The terrifying reality of the COVID-19 comes crashing down to the patients. Aside from the health complications, patients also have to deal with the overwhelming costs of the hospital bills. This is also the concern of this dying patient, who asked his nurse this question: "Who's going to pay for it?"
Hospitals in New York are overwhelmed with the surge of COVID-19 patients. And since the virus targets the lungs, most of them require ventilators.
When they do not get better from the ventilator, they become another dead body chucked off to the mortuary. Since COVID-19 fatalities are infectious, they never see their families anymore, and their final resting place is Hart Island.
The bodies are then laid to rest in a mass grave in Potter's Field. Most of them died alone in quarantine, with no loved ones to comfort them during their harrowing battle.
Nurses bear the brunt of this human tragedy
Derrick Smith is a Certified registered nurse anesthetist, who has lost patients in the ICU. He is also the attending nurse who heard the elderly man's dying words.
For Smith, the dying man is just one of many who died while intubated, as the virus blocked out the air with so much mucus. The virus will continue denying air until the victim dies because their airways are already blocked.
The man who uttered those last words will not be the last because there will be more deaths. This is the terrifying reality unless the COVID-19 pandemic is over soon.
Also read: Coronavirus Crisis in America: U.S. Death Toll is More Than 6,000
According to the attending nurse, the patient cannot breathe well and had difficulty even when speaking. But above all, he was concerned about the costs of his treatment. Looking at the patient, he was not expected to survive even if given the proper treatment.
His wife was contacted and he got intubated. It did not take long before they realize it was a losing battle, and final goodbyes with his spouse were arranged.
When placed on a ventilator, most patients will expire soon, and the death rate is 80% with a slim 20% chance of beating the odds. It will be mostly a one-way trip for many critical patients.
Smith will be one of the last people to see the patient alive, and he has to summon loved ones for the last goodbye, then it's off to the freezer truck and a mass grave.
Despite keeping a professional distance, the incident overwhelmed him in his 12 years of critical care and anesthesia. He blames the flawed health care system that is not good enough.
Coronavirus reveals flawed health care system
Smith added that when patients feel like they will expire soon, he will start thinking of his finances. The last concern for his final moments on Earth is who will shoulder the costs of the treatment.
He was not able to answer the dying man's question because it cannot be answered. Smith added, "The pandemic has highlighted a lot of structural inadequacies in our country, not only the response to the pandemic itself but our approach to health care coverage."
Since the US does not have universal health care system, getting sick is really a gamble. Especially when you're sick with the COVID-19 disease, as it will cost money before and after the treatment.
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