Marc Siegel: How I feel about returning to the medical front lines

Many health care workers across New York City are being contacted right now in the fight against COVID-19.

Extended faculty are considering returning to the medical wards, and I am one of them. Several things have crossed my mind — not fear, nor honor, but more practical questions: Would being middle-aged put me at risk of a serious complication? Would I catch the virus? What role could I play? I haven’t been on the wards for many years, except as a professor teaching medical students and residents and as a private attending physician visiting my own patients. Would I be a foot soldier now? 

Earlier in my career, I was adept at critical care and ICU management, and I took pride in careful consideration of interventions. Intensive Care management is similar to surgery, in that a timely decision can save a life. But times and technology have changed.

With COVID 19, thousands of doctors, nurses and emergency medical personnel have become ill around the world and hundreds have died, often because of the lack of proper personal protective equipment. 

Various attempts are being made to remedy this problem but the problem still exists. The number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients may be nearing a plateau in New York, according to Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), but it still is on a steep incline in other hot spots around the country, and it is a struggle to keep up and stay safe at the same time. 

As I weigh my options, I feel a strong tug to once again return to the front lines, to relive my youth when I spent many sleepless nights at Bellevue Hospital engaging in the war against HIV/AIDS. As a young doctor, I didn’t think twice about drawing blood from an intravenous drug user with HIV and scarred veins in the middle of the night. There were several self-sticks from needles and hours of worry about becoming infected myself. That was part of the job; it was my role, and I never questioned it.

Currently, my role is taking care of COVID-19 patients via telemedicine, making diagnoses, sending potential cases for testing when available, considering potential treatments, tracing contacts and urging quarantine when applicable. 

As I consider what to do, I received an email from a former medical student of mine, Gabriel Redel-Traub, which has had a big impact. It proudly includes a link to an article he wrote in which he detailed his mixed feelings on learning that he could graduate medical school three months early and join the ranks of physicians on the front lines. He would become a doctor three months hence in any case — but, this way, he would join the specific fight against COVID- 19, which would put him directly in the line of fire. To be sure, Gabriel would be outfitted in the proper personal protective equipment (PPE) including an N-95 respirator mask, proper shield, head covering, gloves and gown, but would that be enough to protect him from this highly contagious virus? There certainly are no guarantees, and he worried about his family and grappled with his fear of the virus. In the end, he made the brave decision to join the growing force of health care heroes who are fighting COVID-19 head-on. The moment he made this decision, he became a physician in the best sense of the word.

One of my friends and comrades, Dr. Mark Pochapin, the head of gastroenterology at NYU Langone Health, has returned to the wards and written to me about the experience: “Being in the COVID-19 fight alongside colleagues from all different medical/surgical specialties, watching nurses care for and comfort patients and families, and seeing researchers refocus their efforts towards treating and eradicating this disease, demonstrates that even in the throes of a deadly viral pandemic, human kindness, compassion and determination will prevail. And when the storm clears, we too will be reminded that there is nothing more important than our health, along with a renewed appreciation for the profession that has sworn an oath to protect it.”

What about me? Will I go back in time and return to the medical wards? Will I encounter Gabe there, and will I get to supervise him again — in a far different capacity — or even work right alongside him in the coronavirus trenches? 

I don’t know yet, but one thing is certain: If the number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 continues to expand and my presence on the wards proves useful and critical, I won’t hesitate. I will go. 

Marc Siegel, M.D., is a professor of medicine and medical director of Doctor Radio at NYU Langone Health. He is a Fox News medical correspondent.