Handling the coronavirus crisis

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What first struck Nathaniel Osborn when he and his wife took their son, Seth, to the emergency room this summer was how packed the waiting room was for a Wednesday at 1 p.m. The Florida hospital’s emergency room was so crowded there weren’t enough chairs for the family to all sit as they waited. And waited. Hours passed and 12-year-old Seth’s condition worsened, his body quivering from the pain shooting across his lower belly. Osborn said his wife asked why it was taking so long to be seen. A nurse rolled her eyes and muttered, “COVID.”

Seth was finally diagnosed with appendicitis more than six hours after arriving at Cleveland Clinic Martin Health North Hospital in late July. Around midnight, he was taken by ambulance to a sister hospital about a half-hour away that was better equipped to perform pediatric emergency surgery, his father said. But by the time the doctor operated in the early morning hours, Seth’s appendix had burst — a potentially fatal complication. As the nation’s hospitals fill and emergency rooms overflow with critically ill COVID-19 patients, it is the non-COVID-19 patients, like Seth, who have become collateral damage.

A Boy Went to a COVID-Swamped ER. He Waited for Hours. Then His Appendix Burst. — ProPublica