Forum Topic

My father died earlier this year – of Covid-19, apparently. He had a fall at home and was admitted to hospital where he was being treated for a fractured pelvis. One week into his stay, my sister received a phone call from the hospital, where they informed her of a mistake they’d made. They said that they’d moved him to another ward but put him in the wrong bed - the bed of a Covid patient, and that they were testing him for Covid. The next day, they phoned again to say that he had tested positive for Covid, and was being treated accordingly. He lived for another 2.5 weeks. Days before his death, the hospital said that he was no longer testing positive for Covid, but was being treated for Pneumonia. There was an Inquest into his death, and the primary cause, unsurprisingly, was Covid-19. The death certificate also states a conclusion of Accidental Death, although I’m not sure in what context.Weeks later, I was discussing the above with a friend outside his home when the tall wooden back gate of an adjacent garden opened, and out walked a black woman. She said that she had overheard our conversation, and wanted to tell us that her husband had been admitted to the same hospital for a non-Covid related issue and received a similar phone call from the hospital – he’d been put into the bed of a Covid patient by mistake and was being tested for Covid; the only difference being that she went to the hospital immediately and brought him home where he died of Covid 3 weeks later. She said that she fears for everyone but believed that my friend and I (both white) are far safer than her and her family are as black Americans.

Michael Brown ● 1293d