Unvaxxed? No Surgery for You!

Anyone out there know who's running the hospitals? Anyone?

Yudi and his wife Chavah checked into Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital on Tuesday morning for pre-op. Surgery was scheduled for Wednesday, and they were told she would be admitted one day in advance of the surgery. At a pre-op doctor’s appointment, the surgeon asked if they were vaccinated, and upon hearing that they weren’t, reassured them that it was not a problem, they just had to bring a negative PCR test within 72 hours in order to be admitted on Tuesday. The two of them took their tests on Sunday, and with negative results arrived at the hospital on Tuesday.

A nurse noticed that the 72-hour window of their PCR results would expire 30 minutes before surgery was scheduled to begin the next day, and that’s where things got chaotic. The head nurse of the department, P, got wind of what was going on and began to reprimand the nurse for admitting unvaccinated patients altogether. The head nurse declared the surgery was to be canceled. The charge nurse argued on behalf of Chavah and tried to convince her to reconsider. The surgeons themselves were prepared to operate as scheduled and even went so far as to hint that they’d operate regardless of what the head nurse decided. The charge nurse spent a lot of time on the phone with hospital administrators trying to plead their case.

After much back and forth, one of the Drs suggested that the patient take a new PCR test and if they get negative results, continue with the surgery as planned. The head nurse finally agreed to that, and the surgery remained a question mark Tuesday night as they waited for results.

While this process was understandably stressful for Yudi and Chavah, there was also an underlying unsettled feeling of chaos and confusion at who, exactly, is making these seemingly ridiculous decisions, and on whose behalf? Throughout the day they met with many hospital staff members, including four surgeons. The common theme among the staff was frustration at an ever-changing set of rules that is impossible to keep up with. The surgeons expressed very clearly that while they recommend that people take the vaccine, they respect everyone’s choice to make that decision for themselves, and they personally had no issue treating unvaccinated patients. They added that no one should be punished for a medical choice.

Wednesday morning arrived, and Chavah’s test came back positive (mind you, she was still in the window of her 72-hour negative PCR). Once again, they were met with chaos and confusion as the hospital didn’t seem to have a protocol in place for what to do with her. They stuck her in a side room without a buzzer until they found an ambulance to take her home. She wasn’t offered food or drink for hours until 2 pm when someone finally brought her a tea.

Disturbed by the political drama they witnessed throughout their ordeal, they were left with more questions than answers and a question mark regarding the surgery.

• Who is running Covid protocol at the hospitals?

• Why are the opinions of top medical professionals who are on the floor treating patients being completely ignored?

• Why are we at the point where someone’s personal medical choice is resulting in discriminatory treatment?

• Did P, the head nurse, act of her own accord by declaring that the unvaccinated patient should not have been admitted, and then insisting on canceling the surgery?

The last thing you want to see on your Doctor’s face when you turn to him for help is confusion and uncertainty. The doctors and nurses seem lost, and can’t keep up with the arbitrary Covid rules that change daily by “management”. As with many once respected institutions, public confidence in the medical establishment is plummeting as they get captured in the web of Covidmania.