Kenneth

This story is about my younger brother, Kenneth who died from complications of sepsis caused by a bacteria in his stomach.

The reason I am telling Kenneth’s story is to warn others about this illness. Sepsis is not to be played around with. If you or someone you love expresses the symptoms of sepsis….please…get to a medical facility as soon as you can. But also, be vigilant. Ask questions, ask for tests to be done…make the caregivers answerable to your loved one! Be a part of the process of finding out what is happening!

Kenneth’s Story…
My husband and I were visiting Kenneth’s fiancée at their home when he came in from work early on a Thursday in June, 2007. I could see how very red his face was way before he got to the porch. His gait was slow and stilted. Kenneth stated that he had a severe headache, sinus pain, felt bad all over and just thought he had a summer flu. He had been working long hours, driving a quad-axle truck, hauling asphalt at night. We tried to talk him into going to hospital or a doctor, but all he wanted to do was go to bed. We left and continued to my parents home as that Thursday was our Dad’s birthday and Father’s Day was Sunday, and my own birthday was Wednesday. We had a tradition in our family where we all gathered together and had grilled burgers and hotdogs and all the picnic type fix-ins.

Mom and I spoke to Kenneth on Friday, and he said he was better and had errands to do in town. Saturday, he was still ill and was just working out in his yard, taking it easy. We were told later that he was outside and had spoke with his neighbor and talked about how if he were to die, his family would be taken care of, which was odd as Kenneth didn’t share personal info like that outside of the family.

Kenneth called on Sunday morning and said he didn’t think it was wise to come to the family gathering since he thought he had a summer cold or flu and didn’t want to give it to anyone else, especially our dad, as he had been recovering from cancer (2000 & 2001) a quadruple bypass surgery (2005).
Kenneth had never missed this gathering, so we knew he had to be very sick. He told mom that Saturday night he had been vomiting and had diarrhea with blood in both. Mom begged him to go to hospital, but he didn’t want to go over the weekend. He told her if he didn’t feel better by Monday, he would go to the hospital.

Sunday night, he was still having the same symptoms, but wanted to wait until Monday. There is a stubbornness in my family that gets is into trouble sometimes.

Monday, June 18 at 4:37 am, Kenneth checked into a local Beckley, WV hospital. They did blood work and did an x-ray, but let him lay there until after 1:00 pm before finally admitting him for observation. He was having severe abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea with blood…but they didn’t do anything for him except give him an IV and administered morphine for his pain.

My husband had to be in Beckley, which was an hour drive from my parents’ home, so he stopped to see Kenneth in the ER. He told us when he returned that he was very worried about Kenneth and that he didn’t look good. He said, “I don’t know if he will make it, Kathy.” I wish I had driven over and seen my dear brother for myself. I would have raised almighty heck to get him the attention he needed. But his fiancée was there and she told me she could take care of Kenneth.

Around 7:00 pm, Monday, Kenneth wanted a bath, so his fiancée helped him in the shower. She said his skin was discolored from his waist down, almost black in color. She told the nurses and they said they would tell the doctor.

We received a call around 12:30 am that the doctor was calling in a surgeon to do exploratory surgery to find out why Kenneth was in so much pain in the abdominal area and was discolored. We were told to wait until they were positive they would do surgery.

After getting the call that surgery was imminent as soon as a surgeon arrived, Mom and I drove over to the hospital and arrived around 3:15 am. We went to Kenneth’s room, but they had already taken him downstairs. After being taken to the surgery area, we were told to wait and they would let us see Kenneth before his surgery. We waited and waited. His fiancée came into the waiting area at 4:00 am and said they had already taken him back to the operating room. Mom and I didn’t get our chance to see Kenneth. We were heartbroken, but just wanted him to be better.
I walked outside of the hospital to call my older brother to tell him that Kenneth was in the operating room and that I would call him back asap with results.

When I arrived back at the waiting room, Mom wanted to go to the bathroom and Kenneth’s fiancée had to go make a call for her work. I stayed in the waiting room. I picked up my Bible and sat down and had just opened it, when the door opened and there was a doctor and two nurses. They asked if I was with Kenneth and I said yes. They sat beside me and proceeded to tell me that Kenneth had had a heart attack. Assuming they had him under control, I said, “OK, and now what?” The doctor said that Kenneth had been given the anesthesia and had went into cardiac arrest. Still not quite understanding, I said again, “OK, and what now?” The doctor looked at me weird and then told me that Kenneth had a massive heart attack and that they were unable to bring him through it. That was when it dawned on me what they were saying….Kenneth was gone.

The next few minutes were chaotic as I had to tell the fiancée and my mom that Kenneth was gone. I was angry, upset and any other word of sorrow you could express. I spoke to the surgeon, the floor doctor, nurses, and anyone who would talk to me to explain to me what had happened to my brother in a 2-hour period under their care.

After getting his medical records, we found that they knew Kenneth was septic, but they failed to give him any antibiotics. They failed to perform other tests, such as an endoscopy, ultrasound, MRI or colonoscopy. Any of those would have told them his issues. But even with the blood work they still failed to care for him in the way they should. No antibiotics at all!
The autopsy showed that Kenneth had a bacteria in his stomach, how, they did not know, and it was eating the lining of his stomach and poisoning him. The doctor was giving him potassium, which elevated his levels too high. His metabolism became “out of whack”, (the doctor’s words) and when they administered the anesthesia it reacted with his metabolism and caused him to go into cardiac arrest from which there was no saving him.

God Bless Us All!

Source: Kathy (Kenneth's sister)