Physician Deaths And COVID-19

Written by Paula H. Cookson LCSW

As if the healthcare field were not stressful enough, along came the international pandemic, COVID-19. Physicians who were already burdened and experiencing the detrimental effects of the bureaucratic medical system have become absolutely overwhelmed. Droves of deathly ill patients, and poorly equipped facilities, have left medical professionals scrambling to provide critical care; it is a surreal situation; a nightmare that health professionals are living every day. Our medical professionals are getting sick from COVID-19, and many are dying.

COVID-19 has shown us how misinformation, politicization and lack of proper equipment can result in catastrophic loss. Among those losses include the very people who followed their calling to heal the sick. These medical professionals were also mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters, grandparents and best friends. They had lives outside of medicine; they had loved ones, dreams and hopes. These medical professionals chose the field of healthcare and ultimately their commitment to the health of others put them directly in the danger zone of the pandemic that took their lives. Future accounts of this pandemic and the catastrophic loss of lives will tell the story of why so many of these deaths could have been avoided. Will we learn from the losses of COVID-19? Will we allow the grief of this pandemic to inform us on better healthcare management systems and prioritizing patient care and physician support on a national level?

Inadequate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

Physicians and health care workers on the front lines have been doing battle with coronavirus with insufficient armor. Similar to September 11, 2001, when firefighters and police officers had insufficient safety equipment to do their jobs, health providers are in

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the same bind with COVID-19. Insufficient supplies, coupled with utilization of under-trained professionals in some sectors, places health professionals, and the general public, at risk. It is a travesty that in this affluent country that leads the world as an example of freedom and democracy, we have failed our first responders during crisis, yet again. Helping professions such as firefighters, law enforcement and medical providers are the most difficult and demanding jobs out there, crucial to our safety and stability as a nation. Insufficient access to the tools necessary to do these jobs properly is an insult to their collective professions. Personal protective equip - ment (PPE) is in such short supply that physicians and other medical providers are being advised to wear masks for one week at a time, well beyond their protective characteristics.

Worse yet, some medical professionals have even been told (by hospital administrators) to remove their PPE all together. Doctors, nurses and other health professionals have been fired for talking to media; others have been threatened with job loss. Medical personnel are having their jobs threatened for self-advocacy and trying to create safety for themselves and their patients. Some physicians have reported that they are being told to remove PPE because it scares patients. It seems as if fear is a healthy response at a time like this, does it not? Providers on the front lines of this viral nightmare are being hamstrung and micromanaged by administration who is more concerned about corporate reputation than lives being saved or the safety of the medical staff.

Is it any wonder medical professionals are dying? As with the general public, older providers and those with underlying health conditions are at higher risk of additional complications and death from COVID-19, but all who encounter the virus are at serious risk. Senior resident Chris Firlit, MD is one example of this tragic outcome, losing his life at age 37. He leaves behind a wife and three children. Neurosurgeon Dr. James Goodrich who famously separated conjoined twins in 2016 also died as a result of COVID-19. There are countless other tragic losses of physicians on the front lines who have died as a result of this virus. We can placate ourselves by lauding these providers as heroes who gave their life battling this pandemic, but the reality is they are victims of a system that was ill-prepared and willing to trade their safety and ultimately their lives for bureaucratic nonsense. Where’s the compassion? Shouldn’t our hospital administrations operate by the same oath as their physicians, do no harm?

Remember the Sunshine Act?

Transparency in the field of medicine is crucial to avoid corruption. Hence, the Sunshine Act. At a time when supplies are low and lives are on the line, it is time to shine some light on the truth about the mafia-like supply chain that is preventing medical professionals from getting PPEs. World Health Organization has offered guidance regarding the use and distribution of PPEs during COVID-19, including appropriate infrastructure and management of supply chains. The hoarding and improper distribution of PPEs, as well as price gouging that has become the new norm during this pandemic needs to be eliminated if this virus is to be defeated. We’re sending our brave front-line defenders into battle with broken b-b guns and water pistols, and they are dropping like flies. Medical professionals provide care to all; who is going to care for them? It is high time that the people who are “managing” the providers and the business-end of the medical field step up and apply ethics to their management practices. Continuing to neglect the basic needs of providers is passive aggressive; demanding that physicians remove PPE and put themselves at needless risk is abusive.

As this pandemic continues to spread and take lives, we need to honor the medical professionals who are at highest risk of infection due to their proximity to COVID-19. Let our grief for the losses of these brave professionals be tinged with anger, since so many of these deaths were preventable had proper PPEs been available. Greed, politics and bureaucracy may be the cause of many more deaths before we wake up and put human lives first. 1