Frightened Doctors Face Off With Hospitals Over Rules on Protective Gear - NYT
Many hospitals bar doctors and other staff members from wearing protective masks in public areas. Some have been disciplined for pushing back.
Just after 6:30 on a recent morning, Dr. Henry Nikicicz, an anesthesiologist in Texas, finished an emergency intubation of a man in his 70s who was suffering severe respiratory distress. Then the doctor’s own trouble began.
Stepping out of an elevator after finishing the procedure, Dr. Nikicicz put his respirator face mask back on when he saw a group of people walking down the hallway toward him — reflexively trying to protect himself, and them, should anyone have been infected by the coronavirus.
In the days that followed, Dr. Nikicicz said, he was told that his job was at risk because policy at the hospital where he works, University Medical Center in El Paso, prohibited the use of protective masks in the hallways. “Wearing that mask is essential for me,” Dr. Nikicicz, 60, who has asthma and hypertension, said in an interview.
After he refused to back down, Dr. Nikicicz was removed from the schedule, effectively suspending him from work without pay.
