Cancer is a complicated condition. It’s not just a battle of the body but also a battle of the human spirit. Sometimes patients and their families struggle to tell where one ends and the other begins. For Carrie Severson and her husband Gary, the medical care they allegedly received at a Georgia clinic only made that battle more difficult.
Writing for HuffPost, Carrie, who currently lives in Peoira, Arizona with her husband, explained that not giving up on his fight against cancer meant everything to Gary. To him, agreeing to a feeding tube felt like waving the white flag. But by that point, he had lost so much weight because eating had become almost impossible. Even swallowing fluids caused him pain.
Carrie claimed they discussed Gary’s worsening condition with his physician assistant (PA). The PA reminded them that she had recommended a feeding tube the previous week, saying, “I recommended a consult for a feeding tube last week, and you declined it.”
They reached breaking point
By then, Carrie said she was exhausted by everything they had already been through. The last thing she wanted was an “I told you so” conversation when they were desperately trying to save her husband’s life.
But she remembers that even in his weakened state, Gary interrupted.
“I wasn’t ready last week. I’m ready now.”
Because his voice was so faint, Carrie repeated his words to the PA. Instead of acknowledging what he had said, she allegedly replied, “Well, you certainly have made my job harder. And now I’ll have to see what I can do for you. You’ll hear from me about your next steps, and you better follow them. It might be too late because of your attitude.”
That was apparently the breaking point for Carrie.
“No. Your attitude has made this harder. And it’s very much not appreciated right now. He’s in pain, and your job is to help us. In fact, you took an oath to do no harm, and what you’re doing in this room is harmful.”
As per Carrie’s account, Gary tried to de-escalate the situation, telling his wife they should let it go and insisting he would be okay even without the feeding tube. Carrie refused to leave until they received the help he needed.
The PA reportedly responded that she would need “some magic” to arrange emergency surgery. After multiple hospital tests — one of which triggered a panic attack for Gary — the couple was ultimately sent home without the procedure.
Families are asking for empathy
Then, unexpectedly, they received a call from a radiology nurse.
“Right now. We already called ahead to let the ER know you were coming over and ordered Gary’s feeding tube surgery to happen as soon as the ER can fit him in. From what the team said today, Gary needs to get in fast.”
Gary spent the next eight days in the hospital recovering after the procedure.
Carrie claims she later requested that the PA be removed from her husband’s care after the hospital acknowledged his condition had become life-threatening. Looking back, she said her message is ultimately a simple one: patients and their families need empathy just as much as they need medical expertise.
Carrie was careful not to identify any specific institutions or medical professionals involved in her alleged confrontations, so no official responses have been issued to dispute her claims. As things stand, it is simply the story of a caregiver who wishes there were more accommodations for families navigating these difficult paths for the first time.
