By Judie Brown
Betrayed by Hospice and Healthcare: Stories from the Deathbed shares more than 30 tales of horror as told by those who witnessed beloved family members being put to death for a variety of reasons. Some were the victims of a family at odds with each other regarding how to handle the situation. Others detail the machinations of healthcare providers who told the family one thing and then did the opposite.
Author Marsha Joiner arrived at the decision to write this book after the tragic events that surrounded the death of her own mother, who, she says, was taken too soon.
The book explores the steps that are often taken to hasten death without the knowledge or consent of loved ones; this leads to a chilling awareness of how callous and cold-hearted some caregivers can become, both within hospital settings and within the home. For example, the story of Rebecca Stevens’ death struck me personally, as my husband suffered from COPD, as she did, though in his case he passed at home, surrounded by family and loving nurses. Rebecca’s case was totally different.
Joiner described the end of Rebecca’s life, writing, “Dayna squeezed her mother’s hand out of love, but it woke her up and as she saw what they were going to do to her and started shaking her head ‘no!’ the nurse inject[ed] the vials into her helpless but alive body. They turned the oxygen off and Rebecca struggled to breathe.” She wrote that the nurse then left the room and returned approximately an hour later and “injected more drugs.”
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