COVID-19 hospital visitation rules are being relaxed in New South Wales today but for the Koutsogiannis family, these changes have come too late.
Speaking to ABC News, Tina Koutsogiannis shared how she was denied an exemption to see her father conscious for the last time at Concord Hospital, after he was admitted due to complications from COVID-19.
84-year-old, Sozo Koutsogiannis, and his wife, Shirley, contracted COVID-19 after New Year’s Eve.
Sozo began suffering “a little bit of heavy breathing” and a “cough,” and was admitted to hospital on January 21. Tina said that days later, doctors at the hospital called to tell her Sozo had pneumonia and infections.
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She “begged” hospital staff to let her see him multiple times, but was refused. The family was only allowed video calls.
On February 3, Tina was told her dad would need to be ventilated. An exemption to see him conscious one last time was again denied, but they did speak via video call.
“And then his last words to us were, he looked at us, his words were, ‘I love you too much’,” she told the national broadcaster.
After a last request to see him, Tina said she, her mother and sister were given an exemption to sit by his side for an hour as he lay unconscious the day before his death on February 5.Â
These stories of heartbreak have forced the NSW Government to revise its hospital visitor guidelines today. These guidelines will now allow visits if it is “beneficial for the patient’s emotional or physical well-being.”
Source: ABC News.
