Children apologize to their dying elders as L.A. County reels - Los Angeles Times

As hospitals across California braced this week for a surge in COVID-19 patients who got infected over Christmas, officials relayed painful stories of dying victims’ last moments with their families.

And these apologies are just some of the last words that loved ones will ever hear as they die alone,” Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis said.

Mark Lepore, intensive care unit physician at Ventura County Medical Center, said last week that too many families were bringing their gravely ill loved ones to the hospital too late.

“They’re concerned that when they go, they’re not going to come out alive,” Lepore said.

Lepore said he had been forced to have tough conversations with critically ill patients when they came in, explaining treatment they might receive to keep them alive such as flipping them onto their bellies to make it easier to breathe, and administering pressurized oxygen via a mask if their blood oxygen levels were to fall too low.

Oxygen supply shortages bedevil hospitals already overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients.

Oxygen supply shortages bedevil hospitals already overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients.

If those methods don’t work, Lepore said, he has asked patients whether they want to be placed on a ventilator — which involves inserting a tube into their windpipe that is attached to a machine to help them breathe and being sedated — or if they’d rather simply be made comfortable as they die.

People can purchase a device called a pulse oximeter to monitor their blood oxygen levels, and if the level is less than 90%, that means you should call the emergency department, Lepore said.

A doctor at one Los Angeles County public hospital said families unable to be there for their dying loved ones were devastated.

Working in the ICU, where there is little caregivers can do to save extremely ill patients, the doctor said he had heard “families wail on the phone, in agony that their loved one is dying.

County were dying from COVID-19 daily, and hospitals were on the brink of having to ration care, where doctors would choose which patients receive treatment and which do not.

Ferrer also issued a new recommendation that people who must go out — and live in a household with an elderly person or someone with underlying medical conditions — begin to wear masks at home to protect their loved ones

“Because there is so much spread, we’re also recommending that people keep their face coverings on while they’re inside the home,” Ferrer said

Every minute, 10 people in LA County on average are testing positive for COVID-19,” Ferrer said

At least 10% to 12% of people infected with the virus are hospitalized, and more than 1% of people diagnosed with the virus end up dying, Ferrer said

“The damaging impact to our families and our local hospitals from this surge is the worst disaster our county has experienced for decades,” Ferrer said

“But it has been insufficient, because the biggest single factor in all of this comes down to individuals taking appropriate action,” Ferrer said

All it takes is one mistake, and soon, five, 10 or 20 other people become infected,” Ferrer said