Italy's doctors left feeling 'shuttered and powerless' as death toll cripples hospitals

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A nurse comforts another as they change shifts at Cremona hospital, south of Milan ( AFP/Getty


UK Independent
March 28,2020
1:30 pm
By Frederica Marsi

Hardest thing to process emotionally is how these people die alone,’ doctor tells Federica Marsi in Milan

... As an anaesthetist trained in providing pain relief and managing resuscitation, Gregorio Spagnolin is as used to saving lives as much as letting them go. Yet nothing prepared him for what he saw during the Covid-19 outbreak... In one day, he now witnesses as many deaths as he used to in the span of a month. But the sheer size of the catastrophe hitting Italy goes beyond numbers. “The hardest thing to process emotionally is how these people die,” Spagnolin tells The Independent. “They are alone.”

... But the weight of this responsibility has become too much for some to bear. A 49-year-old nurse working with Covid-19 patients in the province of Venice died by suicide last week, followed by a second 34-year-old nurse, Daniela Trezzi, in Monza, north of Milan. According to the National Federation of Nurses (FNOPI), Trezzi had been gripped by the guilt at the possibility of having spread the infection after testing positive to Covid-19.

Ivan Giacomel, a psychologist providing support to medical personnel in Lombardy and a member of the Italian Society of Emergency Psychologists (SIPEM), says doctors and nurses with no previous experience of dealing with life-threatening conditions are witnessing the deadliest effects of the coronavirus outbreak, with dire repercussions on their psychological wellbeing... Giacomel compared the current situation to a war zone and predicted that long-term repercussions will include post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), undermining the health of the sanitary system as a whole for the foreseeable future.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/italy-coronavirus-crisis-doctors-death-toll-hospital-latest-a9430551.html

[hlthe2b]

1. Positively wrenching...

I can't say more....

[bronxiteforever]

2. +1

[dewsgirl]

3. I heard about the suicides, heartbreaking.💔😭

[bronxiteforever]

5. +1 no words.

[BComplex]

4. This is coming to the USA...we're right behind Italy, and our curve is a sharper upward curve.

This is so tragic.

[bronxiteforever]

6. +1