HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- An Army Veteran died from a treatable illness after family says he waited seven hours for an ICU bed to become available.
Daniel Wilkinson, also known as Danny, had two deployments in Afghanistan and returned home as a Purple Heart recipient. His mother, Michelle Puget, said they moved to Bellville about three years ago in order to enjoy a quiet life together.
"He just [has] a big heart, a big personality and a big soul," Puget said. "In 2019, I came down with breast cancer and he took care of me two years through that. He took me to all my chemos, to my surgery. [He] took care of me, kept track of my doctor's appointment, everything. I mean he was just that type of a son."
Puget said last Saturday, Wilkinson became very ill. She took him to an emergency room just three houses down from their home where he was diagnosed with gallstone pancreatitis. Doctors said he needed treatment immediately.
"[The doctor] said, 'We know what we need to do, and how to do it. We just have to get him to a facility to get it done,' and they couldn't do that," Puget said.
Puget said the staff called hospitals across Texas, Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas and Oklahoma. Due to the COVID-19 surge dominated by the delta variant and overwhelmed hospitals, there were no ICU beds available for Wilkinson, who was a non-COVID patient.
After seven hours of waiting, the VA Hospital in Houston said they could treat Wilkinson, but by the time he was airlifted, his mother said his condition was too unstable and the doctor couldn't perform the surgery that could've prevented his death.
Daniel Wilkinson, also known as Danny, had two deployments in Afghanistan and returned home as a Purple Heart recipient. His mother, Michelle Puget, said they moved to Bellville about three years ago in order to enjoy a quiet life together.
"He just [has] a big heart, a big personality and a big soul," Puget said. "In 2019, I came down with breast cancer and he took care of me two years through that. He took me to all my chemos, to my surgery. [He] took care of me, kept track of my doctor's appointment, everything. I mean he was just that type of a son."
Puget said last Saturday, Wilkinson became very ill. She took him to an emergency room just three houses down from their home where he was diagnosed with gallstone pancreatitis. Doctors said he needed treatment immediately.
"[The doctor] said, 'We know what we need to do, and how to do it. We just have to get him to a facility to get it done,' and they couldn't do that," Puget said.
Puget said the staff called hospitals across Texas, Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas and Oklahoma. Due to the COVID-19 surge dominated by the delta variant and overwhelmed hospitals, there were no ICU beds available for Wilkinson, who was a non-COVID patient.
After seven hours of waiting, the VA Hospital in Houston said they could treat Wilkinson, but by the time he was airlifted, his mother said his condition was too unstable and the doctor couldn't perform the surgery that could've prevented his death.
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