The death certificate of a 79-year-old woman in South Carolina presumably states that COVID-19 complications contributed to her death in July – but the decedent’s family claims she was never tested or infected with the virus.
Joan Hill died July 31 when she was receiving hospice care from her daughter Richland County, Hill’s granddaughter, Kimberly Klosterman told WIS News.
Klosterman – who said Hill had suffered from dementia for years – told the station that the family received a death certificate later from Hill, citing Alzheimer’s disease and COVID-19 complications as the cause of death.
“That was wrong,” Klosterman said. “She had never been tested before or after death, so I was not sure how that could even be mentioned on her death certificate.”
Klosterman also said her grandmother showed no signs of the disease leading to her death.
“She was fine,” said Klosterman. “Her lung function was good until the very end, so there were zero symptoms of COVID.”
Gary Watts, the county coroner who responded to Hill’s death, told WIS that coronavirus was never called to his office in her case.
“When we originally took the call, it was a patient with Alzheimer’s – at the time, nothing was mentioned about COVID-19,” he said.
“It is certainly something that needs to be answered about why that happened, and who made that decision, and why that decision was made when there was no indication at the time of death,” Watts said.
Since Hill was under hospice care, the facility’s doctor signed off on her death certificate, the report said. Citing privacy restrictions, the hospice caregiver, Amedisys, declined to comment to WIS on why it was done when Hill never received a test.
It is unclear if Hill’s death was counted in coronavirus deaths as a probable COVID-19 death.
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