I’ve been following Broadway actor Nick Cordero’s coronavirus battle closely due to the fact that he was placed on a ventilator early on. He has been on the machine for weeks, and his condition has gone downhill steadily, from requiring a leg amputation, and now to the revelation that he has developed holes in his lungs. I haven’t seen any coverage that pins the blame on the ventilator; instead it is implied that COVID-19 is the primary cause of his condition.
Severe lung damage is a complication of ventilator use, something no one has discussed during the mad rush to get ventilators to coronavirus patients. The most tragic mistake made by policymakers has been to promise a big payout to hospitals that placed patients on the ventilators, creating an enormous perverse incentive to ventilate patients whether they need it or not. Which means that many patients are ventilated unnecessarily.
The account of the ordeal by Cordero’s wife is gut-wrenching. She had initially dropped him off at the hospital believing that she would see him again just a few hours later; “I didn’t even give him a kiss or a hug.” This was weeks ago.
If Cordero’s complications are indeed caused by the ventilator and not by coronavirus, if he never actually needed a ventilator, then he has become a casualty of one of the most misguided, evil policies in my lifetime. The public deserves to know the full extent of these crimes, and someone will have to stand trial.
The toll from murder-by-public-policy must not be forgotten.
