https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52476128
And even as some parts of the US are talking of desperate shortages
in nursing staff, elsewhere in the country many nurses are being told to
stay at home without pay.
That is because American healthcare
companies are looking to cut costs as they struggle to generate revenue
during the coronavirus crisis.
"Nurses are being called heroes,"
Mariya Buxton says, clearly upset. "But I just really don't feel like a
hero right now because I'm not doing my part."
Ms Buxton is a paediatric nurse in St Paul, Minnesota, but has been asked to stay at home.
At
the unit at which Ms Buxton worked, and at hospitals across most of the
country, medical procedures that are not deemed to be urgent have been
stopped. That has meant a massive loss of income.
We lack crystal balls.
ReplyDeleteHere in Canada people are dying from lack of elective surgeries and chemotherapy treatments because the hospitals were emptied out to prepare for the surge of CoVID patients. It's a horrible calculus - let a few dozen people die so that we can save thousands more.
If the surge happens, then it's worth it. Beds are available. ICU space is available. Ventilators are available. Thousands are saved.
But if, as is currently happening B"H, the physical distancing shtick works, the surge never happens. You send nurses and resp therapists home because they're not working. You turn people with other illnesses away and they get sicker. And it looks really bad.
But we don't have a crystal ball. All we can do is plan for the worst and hope it doesn't happen.
And
ReplyDeletenow a new study from hard-hit Italy found that those Italians on
hydroxychloroquine for Lupus or Rheumatoid Arthritis did not come down
with the coronavirus.
Only 20 patients tested positive for COVID-19. No ICU, and NO ONE DIED!
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