Patricia Kay Yoder – Reinholds, PA
Died: January 16th, 2022
WellSpan Ephrata Community Hospital – Ephrata, PA
Patricia’s story is being told by her daughter, Melissa Ulsh. Patricia was a warper for Weave Co. and then a CNA at Ephrata Manor.
I lost my mom to Covid on Sunday, January 16, 2022. She drove herself to the hospital on Thursday night, January 13th. When the hospital contacted me to let me know they were admitting her that night, they told me they believed her breathing issues were due to congestive heart failure and not the Covid. When I talked to them the next morning, they recanted that and said that it was Covid causing her breathing difficulties and that it was looking like an end of life situation, so they allowed me to come down.
They told me that they had asked her if she would want CPR or a vent and she told them no and they wanted verification from me, I agreed that she wouldn’t want either. When I arrived at the hospital, she was on a bipap and unresponsive. They sent a hospice nurse in to talk to me and I told them I’d like hospice to stand by. I wanted to be sure she couldn’t fight her way back to us as this was all happening so quickly (as I said, she drove herself there the night before!).
I decided to keep her on bipap, to keep giving her morphine and adavan to keep her calm and to give her medication to help keep her blood pressure up ( it was in the 60’s over 40’s), antibiotics and steroids. I told them no CPR, no vent, and NO Remdesivir. I asked about ivermectin, but they said it was too late for that. It works best as a prophylactic and in the early stages and I knew that. They said they can’t prescribe it anyway, that their hands are tied when it comes to ivermectin. It is CRAZY that they aren’t allowed to prescribe a drug that’s been used safely for decades!
She did wake up once but was panicking over the bipap mask so they medicated her again. They told me that because they were taking measures to save her, I wouldn’t be able to visit again unless they deemed her to be in an end of life situation again. When I called the next morning to check on her, they told me she had only gotten worse and I could come down again.
They told me her kidneys were failing and if by some miracle, she came back to us, she would be on dialysis for the rest of her life and her lung damage would make her breathing even worse than before (she had COPD). I still wasn’t ready to let her go, but I knew we would have to. She wouldn’t want to live that way. I went back on Sunday and they took her off of the bipap. She never took one breath on her own.
I haven’t gotten her medical records yet but I can’t shake the feeling that they gave her Remdesivir. I know it causes kidney problems and the fact that her kidneys were failing has me worried that they did it without permission. I’m also worried that MAYBE she really was in congestive heart failure and that was the main problem and they didn’t treat that… they were treating Covid.
The whole thing just doesn’t add up to me. How does one drive themselves to the hospital and within 12 hours, they are in an end of life situation?