A Detroit man with COVID-19 symptoms died after he was denied testing or treatment for the disease at three ERs.
Gary Fowler, 56, developed severe symptoms of COVID-19, the disease that’s caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as novel coronavirus.
Fowler’s stepson Keith Gambrell said he brought his stepfather to three different emergency rooms, but each time, they refused to test him for the disease. “He was begging for his life, but no one would help him at all. Like they just kept sending him away,” Gambrell told CBS.
“I honestly believe it was because my father was black,” Gambrell said. They didn’t honestly take his symptoms serious enough to give him a test,” he added.
The day before Fowler died, his father also died of the disease. Then, Fowler’s wife also started to develop symptoms and was hospitalized. “They put her on the ventilator. I’m just thinking like, man, this is it. I’m about to lose my mom too,” Gambrell said.
Gambrell then contacted his cousin, Michigan state Rep. Karen Whitsett who recently recovered from the disease herself, to use her political stature to have all of Gambrell’s family tested. And, as it turned out, Gambrell and both his brothers tested positive for COVID-19.
“And that sickens me to have to use that title to be able to have to get my family tested,” Whitsett said, according to the outlet.
Earlier this month, Whitsett claimed success with the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine and thanked President Donald Trump for helping save her life as she battled COVID-19.
Whitsett said she tested positive for the virus on March 18 but began taking hydroxychloroquine on March 31, which was prescribed by her doctor.
Whitsett told the Detroit Free Press on April 6 that it took “less than two hours” before she started to experience relief from COVID-19, adding that she previously experienced swollen lymph nodes, shortness of breath, and sinus problems.
“It has a lot to do with the president … bringing it up,” Whitsett told the paper about the hydroxychloroquine treatment regimen. “He is the only person who has the power to make it a priority.”
When a reporter from the Free Press asked her about whether she thinks Trump saved her life, she replied: “Yes, I do,” and “I do thank him for that.”
Epoch Times reporter Jack Phillips contributed to this report.