I have written extensively about the events that transpired in the final month of my father’s life—enough to fill a book. Before he was abruptly discharged from Mercy Hospital while gravely ill, I never realized this was a common practice. The TV show New Amsterdam addressed this issue in Season 2, two years after it contributed to my father’s death and left me grappling with my own health issues.

When it happened, I saw the danger coming. I even alerted Congressman Richie Neal’s office, but they were powerless to intervene. The VA failed us, casting me, his long-term caregiver, aside. They concealed records, falsified reports, and left me to battle against the interconnected local medical systems in Western Massachusetts, which profit from the VA’s dysfunction.

My father, a 96-year-old man, was forcibly sent by a doctor at Mercy Hospital to a facility known then as Wingate at Springfield (since renamed). He was discharged in cold, rainy weather and medicated, against both our wishes. Within eight hours of arriving at Wingate, he fell and was admitted to the ICU. Wingate did not report the fall to the state, as required by law. This marked the beginning of a slow and painful decline that lasted months, during which I became his primary caregiver and advocate.

The journey was fraught with additional challenges: I faced discrimination based on race and perceived sexual orientation, and my father received chemotherapy without notice or informed consent from Baystate Medical. A month before his passing, we experienced a fall while transporting his wheelchair. In an effort to break his fall, I sustained injuries that further complicated my ability to care for him.

Cover-Ups and Systemic Failure

After my injury, I sought help from Riverbend in Agawam, only to discover it was affiliated with Mercy Hospital—the very institution that had contributed to my father’s decline. My first consultation ended with me expressing regret for seeking care there. From that point on, I became “the enemy of the system,” and my medical records reflected that hostility.

Doctors and physician assistants (PAs) dismissed my account of the fall, refused to perform necessary exams, and vilified me in my medical records. I was labeled a liar and a drug seeker. Personal details I shared in confidence were disclosed without my consent, and attempts to seek accountability were met with stonewalling and deflection.

• Mercy-affiliated PAs denied the severity of my injuries and refused to provide appropriate care.
• An orthopedic doctor dismissed nerve pain without reviewing X-rays or ordering an MRI.
• Riverbend staff made inappropriate comments, including comparing my pain to martial arts injuries.

The Tactics of Medical Gaslighting

Medical gaslighting became a recurring theme. My father’s unsafe discharge from Mercy Hospital led to his fall and subsequent suffering. When I sought care for my own injuries, I encountered similar tactics aimed at discrediting my account. Efforts to address these issues through patient services and official complaints were met with deflection or outright dismissal.

The interconnected nature of these institutions created a network of protection for their own, leaving patients like me and my father vulnerable. The lack of accountability was glaring: Wingate did not report my father’s fall, and Riverbend staff openly undermined my credibility.

Filing Complaints and Seeking Justice

Despite overwhelming challenges, I took steps to hold individuals and institutions accountable. I filed a discrimination complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD) and reported my primary care physician to the Board of Medicine. However, the process was fraught with obstacles:

• MCAD dismissed key aspects of my case and Riverbend (Trnity Health) accused me of concealing my sexual orientation.
• Riverbend violated HIPAA by disclosing parts of my medical history in public documents, but MCAD remained silent.
• Coordinated falsehoods from multiple institutions made it nearly impossible to seek justice.

Injured, unemployed, and struggling with severe depression, I persisted. I obtained an MRI and a diagnosis only after leaving Riverbend. I also secured a court order to restore water to my home and continued to advocate for my rights despite mounting barriers.

The Toll of Injustice

The root of this ordeal was my father’s tragic and preventable death. As his primary caregiver, I witnessed his end-of-life suffering, which included relentless pain, the inability to eat or drink, and repeated pleas for relief. The system failed him—and by extension, me—at every turn. Because he was elderly and as one lawyer put it, “Had no future earnings and outlived his life expectancy,” Literally anything they did to him, was not ever going to get scrutinized. This is why veterans, the disabled and the elderly are so vulnerable. Tort reform, at least in Massachusetts, a lawyer won’t spend a 250K if there aren’t significant loss to income. Forget the sanctity of life, it’s all about money. Medical malpractice is the third leading cause of death, and as it stands now, would rather die than enter into Baystate Medical or Mercy, and have to travel to Holyoke, Northampton or Worcester where their hospitals and the doctors in them are a cut above. 

Ultimately, this story highlights the profound harm that medical incompetence and systemic failures can inflict. It underscores the urgent need for accountability and reform within the medical industrial complex.