Doctors warn people avoiding hospitals, putting them at risk of dying at home

Doctors warn that Israelis are forgoing necessary treatments at hospitals out of fears they may contract the coronavirus, putting them at greater risk of dying of other causes.

A spokesperson for the Israel Neurological Society tells The Times of Israel’s Hebrew sister site Zman Yisrael that there has been a marked drop in the number of patients coming to hospitals following the outbreak of the coronavirus.

“There is a dramatic decrease in the number of patients arriving to the hospital, including patients with severe, dangerous illness and people in medical distress who need treatment urgently,” she says.

The spokesperson says this includes a 50 percent drop in the number of patients coming to the hospital because of strokes.

“If someone has a stroke and doesn’t come to the hospital, they’ll die at home,” an official in Israel’s Society of Internal Medicine says.

— with Tani Goldstein