National Mall Memorial
Rationing care is very real as the pandemic is surging, and if a patient does not respond to treatment and the hospital needs the ICU bed for someone who has a better chance of surviving, then the hard choices about end-of-life decisions are made by medical staff, not family members.
My husband’s first cousin-in-law, a retired engineer who worked for decades in the steel industry, had a stroke a few weeks back. He is 75. The stroke was not too severe, but he did need rehab afterwards. Unfortunately, just like many other people have discovered, hospitals and rehab clinics are dangerous places. My sister-in-law contracted COVID-19 during rehab after hip replacement surgery last June. It took her almost 10 weeks to get over it.
Richard, who has been battling Parkinson’s for 15 years, fared far worse when he contracted COVID-19 during rehab. His condition quickly deteriorated, and he was hospitalized with gastrointestinal bleeding in addition to the more common symptoms of COVID-19. He was intubated and approved to receive Remdesivir which is used to treat severe patients, but he did not respond to the treatment and his symptoms worsened. Yesterday, the doctors told his wife and sons that they did not believe he would recover and the hospital needed the ICU bed for someone else. So he was removed from all the tubes and moved to the COVID floor and is receiving palliative care only. The family prayed with the hospital chaplain outside the door of the COVID unit, unable to say their good-byes in person. Now they are awaiting the call from the hospital to let them know that he has passed away.
These stories are repeated all over our nation, every day, every hour, every minute. To all the families who have lost a loved one to this virus, may grace fill your grieving hearts and let the memories help you heal. To all the families who are suffering because they cannot be with their loved ones as they battle this virus, may you find the strength, faith and support to carry on. May the blessings be for all of you who are hurting because of this pandemic.
And to all of those who still refuse to wear masks and observe social distancing, shame on you for participating in the killing of your fellow men and women. You are not exercising your rights; your selfish lack of care and common decency is destroying the rights and lives of others. There is no freedom without love. As Barack Obama said:
We, the People, recognize that we have responsibilities as well as rights; that our destinies are bound together; that a freedom which only asks what's in it for me, a freedom without a commitment to others, a freedom without love or charity or duty or patriotism, is unworthy of our founding ideals, and those who died in their defense.
Update: Richard passed away on Monday, Jan. 25, around 11:30 am. Mercifully, he never regained consciousness so did not suffer.