Name of Victim: James Jackson III
Age of Victim: 70
Sex of Victim: Male
What Is This Testimony About: Hospital Protocol Death
State: CA
Name of Hospital(s) victim was admitted to (List All that apply): Bakersfield Heart Hospital
Did the victim survive? No
Date of Death: 10/26/2021
Contact Name: Steph McKindley
Relationship to Victim: Daughter
Was the victim a military Veteran? Yes
What Branch of the Armed Forces Did They Serve? Airforce
Was the victim considered special needs, or did they have any kind of disability? Yes
Was the victim admitted to the hospital? Yes
County Hospital is located in: Kern
Date Admitted: 10/11/2021
Was the victim isolated at any time during hospitalization? Yes
Does the victim or family feel they were treated differently by hospital staff as a result of disclosing their vaccination status? Yes
Was the victim or family pressured to sign a Do Not Resuscitate? Yes
Was the victim physically restrained? Yes
Was the victim deprived of food and water while in the hospital? Yes
Was victim placed on a ventilator? Yes
What medications were administered to the victim by doctors or hospital staff? Baricitinib, Fentanyl, Oxygen, Remdesivir, Sedatives, Steroids, Convalesant plasma and Remedsivir
What medications did the hospital explicitly refuse to administer to the victim? Convalescent Plasma, Heparin
Has this incident been reported to any agency such as VAERS, HHS, JACHO, Medical Board or others? To the hospital and tried to find a lawyer but no one would take the case. Reported to a group and did an interview on death by hospital protocols. I have documentation. It took me over 1 years to get the medical records and hospital malpractice law suit statutes are 1 year.
Place of Death: Hospital
Would you be interested in participating in podcasts or other media? Yes
Behind Closed Doors: The Isolation and Death of Sonny Jackson
James “Sonny” Jackson III was the kind of man who seemed larger than life to those who loved him. A proud Native American from the Hoopa Valley Tribe, a Vietnam veteran, a hard worker, and a deeply loving father, Sonny was described by his daughter Steph as a man “ahead of his time.” Even approaching seventy years old, he was strong, energetic, outdoorsy, and healthy enough to “run circles around everyone.”
In October 2021, during the Delta wave of COVID, Sonny and several family members became sick. Sonny went to Bakersfield Heart Hospital in California seeking help. What his family expected would be temporary treatment quickly turned into a nightmare they say still haunts them years later.
At first, Steph and her family were able to communicate with Sonny regularly by phone. He still had his cell phone and spoke with them daily. But then something changed.
Steph recalls that during one visit she realized his phone had been deliberately moved out of his reach. Communication became increasingly difficult. The family believes Sonny was being isolated not only physically, but emotionally — cut off from the people trying desperately to advocate for him. The silence became part of the trauma.
Like so many families across America during that time, they were told they could not be with him because of COVID restrictions. Yet after Sonny died, the hospital suddenly allowed the family inside. To Steph, that contradiction has never made sense.
While isolated from his loved ones, Sonny was administered remdesivir and other aggressive COVID-era hospital treatments that the family says were described to him as “top of the line” medications that would make him better. According to Steph, neither Sonny nor the family were fully informed about the potential dangers associated with these drugs. Medical records later revealed he had received remdesivir and baricitinib, drugs heavily associated with many other stories documented by families nationwide.
Steph believes those medications destroyed her father’s body.
What began as COVID pneumonia spiraled into liver failure, sepsis, and ultimately a fatal heart attack. The family believes the remdesivir triggered the catastrophic organ damage that led to his death. Sonny was also placed on a ventilator for several days. Steph says his condition rapidly declined after ventilation and that “they blew his lungs out.”
The signs of neglect and possible abuse only deepened the family’s horror.
When they were finally allowed to see Sonny after death, Steph says he had lost nearly twenty pounds. There was a bruise on his head that made the family suspect he had been restrained. The intake documentation also states the family believes he was deprived of food and water, pressured regarding DNR status, physically restrained, isolated, and treated differently because he was unvaccinated.
For Steph, one of the most painful realizations came later, after she finally obtained medical records more than a year afterward. By then, California’s statute limitations around malpractice claims had largely expired. She says she contacted lawyers, searched for help, and tried to find accountability — but no one would take the case.
What happened to Sonny mirrors many of the same disturbing patterns reported by countless other grieving families: isolation from loved ones, communication barriers, removal of advocacy, pressure into aggressive treatments, sedation, ventilation, and rapid decline after remdesivir-associated organ failure.
Steph refuses to let her father’s story disappear.
Today, by speaking publicly through Betrayal Project USA, she hopes people will understand that these were not isolated incidents. Families across the country experienced similar horrors under the guise of emergency public health measures. These are egregious crimes against humanity that must never happen again.
Betrayal Project USA is giving victims and survivors a platform to tell their stories, preserve evidence, seek accountability, pursue reform, and build a community of support for those harmed by institutional betrayal.
If you or a loved one were harmed by COVID-related hospital protocols, shots, mandates, or medical policies, please document your story at Betrayal Project USA. Your voice matters. Your loved one matters. And the truth must be preserved before it is erased.
