Dr. Scott Farber is my partner at Hill Country Plastic Surgery. As a reservist with the US Navy, he was deployed to New York City in April 2020 to help take care of patients with COVID-19. His team was assigned to Woodhull Hospital in Brooklyn where they ran a 10-bed ICU treating patients with COVID-19. When he left for his deployment, all we knew was what we saw on television but while he was there, he gave us an inside look on what was happening in NYC.
During his deployment, he sent me photos which I edited and sent back to him. When Dr. Farber sent me this photo, it took my breath away. He didn’t give me a caption or any context but it didn’t need any. This patient with COVID is very, very sick. There are multiple pressors running, blood transfusing, abnormal vital signs, tube feeds, a ventilator, and most notably, no family at the bedside as the Navy physican and chaplain pray over the dying patient. During my training in surgery, I have seen many people die, but friends and family are usually able to say goodbye to their loved one and have closure. It wasn’t possible there. – Amita Shah, MD
Read and see Dr. Farber’s interview on KENS5 about his experience in NYC
Follow Dr. Scott Farber on Instagram
Want to know what it’s like on rounds? Dr. Amita Shah describes her experience rounding solo: https://sapeopleproject.org/back-to-bedside-solo-rounding/