Cheri Rauser

Turned away from 7 ERs over 2 months in winter 2021 due to repeated falls and back pain, joint pain, and difficulty breathing. After being diagnosed with 9 compression fractures in the spine, I was sent home after 1 night. Experienced worsening symptoms over the next month at home. The paramedics had to break down my door one night to get me. I spent 1 week in an ER corridor being ignored and told I could not recover, that I was too old at age 63 and would never have my life back. I self-discharged to another hospital. Immediately diagnosed with sepsis and spent three months there, including 1 week in ICU, and went home in a wheelchair. I have clawed my way back in the last nearly 4 years through sheer will. I felt dismissed, overlooked and gaslit. COVID was used as an excuse to not help me. Many doctors either don't know or don't act on the signs of sepsis. For me the issue is not not about infectious disease procedures to prevent sepsis. This is about early diagnosis and treatment after it's there.