There is a crisis unfolding inside overwhelmed hospitals.
By Alexander Stockton Video Journalist, Opinion |
In December, while reporting from a pediatric I.C.U. in Connecticut, I saw something that will be difficult to forget: a child whose lungs were failing. |
Night had just fallen. A helicopter had landed on the roof, carrying the critically ill Theo Mazzarese from another hospital. He was wheeled in on a gurney, immobilized by hulking equipment. |
As the nurses unwrapped him and removed the earplugs that protected him from the chopper's deafening roar, I could see that he was just a baby. |
His tiny chest convulsed. He moaned incessantly. A respiratory virus was threatening to prevent Theo, who was 7 months old, from experiencing his first Christmas. |
In an Opinion video published today, my colleague Lucy King and I tell Theo's story. We wanted to understand why a surge in respiratory illness is once again overwhelming the United States' health care system. Why is it that America seems trapped in this Groundhog Day scenario? |
I've reported from inside I.C.U.s across the United States during almost every viral outbreak since the start of the Covid pandemic. Each I.C.U. I've visited has looked similar to the last: burned-out doctors, overworked nurses, an endless carousel of patients and not enough space for them. |
This I.C.U. felt no different. |
But unlike with past virus surges, the reason hospitals are currently stressed is not just because of an unprecedented number of patients but a decades-long trend that has eviscerated pediatric health care. Today's video examines the profit-driven motives behind this decline, why saving sick kids in America is bad business and what can be done to fix it. |
There are changes the government can make to ensure that the health care system is more resilient. A start would be investing in pediatric critical care so that hospitals like the one I visited have the resources they need to handle virus surges without spreading medical professionals dangerously thin. Congress has even considered a bill that would do just that. |
Will the U.S. government finally deliver much needed support to hospitals? Or in a few months will I find myself telling another tragic story from another overrun I.C.U.? |
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