Unacceptable behaviors and inadequacy in the care of patients, complains through a letter a relative of a person who died of coronavirus on 31/07/21 in the covid19 ward of the General Hospital of Nicosia.
According to the letter that was sent and published by sigmalive, the family wonders whether their relative should be in the Intensive Care Unit, as he had severe symptoms due to covid19. The 82-year-old deceased had underlying diseases, with the family stressing that no one cared for him due to his age.
The open letter, which was published as such on sigmalive, was also sent to the Minister of Health, the General Director of the Ministry of Health and the president of OKYPY.
According to sigmalive, OKYPY was not aware of the existence of such a letter, however, assured that its content will be studied, and responsibilities will be sought where and where they exist.
The letter sent to SigmaLive as it is
Dear,
We all understand that the situation in our hospitals, especially due to the ongoing pandemic, is dire. We also know that doctors and nurses are at their limits and that many have already overcome them by doing an excellent job, feeling that they are performing a function and not a profession. To them we owe a great favor and thank you. But there are some who tarnish this function by letting people die helpless.
On 18/07/21 my father was diagnosed positive in the coronary artery. He was fully vaccinated with AstraZeneca and until 22/7 he had mild symptoms. He was hospitalized from 22/7 for a 24 hour period in the short-term ward and then in the covid ward - surgical B, until 31/07/21 where he ended up. What we experienced during the days he was hospitalized was from unbelievable to tragically unacceptable.
All these days we have observed unacceptable behaviors and inadequacies in patient care. In the first days of his hospitalization, we talked to him on the phone, albeit with difficulty due to the oxygen mask. According to my father, the bell rang because they needed help for the toilet and they were too late to go, so once he tried to go and fall alone with P, while another time he managed to go to the toilet alone but due to lack of oxygen he could not return to his bed. The bell rang and they spent 40 '- 45' until they left. In communication with the ward, when we reported the incident, they told us "Yes, he did beat us, but you know, the nurse wants 20 minutes until he puts on the uniform to get in." And I ask, if something more serious happens, if he faints, if he can not breathe, will the patient wait for them to put on their uniform and then anything happens? Shouldn't the nurse in a covid ward be ready at all times?
In another case, when we reported to the boss that we have complaints from our man that there is no proper care, they do not respond when they are beaten, the answer was "everyone complains, it is one of the drugs we give them for covid". Listen, listen!
They did not leave their food at the door. As my father told me, when asked by me if a nurse could cut a fruit for him so that he could eat it, "but what are you talking about, they are dragging us to the door, like the lepers in Spinalonga". When a patient can not get up, can not eat alone then what happens?
I note that not once did they take us from the ward for information, even for things that needed to be sent to them, they made the patient ask us for them. Every time I got an update, the answer was always the same "his condition is stable". For the last three days he did not answer our phones, nor did he pick us up himself. I mentioned it in the ward without anyone daring to see what was happening. No concern for the patient's psychology, who feels helpless at their mercy and abandoned. And I ask with such psychology how will one find the strength to fight for one's life? When I talked to my father every day and less and heard him say to me "It's hell inside", "We are at their mercy, when they die", I realized that day by day he lost his power and surrendered. This is because there was no support. It is not only drugs that save a person.
On the last day (Friday 30/07/21) I started calling in the morning, explaining that he has not contacted us for three days and we are worried. With answers like "but his condition is stable", "it becomes a waste, take it in an hour or two", "take it later", we arrived in the afternoon with the result that I insist more. At 18.07 p.m. at my insistence a nurse answered me arrogantly "his phone is next to him, he hears it. If he does not want to answer you, we can not do anything. " When I told her that maybe she could not answer, she told me that she was talking to them, implying that maybe she did not want to talk to me. After much discussion, he backed off, telling me:
"Okay, when the nurses come in a little while, they'll call you on the phone to talk to you," which happened at 6.15:6.00 p.m. And I ask, did I have to do all this process and all this discussion to make it self-evident? Shouldn't they, as nursing staff, care about the psychology of a man who fights for his life? Until 30 in the afternoon of 07/21/3.38 I was told from the ward that the situation is stable and at 4.00 in the morning they took me to tell me how it ended, without even notifying me that the situation had worsened. The death certificate (covid pneumonia) was made at 31 am. 07/21/XNUMX by a trainee orthopedist from another ward. This means that there was no pulmonologist, not even a physician in this ward, when the patients needed him.
My father was 82 years old with underlying diseases. Should not such a patient be in an intensive care unit or intensive care unit? Maybe because he was 82 years old no one cared. This man, however, was our father, grandfather, brother, uncle. This man worked productively and contributed to this place from the age of 12 until he was 75 and so on. And this man, this state left him to die alone feeling abandoned.
No human being deserves such death. He might not have succeeded even if things were different. But this is no excuse for anyone to leave helpless a man who in his last hours is alone in a cell without any of his own next to him. Everyone has the right to have the care they deserve.
I am writing this letter with the hope that there is still a little humanity in this place and you will make sure that these practices stop and that our hospitals are staffed with the right people so that no other person experiences such moments.
Source: Sigmalive