May 17, 2021
Author Katherine Courage wrote an article for Vox News where she interviewed doctors who collectively have cared for more than 100 dying Covid-19 patients over the past 11 months. They shared what their patients have gone through physically and mentally as the virus killed them and their experiences reveal the isolating and invasive realities of what it is typically like for someone to die from Covid-19. One critical care and pulmonology specialist shared his patients’ traumatic experience: “As their lungs deteriorate further, they have a harder and harder time getting enough oxygen with each breath, meaning they need to breathe faster and faster — up from an average of about 14 times per minute to 30 or 40. Such gasping can bring about a very real sense of panic. You can do that for 15 to 20 seconds, but try doing it for two hours or for days or weeks.”