My mother who was 91 years old had a fall and fractured her hip. This is a grave injury for someone her age. It is well known that a hip fracture for someone 91 years old dramatically increases the risk of death.
My mother was transported by ambulance to the St Raphael's campus of Yale New Haven Hospital. Given Yale New Haven Hospital's Covid restrictions I could not be with her in the ED. I could not be there to comfort her. I had to wait for a call from a nurse for an update. It broke my heart to hear my mother in tears screaming in pain in the background while I was talking to the nurse. She spent hours in the ED before they found a room for her. She could not have visitors and at around 3:30am in the morning she held the nurse's hand, thanked her for her care and then took her last breath. I could not be at my mother's side, however, after she passed away, I was called by the hospital and was told I can go visit her with one other person and spend as much time as needed. My mother was still in her hospital bed.
I would rather have been at her side in the ED when she needed my comfort. This is inhumane, and has emotionally scared me.
I reached out with three calls to Yale Hospital patient relations. I received one call back and was told this would be raised to the leadership team. I requested to be called by the leadership team. They never returned my call. They were silent. I placed another call expressing my dissapointment over leadership's silence. Still no response from the leadership team.
This has emotionally scared me as I am sure other patients and families have experienced.
Yale Hospital has to be more flexible with their covid restrictions in cases like this.
