When you see death from close quarters
In May 2021, my aged mom was hospitalized with COVID-19. At the same time, my siblings (Sharon & Darryl) including me contracted COVID.
My brother Lester and his wife Carol were taking care while my nephew was out of the country during that period.
After a week, my mother was discharged from the hospital. When she came home, she held my hand and pleaded with me not to let go. I had been running a high fever for a week and could barely stand.
On the same day, Darryl had accidentally overdosed on Vitamin D, while Sharon had breathing issues.
That evening, her conditioned worsened. Frantically, we called an ambulance. While checking the papers, Lester asked me, “Julia, what is a DAMA discharge?"
In that disoriented state, when I googled, I found it meant: Discharge Against Medical Advice.
We were shocked. There my mother was taking her last breaths, and here we were staring at DAMA discharge papers. The hospital authorities had convinced my brother that she could be taken home.
Although the ambulance carried oxygen cylinders, the attendants did not administer oxygen to her, for reasons best known to them.
By the time she was carried downstairs, and placed inside the ambulance, her hand fell to one side. She breathed her last.
Because of Covid, she was cremated late at night. Sharon, Darryl and I never saw her body.
The next day, Carol also tested positive for COVID, and was hospitalized with intravenous drips. It felt as though my entire family is going to be wiped out.
My mom’s ashes were brought home in an urn, and after we had all recovered from COVID, we buried them in a cemetery.
Darryl who was the main caretaker of my mother was so devastated that he did not speak to Lester & Carol for almost six months. The mystery surrounding the DAMA discharge was never resolved.
Watching your loved one die in such unusual circumstances with death hanging on our own heads is not something one can easily forget.
If this was so painful, think of the countless families living through wars, watching their loved ones die from bombs, missiles, shelling! The trauma is so painful it scars you forever.
Have a heart, all you war thirsty leaders who sign orders to bomb people mercilessly.
Embezzlers of souls, stop investing billions in creating sophisticated machinery to kill other fellow humans. Have your'll seen death from close quarters? Do you know its sting?
Even animals don't kill each other except for food. The pain you cause will return to you ten times more because no one escapes the law of karma!
