The forgotten sacrifice of doctors: the story of Samar, who died from Covid

“I’m a doctor, not a politician. I will not go into the merits of the matter. What hurts me is that even the soldiers who die in the field are paid at least a medal. The dead don’t come back, unfortunately. But who is alive today and is fighting the virus, who suffers the consequences and has contracted it at work. To him today we are saying: your sacrifice is worth nothing. You are not worth anything ». Like this Rafi El Mazloum37, comments on the Senate’s decision to deny restraint to the families of doctors killed by Covid.

Samar Sinjab, the first family doctor who died in Veneto due to Covid, it was his mother. It was Rafi who took her to the ER on March 8, 2020. She would never see her again.

“My mother was terrified of the virus, she felt vulnerable, unprepared. But she continued to work, a visit until the last, to answer patients on the phone up to five minutes before being intubated ». A story that binds Syria and Italy. Samar was the wife of Omar El Mazloum, a well-known Syrian pediatrician. “The clinic was our home: my sister Dania and I chose to be doctors following the example of our parents”.

What would his mother say today?
«I am sure he would say to me: continue to do your duty. We made a choice. But I remember perfectly well that she was very scared of the virus. She saw it spread, she saw the images of the situation in Lombardy and she was afraid. To the point that I said to her: you stay behind her, I visit so you are safer ».

How did you notice that he was sick?
«On March 6 he had an outpatient clinic in the morning. I had my work as a coroner on Friday afternoon: both mom and my sister Dania were sick. She did not want to make a scan on Mira for fear that alarmism would spread among the patients. I bought her an oxygen tank, she was already badly saturated, and the next day we went to Treviso. But from the pulmonary picture that emerged there was no need for the swab. She was hospitalized on 7 March, on 8 she was in intensive care ».

What was his perception?
“She didn’t want anyone to know and recommended that I follow the patients in everything. She answered her phone until just before she was intubated. Then for a month, we alternated hope with despair. At the end of March she was recovering, then the picture got complicated. On April 7, I got a phone call in the morning: time for bad news. You had been in septic shock. ‘

Source: Vanity Fair

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