Dr. Arnold Weg coronavirus: Queens internist infected w/ COVID-19 fights for his life after infected elderly patient coughed on him. Placed on Remdesivir trial.
A New York City doctor is fighting for his life after contracting coronavirus after an elderly patient coughing on him. The infected man remains in an intensive care unit.
Dr. Arnold Weg, a 63-year-old primary care physician and gastroenterologist who has treated more than 30,000 patients during his career, was examining an elderly patient when they coughed on him a month ago.
The cough was caused by coronavirus – which has infected 36,000 city residents and killed at least 790 – only for Weg to test positive 10 days later.
‘He is on the brink of being intubated and is struggling for every breath. He is scared for his life and we are scared for him as well,’ his son Dr. Russell Weg told Pix 11.
‘About week later my father developed a high fever and just a few days later ended up being admitted to the hospital, and within 24 hours is now in the ICU,’ added Russell.
Weg is being kept at the New York Presbyterian Cornell Hospital in Queens, the same hospital where he has helped patients and taught for 30 years.
‘This is the one and only time my father has been in the hospital,’ Russell said. ‘It’s been challenging for myself and my whole family.’
Weg is in critical condition and, in accordance to current protocol, is separated from his loved ones. His family appealed to get access to COVID-19 trial medication.
As US infection cases, come Tuesday morning, soar past 164,253 confirmed cases and 3167 deaths, some people have opted into using experimental medications like Remdesivir for coronavirus.
At the moment, studies like this are only monitoring a limited number of patients.
Weg was recently approved to undergo the experimental treatment, according to family members who shared an update on Facebook.
pic.twitter.com/Sh3hp7GdWO TY everyone for your support & well wishes. We continue to be super hopeful for a full recovery for our Dad + Zeida. Please continue to follow our family story to see that he receives lifesaving drugs along with the thousands of others #SAVEARNOLDWEG
— Courtney Weg (@CBWeg) March 29, 2020
Healthcare workers more likely to contract coronavirus than average citizen:
Susan Madnick Weg, Weg’s wife, (pictured above) posted that he has been transferred out of ICU and has begun treatment using Remdesivir.
Posted Susan: ‘As of late last night my husband was removed from the ICU and placed on another floor with careful monitoring. He is still not out of danger. He is on a high dose of Oxygen but on a Nasal Cannula.
‘They started treatment using Remdesivir…a trial is a trial! BUT we have every confidence in his physicians and nurses and staff that they are taking the BEST care of him. He is a fighter!’
The hashtag ‘SaveArnoldWeg’ has been created to bring awareness to Weg’s coronavirus battle.
Weg is the son of Holocaust survivors. He has four children, six grandchildren.
Of note, Weg has run over 30 marathons and had recently celebrated his 38th wedding anniversary to wife Susan.
Reports from medical personnel and doctors on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic have called the dire situation at hospitals a ‘war zone.’
Early research found that healthcare workers were more likely to contracted coronavirus than the average citizen.
They are also more likely to experience more severe symptoms and side effects.
