by Dr. Jeffrey Munson
A friend of mine in our Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) today asked me for some good news about COVID-19. Anything. His question made me appreciate how much we all want and need something good to center on, and how little there is to share.
I am tired. I am frustrated. I am sad. And in the midst of this, it sometimes feels like all I ever see is people talking about what other people should do to make things better. I don’t have good news, but I can try to change the last part. Rather than saying what I think everyone else should do, I want to say out loud what I am willing to do.
“I will come to work every day and take care of anyone who is sick in my unit. I don’t care if they are vaccinated, unvaccinated, rich, poor, Black, white, brown, gay, straight, Republican, Democrat or Independent.” – Dr. Jeffrey C. Munson, MD, MSCE, Medical Director of the MICU
I will wear my mask. Sometimes to protect me, always to protect you. I will get my third shot. And my fourth, and my fifth if it comes to that. Because in my world of million-dollar technology, this shot is still the most effective way to keep people alive.
I will come to work every day and take care of anyone who is sick in my unit. I don’t care if they are vaccinated, unvaccinated, rich, poor, Black, white, brown, gay, straight, Republican, Democrat or Independent. I will put on whatever mask, face shield, gown and gloves I need to come to their bedside and help. I will learn as much as I can, so that when you are sick, I can promise we are doing everything that can be done to save your life.
I will support my peers in the MICU in any way I can. Because, like me, they are tired, they are frustrated, and they are sad. And because they are not only the front line; they are the last line separating the sick from the dead.
I will treat everyone in my care with compassion, because no one deserves what COVID does. And for those who cannot survive, I will do everything I can to ensure that they do not suffer, and I will grieve their loss.
This is my part to play, and I accept it. I accept it because it is what I can do in a time when the need for doing is so great. And I accept it because I stood in front of my family, my peers, and my community and promised that I would care for the sick.
The author, Dr. Jeffrey C. Munson, MD, MSCE, is Medical Director of the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Hospital Intensive Care Unit. Op-ed republished from the Jan. 18 hospital website.
Categories: Commentary
Thank you Dr. Jeffrey Munson for helping to crush the concept of the “health criminal” where someone who behaves in what society has determined is “unhealthy” is sanctioned with higher insurance rates, reduced coverage, public shaming or refusal of care. This has been the case with tobacco users, unbelted drivers and the overweight, and most recently with those who, for whatever reason choose to not be vaccinated. There are of course exceptions, such as the way we treat our beloved opioid addicts. When they make a bad health decision about their use of recreational substances and allow themselves to become addicted and then overindulge, our compassionate society will provide Narcan as often as necessary to bring them back from the abyss. Some who refuse the hastily-produced COVID vaccines do so for sound medical reasons and it’s about time that they at least get to be treated with as much respect and care as we provide for our heroin junkies.
Thanks for your service, Doctor. We all know your profession has been a bit of hell for the last 2 years of COVID.
And consider the paradox when the State of Vermont decides to regulate the sale of Marijuana to enhance its tax revenues at the expense of these poor addicted souls. Perhaps the State might consider taxing the Ivermectin, Hydroxychloroquine, Vitamin D3, and Zinc markets. After all, if a hospital can receive $40K when a respirator is used on a Covid patient that dies, just think of the tax revenues the State can receive from the sale of therapeutics that actually work.
But we all know that isn’t going to happen until the ‘big pharma’ patents and the immunity from liable prosecution for the use of these new vaccines runs out.
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Hospital is a wonderful hospital and I thank it for saving my life from cancer, as well the Saint-Johns cancer treatment center…It’s hard for me to understand how great hospitals like these, as well great doctors and surgeons can buy into the Covid fraud that has been thrust upon us for purely authoritative and political reasons. Many have turned their back on the Hippocratic Oath for purely political and/or monetary reasons and refuse to treat those of us who are unvaccinated, for which, we have completely logical and medical reasons…As time passes and we read the stats of who’s getting covid and the increased death rate of those dying from heart problems etc related to the vaccine, we should be praised for thinking things through…I have lost a lot of faith in our medical institutions and that’s sad because it’s a waste of some of the finest medical minds in the world to nothing other than political power struggles in D.C.
Refreshing, thank you doctor. Such a change from what we have heard from UVMMC.
YOU SHD WEE THE MANY FULL PAGE IN COLOR NEWSPAPER ADS THAT DARTMOUTH HITCHCOCK HOSP IS NOW RUNNING RE COVID & THE VAXX. FLAT OUT [and actionable,
criminal LIES……I’m not kidding . VT AG and federal prosecutors must see these and act against DH hospital…..imho. WHERE DO I SEND COPIES OF THESE SCURRILOUS ADS?
AND No one deserves what THE COVID VAXX DOES either….
So my question to him is will you prescribe Ivermectin to your covid patients? Will you allow the patient’s family a part in the decision to treat them?? If not he is a liar in chief. If so he gets my vote!!
God bless you for your commitment to care for the sick. I pray you may have rest from your labors and that your sadness will be turned to joy. You’re a hero :).
Since all political and professional institutions are creating their own facts through preferential funding based on outcomes, I find it more important than ever to hear firsthand testimony of patients especially in the void of expert debate through alternative media like that of Joe Rogan podcast is trying to provide. Statements of “facts” to consider from experts in their field. The Pasture Institute stands firm in stating that the dangerous, destructive part of the Covid 19 virus is the physical composition of the spike protein itself. Their meaning is that systemic damage to the body occurs from just the toxin which is the physical makeup of the spike protein when it gets past the peripheral body defenses as when it is injected or made by the mRNA vaccine. Its configuration alone “scares” blood vessels which can provide a haven for clots. That being said, is it wise to have a “vaccine” that instructs your cells to manufacture the spike protein in potentially every vital organ in the body, heart, kidney, ovaries, testicles, brain tissue etc? Autopsies confirm that the vaccine spike protein is attaching to ACE 2 receptors in these organs that suggest long term compromise of health including onset of cancers, sterility, and brain function loss over a decade. Then there is the well documented phenomenon of Antibody Dependent Enhancement which is factual science. This occurs when someone is continually boosted which creates a heightened response to ANY corona virus in which a very healthy immune system will encounter and throw the patient into a cytokine storm which can have fatal consequences. I do agree that antibodies are produces by the injection of the mRNA vaccine which can keep one out of the hospital when the patient has active Covid 19. I also have firsthand knowledge that many therapeutics when given early can stop the replication of Covid 19 and by restricting Ivermectin and the useful combination of lactoferrin with diphenhydramine discovered by researchers at the University of Florida, healthcare professionals have put the population at risk to enter the later stages of the disease. People that I know who have contracted Covid have gone to the hospital have only been monitored until on their own become better or worse before any therapeutics are used. In my opinion this is a mistake. Early therapeutics intervention is a vital missing component in our hospitals. My antidotal conclusions may be just that but in the void of substantive debate by the “experts” on all sides I will rely on my due diligence. For me if one is immune compromised by comorbidities or advanced in age the benefit of the vaccine can keep one from entering the hospital ICU. Antibody Dependent Enhancement in these cases would be a small concern because their immune systems could use a boost. If I had a young healthy immune system, ADE would be a vital consideration not to take the jab. If I was planning to have a family in the future which would encompass most of the population under 40 years old, I would need to seriously consider the damage the vaccine could cause in the long term to myself or my offspring. Documented is a 12% increase in miscarriages among first trimester vaccine recipients. Government urns for a one size fits all remedy which can never accommodate the complicated nature of this disease. Let the doctors practice their profession unimpeded from politics or mandates. For when the first link of chain is ruptured, the first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, changes us all irrevocably. I must say UVM care in the ICU was top notch. One would have to wonder if answering the questionable use of intubation and Remdesivir would alter the decision-making process for treatment based on the hospitals profit incentives from the Fed. Additionally having an advocate outside the hospital puts accountability above board. I’m convinced that exposure duration especially within enclosed areas is directly proportionate to contracting the virus if present and one’s ability to fight it off even with daily doses of D3, zinc, quercetin is questionable.
I applaud any medical professional who is willing to go against the corporate medical establishment. My hope is those professionals will establish independent care facilities that are not connected in any way, shape or form to the current Rockefeller medicine cult or the corrupt government. It can be done. We need solutions outside the current system.
I know two people quite recently who were required to have a booster shortly before having surgeries that were considered quite safe, both have died of blood clots!