Read on Twitter
At the peak of the coronavirus pandemic in New York City, patients at some community hospitals were 3 times more likely to die as patients at medical centers in the wealthiest parts of the city, a New York Times investigation found https://nyti.ms/3ikRol2
Underfunded hospitals in the neighborhoods hit the hardest had lower staffing, worse equipment and less access to advanced treatments at the height of the crisis, according to workers at all 47 of New York City’s general hospitals https://nyti.ms/3ikRol2
In one understaffed public hospital, at least 4 patients collapsed after removing their oxygen masks to go to the bathroom. Workers discovered their bodies — in 1 case, as much as 45 minutes later — in the bathroom or nearby. “We’d call them bathroom codes,” a doctor said.
Emergency room nurses are supposed to care for a maximum of 4 patients at a time. During the height of the coronavirus pandemic, some hospitals in low-income parts of New York City had ratios of 20 to 1 — or higher. https://nyti.ms/3ikRol2
It was another story at the prestigious medical centers in Manhattan, which have billions of dollars in endowments and cater largely to wealthy people with insurance. Their Covid-19 patients got access to heart-lung bypass machines and experimental drugs. https://nyti.ms/3ikRol2
There are 5 hospital beds for every 1,000 residents in Manhattan, and only 1.8 beds per 1,000 residents in Queens. Yet in a cruel twist, there have been 28 confirmed cases of the coronavirus for every 1,000 residents in Queens, and only 16 cases per 1,000 residents in Manhattan.
Neighborhoods with fewer treatment beds and hospital resources have lower median incomes — $38,000 in the Bronx versus $82,000 in Manhattan — and are filled with residents whose jobs have put them at higher risk of infection https://nyti.ms/3ikRol2
Inequality did not arrive with the virus; the divide between the haves and the have-nots has long been a part of the web of hospitals in New York City. But the pandemic exposed and amplified the inequities, according to doctors, nurses and other workers. https://nyti.ms/3ikRol2
