On Monday, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) led a roundtable discussion on COVID-19 Hospital Protocols: Real Stories from Real People.
Johnson was joined by patients, families, doctors, and other medical personnel who gave testimony as to the massive failures by hospitals and hospital systems in treating and caring for patients with COVID-19. Johnson shared that he had gathered 583 testimonies from 46 states, and the panelists represented a mere fraction of these testimonies.
Panelists shared their personal accounts of mistreatment, disregard, cruelty, and the death-dealing experiences that occurred in hospitals across the country. From withholding requested care, administering treatments that were not authorized by the patient or the patient's advocate, and the cruel and heartless treatment given to people who either were not vaccinated against COVID-19 or who rejected Remdesivir or standard protocols, knowing the harm that they caused.
One common thread within every testimony was the forced and consistent administration of Remdesivir, which Johnson said nurses mockingly called, "Run, Death is Near." Another thread was the hospitals' refusal, despite patients' requests and insistence, to administer Ivermectin, Hydroxychloroquine, and monoclonal antibodies. The third thread was the practice of putting people on ventilators, despite the fact that they were showing improvement, and how in each case it ultimately ushered the patients more quickly to their deaths.
Peggy Hokett was the first to testify. She talked about how her husband, Raymond, was hospitalized in Oklahoma City and was told he was going to die because he was unvaccinated. Then they allegedly administered Remdesivir and placed him on a ventilator without consent. Raymond Hokett died 24 days later, allegedly because of the hospital's insistence on treating him as a lost cause rather than a patient who deserved proper care in order to be made better.
In his opening statement, Johnson said:
There were leaders who used the fear of the unknown to gain undue power and control over our response to COVID.
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Protocols that devastated people's lives and global economies.
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Rigid adherence to hospital protocols, rarely questioned, became the norm, which many doctors saw as violating the Hippocratic Oath's core duty: patients first, not protocols.
Far too often the stories of COVID hospitalizations were horrific, and we will hear some today. Patients lost their freedom. Family members could not visit and comfort their dying loved ones.
That is possibly the most cruel expression of that horrific period: the hospitals' refusal to allow families to be near their loved ones, or allow them the chance to say goodbye as they passed from this life.
Johnson continued:
In many of the testimonies received for this event, the callous comments by doctors and nurses to unvaccinated patients and their families are almost unbelievable.
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Something other than the Coronavirus infected society during the pandemic. Something dark and deeply troubling. Not everyone was infected, but far too many were. The stories you are about to hear didn't occur within only one or two hospitals, but in hospitals across America.
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Dr. James P. Miller, a former trauma surgeon from Everett, WA, gave his testimony, detailing the misconduct he says he witnessed in the hospital. These situations, some of which have been passed on anecdotally, were chillingly confirmed by Dr. Miller, including:
- Protocols put in place that caused demonstrable harm and increased mortality.
- Medical leadership giving misleading and inaccurate information about Remdesivir, knowing full well the drug caused more harm than good.
- The use of masks and PPE protocols dehumanized patients and staff.
- Patients who died from trauma and other causes were reported as COVID-19 deaths to boost the numbers.
Most damning: Dr. Miller said the head of the infectious disease department at the hospital where he resided said he was working with the state government to restrict the civil rights of unvaccinated people, including their ability to drive, by making their driver's license renewal contingent on their vaccination status.
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Cori Perth testified to the cruelty shown to her immunocompromised father when the family insisted that he be administered monoclonal antibodies, but the hospital allegedly refused and followed its own treatment protocols. She believes the hospital and staff's callousness, most probably because he was unvaccinated, ultimately resulted in his death while on a ventilator.
Through tears, Perth testified:
I'll never understand why they denied him the antibodies, why they were nasty and dismissive of our legitimate concerns, or why we weren't taken seriously, until I contacted a state legislator and filed an ethics complaint. And I will always wonder was it because he was unvaccinated.
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Dr. Susan Rohr spoke and gave special thanks to the people sharing their testimony, as well as Dr. Pierre Kory and Dr. Paul Marik, who formed the Front Line COVID Critical Care (FLCCC) Alliance to help guide people and practitioners who wanted alternative ways to treat their patients. My husband and I were thankful for them as well when we contracted COVID in 2022, and used the FLCCC protocols to blunt the virus and heal quickly.
Dr. Rohr testified that she suffered targeted attacks, censorship, and criticism for not following the medical protocols pushed by NIH's Anthony Fauci. Hospitals even allegedly refused to allow her to consult on cases or refer patients to her, despite the patients' request. Dr. Rohr worked to supply alternative treatments to patients, which saved their lives.
Dr. Rohr said:
My hope is that in the future we will never again allow rigid, mandated therapeutic protocols to be dictated by government entities but rather allow physicians to do their job clinically assessing and utilizing all the available tools to help patients during a medical crisis. We must never allow another lockdown scenario that deprives patients from therapeutic family visitation and a bedside advocate again.
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In the almost four-hour roundtable, there were many heartbreaking testimonies that were incredibly difficult to listen to. Personally, it brought up the anger felt in the midst of that horrific period. Like a majority of Americans, we suffered great loss in the form of a dear friend dying after being placed on a ventilator, when he was showing improvement without it, and a cousin who delayed treatment because of COVID, and when he was finally able to get treatment, died on an operating table. Both were due to the misguided and cruel hospital protocols that disregarded the Hippocratic Oath's call to first do no harm. So, while viewing the hearing produced fresh waves of grief, what Sen. Johnson is doing is necessary and should be acknowledged and commended.
This is the first Senate panel dedicated in its entirety to what occurred inside the hospitals in the midst of the COVID pandemic. Johnson promises that it will not be the last. Nor should it be. These stories must be kept at the forefront, never to be forgotten, and the government and health systems that colluded to bring this about must be held accountable. Let us hope Ron Johnson can continue in this advocacy for truth and give a voice to those who suffered damage and harm.
Johnson posted video of the full hearing here.
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