A California woman with MS died of COVID after a hospital denied her vaccine despite asking for it multiple times over several months, due to her ongoing treatment for Multiple Sclerosis. A mom of three, Nerissa Regnier, 45, died on December 16. She is survived by her husband, Devin Regnier, and three children, aged 14, 16, and 29.
The grieving family is now filing a wrongful death suit against Kaiser Permanente, an integrated managed care consortium based in California where Nerissa was being treated. The family's attorneys informed of the same on Wednesday.
According to ABC7 News, the lawsuit alleges that the hospital denied Nerissa COVID vaccine seven times in six months and also denied her monoclonal antibody treatment after she became infected.
Does the vaccine contain a 'live virus'?
Family attorney Annee Della Donna noted that last February, Nerissa was administered a new regimen of medication for MS or Multiple Sclerosis, a disease that corrodes the protective layer of nerves.
When she asked the doctor about getting the COVID vaccine, she was told it was not an option for her because the vaccine contained a 'live virus,' which is false. The CDC has already busted the myth about the presence of a live virus in any of the available COVID vaccines.
The hospital allegedly mistreated the woman
According to the family's attorneys, she demanded to be vaccinated several times over the next six months but was denied every time citing the aforementioned reason. The hospital allegedly mistreated Nerissa by administering her antibiotics and steroids and even denied her monoclonal antibody treatment.
Nerissa contacted her neurologist in August who told her she needed to be vaccinated. However, by then it was too late. Della Donna informed that she was suffering from symptoms of COVID so she went over to Kaiser to get the vaccine. She had tested positive for COVID.
'Everybody whose immune system is down needs to get the vaccine'
According to attorney Eric Dubin, Nerissa's husband took her to nearby Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, where she was told it was too late for the treatment. Donna then noted that Nerissa was admitted at Hoag and then taken back to Kaiser, where she later died.
Dubin weighed that Kaiser failed Nerissa and her family when they relied on them for medical guidance twice. Nerissa was described as a healthy person who lived a normal life and kept MS under control with two infusions of medicine a year.
The family gathered together and announced the lawsuit on Wednesday. "Everybody whose immune system is down needs to get the vaccine. That's why we're doing this. We don't want this poor woman's life to be taken in vain," Della Donna said.
