Four nurses from the Alrijne hospital group in South Holland became infected with the coronavirus after an incident involving a patient’s family member. The family member had tested positive for the coronavirus, which the hospital knew about, but the person removed and removed protective equipment on site, out of anger towards staff about the treatment of the patient.
It cannot be established with certainty that the nurses have been infected by the incident with the angry family member, but the hospital still sees sufficient reason to report it, because of the “shocking experience”.
A spokesperson for the hospital said on Tuesday in a conversation with NU.nl that the employees were “deliberately exposed to the risk of infection by taking off and taking off protective equipment on the spot”.
The spokesperson cannot explain too much about the health situation of the nurses for privacy reasons. An unknown number of them are still ill. Nothing can be said about the severity of the complaints, except that they have not been hospitalized.
All parties involved knew about corona contamination
Both the family member and the hospital knew before the visitor came that the person was infected with the coronavirus. “However, a visit is still possible under certain conditions: hence the protective equipment,” said the spokesperson.
The hospital says a limit has been crossed. “It is understandable that emotions can run high when it comes to the health of loved ones, but for Alrijne the safety of the employees is always paramount. They are very shocked by the incident.”
The day-to-day affairs in the department involved have been drastically affected as a result of the corona infections, the spokesperson said. This has to do with the fear of the virus and the possibility that it has spread to more colleagues.
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