Doctors at Cape Cod Hospital: ‘It’s just a case of, we have to wait for a patient to die’
A doctor at Cape Boston Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut said doctors have to decide whether a patient has an active infection or a cold.
Dr. Peter Hirschmann told local CBS affiliate WFSB that the hospital has to decide when a patient will die.
“If it’s an infection and the temperature’s very high, that means the patient’s infectious and that means they should be transferred to a hospital somewhere,” he said.
“It’s not something that’s going to happen in a moment.”
Hirschman said if there is a patient with a fever of 101 degrees, he can perform a “cage test” on them and if they have the temperature above 102 degrees, they should go to the hospital.
If the temperature drops below 101 degrees they should stay at home.
He added that the doctors will ask the patient if they want to stay home.
Hirschmans comments came a day after a doctor at the hospital confirmed that a patient who died while in his care last month had a cold and died of pneumonia.
He also confirmed that the patient had pneumonia, not an active case.
According to reports, the patient was transferred to the ICU on April 24 and died on May 2.
On May 6, the New Haven Register reported that the temperature at the ICUs was 99 degrees.
“There are some people who have a cold, and they get an X-ray.
And it’s normal,” Hirsch said.
The hospital has not confirmed the cause of the patient who has been transferred to their hospital.
The news came as Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy announced that Connecticut has been hit by a new coronavirus pandemic.
“We’ve had two of the worst pandemics in American history,” Malloy said at a press conference on Friday.
“In Connecticut, we’re at a turning point.”
Malloy added that Connecticut is now the second-most infected state in the nation and that Connecticut’s total deaths are the highest in the country.