As the novel coronavirus epidemic spreads across the planet, claiming the lives of more than 120,000 people at press time, at Mount Sinai Hospital, Dr. Hooman Poor was attempting to save a patient’s life. The woman, in her 50’s, was not getting enough oxygen despite his best efforts, he decided to risk it, ABC News reported on Saturday.
Poor thought that the reason oxygen is not getting in, despite the inhalation efforts his team attempted, were that the patient's lungs were plagued by small blood clots, prompting him to use tissue plasminogen activator, also known as a clot buster, to break them. There was some improvement, but it did not last long. Poor decided to use a drip for the clot buster as well as a blood thinner. The woman was able to live for a few more days until she died as a result of a different complication.
Poor went on to see if his insight might save, or at least help prolong, the lives of other patients and tried to help four other coronavirus infected people. One died of a cardiac arrest, but the other three improved.
Currently no known coronavirus vaccine, medical experts have been unable to find a clear path to fight COVID-19 and all the medical issues it might bring.
University of Pennsylvania lung specialist Dr. Steven Pugliese said that when doctors face these very ill patients who are dying, they must make a judgment call.
He added that “it was the right thing to do.”
Poor himself warned that, with only five attempts, nothing is yet proven and more research is needed. Italy, Iran, the United States and China have stood out as global hotspots for the virus. In New York City, officials opened Hart Island for mass burials of those who died from COVID-19. Heart Island is the same site used to lay AIDS victims to rest decades ago.