NEW YORK (VINnews) — When Nicole Sirotek, a nurse from Elko,Nevada, decided to travel to New York to help patients in the state worst hit by COVID-19 in the US, she never imagined that she would end up as a tearful, emotionally distraught whistleblower. However after being assigned to two different New York hospitals and being brutally exposed to the way COVID-19 patients are being treated, Sirotek felt that she could not remain silent any longer.
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In a moving Facebook Live video the nurse describes how patients are not dying from the virus, but are being “murdered” by “gross negligence and complete medical mismanagement.”
“I am literally telling you that they are murdering these people,” Sirotek says in the terrifying video.
WARNING: GRAPHIC LANGUAGE
The video begins with Sirotek explaining that every time she attempts to advocate on behalf of one of her patients, management takes them away and reassigns her to another unit. She said that this happened at both of the hospitals she has worked at in the city. “I legitimately don’t even know what to do anymore. Even advocacy groups don’t care about these people,” she said. “Black lives don’t matter here.” She was so overcome by the apathy of all her colleagues as well as advocacy groups that she describes in tears how she “had a breakdown yesterday.”
Sirotek acknowledges that “not everybody is going to live” but then insists that people are not dying from COVID but from poor and in some cases criminal medical treatment which she as a nurse knows can cause their death.
Sirotek provides several specific examples of patients who have died from medical negligence, including a resident nurse killing a patient by using a defibrillator on him when he had a pulse and it wasn’t necessary. When she ran out of the room to get help stopping him from doing it, the director of nursing just shook their head at her. The patient ultimately died, but not from COVID.
In another example, she said that a patient was given the wrong type of insulin. Even more alarmingly, she said that the hospital was refusing to give blood transfusions to patients who are low on blood unless they have internal bleeding. Without proper blood flow, she explained, the ventilators will not do anything to help them — and she said that this is a common problem for patients with the virus.
“Nobody is listening. They don’t care what is happening to these people. They don’t. I’m literally coming here every day and watching them kill them,” she said.
Sirotek describes improper intubations, unnecessary sedations and irresponsible medical procedures, such as not giving antibiotics when they are medically required and could save lives.
Sirotek explained that “we’re not even treating the COVID guys, for real, we’re not treating the COVID.” She said that the bare minimum is being done to keep them alive, but not to help them get better. This has led to a 100% mortality rate in her unit, she claims.
Sirotek asserted that the hospitals are so neglectful of the COVID patients that she has actually been assigned to people who are already dead, but nobody knew it.
“How long have they been dead? Nobody knows!” Sirotek exclaimed.
The situation has become so dire, Sirotek said, that the only way she can put it into context is by comparing it to the Holocaust.
“This is going to be kind of an extreme example, but this is really the only thing I can come up with,” Sirotek began. “It’s like if we were in Nazi Germany and they were like, taking the Jews to go put them in a gas chamber, I’m the one there saying like, ‘hey, this is not good, this is bad, this is wrong, we should not be doing this.’ Then everyone tells me ‘hang in there, you’re doing a great job, you can’t save everybody — you’re amazing, you’re a great nurse.’”
Sirotek explained that she knows she is a great nurse, but what she needs is someone to help her actually treat and save her patients “from being killed.”
At this point Sirotek broke down in tears saying she is out of ideas on what to do. “Am I the only one who is not a sociopath?” Sirotek asks, referring to the other nurses.
She explained that while some patients will legitimately have multi-organ failure and die from COVID, that hasn’t been the case with cases she has seen
“I am literally telling you that they are murdering these people — and nobody will listen to me. Like I said, I’m not a doctor, but I’m pretty sure that when you defibrillate somebody with a heartbeat of 40 and a stable rhythm, and you kill them, that’s murder.”
She said that she has reached out to news organizations, hospital administrators, and even black advocacy groups for help without any luck.
“Stay safe. Stay out of NYC for your healthcare,” her video concludes.
50 years ago a world leading hematologist told me this kind of stuff goes on every day in NYC hospitals.
This is a result of an overwhelmed her background and her affiliations definitely make it sound like an agenda and very little credibility if the from Community sinking to that going to use this as a rallying cry it is utter stupidity. Stay inside stay home and Health Care system will be less overwhelmed
Hmmmm… so who do we believe? This nurse, who actually works the floor in the hospital, or our very own commenter “aha” and the various other screen names he uses, claiming that only Trump and minyan goers kill people. Perhaps he can substitute another few j’s for y’s so he thinks he will come across as a very deep and sophisticated individual, instead of the obnoxious idiot he actually is.
In equal opportunity NYC this is the norm.
Get used to it..its been going on for over 50 years.
You hire the worst only because they fill a certain check box on the application.
Merit doesn’t count.
and like they do not care about the patients administration does not care about the staff.
all they care about is profits and even if doctors, nurses, pa are in the line of fire hospital administration does not care. they would get someone else. ive seen it before.
self isolation –
prevention of spread
and do not get this evil virus
even though they say people are leaving the hospital that is meaningless – they are still sick on kidney dialysis and respiratory problems – needing oxygen
and when hospitals say they have less and less covid patients every day – not that the people are leaving alive – the beds are available because the people have died.
please stay away from others now
try not to catch this machala, it is not the average flu – this is an evil virus that can destroy a person
a frum doctor
I have been yelling abput this for the past month. This nurse is a hero. Most are lazy farts living off FEMA money, incompetent dumb and callous. I have a relative who was hospitalized for not covid related illness and it was a gehonim. None spoke to each other. They didn’t even look at the medical charts to see what patients needs. Its whatever they decide. I have someone I knew who died from diabties in the hospital which they blamed for covid even though it was negative. These nurses are aniamls and treat pateinets like a piece of flesh. Shame on them.
#notmyheros. I won’t salute
VIN
Please keep covering these stories!
There is so many atrocities Going on in the NYC Hospitals and no one is talking about it
I have heard similar 1st hand stories from so many people
Maybe should name the hospitals.
Warning: MAJOR LANGUAGE ALERT
O boy she risked her life with this, they will kill her
The state should require every hospital to release data on how many patients were treated and survived, that’s the way u will know which hospital did right thing and which one not.
Is anyone shocked by this? If you’re shocked then your head is in the sand, there’s a reason we opened our own hospital in Shar yushiv, we knew what was going on
It can not be. It has to be Trump’s fault. It has nothing to do that NY hospitals were sending back elderly that tested positive to covid19 back to the assisted living facilities. It is Trump’s fault always. I demand this article be talked down because it does not fit my narrative. WHAAAAAA!!!!!
Cuomo is a Hero and De Blasio is not antisemitic
I don’t know. You hear stories both ways. How great the workers are & how disgusting they are. Probably a little of both. What really needs to happen is when this slows down. The government or maybe some investigative journalists need to do a thorough expose’ of what went right AND what went horribly wrong and make corrections for future policy AND prosecutions if found true.
She sounds very credible people gotta wake up and realize the healthcare in some of these hospitals is deplorable its unbelievable that in the 20th century these hospitals cant do a better job of managing wats going on is nuts it’s time to revamp our hospital system and get rid of bureaucracy enough is enough
That we as a people are so stupid and naive, willing to believe anything, said by anyone, as if it is from sinai, lihavdil, is mind boggling.
I’m not sure this language belongs on a Jewish news site, regardless of disclaimer
What was the politician/elites bedfellows afraid of? Well, Trump rallies, the great economy, Biden having to campaign or do debates, honest elections, the working class finding out about all their corruption and selling their livelihoods and America itself to the Chinese Communist Gov’t for kickbacks, and old or sick people standing in their way of a national health care machine that they can actually profit from. It’s more than a coincidence that all this can just “luckily” work out for them in this election year. Grow the hell up! They are as evil as Nazis in the lust for power, control and profit. They will offer you everything, and then take everything you have, including your life if it profits them, without blinking. They have this game down to a science. We have been infiltrated by the CCP for a good price–our companies and news media have American names, but they are often owned and/or controlled by the Communist Chinese. Don’t you see how they always take their side, not a negative word, while purporting how evil the US is. Don’t you see it is the CCP talking. Parents are not teaching their children to think objectively in a dangerous world. There are many evil people in the world that are not passive and have evil plans against you, whether it is by bribing people or using force, their goal is the same. They have definitely taken the wolves in sheep’s clothing approach. Satan does not come with a pitchfork, he comes looking like a virtuous angel. We had strong national patriotism for most of our history, but it has been eroding for decades now, eaten away from within. Trump’s story about the snake drowning in the river, the woman saving it, and then in return killing her, is so poignant. Wake up, we have to stand up against them while there may be still time.
My father was in the hospital last year and we saw this on a daily basis. I believe every word. Not every nurse or doctor and not every hospital but the negligence I saw was scary
This is true !! and I have a friend who just passed away in monsey. He ran out of his diabetes meds and ended up at the hospital and 24 hrs later he was dead of “corona”. He had no Corona problems!! I truly believe it was Mal-practice.
If this keeps going on I will release names and hospitals that are killing people cause this has to stop NOW
All I need is one question to be answered not to believe this story. Why was a patient denied an otherwise normal request, to have a family member at his/her bedside? It was against the hospital’s protocol. WHY? WHAT WAS SO IMPORTANT THE FAMILY MEMBER SHOULDN’T WITNESS???
The democrats are loving this. They don’t care if all the old people die out. They want the radical young to be around so they can support Biden. Wait till the riots start in the streets with looting. The police will look the other way as they hate Deblasio the knuckle head. Our leaders told us to support Hillary. That’s right. Lucky many Orthodox Jews did not listen to these machers. We elect a bunch of liberal idiots and then wonder why crime goes up.
Sounds like she was assigned to a City Hospital (Bellevue, Elmhurst, Kings County, Jacobi) by the HHC.
Knowing the carnage that was going on there, with unskilled staff practicing way above their knowledge level, not really a total surprise.
But her libelous accusation that “NY Hospitals are killing the patients” are by definition inaccurate. The ramp up of knowledge done right here in NYC has been nothing short of miraculous. In the beginning- think mid March- survival rates on intubated patients with the large healthcare system where I am a physician had a mortality rate of 80 percent.
Today, survival rates are 60 percent for the same cohort.
Please, friends. Stop with the anecdotal “my uncle yankel died because they killed him.” Uncle Yankel probably died because he got the disease on Purim when our knowledge and experience level was zero. ^ weeks later, a different story.
I didn’t realize that the language of this nurse is terrible it doesn’t belong on a heimisha news site please remove kids are watching every other word is f not right please remove immediately
No excuse to use foul language or to post foul language this is a heimisha web site shame shame kids are going on these sites where is the brains
VIN NEWS KEEP ON TELLING THE TRUTH WE HAVE WAKE UP! I SPOAK ALREADY TO SO MANY ASKUNIM AND MEADIA AND THEY DONT WANNA TALK TALK ABOUT ITS SO CRAZY WAHTS GOING ON WE HAVE TO SHAKE UP THE WORLD
Sick patients die often. It’s not going to change. I’m not minimizing her experiences but most nurses and doctors work hard to do the right thing. I wonder about the defibrillator comment. A patient with a heart rate in the 40s as she described (and symptomatic) could very well have had a defibrillator used on him but set to external pacemaker mode. That he died does not mean it was misused or the wrong equipment was used. If the heart rate isn’t responding to treatment it will just go down until it hits zero and arrests.
In general it’s easy for a layperson to be horrified when they don’t have the right information or experience. I’ve worked in dozens of emergency rooms both in NY and elsewhere and I’ve yet to encounter a willfully careless nurse as described in the comments.
Healthcare authorities sounded the alarm that if COVID-19 reaches a critical mass they will not be able to care for many patients. Still, people continued to be careless about social distancing and then demanded the impossible
On a side note there is a hospital in Brooklyn that gets a bad rap among many with claims that “they killed my grandmother” when in reality that hospital was the only one who would accept her for admission in the first place. Some of the “better named” hospitals in Manhattan do not accept or do procedures on patients whose prognosis is futile so as not to affect their mortality ratios. This is a fact. So the next time you’re 88 year old grandfather with a trach is admitted to that hospital in Boro Park and allowed to have an extended ICU stay be sure to thank the staff.
To all the people that think she is lying, go visit someone in a hospital out of town and see the difference in care, i know first hand, my son is in and out of yale for the past 3 years, and when ever we have volunteers come for shabbos the first thing they say motzei shabbos when i call to see how was shabbos , they remark WOW the nurses and doctors are amazing, in NY they are terrible, thats one example.
secondly i spoke to a pediatrician right before pesach and she told me they are not caring for the patients properly and thats why they are dying. now i understand what she meant moral of the story If you or a loved one needs care stay out of the city if you can.
What makes this woman credible? The hysteria? The cursing? How can you post this VIN?
“Am I the only one who is not a sociopath?” Sirotek asks”…..should have been a clue to her lack of rationality.
I, presently, personally bear witness to the direct care provided in the ER and the ICUs in a public NYC hospital. You should be grateful for the dedicated care delivered by staff that risk their lives daily to care for you. Of course many have died; this is a virulent, novel virus. Thank GD, we are sending patients home to their families daily. Stay home. Hashem Yerachem.
Educated Archy, did you do the Daf today?
The nurse spoke to the truth. There are unfortunately some very bad hospitals in some bad sections of NYC. I am pretty sure she was working in one of these hellholes. This is the situation in many parts of the country. Unfortunately when the FDNY is called to transfer a patient they take them to the closest hospital. Many of them are butcher shops
ex. (Brookdale,Wykoff,Elmhust,Brooklyn Hospital, Coney Island & Mount Sinai on Kings Highway etc.). A person needs to know where the best treatment will be for themselves in case he G-d forbid they end up sick and not let them transfer their loved ones to these terrible places.
Here are the facts. They have laid off many nurses in NY. Yet, they advertise for out of state nurses? The rates for nurses they are advertising for is 5 times the rate they get in their home state. In addition, Cuomo, by Exeuctive Order, has given all medical people during this “emergency” complete immunity from civil liability for their negligence. In addition, he has, by Executive Order, suspended licensing in the State of New York. Further, CDC issued directives stating that the protocol for treatment with Covid is to put them on ventilators. Ventilators have a 50 percent mortality rate, but with Covid patients under 65 it is a 76 percent mortality rate, and with those over 65, it is a 97.2 mortality rate according to JAMA. In addition, the government is giving hospitals 3 X the amount for hospitalizations for Covid, as well as 3 X the amount if they put them on a ventilator. So, what do we have here. Licensing laws have been suspended to the extent that if you go to one year of medical school, you may come to New York and practice medicine treating Covid patients. If you go to ANY “medical program”, you may come to NY and practice medicine, treating Covid patients, which means that if you are a massage therapist, you may come to NY and medically treat Covid patients. Those who are non-physicians, must be supervised by a doctor. HOWEVER, if they are not supervised by a doctor, they have immunity from both civil and criminal prosecution if they are treating Covid patients.
So, what do we have here. We have a situation where if you are not a licensed doctor or nurse, you may treat Covid patients at 3X to 5X the price you get in your homestate you are completely immune from civil liability and sometimes even criminal liability, and you do not have to be licensed, and if you put them on ventilators, you will get 3 X the price of putting anyone else on a ventilator, and ventilators are killing 97.2 percent of those over 65 and 76 percent of those under 65. Sounds like a win-win situation……at least on one side.
“decided” .. she says she was relocated for exposing her last hospital of malpractice.
After listening to this woman speak I realized she lost all her legitimacy when she started using her foul language why is this being posted on a heimisha Jewish website this is deplorable and sick remove immediately or I will put a cheirim against this website shame shame disgrace disgusting don’t you care about the kids hearing about this filth spewing from this white trash nurse it boggles my mind how these so called heimisha websites are no better then the ny times or the secular media
Looking at the stats you don’t need to be a genius to realize something is off with NY. It’s clear and evident that there is a plot here in NY and other Democratic states to bring down president trump with innocent citizens being the sacrificial lambs. Having heard accounts first hand from patients that survived, it is clear there is intentional neglect and even straight out malpractice to ensure that we have high numbers of death and keep everyone in lockdown to devastate the economy. Trump may be a bumbling idiot, but he has done great things for this country. The democrats had the opportunity of a lifetime delivered onto their laps to bring him down.
Read quality journalism from the New York Times and The New York Magazine. I know doctors and nurses who are putting their lives on the line to treat COVID-19 patients. These statements are gross generalizations, non fact-based, and questionable. If she was assigned to an “already dead patient” it is because there are hundreds of patients, not enough health care workers, no enough beds, and COVID can kill quickly. A patient who seemed fine 10 minutes ago soon be dead. I know nurses who work in NYC hospitals. They are incredibly brave, stoic, and grief-stricken each day. They put their lives on the line every time they walk into a room to care for a COVID patient. Yes, the hospitals were unprepared for this pandemic. Yes, there will be some mismanagement as there has always been because this is a system run by humans. But by far, the workers are to be applauded as New Yorkers are doing daily at 7pm. Vosizneias is doing a terrible disservice to the countless dedicated health care workers in NYC by publishing this one undocumented account. How about balancing this with other view points from frum nurses and doctors?