Dear Editor,
On Sunday, February 20th, 2022, the Ministry of Health swiftly published a report of the death of an 80-year-old woman as being attributed to Covid-19 which, did not fail to highlight her unvaccinated status to further support the cause of her passing.
While nothing we, the family of that beloved elderly woman, can say or do will bring our mom back, we would like to reject that claim from the Ministry’s report and state that, without a doubt, her actual cause of death was neglect and poor treatment from the staff within the Covid-19 Hospital (Infectious Disease Hospital).
How easy it is for the cause of death to be reported as Covid-19 and families must accept that. Undoubtedly, we expect no accountability, recognition or acknowledgement of this letter by the Ministry of Health, but we think it is our duty to highlight the many, terrible experiences our mom had while she was in the Infectious Diseases Hospital at Liliendaal, ECD (Covid-19 Hospital), with us as witnesses!
The catastrophic series of events started on February 06th, 2022 with her visit to the Woodlands Hospital where because of her wheezing, she was immediately turned away. All we could have assumed is that the reason for turning us away is liability since very little to no information or any diagnosis was further given. The ordeal continued with her visit to the St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, where she was admitted and immediately placed on a machine to supply oxygen to her. Surely and firstly, a Covid-19 test (swab-Antigen-test) was done which came back negative. At this point, this hospital administration also turned her away to the Georgetown Public Hospital, for reasons we can only conclude attributed to her being senile.
Nonetheless, our mom, was then transferred to GPHC where she was administered a second Covid-19 test (swab-Antigen-test) which also came back negative. By this time, it seemed as though the professionals had already concluded that Covid-19 was the diagnosis and there could be no other explanation for her wheezing, they were determined to keep testing her for Covid-19 until a positive result was obtained. A third test performed (a PCR test) yielded a positive result.
She needed oxygen because of other medical conditions. We clearly recall on that distressing night, a doctor of GPHC informed us after the Covid-19 blood test that our mom was Covid-19 positive and that she had a mild heart failure and thus, she was being transferred to the Infectious Diseases Hospital for care and treatment. This was the last night we would actually see our mom in person and alive and quite frankly, hale and healthy with the oxygen now attached to her. The date was February 06th, 2022.
From thereon, we were given daily updates from the doctors on her condition and over the course of the first week, her condition was reported to us as improving which we also saw for ourselves via numerous WhatsApp video calls. She had the CPAP machine on her during her time at the hospital and her dependence on this machine was also reported as decreasing which gave us hope that our mom’s condition was improving.
On the 14th February, 2022 we were told that our mom was on regular oxygen and intermittent CPAP every four hours. On the 15th we were told that her breathing has improved, and she was taken off of the CPAP machine and was on very low oxygen and was improving daily. The doctors reported to us that on the 14th February a Sputum test was done and that our mom had Coxiella Pneumonia which was most likely the reason for the cold she had developed. On Thursday 17th February, 2022 while speaking to our mom she told us she had a really bad cough which in our mind was not properly treated. We witnessed firsthand via one of those WhatsApp calls, our mom repeatedly calling for nurses to give her some water which went on for approximately 2 hour and 35 minutes where everyone who passed and spoke to her told her someone else is coming. We can remember the words “Nurse please for some water” being repeated so vividly until today. She was hoarse and tired from her begging while we sat and looked on helplessly with tears in our eyes as we couldn’t give our begging mom a sip of water.
Outraged and hurt, this was reported to the doctors. On multiple previous occasions when we spoke to our mom, she told us how hungry she was because she wasn’t given any lunch. When we made contact with the ICU they tried to tell us our mother was suffering from dementia. On February 18th a brusque doctor (name withheld intentionally) informed us that our mom was not sick and the ICU was for sick persons only and that she would be transferred to the ward. When asked about her coughing, he said simply that that happens after Covid.
Over the course of the next day, our mom was planted on the CPAP machine again. The events that transpired next was one of the most painful experiences of our adult lives. A Covid-19 test was done sometime during that weekend. She was due to be released on February 20th, 2022, which would have been 14 days since she was admitted to the Covid-19 hospital. We would like simply for the Ministry or the responsible party, to state the result of that test last administered. We, the family, already know the result of that test.
How can our mom, who was vastly improving over the course of the first week, until February 18th, take such a fatal turn in the end? Is that hospital understaffed? Was a pneumonia test done earlier? After the passing of our dear mom, we spoke to many families who went through a similar ordeal.
To the nurses at the Infectious Disease Hospital, we leave you with one message, don’t forget The Florence Nightingale Pledge and the oath you took. Our mom did not die of Covid-19, she died of neglect.
Yours faithfully,
(Name and address supplied)
