Mom dies of suspected coronavirus after she was ‘turned away FOUR TIMES from hospital where she worked’
A MOM died of suspected coronavirus after she was reportedly turned away four times from the hospital where she worked.
Deborah Gatewood was just two years away from retirement when she passed away from presumed COVID-19 complications, FOX 2 Detroit reported.
The 63-year-old mom reportedly worked as a phlebotomist at Beaumont Hospital in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan, for 31 years – but her loyalty to the hospital system wasn’t enough to get her admitted.
In the third week of March, Deborah sought help when she started experiencing two of the most common coronavirus symptoms – a fever and cough.
Her daughter, Kaila Corrothers, told FOX 2 Detroit: “They sent her home saying you are showing signs of COVID.
“So they were confirming that she most likely had COVID, but they did not test her.”
Deborah was sent home four times, with cough medicine and recommendations to rest, Kaila claimed.
She added: “Each time, the fever got higher and the symptoms worse.
“The fact that she got infected by doing the job she did for 31 years and she couldn’t get taken care of by her own family, meaning Beaumont, it’s sad.
“It is disheartening to say the least.”
Deborah had developed bilateral pneumonia by the end of March, but still reportedly wasn’t admitted into Beaumont.
It wasn’t until she collapsed, that she was taken to Sinai-Grace Hospital by ambulance – where she died a few days later.
Kaila recounted sitting in her car in the hospital parking lot as her mom finally received help.
She said: “If this was as close as I can be to her if this is going to happen, I’m going to sit in my car until I get that phone call.”
Beaumont Hospital said in a statement to FOX 2: “As patients come to Beaumont for care during this pandemic, we are doing everything we can to evaluate, triage and care for patients based on the information we know at the time.
“We grieve the loss of any patient to COVID-19 or any other illness.”
The state of Michigan ranks seventh in the country for the number of COVID-19 cases – with 33,929 people confirmed to have the virus.
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As of Thursday, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases across the United States reached 866,148.
As least 48, 868 people have died from the killer virus in the US.
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