Derrick Smit
April 3 at 6:11 AM ·
“Who’s going to pay for it?”
Last words I’ll never forget // the response my patient gasped out (between labored breaths) to me and my team, after we explained that he needed to be intubated and placed on a ventilator. We then called his wife to have him speak to her for what was likely his last opportunity, as many patients do not recover once tubed.
This situation is by far the worst thing I’ve witnessed in my collective 12 years of critical care & anesthesia. Next-level heartbreak = having to hear a dying patient use his last words to worry about healthcare finances.
This country is truly a failed state, and it’s so sickening to witness firsthand, more blatantly than ever.
“As COVID-19 spreads around the world, now impacting over 700,000 people in 194 countries and territories, there is a clear difference in how well various countries are containing the pandemic. Those countries that have universal, publicly financed health care systems are better able to coordinate their responses and care for those who are ill. They have been the fastest to slow the spread of the virus.”
EDIT: I am a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA), and never claimed otherwise. Any other credentials were erroneously applied to me without my consent.
