Make America Care for Non-Coronavirus Patients Again
Excerpt: As the United States begins its first tentative steps out of a widespread and unprecedented lockdown, allow me to recommend that the one of the first changes we make is lifting the restrictions on “elective” medical procedures. Alaska, Oklahoma, and Texas have already done so. “Elective” procedures sound like they’re optional; when some people hear that phrase, they may envision plastic or cosmetic surgery. What they mean, in most states, is non-emergency, a procedure that is not a matter of life and death. But there are a lot of procedures that are important, even if they’re not life-and-death. I offered this thought as a quick tweet Friday and was deluged with heartbreaking responses about people living with delays in cancer surgery, hip surgery, knee surgery, in-vitro fertilization, ear tubes, chemotherapy, cardiac rehabilitation, physical therapy, CT scans, cardiology, endocrinology, neurology, cataract surgeries, colonoscopies, and more. And then there are the more minor procedures that are still annoying — people who can’t see the dentist, teens with braces who can’t get them removed by the orthodontists. Some dermatologists are soldiering on as best they can, trying to diagnose rashes through telemedicine. All kinds of non-life-threatening aches and pains that usually would get resolved with a doctor’s visit have been put off until hospitals give the all-clear sign.
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