Some Jacksonville-area doctors postponing elective surgeries amid COVID spike

3 years ago 337

Generic representation of a infirmary bed.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The spike successful COVID infections and hospitalizations successful Jacksonville has led galore doctors to postpone surgeries and different aesculapian procedures connected their patients.

Due to the surge, immoderate operating rooms, instrumentality and aesculapian unit are being utilized to accommodate hundreds of radical that person been hospitalized, galore of whom haven’t been vaccinated.

Dr. Michael Koren, the manager of the Jacksonville Center for Clinical Research, is simply a cardiologist who has had to postpone immoderate of his aesculapian procedures.

“Some of the hospitals person already fixed guidance to hold elected procedures. Some person really required delaying elected procedures,” Koren said.

He said he’s noticed much patients are tense astir having an elected process done owed to fearfulness of contracting COVID wrong a hospital, which is besides starring to patients asking to hold an operation.

“Quite frankly, if a diligent of excavation asked maine that, I would person to accidental that’s not a atrocious thought if your process is not perfectly emergent,” Koren said.

At First Coast Vascular Center, Koren and the different doctors helium works with person patients who whitethorn request to acquisition procedures specified arsenic having a stent enactment into an artery oregon open-heart surgery. Depending connected the information of the patient, those aesculapian procedures tin lone beryllium held disconnected for truthful long.

“It’s a patient-by-patient judgement call,” Koren said. “But it creates a accent for the providers involved, the physicians and besides the patients.

Patients requiring an exigency cognition to prevention their beingness are the archetypal priority. But Koren said that precedence tin beryllium a small hard if the diligent is unvaccinated and infected with COVID.

“You bash a country connected a diligent with COVID, past you person to cleanable the operating country successful a overmuch much extended mode than you would otherwise,” Koren said. “It’s much costly for the hospitals, it’s much intricate successful presumption of the scheduling and delays for different radical and it creates a tremendous magnitude of accent crossed the system.”