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An intensive care unit doctor has said that people who don’t follow the coronavirus rules have “blood on their hands” even if they don’t know it.
Professor Hugh Montgomery, who works in the intensive care unit at Whittington Hospital in north London, has spoken of his anger at seeing people not wearing face masks or socially distancing themselves.
He said it is “horrifying” to see families affected by Covid-19, adding that he is “angry” that many people are not yet taking sufficient precautions to slow the spread of the virus.
Professor Montgomery said he believes many don’t mind following the rules because “selfishness gives people an excuse to keep going.”
The doctor, who is also a professor of intensive care medicine at University College London and a technical council for the Society for Intensive Care, told Radio 5Live: “Anyone listening to this, don’t wear your masks and behave like that. .. They have blood on their hands, they are spreading this virus, then other people will transmit it and people will die.
“They won’t know that they have killed people, but they have.”
(Image: Peter Macdiarmid / LNP)
Professor Montgomery added, “I’m watching entire families disappear here. It has to stop.”
The doctor said hospitals are “in a lot of trouble” at the moment, with “a large number of people arriving.”
He explained: “The emergency departments have seen a ‘tsunami’ of cases in the last week or two, the wards are flooded, everyone is working hard, we have had to double, or sometimes triple, the staff of consultants in.
“The nursing staff has had to be very snooty, in some areas a nurse cares for up to four patients, and the numbers keep increasing.”
(Image: North News & Pictures Ltd northnews.co.uk)
Speaking about the new variant of the coronavirus that was identified in the UK and has been spreading in recent weeks, the ICU doctor said that it is “not a nastier type of the virus” but that its transmissibility is a bit higher. .
He added that patients show the same symptoms as the original strain, and stressed that the new variant could be prevented by following basic rules like washing hands and staying away from others.
The doctor said: “Actually, it makes me very angry that people blame the virus.
“It’s not the virus, it’s the people.
“People don’t wash their hands, they don’t keep a distance of two meters, they don’t wear masks.
(Image: Steve Bell)
“I have seen people in labor enter this hospital these last two days without masks, as if nothing was happening here.
“This is not the virus, it is the people.
“People are not doing what they should be doing.”
He said some patients whose oxygen levels drop are put on non-invasive ventilators first, after which some improve and some do not.
Then, if a patient’s condition does not improve while receiving non-invasive support, they must be put on ventilators, which means that not everyone will survive.
(Image: Daily Star, Daily Mirror, Daily Express)
Professor Montgomery said: “People take a long time to get better, even if they are in a room with non-invasive support, it can be from a week to ten days or more.”
“Once it’s hooked up to a ventilator, it can take weeks or months before it comes out.
“We have both taps wide open and the bathroom drain is very small, because the drain is death or prolonged survival, and the numbers are increasing.
“We have to turn off the taps here.”
Professor Montgomery also noted that doctors don’t really have new treatments other than steroid intervention.
But the doctor explained: “You have to treat 100 people to save three to four admissions to intensive care.”
The ICU doctor said there is a “myth” that hospitals are overwhelmed with elderly patients, but in reality many are also young.
He explained: “The people that we are receiving are actually like the first wave, a lot of people my age, I’m 58 years old, and I would say half of the patients are my age or even younger than me.”
(Image: Steve Bell)
Professor Montgomery also added that some families believe that hospital treatment is not appropriate, which can lead to more deaths if people in need of treatment do not receive adequate care.
Speaking about the future, he said that he is “not optimistic in the short term,” but stressed how important it is to respect the rules.
He concluded: “The only thing that can make a difference is that people follow the rules.”
His comments come a day after the UK recorded its highest death toll since April 24.
The latest figures released yesterday showed that the number of patients who died within 28 days of contracting Covid-19 increased by 981.
It is the highest daily figure reported since April 24, when 1,010 deaths were reported, and is likely higher than 981 due to a delay in reporting deaths during the Christmas period.
Britain’s official figure is now 72,548 deaths within 28 days of a positive test.
Another 50,023 people tested positive for Covid-19 at 9 a.m. Wednesday, down from the daily record of 53,135 laboratory-confirmed cases announced Tuesday.
It brings the total number of cases in the UK to 2,432,888.
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