A Florida nurse was found dead in his car from what is suspected was an overdose after having a difficult time coping with the loss of COVID-19 patients.
32-year-old William Coddington who worked at the JFK Medical Center overdosed after dealing with a large number of coronavirus deaths in his ICU, according to reports.
Following an April 25 fight, mom Carolyn Coddington checked his mobile phone’s geolocation and found that he was not at work, which made her drive over to the parking lot of the Deerfield Beach hotel.
There, the mother found her son, who was a recovering addict, lifeless due to what his family thinks was an overdose after struggling to cope with the devastation caused by the virus, as per Reuters.
His father said the police got a hold of a video showing his son sitting inside his vehicle when another car pulls up and “some kind of exchange” ensued, which he believes was a drug delivery.
William’s friends recalled his struggle as his loved ones paid tribute to him during a virtual funeral that took place on Wednesday, according to NBC Miami.
His mother said he was not able to meet with his sponsor because of the current crisis.
“And his friends, nobody wanted to see him because he worked in a hospital, not even to sit 6 feet apart,” she said.
“What you or I may find as upsetting, or bothersome – that life could be devastating to him,” his friend, Robert Marks said.
Skye Alexander remembered how William started distancing himself from others in the weeks prior to his passing.
A month ago, he had complained about the situation and the lack of protective equipment on social media.
William wrote:
“In my hospital we are rationing 1 n95 mask for my whole shift
We are running out of gowns.
We are having people make makeshift face shields that end up snapping.”
His dad talked about how his son’s face shield came off once as he was incubating a patient and he “felt things splash on his face” days before his passing, as per Reuters.
“You are so needed right now by others. You can be great,” his father wrote in a text on April 1. “Please please bury me some day. Don’t make me bury you … I love you.”
An investigation lead by the Broward County Sheriff’s Office concluded that foul play was not suspected in his death.
JFK Medical Center spokeswoman Kathryn Walton said their goal was to always protect workers.
She said the hospital had an “adequate supplies of PPE” and is “taking steps to conserve PPE because we do not know what our future needs will be.”
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