Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
For Some Doctors, Risk Of Infection Comes With Extra Layer Of Worry: Deportation
The Wall Street Journal: Covid-19 Spreads Deportation Fears Among Immigrant Doctors In U.S.
Anupam Kumar, a critical-care doctor who specializes in treating damaged lungs, sees about a dozen extremely sick patients with Covid-19 on a typical shift. Like most doctors, he is anxious he could become infected with the new coronavirus that causes Covid-19 and carry it home to his family. But unlike most other U.S. health-care providers, he has another worry: Infection could also lead to the deportation of him and his family. (Gold and Hackman, 5/30)
Modern Healthcare: CDC Underestimates COVID's Toll On Healthcare Workers, Experts Say
Experts fear the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's surveillance of COVID-19 cases and deaths among healthcare workers are under-counting the impact on the front lines, which could obscure the scope fo the pandemic as it hits the front lines. According to CDC numbers, more than 63,000 healthcare workers have been infected with COVID-19 and 307 have died from the virus as of Friday. But those figures are based on information received from a relatively small pool of test reports. The vast majority of the data collected lacks key information about the occupational status of those getting tested for the coronavirus. (Johnson, 5/29)
NPR: Fired Doc Who Criticized ER During Pandemic Suing Old Hospital
An emergency medicine physician from Washington state has filed a lawsuit to get his job back at a hospital. He was fired in late March after criticizing his hospital's response to the coronavirus pandemic. "This is about people on the front line being given the opportunity to speak out without being terminated and being reprimanded," says Dr. Ming Lin.Since 2003, Dr. Lin had worked in the ER at St. Joseph Medical Center in Bellingham, Wash., owned by health system PeaceHealth. (Stone, 5/29)
ABC News: Front-Line Doctors Face A Mental Health Crisis Amid Coronavirus. Can Medicine Overcome The Culture Of Stoicism?
The coronavirus pandemic has taken a toll on the American psyche, with a third of Americans now showing signs of clinical depression or anxiety, a rate twice as high as before the pandemic, according to Census Bureau data. Those grim statistics are likely even more dire for the health care workers on the front lines of the crisis, experts say. While it's too early to truly quantify the effect that treating patients under combat-like conditions will have on doctors in the coming months or years, preliminary research out of China highlights the mental health risk that American health care workers potentially face. (Schumaker, 5/31)
Bridge Magazine: Coronavirus Sickened Them, But Docs, Nurses Return Humbled, Smarter
Michigan health care workers have been on the front lines of the war against COVID-19 since March. And, as in any war, there have been casualties. Some health care workers died. Among those who’ve survived, some are still recovering, while others have returned to work, holding the hands of patients still battling the potentially deadly virus. (Erb, 5/29)
