When the ventilator comes off, the delirium comes out for many coronavirus survivors
CNNCNN — When health care workers finally removed the ventilator tube from Jesse Vanderhoof’s throat, he managed to eke out two weak words: “Call Emily.” Vanderhoof, a 40-year-old nurse with coronavirus, was emotional and full of relief on the ensuing call with his wife after more than a week on a ventilator in an Idaho hospital’s intensive care unit. “He didn’t understand why the world was at war with, why health care workers were heroes, why he was involved,” his wife, Emily Vanderhoof, 34, said. But the coronavirus pandemic is like a “delirium factory,” said Dr. Wes Ely, a professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center who specializes in ICU delirium. “They feel ashamed of even talking about that.” Why delirium is so common during coronavirus Patients who are put on a ventilator for longer periods of time have a higher risk of delirium, Dr. Wes Ely explained.
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Severe COVID-19 can lead to delirium, US study finds
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