Huntington Hospital Modifies Rules, Allows SoCal Family to Visit Mother Dying From COVID-19

Huntington Hospital allowed a family to say goodbye to their dying mother after initially prohibiting them from visiting because of COVID-19 safety protocols.

For days, comedian Laurie Kilmartin and her family had been talking to their mother through iPads and iPhones as she stayed in a Huntington Hospital room alone.

“We just kept saying, ‘hang on mom,'” Kilmartin told KABC in an interview. “‘We’re coming. Hang in there. Please don’t go yet, please don’t go yet.'”

On Twitter Monday, Kilmartin said she and her sister were “waiting on a call, it might be happening, I just put on makeup,” followed later by, “Excited to show up to the hospital…”

Another tweet later said, “ON OUR WAY Thanks all!!!!!”

She later posted a photo of a rubber-gloved hand holding an older person’s hands, and the message, “thank you @HuntingtonNews.”

The hospital, in a statement on its website, said it had decided to extend the exception for end-of-life visitation to loved ones of COVID-19 patients after cautious review by a team of clinical and infection prevention specialists.

“Hospital data shows that our infection prevention measures have worked to contain the spread of the virus within our walls and we are grateful to have adequate PPE (personal protective equipment) to help protect family members who wish to see their loved ones in these circumstances,” the statement said. “With this information, our team, who meets weekly to discuss hospital policies related to COVID-19, felt it was able to make this compassionate exception to these patient families.”

KABC said Kilmartin’s mother had a bad hip injury three weeks ago. She had to recover at a skilled nursing home, where she contracted COVID-19.

“When we knew we had to put her in one for strength building, they’re all closed or they all have had COVID outbreaks, so they’re not taking any people,” Kilmartin said in the interview. “I was given two options, and one was an hour away and one was kind of close. And I picked the close one, and they had a COVID outbreak.”

After the visit, Kilmartin continued to tweet about her mother’s condition. She also plays her mother’s favorite music for her on FaceTime.

Huntington Hospital has posted reminders about their visiting policies on its website, and updated its “end-of-life” visitation policy as well.

For more information, visit www.huntingtonhospital.org/patients/visitors.