PLANTATION, Fla. – A South Florida man is fighting to stay alive after contracting COVID-19.
Family members explained that doctors have tried a number of treatments but the only one that could potentially save his live is being pushed off the table.
"My husband is running out of options," said Nikki Ermatinger. "His prognosis is not good at this time."
Two weeks after Tim Ermatinger checked himself into Westside Regional Medical Center in Plantation, his wife Nikki said the 71-year-old is now in a medically induced coma, struggling to stay alive.
"He was there maybe 48 hours," she said. "And he was having more and more trouble breathing."
Nikki says Tim was positively diagnosed with COVID-19 before checking into the hospital, where she says doctors tried a number of things to help him recover.
"They were waiting for Tim with oxygen, and the drug, the hydroxychlorquine," said Nikki.
But when his condition continued to worsen, that’s when Nikki said she approached doctors about trying a new experimental treatment, allowed by the FDA, in which a recovered patient’s plasma is used to treat someone still fighting the virus.
But instead of giving that a try, Nikki says doctors seemed to turn the other way.
"They told me that it wasn’t as easy as it sounds to do. And there’s a lot more to it, you know, it’s not simple to set it up," she said. "I told them I absolutely, positively want them to try this plasma, and I will do whatever it takes to make it happen."
In a statement, a hospital spokesperson said:
“There is a limited blood supply that needs to be shared among all hospitals and all patients. We are actively partnering with One Blood Blood Donors, however there are limitations on who can donate and when they can donate, which is causing a shortage of donor supply for our patients.”