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U.S. Pediatric Healthcare is Collapsing, and Nothing is Being Done About it.
The indifference is sickening.
Over the past couple of years, we’ve all witnessed our healthcare system get pushed to the brink here in the United States due in large part to the covid-19 pandemic and unfortunately, we’re seeing clear signs that the problem is only getting worse. With a drastic, early surge in RSV cases and an expected flu and covid surge this winter, our pediatric healthcare system is on the verge of collapsing.
Emily Baumgaertner with The New York Times writes:
“A drastic and unusually early spike in R.S.V., a respiratory infection that impedes airways, is overwhelming pediatric units across the United States, bringing long waits for treatment and prompting hospital systems to rearrange staffing and resources to meet the demand.
“Every children’s hospital that I’m aware of is absolutely swamped,” said Dr. Coleen Cunningham, the pediatrician in chief at Children’s Hospital of Orange County, a 334-bed facility in Southern California that is so full that children are being treated right in the emergency room as they wait for inpatient beds — sometimes for more than 24 hours.
R.S.V. is a common seasonal infection, and the vast majority of cases are very mild. But this year, the…
