The husband of a nurse is raising concerns about her death and says she was exposed to coronavirus while she worked at a South Florida hospital.
David DiCenso says his 4-year-old son never got to say goodbye to Danielle, a traveling nurse who was assigned to Palmetto General Hospital in January.
"I'm very mad, I'm very upset," DiCenso said. "My 4-year-old son's not gonna have a mother."
He says Danielle was forced to quarantine and get tested for COVID-19 after being exposed to the virus.
"Unfortunately I found her dead body in my living room on Thursday ... lack of oxygen; she looked like she died a peaceful death in her sleep," he said.
Their son never got to say goodbye to his mother.
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"I know for a fact that my wife would still be here right now if she was given the proper protective equipment," David said.
Danielle’s test was inconclusive, but her symptoms worsened.
"It was a rough four or five-day struggle between that," her husband said. "Her fever spiked, it came on in waves."
David says he's worried that other healthcare workers aren’t properly protected.
"The people on the front lines, these are our modern-day infantry," he said. "The nurses and doctors, they are the ones on the front lines and we’re not giving them ammunition ... People who are supposed to be taking care of the people getting sick are the people that are dying now."
Palmetto General Hospital provided the following statement Tuesday to NBC 6:
“Nurses are provided appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) in compliance with Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines. We are very focused on minimizing staff exposures in our hospitals. All employees at our hospital are temperature checked upon arrival, wear a mask during patient care and are required to notify employee health if they become symptomatic.”
