Log in to hire Dany

Dany del Pino Rodríguez

Photographer

Go home and may God be with you

Follow Hire

School: Pedagogical University of Havana , Cuban Institute of Art and Cinematography Industry, Arts University of Havana, Institute of Desing of Havana School of Social Communication of Havana University

Pablo del Pino, my uncle, check...ternative to relieve his fever.

1 of 15 © 2024 Dany Del Pino Rodríguez

Pablo del Pino, my uncle, checks the body temperature of his brother, Juan del Pino (my father) at the geriatric ward of the hospital on September 18, 2021, a few days before my father was discharged from the medical institution.
Throughout his hospitalization period, he suffered severe fevers, which were difficult to control due to the scarce antipyretic medicines available in the hospital. A soft cloth was the alternative to relieve his fever.

Portrait of my father in a bed ... of my father was most fragile.

2 of 15 © 2024 Dany Del Pino Rodríguez

Portrait of my father in a bed at the geriatric ward of the Joaquín Albarrán hospital on september 22, 2021. On that day, he was discharged from the hospital after being diagnosed with lung cancer. He was subsequently sent home - tantamount to a death sentece- where the conditions for his required palliative care were not enough. The controversial decision was taken by the chief doctor of the geriatric ward when the health condition of my father was most fragile.

My father takes aerosol therapy...lth condition was most fragile.

3 of 15 © 2024 Dany Del Pino Rodríguez

My father takes aerosol therapy with salbutamol at the hospital after being diagnosed with lung cancer. Before undergoing aerosol therapy, he was on oxygen therapy. However, the chief doctor of medical staff of the geriatric ward decided to change his treatment after a few disagreements with the relatives of my father. This was due to the decision to discharge him from the hospital when his health condition was most fragile.

Image of Computerized Axial Tom...be of his liver and his pleura.

4 of 15 © 2024 Dany Del Pino Rodríguez

Image of Computerized Axial Tomography (CAT) made to my father on August 28, 2021. The test was made in La Pradera, a health institution in the west of the Cuban capital. The CAT revealed the presence of a malignant tumor in his left lung. When the test was made, the tumor had already expanded to the right lobe of his liver and his pleura.

At the parking lot of the hospi...bulances to transport patients.

5 of 15 © 2024 Dany Del Pino Rodríguez

At the parking lot of the hospital, my father is accompanied by two friends, my mother and my uncle on the afternoon of September 22, 2021. They try to get a cab for him. Despite his fragile health condition, my father had been discharged from the hospital definitely a few minutes before. Then, he was needing return home, but the hospital did not have enough ambulances to transport patients.

My father and my mother returni...d monthly since his retirement.

6 of 15 © 2024 Dany Del Pino Rodríguez

My father and my mother returning home from the hospital in a cab on September 22, 2021 . That was the last time that my father traveled through the streets of Havana while he was alive. The cost of the service of this cab was $500 CUP. This amount represented 25% of the pension my father received monthly since his retirement.

Picture of my father receving h...ion theraphy was not necessary.

7 of 15 © 2024 Dany Del Pino Rodríguez

Picture of my father receving hidration theraphy with sodium chloride in a room of his house on September 22, 2021, the same day he was discharged from the hospital. Between the night of September 21 and the afternoon of September 22, he suffered intense bloody diarrheas that seriously worsened his fragile health condition. However, the chief doctor of the geriatric ward of the hospital considered that my father was not suffering from dehydration, and therefore, the administration of hydration theraphy was not necessary.

After administering an enema to...fternoon of September 24, 2021.

8 of 15 © 2024 Dany Del Pino Rodríguez

After administering an enema to my father, Yadiel Clavel, my nephew, and my mother try to stop the intense diarreha of my father on the afternoon of September 24, 2021.

As consequence of high fever, i...n a few hours before his death.

9 of 15 © 2024 Dany Del Pino Rodríguez

As consequence of high fever, intense diarrheas, dyspnea and wet cough, my father lies on his deathbed. This photograph shows his deep state of depauperation a few hours before his death.

My father´s empty bed...as taken to the funerary house.

10 of 15 © 2024 Dany Del Pino Rodríguez

My father´s empty bed after the obituary workers picked up his body to take him to the funerary house. This photograph was taken one year later, and it reproduces the same scene that I found when I entered inside the room of my parents a few minutes later test his body was taken to the funerary house.

Casket carrying the body of my ...two years before being exhumed.

11 of 15 © 2024 Dany Del Pino Rodríguez

Casket carrying the body of my father laying over another casket inside a collective tomb in the cemetery of La Lisa in the morning of September 27, 2021. Each collective tomb has been designed to shelter four caskets. The will be inside for two years before being exhumed.

Relatives saying their last goo...D-19 in the province of Havana.

12 of 15 © 2024 Dany Del Pino Rodríguez

Relatives saying their last goodbyes Morning of September 27, 2021. The family wished for the cremation of the body of my father, but it was impossible. According to the information given by an of the employees of the necrological services, the cremation services were being limited. Only 14 deceased were cremated per day, and they had to die as a consequence of COVID. Strangely, on September 26, 2021, the Cuban Ministry of Public Health reported only 3 deaths caused by COVID-19 in the province of Havana.

Altar with my father´...he soul of the deceased person.

13 of 15 © 2024 Dany Del Pino Rodríguez

Altar with my father´s portrait, spiritual vessels and white flowers. It was placed in the living room of the house on September 27, 2021, the day after his death, and it remained there for one week. A devout neighbor recommended it to my mother, because according to the spiritism and its traditions, this type of religious services favors the ascent of the soul of the deceased person.

Gold medal with image of the -V...ff his gold medal and necklace.

14 of 15 © 2024 Dany Del Pino Rodríguez

Gold medal with image of the -Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre-; patron and protector of all Cubans. My father used to wear this medal with a gold necklace as amulet for protection. Both the medal and nacklece were a gift from one of his maternal aunts. When he was hospitalized, he decided to take them off and entrusted my mother to keep them safe. That was a clear sign that something terrible was about to happen because my father had never taken off his gold medal and necklace.

Written documents and CD from t...s discharged from the hospital.

15 of 15 © 2024 Dany Del Pino Rodríguez

Written documents and CD from the hospitalization period of Juan del Pino, my father. One of the documents is his medical record, and it containing aspects about the diagnosis of his lung cancer. The same document also has a prescription indicating to take dexamethasone to relieve the symptoms of the malignant tumor. There is also instrutions to get a new appointment with the pulmonologist 6 months later. Ironically, my father didn´t even survive 96 hours after he was discharged from the hospital.

PLAY

STOP

GRID

FULL

LOVE

Close

Thumbnail of Pablo del Pino, my uncle, checks_lternative to relieve his fever.

Thumbnail of Portrait of my father in a bed a_n of my father was most fragile.

Thumbnail of My father takes aerosol therapy _alth condition was most fragile.

Thumbnail of Image of Computerized Axial Tomo_obe of his liver and his pleura.

Thumbnail of At the parking lot of the hospit_mbulances to transport patients.

Thumbnail of My father and my mother returnin_ed monthly since his retirement.

Thumbnail of Picture of my father receving hi_tion theraphy was not necessary.

Thumbnail of After administering an enema to _afternoon of September 24, 2021.

Thumbnail of As consequence of high fever, in_on a few hours before his death.

Thumbnail of My father´s empty bed _was taken to the funerary house.

Thumbnail of Casket carrying the body of my f_ two years before being exhumed.

Thumbnail of Relatives saying their last good_ID-19 in the province of Havana.

Thumbnail of Altar with my father´s_the soul of the deceased person.

Thumbnail of Gold medal with image of the -Vi_off his gold medal and necklace.

Thumbnail of Written documents and CD from th_as discharged from the hospital.

Public Project

Go home and may God be with you

Copyright Dany del Pino Rodríguez 2024

Updated Dec 2024

Topics Abandonment, Cancer, Dying/Death, Essays, Pandemics, Photography

Summary

Go home and may God be with you (sp: Regresa a casa y que Dios te acompañe) is an intimate photographic essay made by me during the final days of my father's life.
Through this visual story, I expose the hard and abhorrent conditions that surrounded my father's death in 2021. Beyond a personal experience, with this proposal, I want to mobilize the collective conscience around the abandonment of people with terminal illnesses, a distorted medical practice with bioethic implications.

In September 2021, while COVID-19 hit Cuba the hardest, I began to take photos of my father and some objects that accompanied him during his hospitalization period. These would be the last photos I would take of him. He died at home a few weeks later. According to the medical report, lung cancer killed him -and probably COVID-19 accelerated his death-. But the malignant tumor wasn't the only cause; the indifference and the abhorrent policies of institutional bureaucracy worsened his health and were ultimately responsible for his death. My father was discharged from the Joaquín Albarrán hospital in Havana when his health was most fragile. He never got the care he needed, and he didn't die with dignity!He was abandoned and failed by the health institutions of his country, the same ones he perhaps trusted. Nothing will be able to bring my father back, but in materializing the life and death of my father through photography, I wanted to galvanize attention, do him justice and many others that have suffered just like him, so that their deaths wouldn't be in vain.

Go Home and May God be With You
During the height of the Covid pandemic, Dany del Pino Rodríguez photographed his father while hospitalized in Cuba and would be the last photos that Rodríguez would take of him.
Zekemagazine.com

248