Ida Goldstein testifies about husband Robert's death from Legionnaires
Ida Goldstein, married 50 years, describes her husband Robert's two-week hospitalization on life support before dying from Legionnaires contracted through their home window. She calls the death preventable through proper cooling tower cleaning.
who are members of the community and victims of Legionella and have, and are family members of victims, so we don't want to keep them here too long.
We have, the first one we have is virtual Ida Goldstein.
You can begin.
Good morning.
My name is Ida Goldstein.
Now, I'll tell you, Robert was an Air Force veteran and a successful businessman, and he graduated with a Juris Doctorate degree from New York Law School.
I was by his side every day in the hospital, walking back and forth every day.
Legionnaire came into my home window.
I am concerned for my safety and anyone else.
Bottom line, it could have been avoided easily by having the water towers cleaned.
He caught an pneumonia and had a high fever of 104.
Robert was exposed to this poison.
Being in the hospital for over two weeks, he kept declining.
He was on life support and oxygen.
His lungs weren't working well.
His kidneys shut down.
He was on antibiotics and brain imaging.
His white blood cells increased.
He was going in and out of consciousness.
I was waiting every day to see if he would improve, but he kept getting worse.
He was getting thinner every day.
My heart was breaking watching him suffer with all this life support attached to his body.
This water vapor that he breathed in with no warning came in our own home from the outside.
It took his life away.
And from coming into our privacy of our own home, it murdered him and destroyed me.
We are married 50 years and my loss of him is tremendous.
He really fought for his life in every possible way because he said to me, I don't want to leave you.
I am lost without you.
He was my everything, my soulmate, the love of my life.
There will never be another one like him.
I was privileged to have him in my life, a true love story, and I don't have him anymore.
Are you done or do you?
Yes, I'm done.
I'm hard.
Okay, thank you so much.
I'm so sorry for your loss.
Thank you very much for your testimony.
Much appreciated.
Thank you.