'I Love Rock 'n' Roll' songwriter dies of COVID-19. His widow's story is heartbreaking

[kpete]

lan Merrill, who wrote the Joan Jett anthem “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll,” died Sunday morning of COVID-19. His wife Joanna posted the following nightmarish account on her stepdaughter Laura Merrill’s Facebook page and encouraged people to share it, so that they could understand just how horrible this thing is. She wanted as many people as possible to see it, so I am reprinting it here.

Initially I didn't think I could bear to burden everyone on FB with the announcement of my husband's death. But since it is now out there, I'd like to say something about the awful truth about the treatment of the virus in a respected hospital, in NYC, in this COUNTRY.

Since I have posted this story many people have asked if they could share to let people know. Yes, please do, I would like as many people as possible to take precautions.

About 2 weeks ago, Alan felt like he was getting a cold and then the flu. I was immediately suspicious, and of course Alan being Alan, he told me I was getting hysterical for no reason. I nonetheless researched about what to do if you get the Cornavirus. Every article I read said that there is no help available unless you have severe symptoms -can't breathe or you chest really hurts. Otherwise the hospital will not admit you or test you for Covid-19. And this was absolutely true.

There was nothing I could do for Alan except watch him get worse. When he finally couldn't breathe, was so cold he needed piles of blankets on top of him, and couldn't sleep, I called an ambulance. The EMTs told me I wasn't allowed to go with him into the ER, so there was no point in accompanying him. I didn't know what was going on until an ER doctor called me an hour later. She said as far as she could tell (good thing she's a doctor) he had the virus but he needed to be tested before he could be admitted to ICU. But that would take at least 10 hours.

Ten hours later I didn't hear back, so I called Mt. Sinai and was told he did test positive and would be moved to ICU so he could get better attention from the pulmonologists there. At 10:30 a doctor called me and told me they were actually NOT moving him since his body was shutting down because his lungs were too destroyed to work. I asked if he had to die alone, and the doctor said I could come say goodbye. When I got to the hospital I had to argue with 3 different security guards to let me go to the ER. I stood my ground and they went back to fetch a nurse who let me in. This was around 11pm.

The doctor who called me came to meet me and apologized and said that his numbers were now better and he was going to be transferred to the ICU where he could get the care he needed. He was on a respirator and was sedated, so he was not in pain, or at least aware of the pain.

My husband should have been moved to the place where the experts who who were there on the front lines could help him. Every 15 minutes I would ask when he was going to be transferred and they would say in the next few minutes, but that never happened. At around 2:30 am, they were finally ready to transfer him upstairs, and I left, exhausted, not willing to battle another group of security guards in ICU.

I walked 3 blocks towards home and the doctor called me to say he was gone, his heart and lungs just stopped beating from all the pressure they were under.

So the net net is he was only allowed in the hospital until he was most certainly dying, and then he languished in ER for 14 hours while they tested him for corona, which he obviously had, and struggled to find someone to take him upstairs to ICU. Maybe if he was there, he would have had a fighting chance at least for those 15 hours, but of course we will never know. And now I have to grieve alone in quarantine.

I also want to relate that I asked the doctor if I should be tested since I was around Alan for two weeks. He said if I came in looking like I did, the hospital would not let me in. However, if I couldn't breathe, I should come in and then they would admit me and test me. So essentially you have to be near dead to get help. I know there is no cure, but surely there is something they can do to alleviate the risk your lungs being destroyed, like sending oxygen to people's homes?

Please know that I write this not for sympathy, but to let you know the reality of this disease and our country's lack of preparation for it.

I urge you to REALLY take this seriously, and when the time comes, show your anger to the officials who knew this was coming and did nothing to prepare.

Alan I can't even begin to imagine the ways in which I will miss you. I am sure that you are so happy that you are finally getting the credit for writing one of the world's most beloved anthems. Your family and the world is sadder without you.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/4/2/1933674/--I-Love-Rock-and-Roll-songwriter-dies-of-COVID-19-His-widow-s-story-is-heartbreaking?utm_campaign=trending

[BeckyDem]

1. omg this is horrible.

[BootinUp]

2. Truly. Nt

[DarthDem]

3. RIP to Mr. Merrill

[UpInArms]

4. All of this is so wrong and fucked up in so many ways

[orwell]

5. Greatest health care system in the world...

...destroyed by Trump in 1 month.

Way to go Donnie...way to go...

[FiveGoodMen]

8. It was never the greatest

Just the most expensive.

[spudspud]

30. bingo.

Anyone who has had the unfortunate experience of multiple ER visits for family members, knows how bad the health care is in this country.

[Coventina]

6. K&R for exposure.

Greatest healthcare system in the world, my ass!!!

[malaise]

7. The failure to start testing immediately by the Con and his administration

is criminal on steroids

https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-federal-governments-coronavirus-actions-and-failures-timeline-and-themes/
y now, it is obvious to everyone seeking to understand the United States’ response to the novel coronavirus (officially SARS-CoV-2) that there were massive failures of judgment and inaction in January, February, and even March of this year. While mistakes are inevitable in the face of such a massive and rapidly evolving domestic and global challenge, our federal government’s response compares unfavorably to a number of other countries, many of whom faced the virus before we did.

Although we will undoubtedly soon find ways to overcome our missteps, it will take years to fully reckon with the failures that contributed to our poor response. No doubt, sometime in 2020 or 2021, Congress will create a well-funded government commission to undertake an investigation similar to the 9-11 Commission or the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. Such an investigation will need to grapple with insufficient preparation and capacity, poor leadership and coordination, slowness, and regulatory failures, among many other factors. In doing so, it ought to focus especially on those systemic failures that can be corrected so that they are much less likely to recur in the certain event of future pandemics, whether naturally occurring or deliberately caused.

A number of long-form journalistic pieces offer narrative accounts of what went wrong (including excellent pieces in the New York Times, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal, and The Atlantic). Here, we attempt to present an initial record of the federal government’s important official actions and communications over the past months, with a particular emphasis on the rules, regulation, and guidance related to the public health challenge. We do not claim comprehensiveness—rather, we seek to document new and notable developments and actions during the critical early period of the worldwide spread of the virus. Nor do we attempt to track the extensive actions meant to cope with the economic fallout of the virus. Following the timeline, we briefly outline four phases of crisis response and highlight some of the most important apparent failures.

[uponit7771]

10. This this this !! and the CONTINUED failure of not testing is costing lives now. Pence said 5 millio

... million test would be distributed by March 16 and now he wont answer any substantive questions about testing and why people who are still symptomatic can't get test.

We know he's being set up for the fall guy now.

[malaise]

11. Daily they are presenting the ''Alternative facts''

clown show totally disconnected from reality. Any serious question asked is ignored as mother's boy changes the subject.

They will answer for this slaughter of innocents.

[iluvtennis]

26. +++ agree. There have been no answers on the 3_+ million test kirs. It's been 4 weeks now. nt

[scarletwoman]

21. Thank you for the Brookings link! Excellent and informative! (nt)

[malaise]

23. Love Brookings

You're welcome - stay safe

[scarletwoman]

24. You stay safe, too!

[Proud Liberal Dem]

9. These stories sound nightmarish.

I feel so sorry for her.

[crickets]

12. It's horrifying, and it shouldn't be this way.

[Goodheart]

13. Tears here.

And ANGER.

[AtheistCrusader]

14. Heartbreaking.

And just the beginning.

[warmfeet]

15. This could be any one of us.

It will be some of us.

[localroger]

16. Triage is about making unthinkable decisions

...and because people in the US aren't used to facing critical shortages, we don't have a lot of experience dealing with a triage situation. It's obvious to Mrs. Merrill that the system screwed her husband by denying him treatment until he was all but untreatable, then denying him treatment because he was untreatable. But we don't know what the background situation was for resource availability and what information the people making the decisions had.

The lack of tests and testing is really our biggest problem, and this awful story shows why. If you don't know who's really sick you don't know who to treat, and if you don't know who is really sick protocol will tell you to treat the ones you can tell need it the most. But that same protocol tells you not to bother if someone is so far gone the treatment probably won't work and will take resources away from someone more likely to be helped. The problem is, how can you tell who that someone is who's more likely to be helped if you can't tell them from the person next to them who just has a cold?

[SammyWinstonJack]

22. All good questions. Let's ask tRump since he knows so much about

"this stuff" and has a knack for it.

[localroger]

29. Oh that's easy

You give the tests and the treatment to rich and famous people who can make Trump look good. That is what they've been doing, isn't it?

[LittleGirl]

17. Horrible, sad. Avoidable. RIP eom

[CountMyVote4Reality]

18. This is devastating. And a true wake-up call.

I shared it on FB a few days ago with the lead in:

Coming to a community near you... if it's not there already.

[BigmanPigman]

19. I am so angry, sad and frustrated!

This didn't have to happen. We know who is responsible.

[AllaN01Bear]

20. thanks , but the other side will just joke about "social distancing" and just roll their eyes and

say lying peice of #$%^&*(.

[burrowowl]

25. Kick

[BusyBeingBest]

27. I have read over and over that the treatment of someone in respiratory failure

doesn't change according to positive test results (aside from having to isolate and wear PPE), so why would they insist at Mt. Sinai upon a time-wasting test in order to intubate/ventilate, a test that only confirms what they suspected anyway? My guess is they either didn't have a vent available, didn't have staff available to intubate, or didn't have an ICU bed or similar available to monitor him. If so they should have said that to her. Now she is left wondering why they were so insistent on testing and not staying on top of his deteriorating condition, and left wondering how she could have done things differently, poor lady.

[smirkymonkey]

28. How heartbreaking!

I can't imagine such a nightmare. And it will only get worse.

What a horrible way to go. So many people will die alone, and so many people will never be able to say goodbye to their loved ones when they know the end is near.

[intrepidity]

31. Infuriating. Infuriating! nt