An Army veteran who served two tours in Afghanistan died in Texas of a treatable disease, all because there were no beds available in the ICU.
Daniel Wilkinson, 46, fell ill on August 21, his mother, Michelle Puget, told Fox News. The next day, the family took him to an emergency room near their home in Bellville, where he was diagnosed with gallstone pancreatitis.
Daniel Wilkinson, left, and his mother, Michelle Puget. (Michelle Puget)
Puget said doctors told him they knew how to treat him and that all that was needed was to get him to an ICU bed.
Unfortunately, the Bellville hospital was not equipped with the necessary equipment or personnel for the operation that Wilkinson needed. Due to the rise of the delta variant of COVID-19, hospitals have been overwhelmed with patients and there were no ICU beds available for Wilkinson.
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Doctors and nurses, Puget said, “called every hospital in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas and Colorado and couldn’t get him a bed.”
Daniel Wilkinson served two tours in Afghanistan between 2005 and 2011. (Michelle Puget)
“Every minute that he was denied a bed in the ICU, he was dying. Doctors said his organs were already beginning to fail, “said Puget.
By Sunday, her son had died.
It’s still unreal. And I know he’s not the only person in that kind of situation, ”Puget said. And that’s one of the reasons I’ve been willing to tell this story and publish it because I could be anyone’s mother, sister, or daughter. They need help and it shouldn’t be postponed. ‘
Puget said her son was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder upon returning from Afghanistan, but that he otherwise had no history of serious health problems.
«He loved his country. He didn’t mind going there, ”Puget said. He needed to do what he had to do.
Puget believes that hospitals need more funding to ensure that people like his son don’t suffer the same fate.
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«Much of the ICU shortage does not [about] the short of the beds. It’s the shortage of staff to tend those beds, “said Puget.” If field hospitals vomit, then we could call on medical staff to help take care of some of the excesses and ease the pain. ‘
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