Injured Atlanta man and fiance’ stuck overseas because local hospitals are full
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ATLANTA (WGCL) — A metro-Atlanta man in critical condition and his fiancé are stuck in the Dominican Republic trying to find a hospital that has room to take them.
They cannot find a hospital in the Atlanta area – or the surrounding states — that will take him because they too full from Covid-19 patients. Just to give you an example – inpatient beds and ICU beds at Grady are at 100% capacity, and other hospitals in the area are not far off.
It all started out with a dream trip to the Dominican Republic for this Paulding County couple. That dream quickly turned into a nightmare for the couple.
“We didn’t make it very far into it,” said Tiffany Fowler.
On January 7th, the night they got there – her fiancé, Corey Hart, fell three stories from their hotel room balcony.
“I hold it together as best as I can because I have to be strong for him, but I’ve kind of, at this point, gone numb,” said a tearful Fowler.
Fowler said he’s broken almost all of his bones on the right side of his body, and likely needs surgery. She added that the hospital in the Dominican Republic is not equipped to perform those surgeries.
“I’m trying to get home,” Corey Hart said from his hospital bed.
They have an Angel Med Flight ready to take him, but all the hospitals in Atlanta are full…and they aren’t the only ones:
“We’ve called Tennessee, Florida, Kentucky, all the surrounding states, and they said he requires an ICU bed, but all the hospitals are saying their ICU beds are full due to COVID patients,” Fowler added, “Without having a hospital to accept him, without having an ICU bed, we’re kind of stuck in limbo.”
According to federal data, in Fulton County, the most populated county in Georgia, nearly half of the total ICU beds available are full with Covid patients, but overall, 88% of the beds are taken.
“It feels like we’re kind of being held hostage here because of the Coronavirus,” added Fowler, “If you get stuck in a situation where you need medical attention that can’t be provided, you have no choice but to sit and watch your loved one suffer.”
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