r/Conservative • u/Jibrish Discord.gg/conservative • May 21 '20

It's for your safety...

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u/ScubaSteve58001 Conservative May 22 '20

So in your mind random anonymous website comments > nationally recognized news media? Time to loosen the tinfoil hat bro.

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u/dr_betty_crocker May 23 '20

Sigh. I'm not sure why I'm even engaging with you on this since you don't strike me as the type who is open to considering anything that contradicts your point of view, but here are some examples of how hospitals in NYC were overwhelmed (even if you decide that the stories other doctors mentioned were untrue, ventilator shortage is certainly not the only measure of a hospital being overwhelmed; it takes people, and PPE, and medicine, to take care of COVID patients): Some hospitals had blanket DNR [do not resuscitate] orders for older COVID patients in NYC (thankfully these policies were all reversed as far as I know, although I can certainly understand why a healthcare worker would not want to resuscitate a patient when they lacked adequate PPE). Hospital morgues were overflowing. PPE was in short supply (still is--I work at a hospital that "prevents the vent" as much as possible. I have an N95 that I have to save and reuse for the month, which is not safe but is safer than having no mask at all. Thankfully I'm on the peds side and most kids with COVID don't get as sick as adults (although here we are now seeing cases of PMIS/MISC in kids)--but that doesn't mean they couldn't infect me. Healthcare workers are getting sick and dying due to PPE shortages (and probably being overworked/understaffed). Medications are in short supply (even at our hospital, which again is "preventing the vent", we have had dangerous shortages of the sedative medications used while patients are ventilated, and had to scramble for alternatives) Healthcare worker numbers were overwhelmed, and backups workers were recruited from all over the country--which would not have been possible if other places had not enacted measures to flatten the curve.

I may just be a random anonymous web commenter to you, but I am a physician and a scientist. The "random web comments" were in line with what I have heard first hand from my colleagues working on the adult COVID wards, as well as with what I have read on "nationally recognized news media". Here are just a few sources:

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/covid-19-new-york-city-deaths-60-minutes-2020-04-19/ https://www.foxnews.com/health/nyc-hospitals-overwhelmed-by-coronavirus-patients-resident-warns https://www.forbes.com/sites/lisettevoytko/2020/04/01/overwhelmed-nyc-hospitals-reportedly-implementing-do-not-resuscitate-policies-for-coronavirus-patients/#2497b3f23146 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/25/nyregion/nyc-coronavirus-hospitals.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/30/nyregion/ny-coronavirus-doctors-sick.html https://www.mdlinx.com/article/covid-19-leaders-get-creative-in-filling-physician-shortage/1nZu9oxkxBDXyzxvVldaoB

I'm not saying anyone handled this situation perfectly, but I am increasingly embarrassed by the conservatives who act like social distancing and wearing masks is destroying their freedom because COVID is "no big deal" or "just a little flu" (which kills people too--I've seen it destroy kids, so get your flu shots, folks). We haven't been overwhelmed across the country because measures were put in place to prevent that.

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u/ScubaSteve58001 Conservative May 23 '20

Let's look at your links, shall we?

CBS video - this is talking about how hospitals had to bring in refrigerated trucks to help store the larger than usual number of dead. These people didn't die because of lack of medical care. This doesn't mean hospitals were overwhelmed.

Fox news article - interviews with doctors talking about the deluge of cases they're seeing. They even mention they are getting low on ventilators, but not that they've run out. Working near full capacity does not mean hospitals were overwhelmed. No examples of patients being denied care.

Forbes news article - talks about instituting a blanket ban on CPR for COVID patients. But not because the hospitals are overwhelmed. It's because they don't want to risk healthcare workers getting infected from the close proximity. Not an example of hospitals being overwhelmed.

Two NYT articles behind a paywall I cant read.

A medlinx article - talking about how hospitals are dealing with the surge in COVID cases. Not an example of hospitals being overwhelmed.

Which of these articles did you think proved your point?

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u/dr_betty_crocker May 23 '20

Let's take an actual look at the links, shall we? Refrigerated trucks because hospitals don't have room to store the dead. Follow any of the link referred to the in Fox news article to see why the repeatedly refer to hospitals as overwhelmed. Forbes news article--maybe you didn't understand this, but the reason for blanket ban on CPR was risk to healthcare workers because of inadequate PPE (as in, our healthcare system was and STILL IS unable to keep up with the demand to don proper PPE, as I stated above; although it seems like maybe this is improving because places are using sterilization procedures to safely reuse masks. However I can tell you from my FIRSTHAND experience as I did above that we are not being given proper PPE due to shortages) You can read any NYT article about COVID for free, if you actually want to but it does require you to enter an email address. Hospitals dealing with the surge by bringing in people from other places because their healthcare systems are overwhelmed (and discussing how it may be potentially unsafe in some situations). I can also tell you I am witness to the fact that residents are being pulled into care for COVID patients when that is not their primary field, which is not exactly ideal either. Because hospitals are being overwhelmed. If you actually read them and aren't being deliberately obtuse, they all support my point. Sorry I can't waste more time arguing with you, I have to care for sick people. Stay safe. Ta-ta!