Name of Victim: Stephanie Alyssa Augustine
Age of Victim: 34
Sex of Victim: Female
What Is This Testimony About: Hospital Protocol Death
State: IN
Did the victim survive? No
Date of Death: 02/06/2022
Contact Name: Gerard Augustine
Relationship to Victim: Dad
Was the victim a military Veteran? No
Was the victim considered special needs, or did they have any kind of disability? No
Was the victim admitted to the hospital? Yes
County Hospital is located in: Allen
Date Admitted: 01/01/2022
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? No
Was the victim physically restrained? No
Was the victim deprived of food and water while in the hospital? No
Was victim placed on a ventilator? Yes
What medications were administered to the victim by doctors or hospital staff?
Albuterol, Antibiotics, Ativan, Budesonide, Dilaudid, Fentanyl, Insulin, Morphine, Prednisone, Remdesivir
What medications did the hospital explicitly refuse to administer to the victim?
Antivirals, Budesonide, Hydroxychloroquine, Ivermectin, Monoclonal Antibodies, Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Zinc
Has this incident been reported to any agency such as VAERS, HHS, JACHO, Medical Board or others? Indiana AG
Place of Death: Hospital
Would you be interested in participating in podcasts or other media? Yes
Stephanie Augustine: A Daughter Stolen Behind Hospital Doors
Stephanie Alyssa Augustine was only 34 years old when her life was taken inside an Indiana hospital. To her father, Gerard, she was not a diagnosis, not a statistic, and not a “COVID patient.” She was his daughter.
Gerard describes Stephanie as bubbly, vivacious, faith-filled, and full of laughter — the kind of laugh that made everyone else laugh with her. She loved to cook and bake. She loved her family deeply. But above all, Stephanie loved children. She served them at church, cared for nieces and nephews, helped with daycare, and had a natural tenderness that drew children to her. Her father said she and her sisters were like “Pied Pipers,” with children always gravitating toward them. Stephanie once wrote that she loved being an auntie and looked forward to becoming a mother one day. Until then, she poured that love into the children God placed in her life.
That is part of what makes her loss so unbearable.
Watch Stephanie’s memorial video here: https://youtube.com/live/xq2vV1JvNhI?si=HXpGro-rmDLTXmnj
In late December 2021, Stephanie became sick along with others in her household. When she and her sister first went to the hospital with respiratory symptoms, Gerard urged them to ask for more testing and evaluation. Instead, according to his testimony, they were sent home with a steroid injection, albuterol, and Mucinex, and were told they should improve in a few days.
They did not.
On January 1, 2022, Stephanie’s condition became frightening. She was shallow breathing, unresponsive, and clearly in distress. An ambulance took her to Parkview Randallia in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Gerard followed and checked in, expecting to be with his daughter. Instead, he waited for seven and a half hours with little information. When he finally saw Stephanie, she was on BiPAP at extremely high oxygen settings. She was awake. She knew her father was there. She grabbed his hand.
Gerard asked whether the hospital had explained what was happening to her. Stephanie indicated they had not really told her anything.
A doctor then told Gerard that Stephanie needed to be placed on a ventilator. Gerard was deeply concerned. By then, he had been following physicians who were treating COVID patients with early and alternative treatments, and he asked the hospital to use options such as ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, zinc, quercetin, and budesonide. The response was devastatingly familiar: “That’s not our protocol.”
Those words would come to define Stephanie’s hospital course.
Instead of the treatments her father begged them to try, Stephanie was moved into the COVID hospital protocol path: isolation, remdesivir, heavy sedation, and ventilation. She was transferred back to Parkview Regional Medical Center, where the family later learned she had been placed into a medically induced coma and started on the hospital’s protocol.
Gerard’s grief is impossible to separate from the isolation. His daughter was critically ill, frightened, and vulnerable, yet her family was kept from her. They were not allowed to sit at her bedside, hold her hand, pray over her in person, or advocate where they could see what was being done. The people who knew and loved Stephanie most were forced to fight from outside the room.
There was a brief moment of hope. One doctor wanted Stephanie off the ventilator and understood that the longer she stayed on it, the harder it would be to get her off. Stephanie was taken off the vent for several days. She was awake, communicating, eating, drinking, listening to worship music, praying, and believing she was going home. She recorded a message to her church family, thanking them for their prayers and saying she could not wait to hug them again.
Then everything changed.
After her family had been told the plan was to move toward rehabilitation, Gerard received a call in the middle of the night saying Stephanie had suffered a respiratory arrest and had been placed back into a medically induced coma. The family never received a satisfactory explanation for how Stephanie went from hopeful and recovering to suddenly back on the ventilator.
Gerard continued to plead for other treatments. He contacted patient advocates, filed grievances, brought medical information to the hospital, and asked repeatedly for budesonide and other options. By the time a later doctor finally agreed to try nebulized budesonide, Gerard says Stephanie’s lungs had already been destroyed.
Stephanie’s condition deteriorated. Her family believes remdesivir damaged her kidneys. They were told her liver showed toxicity. She developed infections and sepsis. The protocol that was supposed to save her became the road that led to her death.
Stephanie died on February 6, 2022.
In his interview, Gerard does not simply recount facts. He relives the agony of a father who fought to save his daughter and was blocked at nearly every turn. His voice carries the grief of every parent who knows their child should still be here. Stephanie was loved by her family, cherished by her church, and adored by the children she served. Her life mattered. Her story matters.
Betrayal Project USA is giving families like Gerard’s a platform to tell the truth, preserve the testimony of victims, seek reform and accountability, and build a community of support for those who suffered institutional betrayal. These are egregious crimes against humanity that must be exposed, stopped, and never repeated.
If you or a loved one has been harmed by COVID-related protocols, shots, or policies, please document your story at betrayalprojectusa.org.
