Harsh testimonials from doctors and relatives of patients about failures in corona wards in hospitals • Due to lack of regulation, wards collapse while in other hospitals occupancy is low • Price: Loss of human life • Exclusive
Failures by the Ministry of Health and the hospitals cause some of the severe corona patients hospitalized in the corona wards to die not only because of the deadly virus but as a result of a long series of failures.
These are ongoing failures in the control, supervision and operation of the corona wards in the country's hospitals since the epidemic arrived in Israel.
The data comes from testimonies and complaints from senior doctors and hospital administrators as well as dozens of family members of patients who have died in corona wards in recent months.
These testimonies are revealed in a joint investigation by the signer Ma'aleh and Bat-Chen Epstein Elias, which will be published tomorrow in the "Shishvat" supplement.
According to the evidence, one of the inconceivable shortcomings in the Ministry of Health's treatment of the crisis is the lack of regulation of severe corona patients between hospitals, so that a situation does not occur where one hospital treats many very serious patients, sometimes beyond medical staff capacity, and another hospital - less Patients.
According to managers and senior physicians we spoke to, this is one of the most difficult problems in treating corona patients, and it affects many critically ill patients on a daily basis, who do not receive sufficient quality care and a full opportunity to save their lives.
According to official data from the Ministry of Health, for many weeks the biggest burden on corona wards is in hospitals in Jerusalem and the north.
In contrast, in some hospitals in the center and south the loads are much smaller.
The investigation also shows that some Corona patients have been infected with the deadly bacterium in the hospital as a result of the medical staff's non-compliance with the precautionary rules for preventing the transmission of infections to patients - and above all, the obligation to wash hands when moving between patients.
Respiratory patients have been harmed by severe respiratory errors or poor supervision, as in some of Corona's intensive care units there are nurses who are not skilled in treating respirators.
And there have also been cases of serious errors in non-coronary medical care - such as a fatal delay in performing CPR on a patient, incorrect drug treatment and failure to treat coronary patients who were heart patients or diabetics.
Testimonies from more than 20 family members of patients who died in the corona wards also show that some of the patients also suffered from neglect because in the corona wards the nurses are inside the ward only in shifts, and most of the time they watch patients using cameras from the control station.
This creates a constant situation where patients are alone for many hours.
Some may not always be able to call for help, and even when they do, help does not always arrive on time.
It should be noted that a delay in the treatment of a seriously ill or respirated patient may cost him his life.
In many hospitals, the family members of critically ill patients are also not allowed to see their loved ones at the last minute.
Some wards did not update families on the condition of patients, even when they required it, and sometimes even when family members were physically outside the ward door.
Family members of deceased patients report very severe feelings of abandonment and alienation on the part of some hospital staff.
The Ministry of Health responded: "We are in the midst of a third wave with a very heavy load and a record number of difficult and respiratory patients in the hospitals. In this framework, daily regulation is done through MDA and every hospital director who encounters congestion and exceptional difficulties turns to the hospital." The guidelines for preventing infections in Corona wards are the same as for any other ward, and it has been found that some hospitals use double gloves and do not disinfect hands as required, which increases the risk of infections in patients and is contrary to our guidelines. .
