Families of Patients Lost To COVID-19 Pressuring Florida Hospital, State Lawmakers for Answers

Rallies planned for March 7 at the Capitol in Tallahassee, March 20 outside the hospital

Retired Army Gen. Michael Flynn, who served briefly as national security adviser for former President Donald Trump, attends a board meeting of Sarasota Memorial Hospital in Sarasota, Fla. on Feb. 21, 2023. Chris Nelson/The Epoch Times

SARASOTA, Fla.—Medical freedom activists are vowing to continue pressuring a Sarasota hospital for answers about the treatment of patients who died during care there for COVID-19.

On March 7, they plan to gather in Tallahassee for what they’re calling Protect Medical Freedom Day in support of two proposed bills making their way through the state legislature, Senate Bill 222 and House Bill 305.

The bills would ban vaccine tracking and vaccine passports and would prohibit employers from discriminating against employees based on their inoculation status.

The activists, who include family members of people lost to COVID-19, also plan to gather on March 20 outside Sarasota Memorial Hospital (SMH) to call attention to a recently released report on its COVID-19 response.

Protesters concerned about the treatment of people who died while being treated for COVID-19 stand outside a board meeting at Sarasota Memorial Hospital in Sarasota, Fla., on Feb.21, 2023. Courtesy of Tanya Parus

Medical freedom activists have called the report a “cover-up.”

Their ire comes after a contentious hospital board meeting on Feb. 21 that attracted hundreds from across the state and beyond, including Gen. Michael Flynn, who briefly served as national security adviser under former President Donald Trump.

The meeting drew nationwide attention after police removed a well-known doctor from the meeting after he spoke about the effectiveness of using ivermectin to treat COVID-19.

A video of the incident, shot by a reporter representing The Epoch Times, has been viewed more than 5.2 million times on Twitter.

Activists and family members of patients descended on Sarasota Memorial Hospital (SMH) from all over the state to hear board members discuss the review of the hospital’s response to COVID-19.

Word of the meeting had spread through social media posts and emailed fliers. People were eager to hear what the hospital would say about the COVID-19 treatments that many allege caused unnecessary deaths.

They packed the hall outside the auditorium hours before the doors opened for the meeting. Many were family members of people who died during treatment for the virus. They have objected to the hospital’s COVID-19 treatment protocols.

But when the doors opened, the seats were full of hospital employees.

Another flier had circulated the hospital, requesting staff attendance at the meeting.

Two Hours of Praise for Hospital

“Seating will be very limited and there is information suggesting those supporting the Medical Freedom (Ivermectin/HCQ) and Anti-Vaccination movement will be there early in an attempt to fill the seats in the auditorium,” the flier passed out to hospital employees read.

“Your presence at this meeting is important. Your hospital’s future depends on it.”

The meeting began with a prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance. Then hospital board member Britt Riner presented the report—a glowing review of the hospital’s COVID-19 response—calling the institution “a gem.”

The audience, made up overwhelmingly of staffers in the early part of the meeting, erupted with applause and a standing ovation.

Riner said the hospital could have communicated better during the pandemic. But, she said, there was no wrongdoing in treatment. Physicians reviewed five patient cases, and found that “each met the standard of care,” Riner said.

Then for more than two hours, hospital staffers took turns speaking positively about the care provided in the hospital.

Melissa Henry, a nurse at the hospital, said her mother was admitted during the pandemic.

“Many of us are here today because a question of trust has come into play in regard to our hospital,” Henry said. “We chose this hospital because we trust the doctors, the nurses, and the governing board.

“My mom was fighting for her life with internal bleeding and sepsis. I wasn’t able to see her, but the nurses gave me positive communication, and I was never worried, because I trusted them.”

Slowly, as hospital workers spoke, staffers trickled out.

‘Don’t Kill More People’

When medical freedom activists finally were allowed to speak, they blamed the hospital for killing their loved ones.

They said SMH used ineffective treatments tied to federal payouts contingent on using treatments recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and National Institutes of Health (NIH).

They spoke about the lack of trust they now have in hospitals and doctors, because of the treatment of COVID-19. They blamed the use of ventilators and the drug remdesivir for the deaths of their loved ones.

Eric and Cynthia Schrock, before he fell ill and was treated in a hospital for COVID-19, despite records that she says show he was suffering from an untreated heart attack. Courtesy of Cynthia Schrock

Cynthia Schrock told of how she begged SMH to consider using alternative treatments for her husband, Eric, for COVID-19.

“I asked for ivermectin and was told ”This hospital does not give ivermectin,” Schrock said.

She also begged to visit her love.

“In the 22 days he was in there, I was never allowed in to see him,” she said. “They absolutely refused.”

Wendy Cohen, who attended the meeting, was angry for the same reason. She told The Epoch Times that her brother-in-law, William Ackerly, died at SMH.

“It was three weeks of pure hell,” Cohen said. “He was admitted on July 23. We, from Day One, asked for ivermectin. He was completely healthy. They gave him remdesivir, and he was dead by Aug. 16.

“My sister, his wife, was here trying to get in every day. They never let her in to see him except one day when they tried to talk her into signing a DNR [Do Not Resuscitate order]. That was when they let her in. He was already on a ventilator, at that time, and it was too late.”

Cohen said she believes doctors knew remdesivir damages kidneys, but prescribed it anyway.

“They put money before lives,” she said.

But she believes “doctors’ hands were tied,” she said. Administrators who enforced the use of ineffective, even harmful, treatments are the ones who should be held accountable, she said.

Forbidden Drugs

Patty Myers said her 55-year-old husband, Tony, died in an Orlando hospital.

“He was refused many treatments because the doctor said, ‘That is outside the protocol of the CDC, the FDA, and this hospital, as mandated,’” she told SMH board members.

When he seemed to be improving, a doctor insisted on putting him into a drug-induced coma and on a ventilator, Myers said.

“That’s crazy,” she said.

“They stopped the medicine that was healing and gave him medicine that shut his organs down. They gave him so much oxygen it flooded his lungs. In the end, so much propofol and fentanyl that he was never going to come home.

“Don’t kill more people!”

During a press conference on Oct. 13, 2022, in Kissimmee, Fla., widow Patty Myers holds a picture of her husband, who died while being treated in a hospital for COVID-19. Nanette Holt/The Epoch Times

Erin Greene-Rettig testified that her 39-year-old son, Daniel Josiah Rettig, died in a hospital in Kentucky after being refused ivermectin.

“My son’s wishes and our wishes were not met,” she told the hospital board. “We had a prescription for ivermectin that was very hard to fill. We brought it in, and they refused [to give] it.”

Greene-Rettig told The Epoch Times that she signed a waiver directing the hospital not to follow CDC protocols or use remdesivir.

The hospital gave it anyway, she said.

Dr. Sheri Weinstein, an internal medicine specialist with privileges at SMH, shared the struggle for doctors.

“They forbid us from using the drugs that are FDA-approved and are dirt cheap,” Weinstein told The Epoch Times. Those included hydroxychloroquine, ivermectin, even Vitamin C.

“This is not about the doctors being bad, or the staff [being] malicious,” she said. “This is just that they are ’simply following orders’ and forbidding the use of FDA-approved drugs, which have been shown to decrease morbidity and mortality with Covid.”

Police Remove Doctor

As he approached the podium, Dr. John Littell, who operates a family practice in Ocala, shook hands with hospital chief of staff Dr. Jonathan Hoffberger and he started by saying to the SMH, “You happen to be one of the best hospitals in Florida.”

Littell, who’s practiced for more than 30 years and served in the U.S. Army in Desert Shield, then talked about his professional experience, and how difficult COVID-19 was for all health care providers.

Gesturing to fellow nurses and doctors, he said, “We never worked harder” than during the early, deadliest months of the pandemic.

“I’m not here to condemn, at all, anybody,” Littell said.

He spoke about how well ivermectin worked in his treatment of COVID-19 patients. At the three-minute mark, the board indicated he had used the amount of time each speaker had been allowed.

But Littell continued, saying, “I drove two hours to get here. I’m going to finish.”

He spoke for about another minute until a police officer approached. At that, Littell returned to his seat.

A few minutes later, Fiorruci said there were doctors on staff at SMH who wouldn’t speak up because of fear of retribution. Littell approached the dais to whisper his thanks to her.

That’s when police officers rapidly approached him, told him he had to leave the property, and escorted him out.

Police officers remove Dr. John Littell from a board meeting of Sarasota Memorial Hospital on Feb. 21, 2023. Chris Nelson/The Epoch Times

After four hours, hospital board members voted 7-2 to adopt the report’s findings. Fiorruci was one of two board members who voted against accepting the report.

“I guess I violated protocol,” Littell told The Epoch Times outside the boardroom. “I have to confess, I’ve never been to a hospital board meeting ever.”

He was surprised, he said, that police officers walked him out, “as though I’m some kind of a criminal. And all I did was speak my mind.”

Physicians ‘In Lockstep’

Littell and other activists have questioned why hospitals have refused to use medications such as ivermectin for COVID-19. They say hospital treatments that follow federal recommendations for the treatment of the virus don’t work, and often do harm.

“They will fall on their swords rather than give a medication that the” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and National Institutes of Health do not want them to give,” Littell said after being removed.

A chief executive officer of a large hospital in Florida told him, “Dr. Littell, we expect our physicians to be in lockstep with us when it comes to policy,” he said.

“They have been beaten over the head that they will use the CDC, NIH protocols, come hell or high water,” Littell said. “When a doctor like me says there is something really cheap out there that will save lives, they don’t want to hear it.”

Many doctors have contacted him privately, he said, to learn about alternative treatments and obtain ivermectin.

But it was stories like Schrock’s that triggered the review.

Cynthia Schrock speaks about the death of her husband, who was treated in a hospital for COVID-19, at a press conference spotlighting the families of COVID-19 victims in Kissimmee, Fla. on Oct. 13, 2022. Nanette Holt/The Epoch Times

“In November, the board asked staff to do a comprehensive review of the hospital’s Covid response,” board chairman Tramm Hudson told The Epoch Times before the meeting.

“What did we do right? What lessons did we learn? So we can be ready for the next inevitable pandemic?”

Hudson said stories that hospitals wouldn’t allow the use of ivermectin were “ludicrous.”

“Our pharmacy filled over 151 prescriptions for ivermectin,” Hudson said. “The hospital never withheld ivermectin.

“We have served over 13,000 patients with Covid in Sarasota County. We do not kill our citizens.”

Survival of Inpatients—91 Percent

The report presented at the meeting included an assessment of COVID-19 treatments the hospital used.

“In every iteration of the virus, SMH’s mortality rates were better than the state, southeast, and national expectation for our patient population in co-morbidities,” board member Riner said.

“I’m happy to say that 91 percent of our Covid inpatients did survive the virus.”

Only 11 percent required ventilator support, she said.

But some community members have questioned the hospital’s COVID-19 policies since the earliest days of the pandemic. So, because hospital board members are elected by county residents, many worked to recruit candidates for the posts, hoping it would help them get answers ... and change.

“We had spots open up and ran a slate of candidates who support medical freedom,” said Tanya Parus, chair of Sarasota County Moms for America.

“Our candidate Vic Rohe is the one who called for the investigation” and a report was ultimately released on Feb. 21.

Britt Riner, a member of the board of directors of Sarasota Memorial Hospital, is seen on the screen of a TV camera filming a board meeting in Sarasota, Fla., on Feb. 21, 2023. Chris Nelson/The Epoch Times

Parus blames the hospital’s treatment choices on promised reimbursements from the federal government.

“The use of ventilation, the use of remdesivir, the use of these Covid tests—all have dollar signs attached to them through the CARES Act,” Parus told The Epoch Times.

“When you realize that, and start to hear from these family members that are crying because they can’t get into see their husband or wife, because they are in the ICU, and all you’re told is ‘They’re fine,’ and the next phone call you get is ‘They’re dead’—that’s an atrocity.”

According to the SMH report, the hospital suffered a net loss of more than $65.7 million during the pandemic, mostly due to capacity restraints and Florida’s pause on non-emergency and elective procedures.

The hospital was paid $9.4 million by the federal government to treat COVID-19, the report shows. The money was for Medicare claim add-ons for testing patients found to be positive for COVID-19 and for using remdesivir.

No More Remdesivir

The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended against the use of remdesivir for late-stage COVID-19 patients.

“By the time the patient gets to the hospital, they are ‘late-stage,’ and it should not be used,” Weinstein told The Epoch Times.

Yet, SMH still administers remdesivir treatments, Weinstein, who still sees patients there, said. And ivermectin remains on the list of medications that are not recommended at the hospital, she said.

Dr. Sheri Weinstein, an internal medicine specialist with privileges at Sarasota Memorial Hospital, speaks outside a hospital board meeting in Sarasota, Fla., on Feb. 21, 2023 Chris Nelson/The Epoch Times

She was frustrated that, by the time people upset about the hospital’s COVID-19 response were allowed to speak, most hospital workers had left the meeting and didn’t hear their stories.

“Many of the key speakers that were asking for a closer look at hospital protocols were moved to the bottom of the speaker list, after many of the doctors and community had left the auditorium, after listening to over two hours of hospital-planted testimonials,” Weinstein said.

Governor Ron DeSantis spoke about the topic on at a press conference in Fort Lauderdale on Dec. 15, 2022.

“Some of it, like how they used the ventilators, clearly in hindsight that was a mistake,” said DeSantis. “I don’t know that was done necessarily out of deception. I think people were freaking out. But there’s no question that that over-ventilation mattered.”

DeSantis went on to lambaste Dr. Anthony Fauci for the use of remdesivir.

“You know Fauci says that was the standard of care,” DeSantis said. “I can tell you, we looked at the data here. We saw no benefit from it. And, obviously, you may have had some negative impacts from it. That was something that Fauci was talking about and really pushing, and that turned out not to be something that was viable.”

DeSantis has been criticized by medical-freedom activists for signing an extension in 2022 to a liability shield that protects hospitals from being sued over COVID-19.

An administration insider told The Epoch Times he will allow the law to expire in June. His press office has not responded officially to that claim.

“I think people have the right to the truth,” DeSantis said. “People have a right to accurate data, and that is what we are trying to deliver.”

COVID-19 treatment in hospitals has been driven by profit, Littell said.

“Every patient who comes into the hospital that’s tested positive—[hospitals] get a financial incentive. And if they use the [federally recommended] protocols, they get more. That’s a fact.”