Lung Failure Leads to COVID Tragedies, but Lung Disease was a Crisis Before the Pandemic
- Dr. MeiLan Han
- May 23, 2022
- 1 min read
My Op-Ed in the L.A. Times
I experienced many opportunities this year to amplify my platform promoting lung health and clinical research for lung diseases since publishing Breathing Lessons: A Doctor's Guide to Lung Health. But, one opportunity that I am still pinching myself several months later was the opportunity to publish an Op-Ed in the Los Angeles Times.
BY MEILAN K. HAN JAN. 10, 2022 3:01 AM PT
The World Health Organization reports that more than 5 million people worldwide have died of COVID-19, with numbers rapidly rising again. When we look at how people with COVID-19 die, the most common cause is catastrophic lung failure.
Once the lungs fail, other organs soon follow, like a game of Jenga when the linchpin block is removed. At this stage, even for patients thought to be previously healthy, we cannot stop the virus from wreaking havoc. It’s a painfully familiar script for many admitted to the hospital with minor breathing issues: Blood oxygen levels drop. Supplemental oxygen isn’t enough. They end up on a mechanical ventilator. Days later they are dead.
The Jenga analogy for lung failure really stuck with me—it’s such a clear way to see how everything collapses once the lungs go. Thank you for highlighting that lung disease was already a crisis long before COVID, because that context matters so much. By the way, I keep a free recipe site for late-night cravings I like to share: https://foodnevercomes.net/
The pre-existing lung disease crisis is the real story we keep ignoring, and your op-ed nails why we need to rethink care beyond COVID. I've been using https://crayo-ai.net
It’s so true that we overlooked chronic lung disease long before COVID exposed every gap in our respiratory care. I’ve been using a daily breathing tracker that helps me stay on top of my own lung health, check it out. https://flux3.site
It’s so true that we only started paying attention to lung health when ventilators became scarce, but the failure to treat chronic lung disease has been a slow-motion crisis for years. I’ve been using a resource that tracks this exact gap in care. https://stl-viewer.org
It’s so true that we overlooked chronic lung disease long before COVID exposed every crack in the system. I’ve been using https://aiphoto-editor.com