A Romanian newspaper has published a list of all the people who died of coronavirus along with a brief description of their pre-existing
conditions.
As
expected from other sources, and seen in other countries, we see that
most patients had serious pre-existing conditions that would have placed
serious limitations on their life expectancy. The average age of the
coronavirus deaths isn't vastly below Romanian life expectancy, but,
surely, average life expectancy is based on the general population who
has fewer health ailments.
The virus is now
spreading through hospitals. Many of the people who died acquired the
infection in hospital. We have a cluster of 13 deaths in the Suceava
hospital, perhaps along with a few thousand infections. Ironically, one of the dead patients appears to have been hospitalized for plastic surgery.
The
situation clearly calls into question the role of hospitals, doctors
and the entire health care system throughout this pandemic.
On
one hand, doctors save lives. There is no doubt about it. Most severely
ill patients have a higher chance to live in the hospital than at
home.
In a situation like this, however, when
more and more hospitals are going to be full of coronavirus, the
positive impact of medicine has to be carefully weighted against the
negative impact of hospital-caused infection. Today, that's coronavirus
infection, but in general, hospitals are dangerous places.
Even
for coronavirus patients with mild symptoms, going to a hospital is
likely to reduce life expectancy through stress and hospital-acquired
infections, other than coronavirus.
It seems like only the really bad cases benefit from medical intervention.
We
must also not forget that really sick patients, with limited life
expectancy otherwise, will not be treated. In the patients where
treatment is refused, the hospital again has a negative impact on life
expectancy, as such a refusal can be stressful and psychologically
difficult for the patient.
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