The 33-year-old nurse from Florida was the mother of a 4-year-old boy. Photo / Facebook
A 33-year-old Florida nurse who treated patients infected with Covid-19 has died after not being given a mask to wear, according to her husband.
Danielle DiCenso, a travelling nurse, worked her last shift two weeks ago at Palmetto General Hospital after she started experiencing coronavirus symptoms, her husband David told Local 10 News.
"She showed up for work one day and they didn't have a mask for her," he explained.
After her Covid-19 test results came back inconclusive she began self-isolating in her family's living room where she quickly deteriorated, news station NBC 6 reported.
"It was a rough four- or five-day struggle between that," her husband said. "Her fever spiked, it came on in waves."
On Thursday, he discovered his wife, who has no underlying health conditions, dead in her living room.
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"Unfortunately I found her dead body in my living room on Thursday ... lack of oxygen; she looked like she died a peaceful death in her sleep," he said.
Their 4-year-old son never got to say goodbye to his mum.
David blamed the death on the hospital who he claims didn't provide her with proper protective equipment and was angered that their son will grow up with no mother.
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"The people on the front lines, these are our modern-day infantry," he said.
"The nurses and doctors, they are the ones on the front lines and we're not giving them ammunition ... People who are supposed to be taking care of the people getting sick are the people that are dying now."
Palmetto General Hospital told NBC 6 in a statement:
"Nurses are provided appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) in compliance with Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines. We are very focused on minimising staff exposures in our hospitals. All employees at our hospital are temperature checked upon arrival, wear a mask during patient care and are required to notify employee health if they become symptomatic."
Local 10 News reported that a medical examiner is going to test her remains for Covid-19.
"Her passing was sudden and very tragic due what we believed to be Covid-19," her sister Ashley Kuchciak wrote on a GoFundMe page established for funeral expenses.
"Danielle was working as an ICU nurse on the front lines risking her life for the lives of others."
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