A California police officer died of coronavirus complications after doctors twice shot down her requests to be tested for the bug, according to a report.
Santa Rosa Police Det. Marylou Armer, 43, was only able to secure a test that confirmed her diagnosis after it was “too late,” her family told The Santa Ross Press Democrat.
Her older sister, Mari Lau, said that Armer had gone twice to Kaiser Permanente’s Vallejo Medical Center with a fever, aching body and shortness of breath.
But a doctor reportedly told the cop that she was not considered a candidate for a test because of her age and lack of underlying medical conditions.
Ultimately, she wasn’t tested until she went to the emergency room, where she was intubated and placed in a medically induced coma, the outlet reported.
“It was too late already,” Lau said, adding that her sister’s inability to get tested was “very frustrating.”
Armer succumbed to the virus March 31, just days after she received her confirmed diagnosis, according to the report.
Kaiser confirmed that Armer wasn’t immediately tested in a statement, the Press Democrat reported.
Dr. David Witt, Kaiser’s national infectious disease expert, said that doctors had adhered to “public health authority testing guidelines, which have been based on a very limited availability of tests.”
“We offer heartfelt sympathies to Detective Armer’s family and loved ones at this profoundly difficult time,” Witt said.
California cop dies after being denied a coronavirus test twice
