NPR's Tom Gjelten speaks with Adam Kuperstein and his mother Elana Kuperstein about how they're navigating the death of a loved due to COVID-19 during a time of social distancing.
One of the more painful realities of this coronavirus pandemic is what happens to people who die in hospitals. Many die alone, apart from their families and loved ones, because they've been kept out of the hospital for their own safety. As the number of deaths increase across the United States, we're going to hear how one family is navigating this terrible experience.
E KUPERSTEIN: There is so much to tell. He had a very strong personality. Anybody who would meet him remembers him almost like a force of nature. He was very loving, was never afraid to express his love to me and to his boy. And on a personal note, he was really the best thing that happened in my life. And I always relied on him.
So I think it made it hard because I was worried the second that I knew he even went to the hospital. Even though he was positive and optimistic and he said he was fine, I feel like because I was listening to those sirens race by my window in New York City at the epicenter of this, I think it just worried me even more knowing what could happen.
But by lunch, we took the test they sent us from there right to the emergency room even though the result was not in, but they could X-ray his lung. He was dehydrated by then. So, you know, it is difficult because you couldn't go in with him, and he was - you know, it's hard to describe because you don't believe - you never think it's going to happen to you.
But then when it got very difficult, it affected his kidneys. Then everything became very serious. And it was so hard for me to even talk to the nurse. When they would call me, I would ask them to wait, and I would put Adam on the phone just so that I would be able to have both of us on the phone for support because I couldn't. I felt bad for the doctor at the end when they had to tell me, you know, how serious and where it's going. They had trouble saying that.
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