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A Covid Horror Story Turns to Good · Booker Scott: Truth Be Told

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: It's six eastern it's three o'clock pacific this is a
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  Speaker 1: president of action coast to coast and around the world
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: from the america out loud talk radio studios.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: If he says he's serious about something he means it.
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  Speaker 1: It's time for the truth be told with booker scott.
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: We are going to have a conversation now that is
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  Speaker 3: a little bit different. I think when you talk about COVID,
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  Speaker 3: there was vaccines that injured people and killed people. And
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  Speaker 3: I've done shows on that before, but I don't think
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  Speaker 3: I've ever done one quite like this. I'm going to
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  Speaker 3: invite into the program now, Leslie Batts. Leslie, come on
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: into the program and let's start telling your story. And
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: it's one of sadness. And now we see that you
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: are actually doing something with that sadness, putting it to
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: work to try to make a difference in this country
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: and in a state. And that's really what it's all about.
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: When you're tossed with something like this in your life,
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: that's all you can do. But Leslie, welcome to the program.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much. Thank you for having me.
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  Speaker 3: Let's go back to when all this started for you,
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  Speaker 3: your motivation for doing what you're doing. Right now, she
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: is trying to get legislation passed in Oklahoma, trying to
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: get a bill done. And that's the way things work
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: in this country. But what took her there is what
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: happened during COVID with her husband. She lost her husband.
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: So let's start there. And you tell this story.
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: Yes, sir. Back in late September of 2021, my husband
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: went out of town for work. When he came home,
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: he started having symptoms of COVID. We both got sick,
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: but he seemed to take it a little harder, I guess,
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: than my son and I. And it got to the
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: point where it was pretty obvious he needed to see
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: a doctor. And because we were in a rural part
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: of Oklahoma, there weren't a lot of urgent care centers
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: or critical care centers that weren't hospital affiliated.
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: So we went ahead and took him to the emergency
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: room and I expected him to get some oxygen and
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: a breathing treatment, maybe some medications and send him home. Instead,
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: I received a phone call from one of the nurses
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: saying that he was being transferred to a level three
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: ICU about an hour away. And it didn't really make
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: a whole lot of sense because he had walked into
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: the hospital. You know, he wasn't he'd gotten up, gotten dressed.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: He wasn't in any acute distress.
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: And it happened that fast. Just a few hours.
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: Well, yeah, I mean, he just wasn't, in my experience
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: with respiratory illness, he wasn't bad. He just seemed to
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: not be oxygenating well. He wasn't short of breath. He
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: wasn't cyanotic or, you know, lips blue or anything like that.
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: He just had a low oxygen saturation.
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: And you had a little experience in respiratory because I
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: think your mom, is it your mother that had that
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: as well?
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, she had respiratory failure and I took care of
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: her for three years. So I had seen, you know,
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: what happens when you put a patient on a ventilator
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: and what it looks like when someone's in acute distress
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: from breathing problems. So none of that was the case.
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: I wasn't expecting to get that phone call saying he
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: was going to be transferred. But they did. And they
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: actually care flighted him by helicopter. And I asked, why
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: are you sending him by helicopter? Their explanation was that
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: if he decompensates, it's an hour drive by ambulance. So
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: they didn't want to try to intubate him in an ambulance.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: I said, well, one, he's not anywhere near even considering
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: a ventilator. And two, he refused. He said, I do
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: not let them put me on a vent under any circumstances.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: Those were my last instructions from him when he got
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: out of the vehicle. So I said, well, he's not
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: going to be put on a vent. He's already made
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: that clear, and I don't know why you're transferring him,
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: but if he agrees, then I'm not going to dispute
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: it if he feels it's necessary. So as he's being transported,
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: I go ahead and I call the hospital where they're
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: moving him to, and I contact the ICU unit, and
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: I explain to the nurse there as he's coming through
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: the doors on the gurney that It needs to be
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: placed on his medical record that he is a DNI
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: or do not intubate. And she said, okay, sure, we'll
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: do that. And everything seemed to be okay the first night.
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: I'm getting text messages from him. He thought that the
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: helicopter ride was just the coolest thing and he was
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: joking around with those guys and he was stable and
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: there weren't any problems. And when they get him into
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: the room, he settles down for the night. I said, okay, well,
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: we'll talk in the morning. The next day on the
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: 10th of October, everything seems to be going pretty well.
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: He's getting oxygen. He's feeling good. We're talking. They're giving
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: him an albuterol treatment, and I don't think much of it.
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: So we go to bed that night, get up the
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: next morning, and he doesn't answer his phone on the 11th. Now,
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: he's a very early riser. He was always up at
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: four o'clock in the morning, and So it was odd
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: for him not to respond. And I contacted the nurses
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: at the desk and they said that they had to
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: give him a little something for anxiety. And I said, well, did,
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: was it an Ativan? Cause I know that's what they
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: used to give my mother when she was having problems. And,
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: and they said, oh yeah, that that's, that's what we
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: had to give him, which is a pill, you know,
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: single dose, no problem. And by 1130, I still hadn't
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: heard from him. So I'm starting to get concerned. Um, Finally,
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: I receive a text message from him at about noon
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: that says they won't stop asking me about intubation and
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: I'm starting to lose my cool. Which means he was
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: getting really upset that they were harassing him. That was
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: the last communication I received from my husband. Right at
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: the time that that text message came through, I received
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: a phone call that when I answered, all I heard was,
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: is this Ms. Batts? I said, yes. And he said, well,
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: I hope you're vaccinated because your husband's fixing to go
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: on a ventilator for a month and he's going to
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: be in rehab for a year if he survives and
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: you need to be alive to take care of him.
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: And I said, well, who is this? And he said, well,
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: this is the doctor that's treating your husband. I said,
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: not with that attitude, you're fired. And I said, first
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: of all, he's already stated he's not going to go
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: on a ventilator. Second of all, I don't know what
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: is happening there, but if you're giving him problems about this,
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: then we have bigger issues. Because again, at the same time,
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: I've gotten this text message from him saying that they're
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: harassing him about it. So I hang up with the
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: doctor and I start calling the hospital administrator and the
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: patient care advocate and everybody. I said, why are you
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: harassing him about this? I said, anxiety is going to
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: exacerbate the problem if he has one. And he's already
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: given you the information that he's not going to be intubated.
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: It's supposed to be documented on his medical record that
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: he's a DNI. Why are we still talking about this?
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: I get no phone calls back from anyone at the
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: hospital and I continue to try to reach out to
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: him and he doesn't answer his phone anymore. He's not
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: responding to text messages and I'm getting very, very concerned.
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: So I contacted the nurse's station and their explanation to
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: me was, He's eating his dinner and he's watching TV.
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: He just doesn't want to speak to you anymore. He's
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: refusing to talk to you.
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  Speaker 3: You didn't buy that at all, did you?
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  Speaker 2: I had no idea.
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Because he's not answering his phone. I have no way
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  Speaker 2: to contact him now. I said, okay, I'm coming to
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: the hospital. I'm coming to get him. And I was told,
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  Speaker 2: if you come to the hospital, you'll be arrested. So...
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  Speaker 2: I have an eight-year-old son at the time. We have
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: no family there. And now I have to make a choice.
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: Do I go to jail and my son ends up
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: in foster care? Or do I hope that my husband
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  Speaker 2: can kind of take care of himself and things go
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: a little more smoothly if I can get a hold
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  Speaker 2: of someone in administration? I don't hear from him at
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: all the next day. And at about one o'clock in
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: the afternoon, I get a phone call from the doctor saying, Again,
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: the nurses are telling me he just doesn't want to
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: speak to you. I get a phone call from the
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: doctor saying that my husband has now given consent to
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: intubation and they want my consent. And the first part
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: of the conversation didn't go well, to say the least.
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: I explained to the doctor that, again, it's supposed to
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: be on his chart that he's a DNI. If he
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: has given consent, then they don't need my consent. And
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: they'll be, is.
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  Speaker 3: This the same doctor that called you the first time
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: that you said you're fired or is this a different,
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: same doctor? Okay.
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: Same doctor. And I asked him, I asked him, I said,
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: you know, if, if he's giving consent, there will be
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: a consent form on the chart and you don't need
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: my consent. I said, and why are you treating him anyway?
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: I was, you know, I told you you were fired.
• 9:34
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: And he said, well, I'm the only doctor here that
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: can take care of your husband. So if you fire me, um,
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: we have a real problem. And I said, well, then
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: I'm going to find another hospital. And he then threatened, well,
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: I say threatened. Um, it became a conversation with, if
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: you try to transfer him out of this hospital without
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: a medical order, then, um, going to have to pay
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: for it out of pocket. Insurance won't cover it. And
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: I said, then I'll come get him. And he said, again,
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: you'll be arrested. So now my husband is no longer
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: a patient in the hospital. He's a prisoner.
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: Yeah, he's a prisoner. You know, sometimes I think, Leslie,
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: we forget how tyrannical things had gotten. Back then. It's
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: good to hear the story, but please keep going. Tell it.
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: So at that point I said, well, I haven't spoken
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: to my husband in over 24 hours. I'm being told
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: he's refusing to speak to me. I said, I am
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: going to call his phone with a video call and
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: somebody better pick up. And I immediately hung up with
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: the doctor, called on video, and I could see my husband.
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: He's at this point wearing a BiPAP mask, which is
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: like a full face where they force air through. into.
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: I don't know if you're familiar with a CPAP, but
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: it's basically a full-face CPAP. So instead of just the nose,
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: it covers the nose and the mouth. So I can't
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: understand him. And he looks, to put it mildly, perturbed.
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: But again, I can't understand what he's saying. I can't
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: see his hands. And the phone is far enough away
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: that he's obviously not the one holding it. The Video
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: call lasts for 31 seconds and then it's disconnected. And
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: immediately the doctor calls back and says, do we have
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: your consent to intubate? I said, no. I said, he's
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: clearly breathing. And my instructions from him were, do not
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: let them put me on a vent. I said, so no,
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: you don't have my consent. And why are you asking
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: for my consent if he's given his consent? Um, so
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: that conversation again, doesn't go well for about 10 or
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: 15 minutes.
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: Let me jump in here real quick, Leslie, because maybe
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: some people forget that there were a lot of people
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: dying on ventilators. If you went on a ventilator, it
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: usually was not a good thing. Most of the people
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: that I know of that went on them, they died.
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: And at the very beginning, 95% mortality rate.
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: Typically what they did was they put you on remdesivir
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: and then they put you on the vent And the
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: combination of both of those things, it was killing people.
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: And I don't necessarily blame medical and doctors because it
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: was a new thing. COVID was new. They didn't really
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: know how to treat it, but they were treating it
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: wrong at the time. So your husband knew enough to
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: know that do not do that. And you knew that too.
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: I was the same way. My oxygen got down to 82.
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: My doctor said, go to the hospital. I said, there's
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: no chance. I asked the doctor, I said, Can I
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: ask you, have you had any patients that stayed home?
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: And she said, yes. Did any of them die? She said, no.
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: And I said, what about the hospital? Have you had
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: patients go to the hospital?
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: Have any of them died? Yes. I said, I'll stay home.
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: So I chose to stay home. instead of having to
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: go through that when I had COVID at about the
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: same time, back in 2021. But I think it's important
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: to understand that both of you knew that if you
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: were on the ventilator, your odds of passing away went
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: up greatly. And he knew that, didn't want to do it,
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: and now you're going to keep telling the story.
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: Yes. Yes. And we did know that. But we assumed
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: we're in a small community, and they're not going to
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: do that here. Right? Right. You have rights. If you
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: don't want to go be admitted, then you don't have
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: to be admitted. If you don't want to stay in
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: a hospital, you don't have to stay in a hospital.
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: If you don't want to be put on a ventilator,
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: you don't have to be put on a ventilator. That
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: was our mistake. That was our assumption. So what I
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: learned after the fact, after he passed, I went and
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: got his medical records and I wouldn't have known anything else.
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: about what really happened because I wasn't getting the information
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: from the nurses and the doctors.
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: Now, you skipped ahead to when he passed. How long
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: was he in the hospital before that happened?
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: He was in the hospital for just under 10 full days.
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: He walked into the hospital and was dead 10 days later.
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: And from the moment of that video call to the
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: time that he passed away, how many days was that?
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: That was, they ventilated him on the 12th and he
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: passed on the afternoon of the 20th, almost exactly. Okay.
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: So they went ahead and ventilated him.
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: They did.
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: Against your wishes and against his.
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: Yep. Absolutely. So at the time, you know, I get
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: the phone call back saying, well, he's on a vent now.
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: No other explanation. I mean, like I said, I have
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: no idea what happened between the time that they put
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: him on the vent and the time that you know,
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: I get the call back. But as it turns out,
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: so he was ventilated on the 12th of October. On
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: the 14th, because I'm still raising Kane, I have everybody
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: in my family on both sides, his family, my family,
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: trying to get him out of that hospital. Something doesn't
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: feel right, right? It's just this disarray. you know, nagging
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: feeling in my gut that there's something wrong.
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: Did you go to Oklahoma city? Was it Oklahoma city?
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: This was in Tulsa.
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: Tulsa.
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: I figured it had to be one of, one of
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: those two.
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah. We actually lived right. It's like smack dab between
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: Oklahoma city and Tulsa right off of I-44. So they
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: ended up sending him to another hospital in their system
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: because we were in a very small area, but in
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: the major, in the bigger cities, um, So at this point,
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: like I said, I am creating as much trouble for
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: this hospital as I possibly can, trying to find out
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: what is happening and trying to get him out of there.
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: Because again, there's this nagging feeling something's not right. And to,
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: I guess, to placate me, the doctor finally calls and said,
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: would you like to come visit your husband? Now he's
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: on a ventilator at this point. And all of a sudden,
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: in a matter of two days, it went from you'll
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: be arrested to, oh, come on in, which made no
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: sense to me. But I wasn't going to dispute it
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: because this was my opportunity to see him and find
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: out what was going on. So when I get into
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: the hospital on the 14th, he looks like he's been
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: in a bar fight. His face is pretty, you know,
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: scraped up. There's literally skin hanging off of his nose.
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: And I asked the nurse, I said, what is this about?
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: She says, oh, Well, intubation can be a pretty violent procedure.
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: And I said, no, no, it can't. Not when it's
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: done properly. My mother had been on a ventilator a
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: dozen times, probably. And I had never seen her look
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: like she had been in a bar fight.
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: Um, but that was the best. Do you think he
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: fought against them?
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: I know he did.
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: I know he did. I know he did. He literally,
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: I believe, was fighting for his life, trying to get
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: out or get away. Um, So things were pretty stable
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: on the ventilator until the night of the 16th. And
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: then when I came in on the 17th, because I
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: don't know, you know, I'm told I have to leave.
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: I get like two hours to visit and then I'm
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: told I have to leave. So I came in on
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: the 17th and now he's on what's called a rotoprone bed,
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: which is basically he's fully encased in this framework that
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: literally turns him back and forth, you know, so the
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: nurses don't have to come in and turn him. And
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: he's laying face down in this machinery. Um, because they
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: said if they turn him over, he's going to drown basically.
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 17:56
  Speaker 3: Lungsville.
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah. And I get no explanation why he's on the
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: road of prone now. Um, but the doctor comes in
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: and asks me to sign a do not resuscitate order.
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: And I said, no, um, He's coming home. There's no
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: doubt in my mind my husband is going to recover
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: and come home. There's no reason he shouldn't recover and
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: come home.
• 18:21
  Speaker 3: You know, I almost would ask that doctor, what does
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: it matter what I sign? You're going to do whatever
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: you want to anyway.
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: But I didn't know at the time because I had
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: not spoken with my husband. I didn't know what he
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: agreed to and what he hadn't.
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I got you.
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: So I didn't know. I couldn't guarantee in my heart
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: that he hadn't agreed to to this ventilator. I just
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: know he told me not to agree to it. And
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: I was going to stand by that because that was
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: the last information I had. So on the 17th, the
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: doctor starts asking me to sign this do not resuscitate order.
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: And I said, absolutely not. You will do everything you
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: can to save his life under any circumstances. And his
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: explanation is, well, he's on this rotoprone bed now, and
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: it's going to take us about 10 minutes to get
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: him out to even start resuscitation efforts. So it's better
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: for him if we don't even try. I said, yeah, no,
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: I'm not doing that.
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: Hey, Leslie, do you have a few more minutes?
• 19:26
  Speaker 4: Sure.
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: Okay, because we're up against a break. We're going to
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: take one, but we're going to continue this conversation. I
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: find it very interesting. It's riveting, in fact. But she's
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: going to take it somewhere. She's going to do some
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: good with this terrible story. And we're going to get
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: to that in just a minute.
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: More Truth Be Told with Booker Scott in minutes on
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: America Out Loud.
• 19:47
  Speaker 4: I don't know about you, but the one thing the
• 19:49
  Speaker 4: last five or so years has taught me is that
• 19:51
  Speaker 4: there's a lot, and I mean a lot, of companies
• 19:54
  Speaker 4: and services out there that don't share the foundational values
• 19:57
  Speaker 4: of this country and we the people. And I've spoken
• 19:59
  Speaker 4: to a lot of you about it who share the
• 20:01
  Speaker 4: same concerns, and you wonder where to shop. where to
• 20:04
  Speaker 4: spend your hard-earned money without feeling gross about it. It
• 20:06
  Speaker 4: can be frustrating, but here's the good news. You don't
• 20:09
  Speaker 4: have to do the research yourself and you don't have
• 20:11
  Speaker 4: to tie yourself up in knots any longer because we've
• 20:14
  Speaker 4: done the legwork for you. At mammothnation.com, we have thousands
• 20:17
  Speaker 4: of vetted, freedom-loving, pro-America companies who actually share your values.
• 20:21
  Speaker 4: So now the ball's in your court. Keep spending money
• 20:24
  Speaker 4: with companies that frustrate you and then use the proceeds
• 20:27
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• 20:29
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• 20:32
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• 20:37
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• 20:49
  Speaker 3: Coming up tonight at 9 o'clock, it is After Dark
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: with Robin Andrew. Before that, the National Security Hour. And
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: coming up here in just a few minutes, it is
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: Unleash the Political News Hour. We're visiting with Leslie Batts.
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: She is telling the story of her husband during COVID
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: and how he passed away and how the hospital and
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: the doctors and the medical staffs at the hospital treated him.
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: And let's pick up the story right where we took
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: a break there before the commercials.
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: Yes, sir. So, as I said, at this point, he's
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: on the rotoprone bed. They're trying to get me to
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: sign the DNR. I refuse. And what I found out
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: later in the medical records was that the doctor on
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: the 16th, late that evening or that afternoon, apparently he
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: had woken up and extubated himself, pulled the tube out,
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: and they had re-intubated him, which was the necessity for
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: being on this rotoprone bed, was because they induced what's
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: called a pneumomediastinum, which is a ventilator lung injury. They
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: had literally blown his lungs out and torn his trachea.
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: And I didn't know any of this. This is why
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: they were trying to push the idea of the DNR,
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: because there wasn't much they could do anymore. What I
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: found out also was that the doctor had ordered an overdose,
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: and they had medicated him until he literally had no
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: brain activity.
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: What did he order for an overdose?
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: He ordered what's called a RAS negative five sedation goal,
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: which should never be a sedation goal. It's a heavy,
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: heavy sedation for someone on a ventilator. But what ended
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: up happening is they ordered him at about 250 micrograms
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: of fentanyl an hour, 25 milligrams of midazolam, 1.5 milligrams
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: of Presidex per kilogram of body weight per hour. Propofol, Nimbex,
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: and rocuronium, which is a paralytic. And then at one point,
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: somebody finally realized that they had literally overdosed until he
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: had no brain activity. They backed off on some of
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: the medications a little bit, and his brain activity was
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: extremely erratic from that point. I think there was a
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: a brain injury that had occurred as a result of that.
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: And again, as you know, as I stated on the 20th, he,
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: he passed away. But since, like I said, since then,
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: after having received, and I didn't know any of this,
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: none of this was told to me, none of it.
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: When did you get the medical records?
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: About 10 days after he passed, I finally received a
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: death certificate and I was able to go request the
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: medical records. And what I found in the medical records was, oh,
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: I mean, it was a horror movie. It just, you
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: wouldn't believe it. And the things that happened were so unbelievable,
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: but not because they weren't true. It's because no sane
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: person would believe that, that something like this could happen
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: in a hospital, hospitals you go to, to heal and help. Um,
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: But it was all in the records. It was all there.
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: I only went to go get the medical records because
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: I needed to know that he had given consent for
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: that ventilator. That was the sole purpose for me going
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: and getting the medical records. I wanted to see that
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: consent form.
• 24:29
  Speaker 3: What did you find?
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: I needed to know no consent form. Not only no
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: consent form, but none of the documentation for his admission
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: was signed. There was no authorization for treatment at all.
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: They had forged my authorization. And I went back and
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: I looked at my phone records and I said, I
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: never spoke to anybody. How did they witness that I
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: was giving authorization at this day and this time when
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: I didn't speak to anybody until a day later? There
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: was no consent form for the intubation. As a matter
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: of fact, when he sent me the text message about
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: them harassing him about the intubation, He had refused to
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: sign the consent forms and thrown the nurse out of
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: his room. And then they were signed medically necessary more
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: than 24 hours later without his signature.
• 25:22
  Speaker 3: No signature.
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: Okay. No signature. There was no signature for the transfer.
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: The transfer documents were forged. Again, the authorization for treatment
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: when he was admitted to the hospital was not signed
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: by anyone. There was nothing. And it, it, it shocked
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: me to, you know, I kept trying to find, I
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: was trying to prove that this was, was his wishes,
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: that this was what he had decided to do because
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: it didn't make any sense to me. And what I
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: found in the records was when he stopped communicating with
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: me and didn't answer the phone on the morning of
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: the 11th, it was because they had started sedating him.
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: It was, they had started with Presidex and morphine sedating him.
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: And the, While he was being sedated, I was being told,
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: he's just refusing to speak to you.
• 26:15
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: And you knew that wasn't true at the time because
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: you knew your relationship and you also knew that he
• 26:21
  Speaker 3: didn't want to go through any of this. So he
• 26:23
  Speaker 3: passes away and now it had to be terrible for
• 26:27
  Speaker 3: you to have to deal with the passing of him.
• 26:30
  Speaker 3: And you also have a child. Do you have a
• 26:32
  Speaker 3: child together? And so you're picking up the pieces and
• 26:37
  Speaker 3: somewhere along the way, you decide to pick yourself up
• 26:40
  Speaker 3: and do something about it. What is it that you
• 26:43
  Speaker 3: want to do? What is it that you are doing
• 26:46
  Speaker 3: with a new bill in the state of Oklahoma? What
• 26:48
  Speaker 3: does it have to do with what are you trying
• 26:50
  Speaker 3: to accomplish?
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: Well, what I found out over the last four years
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: is this story was not unique. As terrible as it sounds,
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: this happened thousands of times all over the country. And
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: we've you know, as individuals have kind of found each other.
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: So I started moving forward saying, okay, what do we
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: do about this? Because at the federal level, there is
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: what's called the PrEP Act, which gave immunity to anyone who,
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: you know, used any type of COVID countermeasure. They got
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: this broad sweeping blanket immunity. So there was no recourse
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: for any of us. We all knew that these horrible,
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: horrible things had happened, but we couldn't file a lawsuit
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: because no attorney would take it because they got immunity
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: from the PrEP Act. Nobody would take complaints. I went
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: to try to file police reports. They wouldn't accept the
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: police reports. It happened in a hospital. Doctors don't break
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: the law, basically, was what I was told. And this
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: is criminal. So we've gone through a lot of different
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: processes over the last four years. But what I learned
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: is I actually decided to go back to school and
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: study law after all of this happened because I know
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: this isn't right. This should not be allowed to happen.
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: And we've got to be able to fight it. But
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: to fight it, you kind of have to be on
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: the inside and have the no. So I went back
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: to school to study law. And that gave me the
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: resources to look up all of the case law and
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: establish that if you're barred, procedurally barred from filing a claim,
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: then your statute of limitations never starts. And very recently,
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: there was an Oklahoma Supreme Court decision that said, Abuse, neglect, battery,
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: failure to treat, all of those things, according to the
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: Supreme Court of Oklahoma, fall outside the liability protection that
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: is offered by the PrEP Act. So these things are
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: inexcusable and don't even qualify for PrEP Act immunity.
• 28:50
  Speaker 3: Has that been challenged at the Supreme Court of the
• 28:52
  Speaker 3: United States yet?
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: No.
• 28:54
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: Do you anticipate that?
• 28:56
  Speaker 3: I would anticipate that, that that would also happen.
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: I hope. that it reaches that level and this can
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: be established nationwide. But for right now, it's only Oklahoma
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: where the Supreme Court of Oklahoma has made this definitive
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: ruling that these things do not qualify for liability immunity.
• 29:17
  Speaker 3: So all of that happened to your husband in the hospital.
• 29:20
  Speaker 3: You just went through the story. What does that mean
• 29:22
  Speaker 3: for you now that the Supreme Court in Oklahoma did that?
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: What that means is that we have a path forward. Now,
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: we've tried to pursue criminal because this was never about
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: money for anyone. We've tried to pursue criminal charges. We
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: are now looking at we have a that are willing
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: to take the cases. We're going to fight as many
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: of these cases as we can in the courts, in
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: the civil courts. We're going to establish the discovery that says,
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: you know, this happened broadly across at least the state
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: of Oklahoma for now. We can establish that in court documents.
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: that this was not a singular event. And then we
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: can move forward to the federal level and say, whether
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: it was intentional or incidental, the protections that you thought
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: you were offering these folks actually led to harm. And
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: we can't allow this again. Because it's not about, I mean,
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: I can't bring my husband back, but what I can
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: do is I can make a safer place and a
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: safer future for my son and for you and for
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: everyone out there listening that doesn't have to fear going
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: to the hospital and having your right to self-determination stripped
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: away and becoming that prisoner instead of the patient.
• 30:45
  Speaker 3: That's exactly what happened in this case. And as you said,
• 30:48
  Speaker 3: it happened thousands and thousands of times across this country.
• 30:52
  Speaker 3: We watched it. Sometimes I don't know that we remember it.
• 30:56
  Speaker 3: It's sort of like a fog in some ways, and
• 30:58
  Speaker 3: I'm sure it is to you as well. You're also
• 31:01
  Speaker 3: working on a new bill in Oklahoma. What is that about?
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: That bill is to codify into law what's already been
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: established in the court. That, again, if that procedural bar
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: is in place, that your statute of limitation is paused.
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: It's a tolling statute that says you didn't run out
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: of time simply because the law said you couldn't file
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: a lawsuit. So what this will do is open up
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: the courts back up for people that fall under the
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: specific category of COVID diagnosis, because COVID diagnosis was the
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: only time that we were not allowed to file these
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: lawsuits because of this perceived protection by the PREP Act.
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: And now that it has been defined that these particular
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: things don't fall under that protection, we have the ability
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: to move forward with some of these claims in the
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: civil court.
• 31:58
  Speaker 3: Go through those things again. You went through them a
• 32:01
  Speaker 3: few minutes ago, but let's narrow down again exactly what
• 32:04
  Speaker 3: those things are that the Supreme Court in Oklahoma says
• 32:08
  Speaker 3: you still can go ahead and sue civilly over these things.
• 32:12
  Speaker 3: Go through that list again.
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: That's going to fall into categories like failure to treat.
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: We have cases where someone went in for a heart
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: attack and They were never treated for the heart attack,
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: but because they tested positive for COVID on admission, they
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: received COVID treatment, like the remdesivir and ventilators and everything else.
• 32:32
  Speaker 2: But the underlying condition, whether it was a heart attack,
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: a stroke, a broken leg, we have someone that went
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: in with a broken leg that was never treated. The
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: broken leg was never treated, but they got COVID treatment.
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: So failure to treat the underlying or the admitting condition
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: does not receive... That liability shield, things like abuse and neglect.
• 32:57
  Speaker 3: Is that what your husband would fall under?
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: My husband would actually fall under battery. Because.
• 33:06
  Speaker 3: From the ventilator, from having him intubated.
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: Right. Because it wasn't just a lack of informed consent.
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: It was, we actually refused the treatment and it was
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: done anyway. So that falls under and meets the criteria
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: for the definition of battery, which was why we were
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: trying to pursue criminal charges. The abuse, neglect, battery, failure
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: to treat, and I think that's going to pretty much
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: cover the exceptions to the PREP Act.
• 33:43
  Speaker 3: How is your bill being received in the state legislature
• 33:46
  Speaker 3: in Oklahoma?
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: Everyone we have spoken to has been very supportive. We
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: have a lot of folks that have, you know, come
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: out and said that they would be more than willing
• 33:58
  Speaker 2: to co-author the bill on the House side. The problem
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: that we're facing right now is that it hasn't been
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: put on the agenda for the Civil Judiciary Committee. So... I've,
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: you know, on our Facebook, excuse me, on X, I've
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: put out, I'm working on putting out a call to
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: action to have people actually reach out to the chair
• 34:22
  Speaker 2: of the Civil Judiciary Committee and ask him to make
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: sure it gets put on the agenda so that they
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: can vote on it. That's our big obstacle right now
• 34:33
  Speaker 2: is getting it through that committee. Once it makes it
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: through that committee... And there's a chance that they don't
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: even hear it, that they don't even put it on
• 34:40
  Speaker 2: the agenda. So we've got to really kind of push
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: to make sure it gets on that schedule so that
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: they can vote on it. Because even the vice chair
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: of the committee has been amazing. And he said, I
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: support you. You have, you know, I will co-author if necessary,
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: but it's up to the chair to make sure it
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: gets on the schedule.
• 35:00
  Speaker 3: It's a fascinating story, but it's not unique, unfortunately, coming
• 35:05
  Speaker 3: through COVID-19. There were so many stories like this. And
• 35:09
  Speaker 3: the interesting part about what you have done is you've
• 35:13
  Speaker 3: taken it and made it your motivation. And you're a
• 35:16
  Speaker 3: great example of one person making a difference in this country.
• 35:20
  Speaker 3: You said it earlier in our conversation. You said, I
• 35:23
  Speaker 3: want to make it better for our children, for you.
• 35:26
  Speaker 3: And that's what it's all about in this country. And
• 35:28
  Speaker 3: if more of us would really do what you're doing
• 35:31
  Speaker 3: right now, this country would be in a lot better
• 35:34
  Speaker 3: shape than it is. I want to thank you for
• 35:36
  Speaker 3: coming on the program tonight. I also want to thank
• 35:39
  Speaker 3: you for the work that you're doing. You took a
• 35:41
  Speaker 3: bad situation. You're probably still dealing with it, trying to
• 35:44
  Speaker 3: get over it, and you're using that for good. And
• 35:49
  Speaker 3: I think you're a great example for everybody in America.
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much, sir.
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: There is only one truth. You've been listening to The
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: Truth Be Told with Booker Scott on America Out Loud.