Opinion | 'I Do Fear for My Staff,' a Doctor Said. He Lost His Job. - The New York Times - 0 views
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Doctors and nurses responding to the Covid-19 pandemic are the superheroes of our age, putting themselves at risk to save the lives of others.
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At least 61 doctors and nurses have died from the coronavirus in Italy so far. Already, in New York City alone, two nurses have died and more than 200 health workers are reported sick at a single major hospital.
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Tension arises not only because of shortages of P.P.E. but also because of uncertainty about how much protection is optimal. No one knows. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have given conflicting advice, and other countries have varying standards
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These superheroes are at risk partly because we sometimes send them into battle without adequate personal protective equipment, or P.P.E. This should be a national scandal, and now hospitals are compounding the outrage by punishing staff members who speak up or simply try to keep themselves safe.
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It’s baffling that the richest country in the history of the world fails so abysmally at protecting its health workers, especially when it had two months’ lead time. And for hospitals now to retaliate against health workers who try to protect themselves — ousting them just when they are most needed — is both unconscionable and idiotic.
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On websites like allnurses.com, nurses wonder aloud whether they can refuse to work because of inadequate P.P.E. or even whether they should quit the profession.
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The doctors, nurses, technicians and cleaning staff members on the front of this pandemic deserve our eternal gratitude. Instead, we’re betraying them: They have our back, but we don’t have theirs.