U.S. News
Family Blames the Unvaccinated For Father’s Death After 2-Week Wait For Hospital Bed
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
- An Iowa family is blaming unvaccinated Covid-19 patients for the death of their patriarch who had sepsis.
- The family said the unvaxxed kept 78-year-old Dale Weeks from getting a hospital bed for two weeks before he later died.
- Weeks’ daughters believe he might have survived if he’d been admitted immediately to a large medical center.
An Iowa family blames unvaccinated COVID-19 patients for the death of their patriarch who died after waiting two weeks for a hospital bed.
Dale Weeks, a retired school superintendent, was diagnosed with sepsis in November and hoped to get treatment before the holidays, the Washington Post reported.
As COVID-19 cases around the country surged, finding a hospital bed at a large medical facility in Iowa became difficult for the 78-year-old.
Instead, Weeks was taken to a small rural hospital for treatment. He had to wait 15 days to be transferred over to a large hospital with better treatment options.
His family told the Post that he was unable to get the treatment he needed right away because hospital systems in Iowa were overwhelmed by the high number of unvaccinated COVID-19 patients.
“It was terribly frustrating being told, ‘There’s not a bed yet,’” said Jennifer Owenson, one of Weeks’ four children.
“All of us were talking multiple times a day, ‘Why can’t we get him a bed?’ There was this logjam to get him in anywhere.”
By the time Weeks was able to have surgery, his condition started to deteriorate and he died on Nov. 28 of complications related to surgery, according to the Post.
“The frustrating thing was not that we wanted him to get care that others weren’t getting, but that he didn’t get care when he needed it. And when he did get it, it was too late,” his son Anthony Weeks said. “The question comes up of: ‘Who was in those beds?’ If it’s people who are unvaccinated with COVID, then that’s the part where it really hurts.”
“The thing that bothers me the most is people’s selfish decision not to get vaccinated and the failure to see how this affects a greater group of people. That’s the part that’s really difficult to swallow.”
Source: People
Earl W Littlefield Jr
December 31, 2021 at 12:08 pm
Sadly, their ignorance consumes them. I pray they will turn to Jesus.
Mandy Martin
January 3, 2022 at 5:27 pm
Was he overweight? Did he have other underlying conditions? Was he physically active, prior to getting covid? There are many reasons covid is a death sentence for some, while hardly making others sick.
RichD
January 4, 2022 at 5:57 am
He had sepsis from an (botched?) operation, not COVID.
Vic
January 4, 2022 at 2:05 pm
He was diagnosed with septic infection in NOVEMBER? His primary doctor should have intervened to check larger hospitals, saying he/she had a problem needing a bed. Did pt just need antibiotic treatment for sepsis and deteriorated to need surgery, or did he need surgery at the BEGINNING of diagnosis, perhaps secondary to diabetic necrosis of a foot, etc reasons. IF HE ONLY NEEDED IV ANTIBIOTICS, and no beds available, could have put a peripheral IV lock in (no IV tubing, but rubber cap to hook IV tubing to) and have him come in even to office, or an ER, to have IV antibiotic run in for several (2-4) scheduled doses per day, until condition improved or bed open. If he initially came in needing surgery as first intervention, that’s another scenario entirely.
As for the family angry at unvaccinated people? Their anger is erroneous. If unvaccinated but have had Covid infection and therefore have NATURAL IMMUNITY. People with natural immunity have almost zero chance of contracting Omicron, or a second Delta infection. However, the VACCINATED, EVEN WITH A BOOSTER, ARE ABLE TO CONTRACT BOTH those variants. Omicron is very contagious, so easy to get, but normally very mild, an upper respiratory, cold-like infection, unlike the more severe Delta, which affects lower respiratory/lungs. Nobody is testing for antibodies, only testing for a current INFECTION, which is not as helpful. We need the therapeutics (treatments and meds) to treat the virus. Like available meds, IV antibodies. US government purchased all the IV Antibody treatments and is doling them out to states, but not enough to cover needs. Contracts to get medication treatments are still not signed, so obviously not available right now.