Lets Discuss Bereavement

In memoriam

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Previously I mentioned in the “Fast 'N' Loose With Truth: FAA Hides Heart Harms” article of disruptions due to a bereavement. I greatly appreciated all of the supportive comments I received in response, it was touching.

I imagine that, like myself, when you hear of a death, you’re curious as to the cause, and how exactly they died, but you’re too polite to ask. Curiosity is natural.

For good sociopolitical reasons, I normally prefer privacy. Knowing that some of you have a myriad of questions about the circumstances, subconsciously or otherwise, as well as the wider social benefit of a public discussion, I wanted to talk about the details and offer some closure.

Note, for my own personal safety and security, some personal information will still be redacted (so, no names, no locations, etc) and I will be vague about some of the details, but I will discuss the parts I think will be most important to know.

How Did He Die?

The immediate cause of death mentioned is that he choked on his own vomit whilst in respite care (more on that later). ‘Aspiration Pneumonia’ is the term for when material (E.G. from the stomach) enters the lungs and causes an infection.

In the wider context, he was a long term sufferer of Parkinsons — an illness he had pre-pandemic — and ended up hospitalised after suffering a fall at home resulting in a fracture on their femur. He was found by an attentive and supportive neighbour who raised the alarm at the time.

As he lived a distance away from where I lived, it was not straight forward to check on him, especially with an extremely busy life and limited finances.

I personally travelled up same day I heard the news — early evening — arriving at the hospital late evening, and had to book accommodation at near midnight at a far-away Travelodge without mobile internet (somehow every other accommodation was fully booked). That meant manually driving to 10 different places to ask.

When I spoke with him in hospital, it was clear he was suffering from additional cognitive issues he did not have before; he barely spoke, and even when he did, he was unaware of his own bedbound, largely immobile medical condition and acted like he was ready to leave when it was clear he was struggling.

Other family members, who also had overwhelmingly busy work schedules, also visited, and recognised the cognitive issues.

He seemed to have an amnesia about his condition, and when concerns were raised, doctors tried reducing the Parkinsons drugs to see if it had an impact on cognition (it did not; reducing it just made Parkinsons tremours worse, so the drugs were resumed).

He spent approximately 7 weeks in hospital before being inappropriately discharged to respite care, where the death occurred. More on that later.

Was He ‘Vaccinated’?

This is probably the deeper question everybody has. The answer is yes. I was not privvy as to which shot(s) he had taken, but at his home was a print out of the so-called ‘safety’ information for the Pfizer mRNA shot; that said, given his timing of when he first took the shot, I strongly suspect he took the AstraZeneca shot first (it may be he got the Pfizer shot later, or he was weighing his options).

He was scared witless by the UK government scaremongering campaign that said SARS-CoV-2 was basically going to kill every elderly person. During the pandemic, he did not want to leave his house, he did not want to see visitors, and was so terrified he panic-rushed into getting the shot. It was tragic to see.

He had already gotten it before I even knew he had considered it, so there was no opportunity to dissuade; being elderly he was prioritised by the UK government, and he jumped at the chance out of fear and terror.

That said, he had recently purchased a book on conspiracy theories, and it looked like he was turning a page in his realisation shortly before his death:

A quick flick through of the book shows it is an introduction to the various ‘conspiracy theory’ topics, such as the assassination of JFK.

What Do You [Underdog] Think Caused His Death?

This is a complex series of events to unpack.

In my personal opinion, whichever shot he took worsened the pre-existing Parkinsons, and was most likely a contributory factor, and many family members who saw him were shocked by the change in physical appearance — frail and skeleton-like.

He wasn’t putting on weight, and he was plagued with a persistent respiratory infection that did not respond to antibiotics, which for me is a red flag for Hoskins effect (or weakened immune system due to the shots, put simply).

Whilst Parkinsons is a terminal illness, usually it is marked by a slow decline, not a ‘sudden’ death during respite care. My first suspicion for respite care was maybe he had been Midazolam’d, however, hearing details of the respite care building design, my biggest suspicion was he was inappropriately discharged to an unsuitable care facility, which led to death by neglect.

My reasoning for this is he was mainly bedbound post-fall, and thus not capable of self-care. The respite care home he was discharged to presumed some sort of mobility — to the point he was in his own sort of ‘mini-apartment’, which included a closed ‘front door’ of sorts, which was totally inappropriate for a bedbound individual needing close supervision.

It is my suspicion therefore that a care worker delivered food, left, at which point the bedbound family member proceeded to eat said food, and due to their Parkinsons, began to choke unattended, and needed help but wasn’t able to raise anybody due to their condition.

As he was behind a closed door (and not say, on an open ward), it was not possible for anyone to hear or see the choking occurring, nor were there nurses doing regular patrols to monitor for decline (being respite care), so signs of urgent intervention were missed.

Was There An Answer?

Based on my own examination of him and based on my prior experiences within the NHS, the prognosis was not good regardless. There wasn’t a ‘winning’ scenario; even if he managed to stay alive, the very real possibility is he’d be bedbound for a long time with Parkinsons (it is why I endorse right-to-try legislation for new, experimental drugs to help try to treat conditions in these circumstances).

Had he remained in hospital (rare, given how eagerly hospitals want to discharge people), the typical end result is a bedbound patient will develop bed sores (which, if left untreated, can, worst-case, devolve into flesh-eating bacteria), acquire a hospital infection (such as meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus; MRSA, which cannot be treated with antibiotics) or acquire sepsis; either way, dying as a result.

Had they gone to a ‘conventional’ care home, there was a real risk they’d get Midazolam’d.

Had he gone home, the outcome would have been much the same as respite care; despite the hospital offering a whopping four nurse visits (practically unheard of in the NHS; you’re lucky if you get one a day), they would have only been for 30 minutes each. Meaning, for the other 22 hours in a day, he would have been unattended. It is very likely a similar choking scenario would have played out.

Even if he did not choke, he was permanently bedbound, and needed around the clock care, given he was oblivious to his own medical condition, and tried to do things like walk as if he wasn’t hooked up to any medical equipment, which resulted in forceful disconnections. He wasn’t able to stand without assistance, so this was a big falls risk.

Could You [Underdog] Have Helped?

I’m too poor to afford around the clock care, nor could I provide it myself given my own life to run (family carers, I don’t know how you do it, but that is an amazing feat). The distance made it very difficult, and I would have bankrupted myself on fuel, accomodation and food costs. I was trying to salvage The Daily Beagle and trying to start a business as well when this struck.

He had resources that could have been utilised, but he was completely unaware of his own medical condition, and thus saw no need to mobilise it. This also meant he wasn’t looking for, nor willing to accept, other solutions (including any alternative treatments). He wouldn’t even accept biscuits, and I ended up giving them away to other patients and ward staff.

The family were seriously discussing trying to acquire power of attorney simply so we could get the resources to put his care in-place, but because he seemed compos mentis in every other capacity (a frustrating grey area), he would have been declared competent despite being wholly oblivious to the seriousness of his medical condition, and at risk of severely injuring himself (given he was attached to various implements).

There weren’t, in my honest opinion, any ‘winning’ options.

Did You Discover Anything Unusual?

Besides the inappropriate discharge to respite care, yes.

Currently, myself and several family members are slowly clearing out the stuff in his property, and he’s held onto quite a few items that need to be cleared and sorted (hence the disruption to The Daily Beagle articles). It has mostly gone to either charity or the community, with a few items held by family of mostly sentimental value.

Amongst these items, was an unsigned, untouched consent form for a trial that will probably make your blood boil once you understand what it is about. Given there’s a already a lot to unpack here already, I’ll be covering that in a part 2.

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Feel free to air your views below, and please, if I’ve made any typographical errors or mistakes, I’d prefer it if you point it out (don’t feel like you need to walk on eggshells because it is a bereavement — accuracy matters!).

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