I’m a surgeon in Seattle. A bleeding trauma patient amid the coronavirus pandemic was my nightmare

KUOW/NPR | by Kate Walters | April 21, 2020

Dr. Amer Nassar

Dr. Amer Nassar is a general surgery chief resident with the University of Washington. Photo credit: Olivia J. Dack

Voices of the pandemic features people in the Seattle area who are on the frontlines of the coronavirus outbreak.

Dr. Amer Nassar is a general surgery chief resident with the University of Washington. Surgeons may be less likely to see Covid-19 patients, but that doesn’t mean the pandemic hasn’t changed how they’re doing their jobs. Nassar takes us through his dealings with coronavirus.

Before the shift

It’s now 5 in the morning, and I’m on my way to the hospital where I’ll be the chief resident on call for all traumas coming from Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho.

Although the pandemic hasn’t led to surgeons taking care of many Covid patients, it has still affected us in many ways.

I was part of the surgery team that did the first trauma operation on a Covid patient in the state of Washington. MORE >>