KU Health System scales back surgeries due to increase COVID-19 patients

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    Kansas City, KS (KCTV) — For the last week we’ve been telling you hospitals in our area are nearing capacity.

It’s gotten to the point the University of Kansas Health System is scaling back surgeries. This is in an effort to make room for COVID-19 patients.

Doctors are now in a position they didn’t want to be in.

Some patients with surgeries on the books for months are being told they have to keep waiting.

“This is still a significant crisis for us and it’s crowding things,” said KU Health System Chief Medical Officer Dr. Steve Stites. “It’s crowding things like elective surgeries. Not elective, but those cases that are going to be admitted because we’ve started deferring some of those patients and having to reschedule them to a later date so we could create enough beds for all the COVID patients.”

In a press conference last week, Stites said this step isn’t ideal.

“The next thing we are doing is thinking about who we could delay surgery on,” Stites said. “We don’t want to do that. That is not a good option.”

The number of cases continues to push hospitals to their limits.

Currently the KU Health System has 67 acute patients, 26 in recovery and 20 in the ICU. 12 patients are on ventilators.

Liberty Hospital said its daily COVID-19 inpatient average for Nov. 1-12 is 31.5.

So far this month, Truman Medical Center is caring for an average of 29 patients each day.

St. Luke’s says today it has 149 cases, that’s up 34 cases from this time last week

Both Truman and St. Luke’s say they are not canceling surgeries at this point.

Delaying medical care isn’t something the doctors with KU Health System take lightly.

“We worked with our department chairs in each of the surgical departments,” Stites said. “We asked them to pick one to two patients who they could try to defer that they didn’t think would adversely affect that person’s long-term health.”

Doctors are trying to reschedule the surgeries within the next two weeks. Stites says it will all depend on the COVID-19 numbers in the coming days.

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