Massachusetts hospitals delay thousands of surgeries as they face COVID surge

[left-of-center2012]

Source: WCVB TV

Starting Monday, Massachusetts' largest health care system reduced the number of surgeries it will perform each week as the hospitals work to adjust to the strain caused by the latest pandemic surge.

Up to 2,000 scheduled surgeries per week, or 40% of the hospital system's usual total, could be affected by Mass. General Brigham's new policy. Many elective surgeries were already being postponed. The new policy now includes some that are not considered elective.

Dr. Ron Walls, COO of Mass. General Brigham, said the decision to postpone the procedures is "agonizing" for the staff. Mass. General Brigham hopes the postponements will not last beyond early February. "We are really focused on not differing surgery where delay would engender harm to the patient," he said. "We do everything we can to reassure patients that they delay will hopefully be relatively brief."

Last week, UMass Memorial Medical Center made a similar move, suspending procedures for non-life-threatening conditions. Officials there said about 50 procedures per week will be postponed.

Read more: https://www.wcvb.com/article/massachusetts-hospitals-delay-thousands-of-surgeries-as-they-face-covid-surge/38793129

---

Walls said the unvaccinated have a significant measure of blame for putting hospitals in this position. "Over about the past six weeks, we've seen a really big upsurge in the number of COVID patients who are presenting for care.

It’s really difficult because the decision to vaccinate is not a personal decision because
it is the unvaccinated who are filling our hospitals and that’s what’s causing these deferrals," he said.

"These hospitals are crushing under the weight of demand and really can't serve all patients that are in need," said Dr. John Brownstein.

[SheltieLover]

1. Statnews posted article some time ago about the deadly effects

Of postponing surgeries.

"Elective" does not mean unnecessary. It means not an immediate emergency.

[GB_RN]

2. The Unvaxxed Are Taking This Toll On Hospitals Everywhere...

I posted this info in a couple other threads earlier today. The COVID hospitalization data from Duke are current as of this morning, 1/17/22:

Duke University Hospital has 957 beds. Right at this moment, it has 305 COVID patients. Of those 305, 208 are unvaxxed. Out of those 305, 59 are in the ICU. Of those 59, 47 are unvaxxed. Of those 59, 35 are on a ventilator. Of those 35, 30 are unvaxxed. 3 ICU patients are on ECMO (Extracorporeal Membranous Oxygenation - basically, an artificial lung. COVID patients who are on ECMO are almost guaranteed dead; you're just prolonging the inevitable*). Those 3 are unvaxxed. 305/957 = 32% of the hospital's bed capacity is being utilized by COVID patients. 208/305 = 68% of those patients are unvaxxed. 80% of ICU patients are unvaxxed. 86% of the ventilator patients are unvaxxed. These numbers are from THIS MORNING. And that's just at Duke. Other hospitals in the area such as UNC, Rex, Wake Med, aren't any better. Nationally, it's just as bad.

These numbers are unsustainable, and it's just going to get worse as the Omicron wave continues, even if it's on its way down; that's because hospitalizations and deaths lag infections. The beds being taken up by the unvaxxed are causing those with needed surgeries (like critical cancer surgeries) not to be able to get them; those surgeries have been cancelled due to lack of bed space and for fear of infecting those patients. Right now, only emergency surgeries are being performed.

*I'm an ICU and Cardiac Cath lab nurse. I know what I'm talking about.

[Evolve Dammit]

3. Some "Democratic hoax", huh Orange One? Liar-in-Chief, Traitor, Loser and Seditionist.

[yaesu]

4. I thought cases plateaued there & in surrounding states. nt

[Initech]

5. This is why my sympathy meter for these unvaxxed idiots currenty sits at less than zero.

[IronLionZion]

6. They always told us the US doesn't ration healthcare

unlike those socialist countries where people die waiting for surgery. Oh wait...

[Lonestarblue]

7. At this point, is there anything that will get people to get vaccinated?

The SC killed mandates for large employers. Republican governors are paying unemployment for people who get fired for not being vaccinated, thus encouraging them not to be vaccinated.

I can think of only two things that might encourage a few people: raise their health insurance premiums drastically and have hospitals stop turning people away for illnesses other than Covid and start sending Covid patients home when the beds for them are full. Hospitals are giving priority for medical care to those who chose not to be vaccinated and could have avoided being in the hospital. That is just wrong. Priority should be given to those who need cancer treatment, heart surgery or any other major surgery, stroke patients, etc. If people knew they might get Covid and be turned away from a hospital, some might get vaccinated.