Quiz question: What happens if an intensive care nurse feels unwell and tests positive on his home-care ventilator patient?
- A replacement is sent immediately.
- A replacement is only sent the next day.
- The carer works through the next few days until he is well again.
Of course you know the answer. I would not have asked the question and implicitly given an answer that sounds so inane that it can only be true. In other words, yes, I am going through the next experience of a different kind with my care service.
What happened? Well, that's a quick story. One of my caregivers had been sick for a few days and was actually on sick leave. This had been known for some time. But as well as my nursing service is organised, no one with the corresponding responsibility seemed to be interested. My team leader is on holiday and stays out of everything, which is basically correct. Unfortunately, there is no substitute. Meanwhile, the head of the nursing service (PDL) simply sends staff on sick leave to the patients and lulls herself into the belief that she has done this responsible job in an exemplary manner. I spoke to the management on the phone about this and I am at a loss for words. Since February, there have been no more legal Corona regulations. No compulsory tests, no compulsory masks, no quarantine. As so often lately, I would be wrong. A Covid infected nurse would even be allowed to work on a high risk patient like me. If I didn't like it, I knew what the alternative was. And I certainly wouldn't want to do that.
The alternative, well. Always the same thing. I could go to hospital. Or into a shared flat. Or maybe they meant that they would terminate my care. I didn't ask, because it was only because I was afraid of being dismissed that I had just avoided any discussion, which I thought was more than justified, and without a flinch I had to go to the hospital. 7.000,- € paid to my nursing service. Even paid times when I a day in the intensive care unit and certainly no one from my care service was with me for even a minute. And times before I got there. And times on Saturday when I was back home and I'm pretty sure that this time would have to be paid for by my health insurance, no matter how you spin it. What my care provider says to that? "I'm sorry to say that you're wrong about your stay in hospital," he says, nipping any questions in the bud. So this is now the thanks I get for taking as much work off my overworked nursing service as I could. It's good to know where I stand.
Yet covering the services - without Corona cases - could have been so easy. If it had been taken care of early, I would have had enough people to ask. But on Sunday morning I don't need to phone through my friends. Of course, the few intensive care nurses in my circle of friends who happen to be free this Sunday are all awake on their mobile phones, waiting for my call.
However, this would of course require that the situation is recognised as a problem. But if the first statement comes as if shot out of a pistol and says that all services are covered, that the legislator sees it the same way and that I certainly won't like the alternative - then my care service obviously sees no need for action. And anyway, what must have happened for my own care service to threaten me with horror scenarios? No kidding, I really can't imagine what I could have done wrong. ALS patients are not loved per se because there is always something to do. Unlike coma patients who can't fight back. Nevertheless, I have never had to experience such behaviour in over 25 years of professional life. It's a pity that I have to make up for this experience now that I'm in a state where I can't even manage to publish a small article like this one in less than 24 hours.
Yes, the problem of Corona is not new and there were also some Corona deniers in previous care services. We spent hours talking about it. But no one, really no one, would have thought of the absurd idea of coming to my work infected. Then the PDL and, in the worst case, the management have to step in. That's what I was originally told when they took over my care last year. And I don't know it any other way. Unfortunately, what the rest of the world and I think is right no longer matters. Apparently only hard facts count here.
So it is clear to me that we will not achieve anything at this level. I don't have any in-depth knowledge of the Infection Protection Act that can be used in court. What I do know for sure is that it is complete bullshit to claim that there are no more Corona regulations. Especially not three weeks ago. But I'll have to read the law myself to find out what they look like in Bavaria today.
Apart from my newly gained legal knowledge, this of course does not change the reprehensible attitude of my care service at all. So far, I have not been able to find a single person who shares my care service's attitude. Apart from the management of my care service, I mean, of course. The opposite is the case. The reactions range from bewilderment and incredulous horror to feelings that can at best be described as anger, to remain politically correct.
Keyword politics. There is another dog buried there. Possibly even a much bigger one. If our politicians had not created such a chaos of country-specific and sometimes incomprehensible regulations, the dilemma would not exist. It is nothing new that companies exploit every little loophole in the law to their own advantage. If my care service doesn't do it, someone else will. I would have expected that the rule "if you have Corona, you can still work with high-risk patients" (if that is really the case) would be as irresponsible as I do, and that they would not promote it, but that is another issue.
The regulations in force since the beginning of this month are indeed ridiculous. It starts with the basic statement that in future more personal responsibility will be taken. Yeah, right. Of all places, where money is at stake, people will suddenly act on their own responsibility. That has worked so wonderfully in the past. LOL.
Nevertheless, let's take a closer look at whether, apart from personal responsibility, nothing is really regulated any more, as they claim to me.
In short: No. This statement is wrong.
This cannot be glossed over, it is simply not right. Nor does it have anything to do with any resentment that may be bubbling up inside me. In the most recent press release of 31.01.2023, our Health Minister Klaus Holetschek said:
"Currently, several Corona regulations still apply under federal law. For example, FFP2 mask obligations prevail in hospitals and care facilities and for patients and visitors to medical practices, as well as testing obligations when visiting hospitals, rehabilitation facilities and care facilities. According to the Infection Protection Act, these regulations apply until 7 April 2023."
That sums up well what is regulated at federal level and how.
In the event of a positive test, the general decree on protective measures for persons tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus (AV Corona protective measures) also applies here in Bavaria. This document was only published on the official website of the Bavarian State Chancellery exactly three weeks ago and no newer version is available. I would therefore assume that the regulations mentioned here also apply. This is also what the text of the law says:
Yes, the legislator only talks about fixed installations. But let's approach the matter with a little common sense. Why care services, of all things, should not have to comply with generally applicable regulations is beyond me.
The explanations also say more:
You could really get into the subject matter here. I'd almost like to. And then be the first to go to the Federal Constitutional Court or something. But that's the completely wrong approach. It's wrong to even have to talk about it. I don't want to have any Covid-afflicted carers in my home and that should really be the end of the matter. Even my sister who lives in Spain should have just come to visit me. I only see her two, maybe three times a year. Now, of all times, she had to get infected. Visit cancelled. And the nurse, who is also infected, continues to come on duty. What a schizophrenic logic.
By the way, other care services I talk to from time to time see it the same way. Is this just empty talk and does the practice look different as soon as it gets down to the nitty-gritty? We don't know. We will see what the future brings.
