Scottish COVID-19 Inquiry|Health and social care|17 Nov 2023 (morning session)
Harrowing testimony from Diane Montgomery.
NB: Not previously covered in my substack. There were a few that passed me by in the early days and still catching up. I could find no media reports of this testimony.
Introduction
Ms.Montgomery testifies about her husband of 45 years who sadly passed away 24 October 2020. He suffered from a very rare aggressive form of dementia, frontotemporal dementia. He was diagnosed August 2016. The cause of death on his death certificate was aspiration pneumonia and unspecified dementia.
Testimony highlights
Unable to touch dying husband for the last 6 months of his life
Isolation led to his deterioration
Human rights ‘‘obliterated’’
Visiting restrictions ‘‘pure hell’’
The consultant said: "More people are dying in homes because they are not allowed to see their loved ones than are dying of COVID".
‘‘I think that's why he deteriorated so quickly, he was kept in his room, confined to one room.’’
‘‘Isolation" is a euphemism for solitary confinement for people who have never committed a crime.’’
Statement highlights
‘‘Everything was put in isolation, even birthday cards.’’
-Paragraph 75
‘‘The impact of the visiting restrictions at the care home on me and my family was pure hell.’’
-Paragraph 106
‘‘It was awful for everyone, my daughters were crying all the time.. I was writing to everyone by email because it was absolute hell. I was sending emails to different people at different times, all desperate; but nothing was done.’’
-Paragraph 107
‘‘The most important thing in his life was taken away from him for months and that just wasn't right.’’
-Paragraph 111
‘‘People were allowed to go to beaches and meet up with people and yet people with dementia were not allowed to be near their family. How could that be?’’
-Paragraph 112
‘‘I do think that human rights were completely obliterated during covid - no human rights. We would not want anyone to go through what we went through.’’
-Paragraph 115
‘‘I wrote over one hundred letters complaining about hospital access and care home visiting.’’
-Paragraph 129
Thoughts
Public ‘health’ policy below for 35,000 mostly very elderly and ill Scottish care home residents from 2020.
Link to article.
Who do our politicians really serve for if they ignore the people that pay their salary pleading to see their dying relatives?
‘‘I also wrote to Jason Leitch, Nicola Sturgeon, Jeane Freeman, I wrote to the private care homes person as well and I wrote to my MP, my MSP. I can't tell you how many people I wrote to and felt totally impotent.
‘‘I have provided all of these letters to Thompson's Solicitors and would be happy for them to be provided to the Inquiry.’’
-Paragraphs 131-132 of statement
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End
It did not matter how many letters were sent in protest the governments were following another agenda. The agenda had nothing to do with serving and protecting the populations of the UK. We were being used and abused by the governments, public health and every other institution, no voices or letter writing would have stopped this in 2020. By the time most people were being shocked into compliance the plans had been set in motion and they knew in advance how they would deal with people who resisted. It is very clear that a supposed infectious disease was used as a weapon, every single thing that was done in 2020 in the name of covid was counterintuitive to the health and wellbeing of individuals.
Thank you Dave for drawing attention to this powerful and distressing testimony. This poor woman’s husband’s death was so clearly caused by isolation and neglect yet her cries for help were ignored as were the voices of so many others in similar positions. Where was the consultant who saw what was happening? So many health and social care professionals saw it but were intimidated and terrified into silence which is the major issue that the inquiry is unlikely to address. My witness statements (one through Thomsons solicitors) to the inquiry highlighting this as the root cause of the problem haven’t been acknowledged. I’m contemplating writing directly to Lord Brailsford.