown and to dress her in her go home clothes. I signed some more papers, and the asst RN said follow me. We went down hallways to the elevator exit normally reserved for medical people.
She got on her cell phone and contacted another nurse at the pickup semi circle. When we got to the sidewalk, she told me to go get my vehicle and transferred my wife to an RN who was waiting for us. She, also, told me to get my car and drive to where she would be waiting with my wife.
A couple of minutes later, my wife was loaded into our car, the RN gave both of us hug and said good bye.
As she was leaving, “I asked when they would close down?”, she smiled and said, “As soon as you leave”!
I said for how long? She said a long time and goodbye.
About 40 minutes later on the road home, my wife’s Versed and inject able narcotic were wearing off. She said “What the hell just happened? How did I get here?
I told her, and she said I need to call the dr.. I said he said to call in about 3=4 weeks.
She said, “What happened? Is the country at War?”
I told her that the virus may have won the first battle.
A dear friend with autoimmune issues FINALLY was cleared to have her knee replaced when all elective surgeries were deemed “non-essential”. She had to work thru-out the lockdown to keep her immune system at the level required.
She had the surgery Wed this week - they knew her husband wouldn’t be allowed to be with her. Hospital didnt tell them that they were short-staffed. Day 1 after this surgery is full of excruciating pain. All her husband could do is talk her off the ceiling on the phone!
It’s so wrong that folks are dying alone when they don’t need to.
“It’s so wrong that folks are dying alone when they don’t need to.”
What being can we think of who would rejoice in that?
That’s sad. I will pray that she gets to hold her grandson very soon.
I believe that breaking up the generations is a grievous mistake.
He has grown very weak because of lack of exercise and other issues have resurfaced because of the general neglect of being stuck in assisted living with us not being allowed to visit him and keep an eye on him. When asked if we can visit him, we are told that we are not allowed to and won't be allowed until the powers that be allow it.
Bottom line: my dad's quality of care has suffered and his cancer has gotten worse because the reaction of the officials to the covid virus.
I agree completely and it makes me beyond mad.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.