This has apparently been debunked.
Seemingly Rolling Stone was relying on a source whom was not an employee (contractor?) and who has been associated with the institution/org for a few months now.
afaict, one of the multiple hospitals the dr who gave the quotes worked for has released a statement saying they don’t have a bed shortage.
but he didn’t specifically name that one hospital. not to say he isn’t just some guy shooting his mouth off, and i would love for the quotes to not be true, but i don’t think that one press release debunks what he said.
showing my work:
rolling stone’s update—
UPDATE: Northeastern Hospital System Sequoyah issued a statement
the guardian—
“The [emergency rooms] are so backed up that gunshot victims were having hard times getting to facilities where they can get definitive care and be treated.
“Ambulances are stuck at the hospital waiting for a bed to open so they can take the patient in and they don’t have any, that’s it. If there’s no ambulance to take the call, there’s no ambulance to come to the call.”
McElyea
told the Tulsa World a colleague was forced to send one severely ill Covid patient to a hospital in South Dakota, three states away to the north.
“They had sat in a small hospital needing to be in an [intensive care unit] for several days, and that was the closest ICU that was available,” he said.
and if you follow the links from the guardian article, which hasn’t (yet?) been updated to note the press release that rolling stone did—
and the original tulsa world article fhat the quotes came from—
Dr. Jason McElyea, a rural emergency room physician, had a gunshot victim in his facility whom for hours he was unable to transfer to a higher level of care because no one had space. One of McElyea’s colleagues had to send a severely ill COVID patient all the way to South Dakota.
“They had sat in a small hospital needing to be in an ICU for several days and that was the closest ICU that was available,” McElyea said.
…
McElyea, a frontline family physician working in emergency rooms in eastern and southern Oklahoma, said the gunshot victim who came in normally would have been no problem to transfer out of a small hospital that had no neurosurgeon and minimal critical-care capacities.
“We had a critical patient sitting in our ER for hours, and we simply couldn’t find a place for him to go,” McElyea said. “Another colleague in a place across the state: same situation. A traumatic brain injury with internal bleeding — couldn’t find a place to place these patients.”
The other patient with head trauma and internal bleeding was sent to Missouri, he said.
but that article has other sources describing basically the same situation—
Dr. Mary Clarke, president of the Oklahoma State Medical Association, said Stillwater Medical Center has a patient with a cardiac issue that it can’t handle. The patient has been in its care for three days as health care workers keep her stable while trying to find a hospital in Oklahoma City where it can send her, Clarke said.
“I’m trying to help people understand this is not just COVID,” said Clarke, a family practitioner based in Stillwater. “This is a domino effect to every other health condition that may need a hospital bed. Everything else. Period.
…
Davis said the Oklahoma Hospital Association’s recent survey of hospitals found there are about 200 fewer staffed beds in the state than in December.
…
Three major Oklahoma City hospital systems have reported no available ICU beds — and a fourth has reported no room for COVID patients — in point-in-time census counts. Some hospitals have halted select services or are delaying nonemergency procedures.
…
Davis said the Oklahoma Hospital Association’s top concern is the availability of intensive care beds, which she knows is “very tight.” She described how an ICU bed might open at 11 a.m. and be filled five minutes later.
“We know that patients are being transferred out of state for beds,” Davis said. “We are increasingly concerned about the number of holds that are in emergency rooms waiting for ICU beds.”
