"Heparin hastened my husband's Death"

Grafton, WVBetty says her husband's medical records state that he was given a lot of Heparin injections in the hospital, and she wants to know if he died from Heparin contamination.

"The record says 'Hematosis on anterior abdominal wall from Heparin' so I know he was given this drug," says Betty, "but they never explained why he needed a blood thinner. Anyway, his stomach was black and blue from this drug...

"My husband had a fall in August 2007 and he couldn't get up so I called 911 to help and they decided to take him to hospital. They gave him medication in the emergency room, including steroids, and kept him overnight for observation. They put him on the 6th floor for rehabilitation so I wasn't too concerned and when I left him that night he was recovering; I knew he needed some medical attention but I was planning on him coming home soon.

I went back to the hospital every second day and he was using a walker but had lost a lot of strength. The doctors and I came to the conclusion that he should come back to the rest home for a month or two, at least until he got back on his feet--I didn't feel that I could give him enough care at home. I asked the main caregiver if I could I bring him home if I had some help. I also asked if hospice could help and she said curtly, 'Hospice is for the dying,' so obviously they didn't think he was dying.

Five days later my husband Troy was dead. I knew something was wrong when I got a phone call from the VA hospital; they wanted to transfer him and they gave me 3 choices: I chose the university hospital because it was the closest one to me. It was a horrible shock; I knew he was sick but I was sure he would come home; he had always recovered in the past when he had similar bouts; he'd had problems falling before and it was partially because of his diabetes.

From the time he was in hospital, Troy had big black and blue marks all over his stomach. He told me it was from the Heparin and they were giving it to him regularly. I don't know why I never asked about this; I always asked about his condition and how he was recovering and they said he would soon be released. The plans were being made to transfer him to the rest home here in Grafton.

Just about one week after Troy had passed away, I was watching the news on TV and they were talking about contaminated Heparin and contaminated Heparin syringes that had caused several deaths. It really upset me because I believe that Heparin brought on Troy's death sooner. I thought Troy would be here at least another few years, even if he was in a rest home. His death was so unexpected; in fact one report said he didn't qualify for certain health insurance because he wasn't dying. There is no other explanation; all his people were long-lived; his brother is over 90. I don't think anyone would have intentionally give him bad Heparin—everyone in the hospital was very kind—but how would they know if it was contaminated?

Troy has been gone more than a year now; I sent a full report in to the lawyers and I just hope they can put an end to contaminated drugs such as Heparin. I know a lot of people need this drug but there has to be stricter control, they have to be able to weed out the bad."