News

With COVID-19 looming, NM hospitals tossed masks and other protective gear

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“The hospital and the country knew it’s coming. And administration and staff are running around throwing out all sorts of supplies,” said a nurse at Albuquerque’s Presbyterian Hospital, one of the state’s largest medical centers. A 20-year employee of the hospital, she requested anonymity because she had not been authorized to speak to the media. 

“It’s sad, it’s horrific,” she said, ticking off a list of what was tossed out: hand sanitizer, masks, intravenous tubing, hospital gowns, bandages. “The whole closet.”

Anidar ABQ Midwifery

Pregnant women seek alternatives to hospital birth during pandemic

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Professionals who assist with birthing center deliveries and at-home births in New Mexico say they are seeing more interest from soon-to-be parents because of the COVID-19 pandemic. One small midwife clinic in Albuquerque, Anidar ABQ Midwifery, is now getting four to five calls a day for at-home birth queries whereas, prior to the pandemic, it normally received about four to five calls every week or two, according to Claire Bettler, a certified midwife and nurse who owns the clinic. Birthing centers, which provide a more home-like setting for low-risk deliveries, are also seeing an increase in interest. Jessica Frechette-Gutfreund, midwife and executive director of Breath of My Heart Birthplace, said the Española-based birth center has seen its weekly call volume triple. “We’re getting somewhere between five and ten new inquiries a week.

coronavirus

UNM Hospital conducts trials with antimalarials and ebola drugs for possible COVID-19 treatment

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A doctor at the University of New Mexico Hospital has launched clinical trials for multiple drugs that may be useful in treating COVID-19 in patients. 

Dr. Michelle Harkins, who is overseeing the trials, said she has been working on the frontlines of the outbreak in the hospital’s intensive care unit. 

“I’m a pulmonary critical care physician. I was on call for the first wave of COVID patients that came into the ICU,” Harkins told NM Political Report. Harkins said she began enrolling critically ill patients in the trials who were at the hospital and who agreed to the experimental treatment. 

“We’re looking at treating patients with COVID pneumonia that are critically ill. If the patient was able to consent, I presented the information to them that this is an experimental treatment, we don’t know if it’s going to help, but it’s been used worldwide, would you like to participate?” Harkins said. She also spoke with legal representatives for patients who weren’t able to communicate at that time. 

“Now, we’re actively enrolling in the ICU,” she said.

coronavirus

UNM researchers devise process for decontaminating PPE

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A team of researchers at UNM established a set of protocols for decontaminating personal protective equipment that would be, under normal circumstances, disposable. The team, led by the UNM Center for Global Health director Douglas Perkins, will publish their findings on the preprint server for health sciences, MedRxiv.

Perkins told NM Political Report supply chain issues make securing protective gear a frequent problem at the pediatric ward of a rural government hospital in Kenya that he helps run.

coronavirus

How one woman copes with giving birth in the midst of a pandemic

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Albuquerque resident Elena Rubinfeld is getting ready to give birth in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, Rubinfeld’s partner is a healthcare provider working on the front lines of COVID-19, a type of coronavirus, in an Albuquerque hospital. “I’m very proud of what he’s doing. I want him to be doing it. It’s extremely important.

Featured

Opportunity costs: Weighing a joint venture between children’s hospitals

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Mike Chicarelli strode the halls of the children’s pavilion at the University of New Mexico Hospital, fist-bumping nurses and proudly pointing out the hospital’s kid-friendly touches: the surgery waiting room with seats shaped like hot air balloons, the intake counter designed like a 1950s soda fountain. The former emergency nurse, now chief operating officer of UNM Hospitals, was showing off what $234 million could buy a decade ago in infrastructure and technology. But all the bells and whistles haven’t been enough for UNM to hold onto its top pediatric specialists. Competition between UNM and Presbyterian Hospital – the two largest providers of pediatric specialty care in the state – has made it hard for either to sustain programs in cardiology, neurology and other areas of children’s medicine. The hospitals are now discussing a possible joint venture – a single children’s hospital, unified under common governance or housed under the same roof – that would help New Mexico retain hard-to-recruit pediatric specialists, improve care coordination and raise the bar on patient outcomes.

UNM Whistleblower Lawsuit Trial

Settlement in UNM whistleblower suit involving alleged rape

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After a contentious trial filled with tears, frustration and sharp warnings from the judge, both parties in a whistleblower lawsuit came to an agreement late Thursday night. The confidential settlement between the University of New Mexico Hospital and a former resident came after almost two weeks of testimony and hours before the jury was set to hear closing arguments. Former UNMH medical resident Dr. Cynthia Herald sued the school, alleging she was pushed out of the program after she told her bosses she was raped by a male colleague. UNMH attorneys disagreed, saying they removed her from the residency program because she made many possibly fatal mistakes during surgeries, had a prescription drug problem and did not take responsibility for her shortcomings. Related: See all our stories from this trial
Herald told reporters after the trial she feels “a huge sense of relief” but that the decision to settle was not an easy one.

Quick Reads

Two more calls for a mistrial in UNMH whistleblower case

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For a second day in a row fireworks lit up behind the scenes, without the jury present in a whistleblower lawsuit filed against the University of New Mexico Hospital. Dr. Cynthia Herald, a former medical resident, filed the lawsuit, alleging she was fired after telling her bosses that a male colleague raped her. Update: The two sides reached a settlement. 

Like Wednesday, tensions between lawyers simmered Thursday morning, prompting District Judge Shannon Bacon to address both counsels. “You all hate this case,” Bacon said to lawyers for both UNMH and Herald. Bacon’s comment came after UNMH lawyers requested a mistrial, the third request so far in the two-week-long trial.

Albuquerque Newsdesk

Near-mistrial, heated words in UNMH whistleblower lawsuit trial

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A judge nearly threw the case out and a lawyer made a witness cry on the seventh day of trial in a whistleblower lawsuit against the University of New Mexico Hospital. Former UNM medical resident Dr. Cynthia Herald alleges UNMH officials unlawfully dismissed her from the residency program after she reported a colleague raped her. Update: The two sides reached a settlement. 

After almost a full day of routine testimony, the judge came close to declaring a mistrial and had sharp words for Randi McGinn, one of Herald’s lawyers, over her comments to a witness outside the courtroom. Toward the end of the day’s proceedings, Dr. Sally Vender, an anesthesiologist, testified on behalf of UNMH. Vender described her friendship with Herald, which started when they were both first-year medical interns.

UNM Whistleblower Lawsuit Trial

In whistleblower suit, UNM lawyers focus on key meeting about alleged rape

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The sixth day of a trial in a whistleblower lawsuit against the University of New Mexico Hospital featured former and current hospital employees testifying about when former UNM resident Dr. Cynthia Herald told her bosses a colleague raped her and how her supervisors  treated her afterwards. Neither side disputes that in September 2009, a few months after the alleged attack, Herald met with her supervisors and one woman tasked with taking notes. But neither side agrees what was said at the meeting. That meeting is a key event. Herald’s story about being kicked out of the residency program hinges on that meeting.