- Jurisdiction
- Michigan
Hello, What I need help with is sadly, very common, and increasing. I need to know what to do. My husband was murdered by a doctor at a hospital last November, but because of his age and that he was terminal, no attorneys will take my case for wrongful death. (There is a Missouri Supreme Court case where the Supreme Court stated that it IS murder to end a terminal patient's life before their natural death.) But I was there and I argued with the doctor telling her that she was overdosing him and she just shrugged her shoulders and walked out of the room. I had asked repeatedly to take him home but the nurse told me he would die on the way. Then I overheard nurses saying they had to evacuate the floor to bring in COVID patients so AGAIN I asked to take him home. They STILL told me no. I asked to speak to the hospitalist in charge of his case and I was told they'd give her the message but she was very busy. I didn't know what to do. We only had Medicare Advantage and Medicaid for backup, so I thought if I took him out of there without the hospitals permission, the ambulance probably wouldn't transport him because Medicare wouldn't cover it if we left without being signed out. I didn't know what to do because things were moving too fast. I couldn't leave my husband's side because I didn't know what they'd do while I was gone. He had come into the hospital a few days before because his abdomen needed drained again. We were scheduled to have a port put in in 4 days so we could drain him at home. When his abdomen filled with fluid he had trouble breathing and just needed it drained. But once they had him in the hospital, they decided he wasn't leaving. They started piling on diagnosis after diagnosis and refused to do anything to help him with any of them. They put him on a ventilator instead of draining his abdomen and then decided to do it, but then kept him on the ventilator for 3 days. Finally they realized he didn't need it and removed him. Thats when I began asking to bring him home. But they insisted he go to a Hospice bed for 24 hrs to make sure he was stable. We didn't like it, but reluctantly agreed. He was awake and aware but unable to speak due to just being extubated. But the next day when I came to see him in the "hospice bed", he was knocked out cold on morphine and ativan and they were refusing to give him any fluids or nutrition. I kept telling them I wanted to bring him home but his nurse kept saying No. I asked to talk to the doctor in charge and was told she was busy. I spent the night because they said he didn't have long to live. I told them we are Catholic and do not agree with starving a person to death or withholding fluids or overdosing a person on morphine or any other drug. His nurse promised they wouldn't do that, but the next day (I stayed the night at his side), the doctor in charge came in while I was in the bathroom. When I came out she was standing over him and I saw her turn the morphine/ativan pump up. He was already knocked out cold and sleeping deeply. His breathing was fine, no rasping, no anything. He was breathing quietly and easily. But she tried to tell me he needed more morphine to ease his breathing. I told her she was going to kill him but she didn't care. She just walked out of the room. Our son came in shortly after and we stood there watching as my husband's breathing got slower. He would have long pauses in his breaths. I would shake him gently and remind him to breathe, hoping, I guess that I could do it until I could figure out what to do. I almost removed his IV but I knew they'd arrest me and I wouldn't be there when they killed him. It was something I'll never forget. I should have done SOMETHING, but I didn't know what. I let my beloved husband down when he needed me the most and I'll never forgive myself. But my question is: Is there a chance to get a DA to prosecute this doctor and nurse for kidnapping and murder? Civil attorneys won't take the case because my husband was 71 y.o. and though he was working 50 hrs/wk prior to his diagnosis, they feel that any award or settlement wouldn't be enough to cover costs. I even told the last attorney that I don't care about the money. He can have it all. But he told me I wohld have to pay all costs up front. Its not that I have any money. Its just that its more important to me to stop these doctors and nurses from ing people than it is to get money for my husband's death. I am disabled and only have social security because when my husband was diagnosed, his new employer dropped all his insurance and told him they hadn't given it to him, even though we had used it, had the health cards and welcome packet etc. His benefit package included health, short-term disability and life insurance. They took them all away. That's why all we had was Medicare Advantage and Medicaid for backup.
Any help or advice would be appreciated. I know that pro-life organizations are working to get a law passed in Michigan to give patients and their families more rights so that doctors can't starve patients, keep them against their will, or kill them. I can't believe we need a law for that. I always thought doctors were there to help people when they're sick, not murder them.
Thank you.
Any help or advice would be appreciated. I know that pro-life organizations are working to get a law passed in Michigan to give patients and their families more rights so that doctors can't starve patients, keep them against their will, or kill them. I can't believe we need a law for that. I always thought doctors were there to help people when they're sick, not murder them.
Thank you.