A Georgia nurse with pre-existing conditions has bowed out of the profession amid the deadly coronavirus pandemic. Melisa Thomas Scott announced her decision at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital in Albany Georgia in a viral video.
There are more than 139,000 coronavirus cases in the United States and at least 2,425 deaths as of Sunday. More than 1,000 of the deaths are in New York.
Scott, who’s a triple-negative breast cancer survivor, took to Facebook Live after she was assigned to the “Corona Floor” for a 12-hour shift by the management of Putney and announced her decision, explaining that her safety and health came first for her children who are between the ages of one and 17.
“I just quit my job. I clocked in. I find out that I’m being sent to a corona floor when they know that I have kids at home, who I can’t send away,” said Scott who worked in the hospital’s acute care area. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2012 at the age of 31.
Scott said even though the hospital knew of her health history they sent her to the floor that the deadly outbreak is being tested for.
“My managers sent me to a floor that is being tested for Corona. She knows my health history. She knows all of this. I quit. I care about the patients and all but my family and my life, they matter. They come first. She knows my health history. I told her that my kids don’t have anybody to go to. I can’t send my kids away like everybody else. I’m done. I’m leaving,” the 39-year-old said.
In a release the same day Scott departed, the hospital said it was caring for “critically ill Covid-19 patients” and reached capacity in three intensive-care units. 357 patients have tested positive thus far.
“As this public health crisis in southwest Georgia gets more severe, we have been reaching out to other hospitals in our part of the state,” the system’s CEO, Scott Steiner, said. “I am pleased that everyone of our regional partners we spoke to in the last 24 hours agreed to assist by accepting patient transfers from us.”
