Since the COVID-19 outbreak began spreading around the globe, there has been one common theme arising from every country, even those with thus-far moderate outbreaks: hospital supply shortages. 

As the virus devastated populations all across Italy, the country’s healthcare system buckled. Doctors and nurses from across the country began sharing images and stories about their situation, explaining how the lack of ventilators and personal protective equipment (PPE) has not only caused an increase in the mortality rate of the virus but put health care workers’ lives at risk.

Watching the situation unfold in Italy offered some foresight for the United States as to what to expect in our own country but to no avail. Despite the warnings, the US healthcare system was caught completely unprepared for the magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it is our frontline healthcare workers who are bearing the brunt of it.

Nurses and doctors have been turning to news outlets and their personal social media feeds to get the word out to the public about their situation, pleading for help. Now, some of these workers are being reprimanded, and in some cases, fired, for speaking out.

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Healthcare Workers being Muzzled

According to a recent article in Bloomberg, many hospitals in the United States are now warning their employees that if they speak to the media without authorization, or share their working conditions with the public, they run the risk of losing their jobs [1].

Dr. Ming Lin recently gave an interview in Washington detailing the inadequate working conditions, protective equipment, and testing in the PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center where he worked and was fired shortly thereafter [1,2].

Laurie Mazurkiewicz, a nurse in Chicago, was fired over an email she sent out to colleagues, in which she urged them to wear more protective equipment while at work. She is now filing a wrongful termination lawsuit.

“A lot of hospitals are lying to their workers and saying that simple masks are sufficient and nurses are getting sick and they are dying,” she said [1].

An orthopedic surgeon in the North East has watched the situation unfold in his own hospital and says they receive daily reminders from management not to talk about it.

“It’s very clear; no one is allowed to speak for the institution or of the institution,” he said in an interview. “We get a daily warning about being very prudent about posts on personal accounts. They’ve talked about this with respect to various issues: case numbers, case severity, testing availability, [and] PPEs.” [3]

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Why are Hospitals Doing This?

According to Ruth Schubert, a spokeswoman for the Washington State Nurses Association, hospitals are muzzling their employees in an attempt to preserve their public image.

“When health-care workers say they are not being protected, the public gets very upset at the hospital system,” said Glenn Cohen, faculty director of Harvard Law School’s bioethics center [1].

NYU Langone health employees have been told that they would be subject to disciplinary action if they speak to the media without authorization. The hospital’s spokesman, Jim Mandler, argued that the policy is to protect patient and staff confidentiality.

 “Because information is constantly evolving, it is in the best interest of our staff and the institution that only those with the most updated information are permitted to address these issues with the media,” he said [1].

Some hospitals and institutions have argued that sharing these stories only serves to induce panic among the general public. Nisha Mehta, MD, disagrees with this reasoning.

“I understand not inducing panic, but these are real stories that are important for people to understand so they do stay home and increase the systemic pressure to get sufficient PPE, so that we can preserve our health care workforce for a problem that is going to get worse before it gets better,” she said [3].

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Why Healthcare Workers Need to Speak Out

“It is good and appropriate for health-care workers to be able to express their own fears and concerns, especially when expressing that might get them better protection,” said Cohen [1].

As the outbreak in the United States continues to head toward its peak, equipment shortages are becoming an increasingly dangerous problem. Without adequate respirators, gloves, face shields, gowns, and hand sanitizer, frontline healthcare workers are putting their own lives at risk, and risk bringing the virus home to their families [4].

In Italy, where supply shortages were rampant, healthcare workers experienced high rates of infection and death [5]. The doctor in Wuhan who was reprimanded by Chinese officials after being the first to put out a warning about the novel coronavirus later contracted it himself and died [6]. One nurse in New York, where workers were forced to use trash bags in lieu of protective medical gear, has passed away as well. 

It is imperative that we protect our frontline healthcare workers and keep them safe, because if they get sick, it endangers our entire healthcare system [4].

How Can You Help

The best thing you can do to help is to share these workers’ stories and spread the word about the shortages to push for more adequate help. If you have excess masks, the best thing you can do is to donate them to your local hospital or healthcare facility.

“If our medical workers fall ill, we will all be worse off,” says Dr. Zeynep Tufekci, “Please donate any excess — maybe more than two weeks’ worth per person — to your hospital,”[7].

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