‘Since the coronavirus pandemic hit, the number of patients visiting emergency rooms nationwide has dropped by 40 to 50 percent, says William Jaquis, M.D., an emergency medicine physician in Aventura, Fla., and president of the American College of Emergency Physicians.
‘“We are afraid that patients could potentially die at home,” Jaquis warns. Older adults are especially at risk because they are more likely to have cardiovascular disease, diabetes and other chronic medical conditions that make putting off emergency care especially risky, doctors say.
‘Dale Criner, M.D., an emergency room physician in Memphis, Tenn., says paramedics there are reporting an increase in the number of cardiac calls they've responded to where the patient died before they arrived.
‘“When they talk to the family, it turns out the patient had chest pain or shortness of breath for a few days but was too afraid to come to the hospital,” he says. “It's heartbreaking."’
People died because they didn’t get standard medical treatment.
https://www.aarp.org/health/conditions-treatments/info-2020/er-care-during-covid-19.html
‘Since the coronavirus pandemic hit, the number of patients visiting emergency rooms nationwide has dropped by 40 to 50 percent, says William Jaquis, M.D., an emergency medicine physician in Aventura, Fla., and president of the American College of Emergency Physicians.
‘“We are afraid that patients could potentially die at home,” Jaquis warns. Older adults are especially at risk because they are more likely to have cardiovascular disease, diabetes and other chronic medical conditions that make putting off emergency care especially risky, doctors say.
‘Dale Criner, M.D., an emergency room physician in Memphis, Tenn., says paramedics there are reporting an increase in the number of cardiac calls they've responded to where the patient died before they arrived.
‘“When they talk to the family, it turns out the patient had chest pain or shortness of breath for a few days but was too afraid to come to the hospital,” he says. “It's heartbreaking."’