Detroit, MI — Deborah Gatewood, a 63-year old health care worker from Michigan, has died due to complications of the coronavirus after she was reportedly denied a test multiple times from the very hospital where she worked.
“They [Beaumont] sent her home saying you are showing signs of COVID-19,” Kaila Corrothers, Gatewood’s daughter, told FOX 2 Detroit. “So they were confirming that she most likely had COVID, but they did not test her.”
Gatewood reportedly visited the ER four times and requested to be tested, but was told to just rest at home and take cough medicine. Her condition continued to worsen until she was found unresponsive in bed.
She was taken by ambulance to Sinai-Grace Hospital in Detroit where she was tested positive for the virus. After battling extremely high fever and developing bilateral pneumonia, she sadly died.
Corrothers expressed her disappointment with Beaumont Hospital, saying they have neglected her mother’s severe condition.
“The fact that she got infected by doing the job she did for 31 years and she couldn’t get taken care of by her own family, meaning Beaumont, it’s sad. It is disheartening to say the least,” she said.
Meanwhile, Beaumont Hospital has yet to comment on the particular case but said, “As patients come to Beaumont for care during this pandemic, we are doing everything we can to evaluate, triage and care for patients based on the information we know at the time. We grieve the loss of any patient to COVID-19 or any other illness.”