Critical Care Doctors Are in Crisis

[babylonsister]

Critical Care Doctors Are in Crisis
Who’s caring for the ICU physicians?
By Carolyn Barber on August 9, 2021


As a critical care physician, Kelli Mathew knew her days were spinning in the wrong direction. For one thing, her well of empathy was dry. When unvaccinated people came to her, suffering the effects of COVID, Mathew began snapping back. She had run out of comforting or even neutral things to say.

“In my mind, it was like, ‘This is your doing. You chose not to get vaccinated and here you are,’” says Mathew, who works at Deaconess Henderson Hospital in Henderson, Ky. “I would say, ‘You’re probably going to die and this could have been preventable—how sad is that?’ I would walk away. And that’s not who I am.”

In the end, Mathew reached out for help, entering counseling to try to understand what had happened. Her doctor-patient relationships were crumbling in front of her, and she knew she was the reason why. “I’ve always been the most empathetic, compassionate person to a fault,” she says. Clearly, something had changed.

For nearly 18 months, critical care workers have been on the front lines of one of the worst medical crises in American history. The intensive care unit (ICU) death toll for COVID-19 patients is almost unimaginable: a mortality rate of approximately 35 percent, according to one meta-analysis. Nurses in the ICU have served, suffered devastating loss and ultimately left the profession in droves. We have read their stories of grief and pain.

Only now, in the long tail of COVID’s run, are we beginning to understand the depth of the toll the pandemic has taken on the physicians on the front lines. Although hardly surprising, the news is not good.

“ICU doctors are experiencing among the highest levels of stress, burnout and fatigue from COVID-19, says Greg Martin, president of the Society of Critical Care Medicine. “Perhaps more than any other specialty, they continue to experience the full brunt of COVID-19.”

more...

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/critical-care-doctors-are-in-crisis/

[mopinko]

1. i'd be flat out of empathy by now.

i couldnt imagine having to sweat for these morons.

[secondwind]

2. No empathy AT ALL. Zero f**ks to give at this point.

[malaise]

3. At some point rational folks will let the

COVIDiots reapt he consequences of their stupidity. If you have chosen the SLobfather over Fauci then fuck you!

[Lovie777]

4. Gosh, we are re-living this again . .

I feel for the children. Vaccinations and masks, two life saving means, are still be ridiculed by the non-anti vaxxers and non-anti maskers and freedumb assholes.

[Mme. Defarge]

5. It makes me think of family members giving impact statements

to someone who has just received a sentence for a murder conviction.

[roamer65]

6. It's called the truth, Dr Mathew.

It cannot be ignored.

Cold, hard facts.

[roamer65]

7. This is a big reason I advocate palliative care quarantine facilities for the unvaxxed infected.

The unvaxxed have made their choice, now let them bear the full consequences.

Food, water and a cot.

[usaf-vet]

8. Sadly a future "Combat Stress" PTSD individual. It's hard to imagine this happening in America.

Again it is always the individual on the front lines watching, fighting, and having to deal, with the deaths.

Yet at the same time, those most responsible for the deaths move through life without so much as a second thought.

And rarely if ever are they held accountable.

[keithbvadu2]

9. Treated by the 'experts' who have done their research on social media.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100215716832

Tent hospitals for unvaxxed people with COVID

And treated with hydroxychloroquine, bleach, Lysol, a UV light rectally, and some horse medicine.

Treated by the 'experts' who have done their research on social media.

Plus a hefty dose of 'blood of Christ'.

[keithbvadu2]

10. He found it!

[Initech]

11. How many disaster movies start:

[Solly Mack]

12. K&R

[AverageOldGuy]

13. GOOD FOR YOU, DOC!!!!

“In my mind, it was like, ‘This is your doing. You chose not to get vaccinated and here you are,’” says Mathew, who works at Deaconess Henderson Hospital in Henderson, Ky. “I would say, ‘You’re probably going to die and this could have been preventable—how sad is that?’ I would walk away. And that’s not who I am.”

That's not who you are because you are a physician. But when confronted with immeasurable, purposeful stupidity, you have to call it like you see it.

I hope that before intubating a patient you explain to them the process: inject paralytic drugs to stop them from breathing; pry mouth wide open; poke around with a probe with a tiny TV camera attached to find the vocal cords; slide a tube down the throat; strap it in place; then a steady flow of paralytic to keep their diaphragm from breathing. Explain that to them, grinning all the time, then tell them they could have avoided it.

[Dukkha]

14. Time to suspend the hippocratic oath for unvaccinated

and the anti-masked. If they value their selfish "freedum" over the good of humanity, tell them to learn personal responsibility and medicate themselves. Admission denied.

[Lonestarblue]

15. I know it's impractical, but I want two countries.

Let the idiots have their own country. Many of them would find it hard to keep funding their services without blue state money. And let the progressive states get on with making meaningful change and actually governing instead of behaving like spoiled children. I’m just beyond fed up with people like this.

[Warpy]

16. Assess, intubate, pronounce. It was the same treadmill for them 40 years ago when AIDS hit

The difference now is the added level of belligerence from Chumps who completely bought into the fantasy that the virus is a hoax concocted by the Democrats to smear Fearless Leader.

I'm sure they want to throw those people out of their ER and let them meet Jebus on their own time, but they can't. They have to take the hostility and abuse and then move on to a more rational but no less ill patient.

Down the road when business and government have said "jab or no job" and this crisis starts to fade a bit, I want to see a class action lawsuit against right wing media for spreading what they damned full well knew was a pack of lies about this disease.

They killed people. They need to be held accountable.

[Jilly_in_VA]

17. PTSD

It's not just for soldiers and cops any more.

[Texaswitchy]

18. Feel the same way.

Get the damn shots and spare the medical people.