Maine author says father died after COVID-19 exposure at Bangor hospital

A bestselling author from Maine said on Wednesday his father contracted COVID-19 after being exposed to an unvaccinated nurse at a Bangor hospital and died there last week following a series of delays in care of health caused by the virus.

Guillaume Baker, 2021 Photo courtesy of Christina Baker Kline

Christina Baker Kline, New York Times bestselling author of eight novels, said COVID-19 is not the official cause of death of her father, former University of Maine professor William Baker, but the virus contributed to delays in his care and kept him in hospital longer than necessary, ultimately resulting in his death. He was 83 years old.

“He died in quarantine with COVID with multiple infections he contracted in hospital as a result of COVID-related delays,” said Kline, who lives in Southwest Harbor and New York City.

On Tuesday, Kline wrote an opinion piece in the Washington Post highlighting the pressure that an increase in the number of unvaccinated cases has placed on hospitals and immunization gaps among health workers. “The (staff) shortages, I believe, cost my father months and maybe years of his life,” Kline wrote. “By placing the rights of unvaccinated staff, patients and visitors above those of vaccinated patients and their families, hospitals increase pain and suffering – and fail to protect vulnerable people from isolation, illness and death linked to COVID. “

Suzanne Spruce, spokesperson for Northern Light Health, the parent company of Eastern Maine Medical Center, said she couldn’t comment on the care of some patients on Wednesday and couldn’t share the hospital’s vaccination policy . She said the system-wide vaccination rate for Northern Light is 92.9%.

“When it comes to rehab beds, I can tell you the challenge is that we often can’t get people to where they need to be,” Spruce said in an email. “If someone goes to our acute detox center and has to go to a long-term care facility, they may end up staying with us longer because it’s difficult to put someone in a facility right now. We’re managing this as best we can, but it’s not our own issue – there is a shortage of beds for those in need of long-term care and rehabilitation both in Maine and in across the country. “

Maine requires all hospital staff and many other healthcare workers to get vaccinated by Oct. 1, unless they have medical exemptions. The state does not plan to start enforcing the mandate as a requirement for state health care licenses until October 29.

“We remain fully supportive of Maine’s vaccination mandate for healthcare workers and expect to be fully compliant with the state’s mandate by the Oct. 29 deadline,” Spruce said.

Originally from northern Georgia, Baker was the first person in his family to graduate from eighth grade and went to college on a football scholarship. He planned to become a minister, but ended up getting a scholarship to study at Cambridge University in England for a summer. A mentor convinced him to stay and he went on to get his doctorate. there, his daughter said.

Baker spent over 30 years as a history teacher at UMaine and served on the Bangor School Board. He was married to former Maine House representative Christina L. Baker, who died in 2013. Kline, whose best-selling novels include “Orphan Train” and “The Exiles”, is one of four daughters of William and Christina Baker.

“He didn’t care about the money,” Kline said. “He never cared about material things. All he cared about was learning, experimenting and helping others.

Baker recently divided his time between Aiken, SC, and Southwest Harbor, where his daughters all have homes and live there year-round or seasonally. Five months ago, he fell and broke his hip in South Carolina. He had surgery but the operation failed and while in Maine this summer his family tried to help him plan for a second partial hip replacement.

William Baker celebrates his 80th birthday in Aiken, SC Clockwise from 11 am: Christina Baker Kline, Cynthia Baker, Catherine Baker-Pitts and Clara Baker. Photo courtesy of Christina Baker Kline

Kline said he had difficulty planning a new procedure in South Carolina or Georgia due to pandemic restrictions on elective surgeries. The family was eventually able to book the surgery at Eastern Maine Medical Center, but Kline said she was concerned about the surge in COVID cases.

“He had the surgery and it was successful and his vital signs were good,” Kline said. “The surgeon said he would be released within 24 to 48 hours at a rehabilitation center, but there were no beds available and the time stretched for weeks.”

A bed eventually opened at a nearby rehabilitation center, but Kline said the option worried the family because the presence of active COVID patients at the facility meant Baker would automatically have to be in quarantine if he ever had to. get there. “We were on the fence about it for a day or two because of it going to quarantine indefinitely there,” she said.

Baker’s stay in hospital, however, was further delayed after contracting MRSA, a staph infection common in hospitals. Then, about a week and a half ago, Kline said the family had been informed that his father, who was fully vaccinated, would have to be quarantined due to exposure to COVID-19.

She said her sister, Cynthia, was in the hospital with their father when staff entered and said he had been exposed. “She asked the head nurse directly,” Kline said. She said, ‘I want to know exactly what happened. Unless you tell me otherwise, I’ll take the fact that it was the nurse who wasn’t vaccinated, ”and the head nurse just looked at her and didn’t respond.

Kline said the hospital was reluctant to confirm that her father’s exposure was from an unvaccinated nurse, but “it became tacitly clear that she was an unvaccinated nurse.” She said her sister Clara also learned from another nurse that their father’s nurse had not been vaccinated.

Spruce, a spokeswoman for Northern Light Health, said Eastern Maine Medical Center, like other health care providers in Maine, has seen cases of patients and staff testing positive for COVID-19 because transmission rates remain high statewide.

“We are currently testing any staff member who is showing symptoms, is known to have been around someone positive for COVID or who requires surveillance testing,” she said. “Once the state mandate comes into effect, unvaccinated employees will not be able to work unless they have a medical exemption.”

Kline said her family understand that there are always risks for an elderly person in a hospital setting, but she believes her father would still be alive if it weren’t for the many delays he faced in seeking care. And she thinks it’s irresponsible for hospitals to expose vulnerable patients to unvaccinated staff. “The point is, unvaccinated people along the way led my dad to die from an operation that was supposed to be pretty routine,” she said.

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