A 50-year-old COVID patient died last night in the Coronavirus Intensive Care Unit at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv after his ventilator was disconnected for a few minutes, and the beset medical staff did not notice.
The Ichilov hospital confirmed the details, and said that they were investigating the chain of events that led to the death.
The report says that the workload in the COVID departments has been increasing in recent days, making it difficult for the exhausted teams from three waves of illness to meet the many tasks assigned to them.
Ichilov Hospital issued a statement following the death: "Our COVID-19 ward for treatment of patients in critical condition in an excellent facility. The hospital management backs the work of the dedicated staff toiling day and night to care for the most severe virus cases. An initial investigation conducted Saturday revealed that the ventilator had been torn out of place, but as a result of numerous emergencies taking place at once, the staff were able to tend to the patient only after a few minutes had passed.
"We have been handling a heavy load of incoming patients that challenges our medical staff. In view of this as well as the recent increase in virus infections, hospital management has decided to reduce beds and proportionately reduce activity in favor of further reinforcement of staff for the treatment of coronavirus patients."