Gov. DeWine: Ohio to start allowing elective surgeries May 1
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine unveils plan to gradually reopen state amid coronavirus outbreak.
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In the middle of March, when our nation first started taking steps to fight the COVID-19 virus, doctors were strongly discouraged from performing any medical procedures that weren’t deemed urgent. This was in response to a March 16 public health order seeking to free up as many hospital beds as possible to handle the expected high volume of COVID patients.
In addition to governors and hospitals, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. surgeon general and many medical organizations such as the American College of Surgeons and the American Society of Anesthesiologists recommended interim cancellation of elective surgical procedures. Physicians and health care organizations across the country responded appropriately and canceled nonessential cases.
As most of you know, I am married to an orthopedic surgeon and approximately 90 percent of his surgical cases are elective. These are things such as rotator cuff tears, meniscus tears and ACL’s that need to be reconstructed.
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I remember my husband calling his patients and telling them that because their surgeries were elective, but not urgent and deemed essential, they had to be postponed due to the pandemic. Although the patients fully understood, that didn’t take away their pain or their worry.
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Many states are starting to reopen nonessential businesses, a sign that restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic are slowly easing. In California, where I live, we are now allowed to return to the beaches (with some restrictions) and pick up merchandise bought online from some retailers curbside.
In many other states, hospitals are making plans again to allow elective surgeries to be performed. California Gov. Gavin Newsom cleared the way this week for hospitals throughout the state to resume some discretionary surgeries. He urged providers to work together to ensure that resuming non-urgent services “doesn’t affect their abilities to respond to any surges of COVID patients.”
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I agree with the governor and with those doctors and hospitals who feel it’s time to move forward with elective procedures. And I say this for a few reasons:
- This public health order was put in place so personal protective equipment would not be taken from those treating COVID-19 patients and hospital beds wouldn’t be limited. As the first wave of this pandemic is hopefully going to be behind us soon (depending on where you live), the pent-up patient demand for surgical and procedural case is going to be immense. And the medical community can show that it is prepared to meet this demand.
- Patients are in pain and if they are not operated on within a certain time frame, their conditions are likely to worsen. Doctors have taken an oath to do no harm and these procedures simply cannot be delayed indefinitely.
- Elective surgeries make up a substantial portion of hospital revenue and, as a result of COVID-19 and not scheduling these elective cases, hospital revenues have flatlined.
- Health care represents approximately 18 percent of the GDP, so any financial improvements in the health sector can quickly help to stabilize state and national economies.
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The bottom line is many hospitals have the beds and supplies to accommodate both the patients and the staff. Conversations with hospital operators throughout the nation convened earlier this week show many are ready to move forward. The doctors are ready and patients want their pain or their situation to be changed or improved.
If we are concerned about our nation’s health both physically and financially, and if all conditions are met by hospitals and the health care providers, it is time to take a step forward and allow our nation’s physicians to do what they were trained to do.
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