Hospitals don’t allow visitors

amother

Forestgreen

Sun, Mar 29 2020, 9:35 am

My father is in the hospital now on a respirator and we’re going nuts. There’s no way to know what is going on there. They’re working on having one or two people from the community to be allowed in to be there for the sick and to update families. I hope that works out soon

ora_43

Sun, Mar 29 2020, 9:55 am

amother [ Linen ] wrote:

You're kidding, right?
Their job is to keep patients - and nonpatients- healthy. So they are trying to prevent the spread of disease.

Of course it's nice for patients to have visitors. But not at the expense of their health.

It's strange how different the mentality is in different places. In Israel, patients have the right to visitors. An actual, legal right. It's not just "nice," it's essential protection. The same way we have laws protecting people from abuse by politicians or police, there are laws protecting them from abuse by the medical system.

I can picture some of you saying,

"OK but this is a crisis, people are dying, how is that not more important??"

To which I say, welcome to what it feels like for Israelis, Europeans, or basically anyone else to talk to Americans about gun control.

Seriously though - we can all agree on how severe the situation is, yet disagree on where the red lines are, which restrictions violate essential rights and which don't.

octopus

Sun, Mar 29 2020, 9:57 am

ora_43 wrote:

This was such an excellent post. Thank you.

ora_43

Sun, Mar 29 2020, 10:00 am

I do agree that in places where hospitals are completely overwhelmed, even essential rights might have to be put aside in order to save lives (thinking of NYC here).

In Israel patients are still allowed one visitor, which I think is a good compromise between patients' rights and social distancing, in a situation where things are looking grim but thankfully not currently critical.

amother

Dodgerblue

Sun, Mar 29 2020, 10:24 am

amother [ Wheat ] wrote:

I understand your concern, but as someone who has a child doing a residency now in a NY hospital, I don't want visitors putting my child at risk. You should be happy that my child is still going to work on the front lines. Visitors have no right to increase the risk to MY child. Health care workers are getting sick. Do you want even more of them to become ill? This is a CRISIS.

Wishing your and your family health and safety.
Nobody extra should be coming in at all and all these people need to get a grip on the reality of the situation.
It is not fair to increase the risk for Healthcare workers and their families.
We should be appreciating them and doing everything we can to decrease their risk and burden, not feeling we are entitled to have our niceties and that they are in healthcare so it's their problem (as someone on a different thread said).

Thank you for all your child's hard work and their sacrifices for others.

Amarante

Sun, Mar 29 2020, 11:02 am

Right now the medical system is melting down in epicenters like New York so there are steps that are taken in order to prevent a complete melt down. Limiting visitors is not ideal but that is balanced against visitors infecting other patients as well as MEDICAL PERSONNEL.

That is why for selfish as well as altruistic reasons the best thing one can do is stay home and try to avoid getting sick. Because one might need medical help at the worst possible time to need it - before there is any kind of treatment; when facilities are completely jammed and with the very real possibility of being isolated in the hospital. Forget hospitals - at some point people will be treated in the field hospitals being set up as well as the hospital ship.

while getting Covid might be inevitable, the longer people can avoid being sick, the better chance the medical system can avoid melting down. Also - selfishly - if one isn't sick for awhile, there is a better chance that medical protocols will have improved so one has a better chance of not dying. Also, there are tests being developed to quickly and accurately test whether someone has had the virus and therefore can move about freely without danger to others. I have read that this would enable these kinds of people to be put to work in critical parts of the economy including emergency work for example.

amother

Linen

Sun, Mar 29 2020, 11:14 am

ora_43 wrote:

I wrote that post. I live in Israel, and unfortunately I have had a lot of experience staying with relatives in the hospital. It's incredibly important for patients to have an advocate with them. And still, in this case, preventing the spread of disease comes first.

ora_43

Sun, Mar 29 2020, 11:25 am

amother [ Linen ] wrote:

You know that in Israel, patients are still allowed to have visitors. Do you think the hospitals should put a stop to that?

It's not like visitors are allowed to lick the staff. They have to keep a distance, they have to follow rules, and they can be barred from the room during rounds. I can't say there's zero risk to hospital staff, but it's around the same risk that people pose to grocery store staff every time they go shopping. And if we're going to ban one of those two things, I'd ban trips to the grocery store first. Let the army distribute matza and canned loof, and let people dying of cancer have a loved one at their side.

amother

cornflower

Sun, Mar 29 2020, 11:28 am

A bigger problem could be the visitor picking up bacteria for the virus and spreading to others when they leave.
Italy says hospitals were probably why it spread so quickly there. Until they figured it out, they weren't careful about isolation and people coming and going from hospitals (the New York Times has extensive coverage on this).

amother

Gold

Sun, Mar 29 2020, 12:43 pm

Hospitals do not have enough gloves, masks, and/or protective gear for visitors. They need to reserve them for essential staff. . . Please do not second-guess these heartbreaking decisions from your limited perspective. . .

Mama Bear

Sun, Mar 29 2020, 1:35 pm

I really wish someone at NYU would film the situation there and show it around. THen ppl would understand. They are overcrowded beyond humanity.
But this is an awful rule. It makes me cry. A 97 yr old matriarch of a large family in Wmsbg who was the picture of health 1 week ago and was never left alone for moment, died today alone in the ER. It makes me cry. It's terrible.
A friend of mine who has corona & pneumonia delivered a preemie by csection last week bc she was so sick. Her husband was allowed to be there during delivery but that's it. She hasn't had a decent morsel of food since then bc they arent allowing anyone in from the outside and the hospital food is awful.
I really don't know what can be done about this situation. It's terrible. I wish there would be some middle ground - like ONE person be allowed to be there for everyone, to go around and then update families, to bring cheers & regards from the outside. Something.
It's so sad and awful.

Sunny Days

Sun, Mar 29 2020, 1:38 pm

Mama Bear wrote:

They do have this at some hospitals- I saw a number advertised maybe in luach hatzibor? The problem is also that a lot of these volunteers are sick themselves now...

banana123

Sun, Mar 29 2020, 1:42 pm

ora_43 wrote:

You can't compare Israel to NY. Israel doesn't have (BH, may we never have) 59,513 cases, with 7,195 of those NEW cases. Israel doesn't have (BH, may we never have) 8,500 hospitalized from coronavirus and 965 coronavirus deaths.

Israel has been taking precautions since LONG before NY woke up.

You can't compare. At ALL. Even though some people have acted as irresponsibly as some in NY, lying to hospital staff and disobeying instructions.

But there is NO comparison. Just none.

And IYH there will never BE a comparison.

doodlesmom

Sun, Mar 29 2020, 2:04 pm

I was just thinking of a compromise. How about having 2 sections in the hospital- or 2 hospitals, one with inlay nurses taking care of patients without any visitors, and the other one with only family members taking care of patients without nurses. A person can choose where to go.

amother

Linen

Sun, Mar 29 2020, 2:08 pm

ora_43 wrote:

If things get as bad as they are in New York, then yes, I do think hospitals here should restrict visitors.

And, though I hate to think in these terms, we have to protect medical professionals more than we have to protect grocery store employees.