NYC Hospitals Prepare To Resume Elective Surgeries

Politico reports:

New York City and Long Island hospitals are preparing to resume elective surgeries, though the Cuomo administration has yet to approve the procedures as the coronavirus continues to tear through the region.

Hundreds of New York City patients have been trapped for months in surgical limbo by a blanket hold on the procedures. While the term “elective surgeries” evokes face-lifts and tummy tucks to many, it includes many needing surgery for severe spine disease, heart disease, cancer-related procedures and operations aimed at relieving chronic and debilitating pain.

Hospitals say now that the procedures, scheduled before the coronavirus took hold in New York, may have been “elective” at the time they were scheduled, but after months of delay are gaining in urgency.