Andrés Boltansky, the death 22 of a “front line” doctor who hit the union

The great concern of the doctor Andres Boltansky Brenner (49 years) during the pandemic was that their transplant patients were not going to get Covid-19, since they were immunosuppressed. Every morning he contacted them on Zoom and told them that “They will not show their nose out”, says his sister, the screenwriter Adela Boltansky.

However, “life is unfair” -as Adela pointed out on Twitter- and the Head of the Transplant Unit of the Dávila Clinic got the virus, he spent a month fighting the disease and he passed away last Monday, being -according to figures from the Medical College- the 22nd doctor killed by coronavirus.

“I am very saddened by the departure of Andrés, my doctor for the last three years. He undoubtedly represents all that is medicine with purpose and the spirit of solidarity. It gave confidence and energy that one can do more. I think it will be unsurpassed in everything that is transplantation to the kidney and other pathologies“, dice Luis Salinas, one of his transplanted patients in the middle of the pandemic.

Married to the psychiatrist Paola gallardo, Boltansky had two sons, Nicole, 13, and Camilo, six. Skier, mountain fanatic and dog loverHer sister says that her dog Kena had recently died and with great sorrow she had decided not to rescue more dogs from the street, since it took a lot of time. “Your six-year-old has autism And since he was diagnosed, all his free time was dedicated to him: caring for him, researching therapies; They traveled a lot with him looking for specialists who could help him ”, says Adela.

Like the other deaths, Dany’s – as her friends called her – severely hit her colleagues at the clinic, the University of Los Andes, where she taught, and the entire union.

On Monday, on the morning Welcome, there was an emotional moment when the doctor Carolina Herrera He was moved on screen when referring to his death: “From my feelings I have to tell the sad news of the death of Dr. Andrés Boltansky, a nephrologist, in charge of kidney transplantation, who gave life to many people in his working years. We were colleagues in the ICU, we learned together to treat critical patients, and today he is gone ”.

At that time in the morning Good morning everyone, the doctor Sebastian Ugarte He pointed out that the death of his former partner “does not fit in your head … Andrés was the complete opposite of a ‘diostor’ ”.

The medical director of Clínica Dávila, Carolina Wormwood, says that Boltansky “worked nine years at Clínica Dávila and was, without a doubt, one of the most loved and admired members, not only for his work, but for his human quality, always giving the best of himself both to his patients and to us. as a team ”.

Adela tells that they don’t know exactly how it got infected, but confirms that in these months the nephrologist was working daily in the “first line”.

“Andy saw patients with Covid, because many infected people developed some type of kidney damage. He also belonged to a staff of doctors who took shifts in the ICU and Emergency to alleviate the days. He was head of the transplant unit and worked in several dialysis centers in Pudahuel. That was his great passion ”.

His sister says that Daniel had a very active role in the Chilean Transplant Society, an entity that, through a statement, highlighted its contribution “to the promotion, research and development of transplantology in our country and the training of numerous specialists.”

Adela says that “the great unfinished project” left by her brother was his crusade for a new, more inclusive donation law. “He worked with a kidney transplant and it happens a lot that a person has kidney failure and there is a relative who can donate a kidney and, well, we can all live with only one kidney and nothing happens. But the law says that you can only donate a direct relative. What Andy wanted was for there to be donors who were not necessarily family members … ”.

Therefore, within all the pain that was her unexpected departure, Adela says that it was “very sad” that he could not donate his organs as a Covid patient.

“He believed that the donation was the greatest act of love and generosity that one could do ”.

Lorena Flores, a nephrologist at Clínica Dávila, says that Andrés “Led more than 350 kidney transplants in the clinic. He was unstoppable, he never looked tired, overwhelmed or unmotivated ”.

Margaret Hurtado, coordinator nurse of the Transplant Unit, adds that “as a team we are very dismayed with his departure, sad to have lost our pillar, our friend. Now what moves us to move forward is to continue with his legacy, the unity that he carried forward with effort and perseverance ”.

On Tuesday, the procession that moved the young doctor’s remains stopped outside his workplace on Av. Recoleta, where hundreds of workers paid tribute and applauded him.