PATIENT COERCED INTO BEING A DNR BECAUSE THE RESUSCITATION PROCEDURE WOULD BE PAINFUL AND PROBABLY LEAVE HER IN A VEGETATIVE STATE

Medical Staff Offers No Encouragement and Informs Patient That She Will Probably Not Survive

Donna and I were married for 44 years prior to her death. We lived in Oceanside, California. We both had good jobs and were getting ready to retire and enjoy life; our target date was April 2022. Donna worked in a medical clinic call center. She had been there 13 years and shared a small office with a co-worker. The co-worker was fully vaccinated, Donna was not and had her face mask on while at work.

During the second week of November 2021, the co-worker came down with Covid symptoms, but came to work anyway, because the wisdom at the time was vaccinated people could not get COVID, and they could not spread COVID. On Friday, November 12, 2021, Donna started having symptoms. She picked up a home test kit and it came back positive. By the following Monday she was very sick and I was on my way as well.

Her sister, who lived in a neighboring city, came over and took Donna to the hospital. Her oxygen saturation was in the low 90’s so they admitted her, and the nightmare began. I was progressively getting worse as well. My oxygen saturation was dropping into the high 80’s. I was in text contact with Donna, and she was concerned that my oxygen was too low. I called an ambulance and was admitted to the same hospital as my wife. We could have shared a room, but that wasn't allowed. We were only allowed to visit via video chat.

Isolated from family and friends, she complained to me that she was cold and thirsty, wasn't getting enough to drink and needed warm blankets. Medical staff did not offer encouragement, but told her that they didn't think she was going to survive. 

Both of us became very ill; in fact, I was pretty much out of it and in a fog. Some things I remember, but most of it I don’t. I just remember doing video calls with Donna. Initially she seemed to be getting better, her oxygen was looking encouraging, but then it started to crash. They had her on high-flow oxygen and she was placed on her stomach. Her numbers continued to fluctuate, and they decided she needed a ventilator. Her doctor told her that her chances she would survive were very low. Even if she did not choose the ventilator; she probably wouldn’t live. She expressed to me how scared she was and asked me not to let her die in there. We opted for the ventilator.

They put her on paralytic drugs to prevent her from moving while on the ventilator. The staff also asked if we would consent to a Do Not Resuscitate (DNR). They explained how painful the procedures would be and even if they were able to resuscitate her, chances were that she would be in a vegetative state for the rest of her life. She didn’t want that so a DNR was agreed to.

On December 1, 2021, I was discharged to a rehab facility. I was allowed to go to Donna’s room and be with her for five minutes. She was on her stomach hooked up to the ventilator and on sedation and paralytics. I was devastated seeing her in that condition. I had been able to protect her in the past, but now I was helpless, dependent on the medical community. I told her how much I loved her, and that I would be waiting for her to get better. I patted her head and held her hand, then I was ushered out of her room and transported to Brighton Place, in San Diego, where I spent the next three months. On December 7, 2021, at about 6:00 AM, I got a phone call from my son, stating that Donna had died at about 5:30 AM.

I received her death certificate which raised questions. They listed Non-Traumatic Kidney injury and hyperglycemia among causes of death, along with the COVID 19 pneumonia. Where did the kidney injury and hyperglycemia come from? She wasn’t diabetic and had no organ issues prior to COVID.

My life has been devastated by this. I lost everything I had. I live alone in a small travel trailer. I am not doing very well emotionally or financially. Every day I hope for some way out of this.

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