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The New Zealand government has announced that patients admitted to the hospital for COVID-19 can be killed via euthanasia, according to Scoop. In November, anti-euthanasia group #DefendNZ asked the New Zealand Ministry of Health (MOH) questions about the practice of the nation’s End of Life Choice Act (EOLC Act). One of these questions was, “Could a patient who is severely hospitalised with Covid-19 potentially be eligible for assisted suicide or euthanasia under the Act if a health practitioner viewed their prognosis as less than 6 months?” The EOLC Act states that a person who has a “terminal illness that is...

Patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 can die by euthanasia if doctors decide they might not survive, the New Zealand government has declared. The Ministry of Health confirmed that a right to a lethal injection under a new euthanasia law could extend to patients who were either dying from the coronavirus or suffering unbearably from its consequences. In response to a request for clarity on a euthanasia law which came into force last month, the government declared that “in some circumstances a person with COVID-19 may be eligible for assisted dying”. The admission that COVID patients were eligible for a...

South Africans who contract the omicron COVID-19 variant in the current fourth wave of infections are 80% less likely to be hospitalized compared with other strains, according to a pre-print study released Tuesday.A separate study released Wednesday by researchers at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland found the omicron hospitalization risk was two-thirds below delta.Meanwhile, Michael Dowling, the president and CEO of Northwell Health in the New York City area, told CNN on Wednesday morning his hospital system is doing well, even as COVID cases increase, and “there is no crisis.”His network of 22 hospitals is at less than 10%...

FACT SHEET: STEPS TO TAKE BEFORE HOSPITALIZATION1. PRINT copy of TFH COVID EARLY TREATMENT GUIDEhttps://www.truthforhealth.org/patientguide/patient-treatment-guide/2. PLAN early out-patient treatment options.Arrange to have medications and supplies in place before you get sick.3. PREPARE Covid-specific Healthcare Power of Attorney(HCPOA) for each family member. Make it effective immediately when patient is ill, not just if patient is incapacitated. Examples:Decide on whether to allow use of remdesivir Decide on whether to allow intubation/ventilator CHECK your state law rights of family if there is no HCPOA.4. DEMAND ACCESS to PATIENT MEDICAL RECORDS andHospital's COVID treatment protocol. POA or family member sign HIPAA form to access...

An Illinois hospital defied an emergency court order over the weekend, refusing to allow an unvaccinated outside physician to give the cheap drug ivermectin to a COVID-19 patient who was dying while being treated with expensive remdesivir, before finally relenting after being scolded by a judge. Some other hospitals have been ordered by courts to allow the drug to be used. The legal fight in the Illinois state court system comes as studies continue on the effectiveness of ivermectin in treating COVID-19. The costly drug remdesivir has been given emergency use authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for...

COVID-19 hospitalizations have risen significantly in the Inland Empire and Central Valley, bringing new concerns about whether the shift represents a precursor to a wider spike in COVID-19 in California as the winter holidays approach.Across the state, both cases and hospitalizations hit a plateau after months of decline. Hospitalizations have remained fairly flat in some areas with relatively high vaccination rates, including the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles County.

A recent study published by CDC contains concerning findings for the millions of Americans who are considered "immunocompromised," or who have a reduced ability to fight infection or other diseases. The study finds a majority (53%) of patients who were hospitalized with Covid-19-like illnesses were fully vaccinated with two-dose RNA shots. According to the study authors, several of whom receive support from vaccine makers, among 20,101 immunocompromised adults hospitalized with Covid-19, 10,564 were fully-vaccinated with Pfizer's or Moderna's shots. The actual number fully-vaccinated, immune-compromised adults in the hospital may be even higher: the study scientists excluded patients who'd gotten the...

Thursday was a rough day for Moderna shares after the company released revenue figures and FY guidance that deeply disappointed Wall Street expectations (potentially destroying the reputation of financier Steve Weiss, arguably Moderna's biggest promoter on Wall Street, in the process). But on Friday, Pfizer - Moderna's biggest rival - rubbed Moderna's nose in it by announcing a revolutionary new oral COVID antiviral similar to the Merck 'miracle pill' that won approval from UK regulators yesterday.The news sent Pfizer's stock surging, while Moderna and Merck shares tumbled, during premarket trade. Pfizer shares were trading up 11%+:The key takeaway from the...

The central statistic in this whistleblower story is important. In a community with a 50% vaccination rate, 90% of the hospital admissions were vaccinated patients, and most of the critical care hospital intakes were within 14 days of the patient taking the vaccine. An alarmed physicians assistant began reporting those issues into the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting system until the hospital administration stepped in to stop her from recording the frequency. She felt obligated to become a whistleblower:“Deborah Conrad, a hospitalist physicians assistant on the frontlines of the pandemic, pulls back the curtain on the complete lack and disregard in...

Texas Republican gubernatorial candidate Allen West on Monday revealed that he was released from the hospital after battling pneumonia related to a COVID-19 infection. West, who is not vaccinated, was admitted to a hospital in Texas on Saturday. At the time he tweeted that he had concerning oxygen saturation levels. On Monday, West posted a video to his social media accounts explaining that he had returned home and thanking supporters for their well wishes. "I'm doing very well. I'm now back at the house. And I want to send out big shoutouts to the staff here in the COVID unit...

“As the Delta variant became predominant, COVID-19 cases increased five-fold in the [over-65] population,” the report states. “In this 80% 65+ population, an estimated 60% of COVID-19 hospitalizations occurred in fully vaccinated individuals in the week ending August 7th.” The “fully vaccinated” also made up more than 71 percent of COVID-19 cases as of August 21, according to the presentation, which was published online by the analytics firm Humetrix, a Project Salus partner.

For the first time in months, the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in Los Angeles County has dropped below 1,000. State data shows that 991 coronavirus patients were hospitalized in the county on Tuesday, which is approximately a 40 percent decrease from the beginning of September. This also marks the first time COVID-19 hospitalizations have dipped below 1,000 in the county in two months. Los Angeles County has also seen a decline in intensive care patients, with 305 patients in the ICU on Tuesday — a 31 percent decrease from the start of September. There were previously about 1,800 hospitalized COVID-19...

Just a week ago, a CDC study prompted MSM headlines such as "New study finds unvaccinated are 11 times more likely to die from Covid, CDC says." Last Friday, the CDC published the latest MMWR report, which stated, "Real-world studies of population-level vaccine effectiveness against laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 hospitalizations are limited in the United States." Later in the same report it revealed some details: "[t]he ratio of hospitalizations to cases was moderately lower among fully vaccinated (13.3 hospitalizations per 100 cases) compared with unvaccinated (17.1 hospitalizations per 100 cases) groups" under the delta variant dominant environment. Yes, that's...

A recent study shows that the COVID-19 hospitalization numbers in the United States might be highly exaggerated—almost half of the hospitalized patients only show “mild” symptoms, which means they might be admitted to the hospital due to reasons that aren’t related to COVID-19.The study (pdf), conducted by Harvard Medical School, Tufts Medical Center, and the Veterans Affairs Healthcare System, is a preprint report that is awaiting peer review.“With widespread vaccination, the current definition of COVID-19 hospitalizations includes progressively more mild or incidental diagnoses, for example, cases identified prior to surgery or prior to discharge, rather than hospitalizations due to severe...

The medicine ivermectin is being controversially used to treat or prevent COVID-19, which is causing some people to need medical attention. Five Oregonians were recently hospitalized because they consumed a potent antiparasitic drug despite there being no clinical data supporting its use for COVID-19. The Oregon Poison Center strongly recommends the public only use scientifically proven and FDA-approved methods to combat the novel coronavirus.The Oregon Poison Center has managed 25 cases involving Oregonians intentionally misusing ivermectin to treat or prevent COVID-19 between Aug. 1 and Sept. 14. Five of those cases involved hospitalization, and two people were so severely ill...

Monoclonal antibody treatment can reduce the severity of COVID-19 if infused quickly after a positive test. That’s been in the books for months, even though it doesn’t draw much attention. Now anyone considered high risk, who is exposed to COVID-19, qualifies for the treatment, adding the preventative capability into the mix. “We know from previous data that we can reduce the need for hospitalization and the risk of dying by 70% if we can get the medication in on time,’’ said Dr. Bruce Muma, CEO of the Henry Ford Physician Network who heads up Henry Ford’s monoclonal antibody program. “...

At least 12,000 Americans have already died from COVID-19 this month, as the country inches through its latest surge in cases. But another worrying statistic is often cited to depict the dangers of this moment: The number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in the United States right now is as high as it has been since the beginning of February. It’s even worse in certain places: Some states, including Arkansas and Oregon, recently saw their COVID hospitalizations rise to higher levels than at any prior stage of the pandemic. But how much do those latter figures really tell us?

The majority of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients in an Israeli hospital are fully vaccinated, including those with severe disease, according to one of the hospital’s doctors.On Aug. 5, Dr. Kobi Haviv, medical director of Herzog Hospital in Jerusalem, said in a Channel 13 TV News interview, “95% of the severe patients are vaccinated.” Furthermore, “85-90% of the hospitalizations are in fully vaccinated people” and the hospital is “opening more and more COVID wards.”"95% of the severe patients are vaccinated"."85-90% of the hospitalizations are in Fully vaccinated people.""We are opening more and more COVID wards.""The effectiveness of the vaccine is...

AUSTIN, Texas — As Central Texas faces another COVID-19 surge, there is an antibody treatment one researcher said can help ease the burden on hospitals and intensive care units. Neutralizing monoclonal antibodies are a game-changer in fighting this disease, according to the doctor. Prior to the treatment's availability, if someone tested positive for COVID-19 but wasn’t severe enough to be hospitalized, that person then isolated at home. "Now we can say we actually have something that can decrease your risk of hospitalization and improve your chances of survival if you have features that place you at risk for progressing on...

Texas reported 4,320 COVID-19-related hospitalizations on Saturday, a high not seen since mid-March, when the state’s numbers began trending downward. The total marks an increase of over 1,000 hospitalizations from the prior week, when the state reported just shy of 3,000. Last week, the state’s health commissioner noted a 150 percent increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations between June 27 and July 20. Dr. John Hellerstedt, the commissioner of the department of state health services, noted that the delta variant makes up most new cases in Texas. He urged residents who haven’t yet received a COVID-19 vaccine to seek out the shot.