I went to a local hospital with a family member who was having surgery. We arrived very early in the morning, so we were among the only people in the patient registration area and I could hear a nurse speaking to two family members of a patient who was on a ventilator. She was explaining that their family member would be removed from the ventilator later that day and was expected to die soon thereafter and because of the situation they would make an exception to their one visitor policy and allow two people to be in the room. The patient’s family had been asking for more people to be allowed in, but the nurse was very patiently explaining that they just couldn’t risk it.
I wonder how many times these nurses have had to give this exact explanation to worried family members. It was sad. And I can’t help but be angry at the ignorant and selfish people who still think this is a joke, including a few people on this forum I remember debating early on because this was “no worse than the flu.” Absurd.
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