For Lee Paris, it came as a surprise that his heart valve replacement surgery was canceled, even though doctors still considered it essential.
Paris was slated to have the procedure last week at St. Dominic Hospital. However, it was put on hold as the hospital geared up to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Hospitals across the state have mobilized to fight the coronavirus pandemic. These efforts included postponing non-emergency procedures and appointments to free up resources and modifying visitor guidelines to keep patients and visitors safe.
“Currently, we are postponing operations in all patients who will not have life or limb threatened by the postponement,” said Dr. Christopher Anderson, the James D. Hardy Chair of the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s (UMMC) department of surgery.
UMMC began postponing non-essential surgeries on March 16, after looking at national trends and upon the recommendation of various national surgical societies, he said.
Hospitals and health care providers are following the recommendations national groups, as well as mandates handed down by the Mississippi State Department of Health.
On March 19, the department mandated all elective procedures at hospitals in the state had to be rescheduled due to a shortage of protective medical equipment, such as gloves and masks.
Mandates also included rescheduling non-urgent medical appointments and delaying routine or non-emergency dental procedures.
Paris found out that his surgery had been postponed March 20.
“If this was New York and the hospitals were full and there were tents set up outside, I would understand,” he said. “As I understood it, there were just a few cases in our hospitals.
“I’m certainly not as informed as our medical professionals, but I do feel they could have gone ahead with the surgery.”
Paris, who now lives in Oxford, suffers from a corroded aortic valve.
He’s known about the condition for some time and was advised by doctors that the valve would have to be replaced once he started showing symptoms of the valve’s deterioration, such as a tightening in his chest.
Paris began experiencing those symptoms in December. At the time, doctors told him he had a two-year window to have the valve replaced before it “played out.”
Since then, Paris has undergone a battery of tests, including ones to determine whether he would be a candidate for a new procedure that would be less invasive than open-heart surgery.
He was, and the procedure was penciled in for March 26.
“On March 16, I received a call from the doctor’s office and was told they had separated essential from non-essential surgeries and said I was still on schedule. On March 20, I was told they had separated essential surgeries from emergency surgeries.
“They said that while it was essential, it was not an emergency and the hospital was only admitting emergency and corona patients,” he said.
Paris was not told when the procedure would be rescheduled.
“I’m not in the danger zone, but with each month that goes by, there’s more cause for alarm,” he said.
Officials with St. Dominic would not comment on any specific medical cases, citing federal privacy laws. They also wouldn’t say how many surgeries had been postponed as a result of the outbreak.
“We are following guidance issued by the Mississippi State Department of Health (issued on) Tuesday, March 19,” Chief Medical Officer Dr. Eric McVey said in a statement.
At least two-thirds of procedures at UMMC have been postponed.
“I have not calculated the numbers exactly, but on average … we are performing about 30 operations per weekday, compared to between 95 and 110 per weekday normally,” Anderson said.
UMMC and St. Dominic would not say how many COVID-19 patients they’ve admitted.
Meanwhile, healthcare providers have also implemented new rules governing patient visitors.
Baptist Hospital, for instance, is prohibiting people with fever, cough or sore throats from visiting. People who have traveled to high-risk areas or has had contact with individuals infected with COVID-19 are also not permitted to visit, according to the hospital’s website.
The hospital is also recommending the number of visitors to two per patient and is limiting the number of delivery room guests to one.
Shana Edwards, a nurse at Baptist, is slated to have her baby there in a several weeks. She understands why the new rules were put in place.
She had planned to have her mom and husband, Kane, in the delivery room with her, but now will just be joined by her husband.
Said Edwards, “I have mixed emotions. I’m sad that my family won’t be able to be there, but I’m grateful the hospital does have the rules there to protect me and the baby.”
