An Alabama man died of heart issues almost 200 miles from his home after he was turned away from more than 40 hospitals because their ICUs were full of COVID patients, according to reports.
Ray DeMonia, 73, of Cullman, Alabama, died Sept. 1 at Rush Foundation Hospital in Meridian, Mississippi, after suffering a cardiac event, according to his obituary, reported by NPR.
His family said that after DeMonia suffered a heart attack, they contacted 43 hospitals across three states but were unable to find an available ICU bed, The Independent reported.
In DeMonia’s obituary, his family urged others to “please get vaccinated” in honor of Ray, adding that “he would not want any other family to go through what he did,” NPR reported.
DeMonia’s daughter, Raven, told The Washington Post that it was “shocking” when the family was told there were no ICU beds anywhere close to home to treat her father.
“It was like, ‘What do you mean?’” after learning her father would have to be airlifted to Mississippi, the Post reported. “I never thought this would happen to us,” she added.
DeMonia was well known for running “DeMonia’s Antiques and Auctions where he spent 40 years in the antique business and traveled the country gathering antiques and sharing his wealth of knowledge,” according to his obituary, reported by NPR.
Alabama hospitals have been maxed out in recent weeks, with half of ICU beds occupied by patients with the coronavirus, according to NPR, which cited Johns Hopkins University.
Georgia hospitals are 96% occupied, with over half of ICU beds occupied by patients with the coronavirus, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Mississippi hospitals are 93% occupied, with more than half of ICU beds occupied by patients with the coronavirus, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Tennessee hospitals are 81% occupied, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
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