Dov Feinstein

We are using this CaringBridge website to share information with family and friends about Dov's condition, and about what happened. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. 

WHAT HAPPENED: Dov has had a live-in caretaker, Trudy Cruz, since 2006 when Chaiky passed away from cancer. On Tuesday morning, September 5, at 7:20am, we received a phone call from one of Trudy's adult sons that Dov's house in West Hills burned down. Trudy was sent to the Emergency Room at West Hills Hospital in grave condition from smoke inhalation. Dov was sent to Northridge Hospital in critical condition. The paramedics were able to revive his breathing at the house before sending him to the hospital. At the hospital they stabilized his blood pressure and heart rate.

Ed (son #1) and Jerry (son #4) went to Northridge Hospital to see him. Working with the hospital staff, they arranged for Dov to be transferred to UCLA Medical Center that night for hyperbaric treatment (used to reduce carbon monoxide from smoke inhalation). He was treated at UCLA Medical for two days. This included EEGs and an MRI that showed his brain functioning to be OK (this is the major risk from carbon monoxide poisoning from smoke inhalation that chokes off oxygen to the brain). On the third day, his home hospital had him transferred to their facility where he is currently being treated.

We are withholding the name of his hospital and asking everyone please NOT TO VISIT HIM AT THIS TIME.  Here is why ...

Dov has been under sedation since the incident on a ventilator. Over the next week the doctors will reduce the sedation and test his breathing. He is making rapid progress. As he regains his ability to breathe on his own, the doctors will reduce the sedation and he will regain full awareness. When that happens, we will begin helping him adjust to reality of what occurred to minimize trauma. During this time, he will be visited by his sons and grandchildren only.

While this is happening, Ed, Larry (son #2), Simmy (son #3) and Jerry are making plans for where he will live, the type of ongoing care he will receive, and how we will request your support to help Dov. We are also working quickly to take care of the house, and all the other loose ends that require attention.

When he is stronger, we will invite you, his friends, to visit. He will need your support. Until then, we will continue to post updates about his condition on this website. You are welcome to check back for updates and to share your own thoughts and wishes for a speedy recovery.