Paducah, KY
Jason was 44 years old. He had so much life yet to live.
He had only gotten to spend 4 days with our new grandson.
The Hospital and Isolation
“I was allowed to see him once for 45 minutes.”
My husband, Jason Parks, was a hard-working and determined 44-year-old father of four and new grandfather to our first-born grandbaby. His Covid journey was one of nightmares. He and I both began showing symptoms of Covid in late August 2021. We were both pretty sick, but his symptoms kept worsening. He had a fever, chills, body aches, nausea, vomiting, and shortness of breath. For the first 9 days, he fought at home with vitamins, fluids, rest, and walking. His O2 decreased and he decided to go to the ER on September 1st. The first question he was asked, even before his name, was if he was vaccinated. He was not. He was adamant about not getting the vaccine due to his underlying health issues. They did an x-ray in the ER and diagnosed him with Covid Pneumonia. However, they did NOT administer a Covid test. They did offer him the infusion therapy to which he declined. So, he was sent home with instructions to take vitamins, monitor his O2 sats, and return if he gets worse. He came back home and within 4 days, he was back at the ER, this time, with severe stomach pain, blood in his urine and stool, and 77% O2 saturation. He was admitted to the CCU on September 5th with Covid Pneumonia and pancreatitis. He was kept in the CCU for the first 18 days of his 42-day hospitalization. During those 18 days, I was allowed to see him once for 45 minutes. I called every day, multiple times per day to speak with his doctor and nurses. The nurses were somewhat informative and assisted me in getting to talk with Jason on the phone each day, but it took 16 days and 2 formal complaints against the doctor to get the first (and only) phone call regarding my husband’s care plan, treatment, diagnoses, prognosis, medications, or any other pertinent information.
All The Wrong Care
While in the CCU, he was kept on high doses of a sedative (Precedex), antipsychotics (Ativan/Diluadid), and steroids (dexamethasone). He was also given 2 doses of Remdesivir without his knowledge or consent. He was kept restrained to his bed for at least 9 straight days. Even against my demands that he be removed from the restraints and that the sedative be reduced, they kept him captive. He developed chemical burns from laying on his back for 18 days. I called in a consult with the infectious disease doctor who also continued to recommend Jason be removed from the restraints and released from the sedative; as well as be allowed to sit upright in a chair throughout the day and lay prone while in bed. Her recommendations went ignored as well. She fought to have him removed from isolation so he could have me visit, that too went ignored. Due to the excessive use of these chemicals, Jason had developed encephalopathy, or “Covid fog”. By day 18, I had made several formal complaints, demanded he be transferred to the other local hospital (which was vehemently rejected three times), threatened an Ethics Board call and legal action. On day 18, my husband, who had been kept chemically and physically restrained to his bed and on his back the entire time, was miraculously well enough to be released to a regular room. He literally went from requiring sedatives, restraints, antipsychotics, and isolation to being moved to a regular room in a matter of HOURS after my threat for legal action against the hospital.
Once he was in a regular room, I was by his side 13 hours a day, every day. He made tremendous progress each day despite many setbacks such as vomiting mass amounts of dark red blood a few hours into being in a regular room, going into A-fib, requiring endoscopies, blood transfusions and an overnight stay in the ICU for decreased O2 after an endoscopy. He made huge strides every day in physical and occupational therapy. He was having to relearn how to walk, how to feed himself, and how to communicate his needs. He was making progress to be discharged to rehab within a week.
The Physical Abuse
“The overmedicating, the malnutrition, the lack of dignity, and the blatant disregard for him.”
I witnessed firsthand the physical abuse he received in a deep tissue injury he sustained from where they left the blood pressure cuff on too tight for those first 18 days in the CCU. He had a bruise from his shoulder to his wrist. He believed that this bruise was the cause of the “unknown infection” he would develop that required blood transfusions. I witnessed firsthand the neglect of basic hygienic care where he went days without being bathed. I witnessed firsthand the overmedicating, the malnutrition, the lack of dignity, and the blatant disregard for him as an individual, as a patient. He felt like a prisoner, like he was being ignored. I came into his room one morning and he was wrapped up in his oxygen tube, the nasal cannula was nowhere near his nose. When I confronted the nurse, she said that he hadn’t been like that for long because she checked on him every 15 minutes. I pointed out that he had a dry IV bag and dried feces on his bottom. She again denied neglecting him. I
woke him up and he was not fully coherent. I asked what medication he had been given and was told they gave him Dilaudid again for agitation. I reminded them that he had told them he did not want any narcotics. That too went ignored. This event caused his doctor to BLAME him for his decline in progress, stating that “if he would have left his oxygen on”. How can a man who is given narcotic meds that knock him out be held responsible for tangling up in his oxygen hose when the nurse should have been alerted within minutes to the issue and fixed it? Jason did make great progress each day but each night he regressed, and we would have to start all over. He became frustrated with this and one day he invoked his right to refuse medications and treatments. He would ask what the medication was for and the nurse would give him generic answers like “for your heart”. He felt misinformed about his care. He also begged for me to carry him out of that hospital that day. I wish I would have. That is my biggest regret of this whole experience. I was able to get him calmed back down after a few hours but his O2 never improved. He was put on the vent the next day. Before going to the ICU, he had me write “I love you” on his left hand to remind him of that very thing when he woke up. As they took him to the ICU, I was told to leave and that someone would call me. I was left to walk out of that room alone and as I went down the hallway to exit, they wheeled him past me. He had a look of pure terror.
The Ventilator
“I watched as the nurses ignored him.”
He spent the next 13 days in the ICU on the ventilator. He was supposed to be transferred to an LTACH facility, at the other local hospital that I had tried 3 times prior to get him transferred to. They were going to get him there, get him off the vent and get him back on the road to recovery. The day he was supposed to be transferred, a total of 5 miles across town, the cardiologist decided to halt the transfer due to a “blip” he saw on the machine. This delay caused Jason to never leave this hospital. I was called in to see him once for 10 minutes as they felt he wouldn’t make it much longer. I was then allowed to come stay with him each day over the next three days for the entire day. He made improvements but then his heart rate dropped, and his blood pressure dropped so they put him on 3 pressers that caused his circulation to pull from all extremities. He had also developed an infection that they were calling sepsis. For the last 3 days, I watched him improve and decline. I watched as the nurses ignored him. I watched as the doctors increased and decreased his sedation, paralytic, antibiotics, and every other medication he was on. I asked questions and confronted the doctors. I was made to feel like Jason was taking up a bed they needed for someone else.
The Day He Died
The day he died, I was with him all day and he had blood seeping from his mouth. I was told that was from his chapped lips. I demanded that they check him. He was bleeding from his throat from where the nurse was too rough with the suctioning. I left at 7 pm as expected and was called back within 20 minutes. I got there in time for them to turn off the monitors. Even though he did not have a DNR, they did nothing to save his life. They tossed him over to clean him up and as they did, his stomach contents came up and he defecated the bed. I knew then that he was fading and within minutes, he was gone. The only life-saving measure I did not want was chest compressions because I didn’t want them to puncture his lung. I had in writing that they were to take all life-saving measures that were needed to save him.
Jason was 44 years old. He had so much life yet to live. He had only gotten to spend 4 days with our new grandson. We were months away from moving into our homestead that he was renovating himself. We were just a few years away from traveling the US, which was our goal for when all the kids had finished school. We were finding our happy after 17 years of just surviving. I am so proud of my husband for how long and how hard he fought, not just Covid, but all the horrific hospital protocols. It is my belief that my husband was murdered by the very doctors who took an oath to first do no harm. He became experimental material for them as they obtained large payouts for each diagnosis and treatment they pushed on him. His death certificate does list Covid Pneumonia, but it also lists “medical noncompliance”. If that was because he was unvaccinated, that should be criminal. If that was because he invoked his right to refuse medications, that too should be criminal. Due to the immunity from prosecution our state (Kentucky) put into place in March 2020, these doctors and hospitals are getting away with a legal form of murder. Medical malpractice, wrongful death, and negligent care all have a 1-year statute of limitations IF you can get an attorney willing to take on the giant of American Healthcare. Any other form of murder has no statute of limitations. So much needs to change and that is why we are here. To seek justice and to affect change in the approved Covid hospital protocols that are killing our loved ones.
Justice
“Hospitals and physicians are getting away with murder.”
The story I submitted to you is but a summary of the horrific treatment my husband, Jason Parks received. He spent 42 days in the hospital, being subjected to the deadly Covid protocol. I have been trying, tirelessly, to get the attention of any lawyer willing to take this case of medical malpractice/wrongful death, to no avail. One lawyer told me he couldn't afford to go against the hospital. That is how these hospitals and physicians are getting away with murder. That, and the immunity from prosecution that was put into place in March of 2020. I am but one person but together with other widows, I am advocating for change to this protocol and for justice. Thank you for your interest in my beautiful husband's story!
