Alabama man dies of heart failure after 43 hospitals with full intensive care refused him

An Alabama man died of heart failure after being turned away from 43 hospitals whose intensive care units were filled with COVID-19 patients.

Auctioneer Ray Martin DeMonia, 73, of Cullman, was able to find an intensive care unit bed some 200 miles away in Meridian, Mississippi, after emergency personnel called 43 hospitals to search of space.

While a bed was found for DeMonia at the Rush Foundation Hospital, he died of complications from his cardiac arrest on September 1.

According to her family, DeMonia struggled to find an empty bed due to the overflow of intensive care units by unvaccinated patients who had been stricken with COVID-19.

In DeMonia’s obituary, seen by Newsweek, her family pleaded with unvaccinated people to get bitten in order to free up hospital beds in the future.

Their statement read, “In honor of Ray, please get vaccinated if you haven’t, in an effort to free up resources for non-COVID emergencies.

“Due to COVID-19 Cullman, regional medical center emergency staff contacted 43 hospitals in three states looking for a cardiac intensive care bed and ultimately found one in Meridian, Mississippi. not that another family lives what his has done. “

The family will be hosting a celebration for DeMonia’s life at a later date and described him as “like no other”.

Alabama lags behind vaccination rates in other states, which have seen an increase in the number of patients requiring intensive care after contracting the virus.

According to the CDC, 53.7% of Alabamans have been fully vaccinated against COVID, while 63% have received at least one vaccine.

As the state improves its vaccination rates, there are still counties that are lagging behind with around 30 percent inoculated.

The week that DeMonia died, the Alabama Hospital Association (AHA) said the state had fewer intensive care beds than patients who needed them.

He recommended that people wear masks in public, get vaccinated and talk to their doctors about monoclonal antibody treatments if they test positive for the virus.

On Saturday, the AHA said the problem persisted with the number of staffed intensive care beds at 1,543 and the number of intensive care patients at 1,547.

He added that 83% of COVID patients who were in the beds had not been vaccinated, compared to 4% who had been partially inoculated and 13% who had received both vaccines.