Edwin Alsina, in the bed, arrived at Norwegian American Hospital in Chicago with a racing heart. The staff normally would have administered a drug used to steady an abnormal heart rate, but it wasn’t in stock, and when its replacements didn’t work, he was admitted overnight.
CreditAlyssa Schukar/ The New York Times
CHICAGO — George Vander Linde tapped a code into the emergency room’s automated medicine cabinet. A drawer slid open and he flipped the lid, but found nothing inside.
Mr. Vander Linde, a nurse, tried three other compartments that would normally contain vials of morphine or another painkiller, hydromorphone. Empty. Empty. Empty.
The staff was bracing for a busy weekend. Temperatures were forecast for the 90s and summer is a busy time for hospital emergency departments — the time of year when injuries rise from bike accidents, car crashes, broken bottles and gunshots.
At Norwegian American Hospital and other emergency departments around the country, doctors and nurses have been struggling for months without crucial drugs like […]
“The company plans to spend $800 million by the end of this year, and has pledged to invest at least $1.3 billion over the next five years. “We are completely aware of the essential nature of our portfolio,” said Navin Katyal, the general manager for the Pfizer Injectables unit in the United States. “The patient is truly our North Star. It’s driving our urgency to recover.”
If the patient is their “North Star”, Wall Street is their God. They announced a $10 Billion treasury stock buyback and increased their dividend in December.
I have been waiting for a medication that my healthcare provider, Kaiser Permanente, doesn’t have. This really opened my eyes.