Matthew Broderick's sister says hospital gave her preferential treatment during coronavirus battle: 'I feel evil'
Matthew Broderick's sister, Janet Broderick Kraft, has opened up about her experience obtaining COVID-19 care while talking to NY magazine Intelligencer. She also spoke about the horrifying feelings she had after she contracted the virus and which put her in an intensive care unit.
The 64-year-old rector had fallen ill with body aches and swollen glands after returning home from an annual conference in Kentucky. However, her fear escalated when she got to know that another rector who attended the same conference had been diagnosed with COVID-19.
“I’m going to die,” she told herself even before receiving news that she had been tested positive for the virus.
After getting the symptoms, Janet went to the hospital on March 9 with her daughter Hannah, where it took her five hours to obtain a coronavirus test. However, later in the evening, when her condition worsened, doctors gave her antibiotics and Kaletra, an antiviral medicine normally used to treat HIV. She felt stronger the next day.
When asked if she got preferential treatment being a religious leader and Matthew Broderick’s sister, Janet said yes, but added that she "feels evil for saying that."
“Yes, but I feel evil for saying that. I think I’m absolute living proof that this system is completely corrupt. My GP didn’t know I was Matthew Broderick’s sister and didn’t care very much. But as soon as I got a hold of the guy at the hospital who knew who Matthew was, I was given the name of the head of the emergency room.
“Well, trust me, the folks I’ve spent my life working within Jersey City would never have been given the name of the head of the emergency room. If they were, it would have been disregarded. I think there is no question and it breaks my heart. My God, I hope this causes us to take some kind of look at how we are handling medicine in this country. Wouldn’t that be a wonderful thing?” she said.
She further explained how the deadly virus made her feel as she had never experienced something like that in her life. “Have you ever been where there isn’t quite enough oxygen? You just have to take more breaths and smaller ones. You don’t feel any liquid. Each breath is shorter and it’s more rapid. There was no pain. I couldn’t think. It’s a very scary thing in the hospital when you can’t think.”
She added: “I can’t explain this virus, but it’s not like any feeling or any illness I’ve ever had before in my life. I kept thinking that it must be what it’s like to be on chemotherapy. It made me feel awful.”
Janet also mentioned that even her doctor was surprised to see her fast recovery. But she believed that her faith and the faith of those close to her saved her. “I must have had 200 people praying for me that night. I know many people would be very angry to hear that because you can pray for somebody and they would die. That’s absolutely true. Whatever was going to happen was going to happen. But I do know that I had an incredible amount of prayer from so many people.”
“I think having years and years of very spiritual life and all sorts of scriptures, my heart knew where to go spiritually that would remove me from the immediate anxiety. I mean it. You need to be able to go to your own spiritual realm. I just had to recover,” she added.