My Mother Passed Away, and They Falsely Listed her Death as Covid.
How often is This Happening?
I have been MIA for most of the month of November. I apologize to those that read my work frequently, but the death of my Adoptive Mother was overwhelming.
I have spent a majority of the last month navigating illness, hospice, death, and mourning.
And trying to fight the Covid diagnosis that’s listed on her death certificate.
You see, my mom passed away from Alzheimer’s. She was diagnosed long ago and was at the point where you actually forget how to eat and swallow. A very typical issue for someone who is at the end of life, with Alzheimer’s complications.
As someone who spent 10 years doing in home care, specifically for Alzheimer’s clients, my experience dictates that her decline was a very stereo-typical.
They will, over time, gradually, forget how to do the most basic things, and in the last phases, that is often how to eat and swallow. Which is why it’s the last phase, because they will eventually starve to death.
Once they get to where they can’t eat, you know that time is close, and you make the preparations. Hospice comes in. We made paperwork and plans. And out-of-town family called.
And then you wait…
Then, finally, after watching them struggle for what seems like an eternity, they finally pass.
You are relieved because you know it’s been days (or more) since they had food. And devastated because now you are without your loved one.
There are no more family holidays or dinners.
There is no more time to mend fences (if necessary).
There is only whatever comes next. You go through all the motions of what’s next, through the haze of grief. Trying to put one foot in front of the other, and just get things done.
No time to think.
Just get all the necessaries done.
And there is a lot.
So many phone calls to make. Call Medicare. Call social security. Call the funeral home.
Accounts to close, or switch over.
Make funeral arrangements. Make sure you have enough death certificates for all that need them.
Then we got the death certificate.
Imagine my surprise, when they listed her death as covid. She didn’t have covid, for they had tested her when she was in the hospital, right before she passed away.
But it makes me wonder… if my mother’s cause of death can be listed as covid, when it wasn’t, how many other deaths were listed as covid, that were not?
Makes you wonder how messed up those covid death tallies really are.
Because, in my social circle alone, I know of three other people whose cause of death they listed as covid. But WAS NOT COVID.
A friend of mine’s father had a heart attack and died. After years of heart problems. He had his first (minor)heart attack at 36, second one at 45, and they put stints in. And over the years since, he has had numerous procedures for his heart issues. Then, at 70 had another heart attack and ended up in the hospital. He was in the hospital for a week before passing away. During his stay, his daughter had asked them if he had been tested for covid and he had been, twice.
Both negative.
But they also listed his cause of death as covid. No mention of the heart attack that had brought him to the hospital.
Another friend, her brother, committed suicide. He had severe PTSD from things he’d seen and done while in combat. It was 100% suicide. His death certificate also said covid. The last person was a cousin of a friend, who sadly was an addict, and OD’d on meth. But his death is still listed as covid.
I can’t help but wonder how often this is actually happening.
I have a tiny social circle, and know of three others, besides my mother, with deaths listed as covid, that were not.
I’m not one who’s into conspiracy theories, but I can’t help but worry.
How many other people is this happening to? How skewed are these covid death numbers that they wave in our faces daily, if not hourly?
Rowen is a mother, Wife, Domestic Violence Victims Advocate, community volunteer, and nature lover. Most of her time is spent with her family or volunteering in her community. Rowen has a degree in Psychology, with a concentration in Family Counseling and Minoring in criminal justice. Writing has been her passion since high school, and she enjoys using it to help others.