Upon rolling into the lobby of the Cleveland Clinic for an 11 am appointment this morning, Treg Charlton and his wife were surprised to see a 2nd temperature-screening checkpoint. “He was already screened in the parking garage,” Mrs. Charlton offered proudly. The nurse’s response, however, sent an icy chill down Mr. Charlton’s spine. “We do not screen people in the parking garage.”
Charlton immediately realized he’d been had. “Yeah, I thought it was unusual that some guy would offer to help pull off my pants right out in the open like that, but with all of this Covid-stuff going around, I just thought to myself, “that’s incredibly proactive.’
The Charlton’s are declining to press charges. Instead, Mrs. Charlton chalked it up to ‘just being in the wrong place at the wrong time.’ Mr. Charlton seemed reluctant to say this is the most dehumanizing thing he’s experienced in his 10 years with ALS. Like most victims , Mr. Charlton beats himself up, wondering if he is partly to blame. “In retrospect, I haven’t had my temperature taken in that manner since 1972, but when you can’t talk, you don’t ask a lot of questions.”
