doctor hugs elderly patient who is crying, photo is viral- Corriere.it

He was just crying: The photo of a doctor wearing gloves and a mask hugging an elderly man on Thanksgiving Day that went viral, symbol of the despair of the victims of Covid-19 and the compassion of health workers. The photo was taken on Thursday, November 25, Thanksgiving Day in the United States, at the United Memorial Hospital in Houston, Texas, by a photographer from the Getty agency. I’m in the Covid unit and I see this elderly patient getting out of bed, trying to leave, crying, Dr. Joseph Varon, head of the intensive care unit at United Memorial, told CNN on Monday. I approached him and asked him: why are you crying? He replied: I want to be with my wife. So I hugged him, the doctor explained, saying that he didn’t realize he was being photographed.

She was just crying and after a while she recovered and stopped, added Dr. Varon who, at the time, felt I’m sorry for him and very sad, like him. Hospitalization in a Covid ward is difficult, especially for elderly patients who feel lonely, the doctor stressed, and some patients have already tried to escape because they are so isolated that they want to leave. The patient is doing much better and may be discharged from the hospital before the end of the week, Dr. Varon said. The doctor, who worked in his unit for 256 days with no day off, expressed frustration at Texans’ non-compliance with health regulations.

Texas became the first US state in November. to get over one million positive cases from the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic and the state has recorded more than 21,800 deaths. I work every day and people do everything wrong: they go to bars, restaurants, shopping centers, wrong – he said -. People don’t listen and end up in my intensive care unit. (They) need to know that I don’t want to have to hug them, he added, repeating health measures to protect themselves. If the instructions are followed, then the nursing staff, like me, could beto rest, concluded Dr. Varón.