Coronavirus: NYC doctor who opted out of retirement to carry on treating patients dies of Covid-19

‘He saw another human being in need and he didn’t hesitate to help’

A Brooklyn hospital ((Getty Images))

A New York based doctor, who treated patients for forty years, has died after contracting the coronavirus having opted not to take retirement and help combat the pandemic.

Pulmonologist James Mahoney worked at the intensive care unit of the University Hospital of Brooklyn, according to the New York Times.

After treating patients for forty years, the 62-year-old had the option of taking retirement, but continued to treat patients at his hospital, until he contracted Covid-19 in April.

Mr Mahoney worked long shifts at the poorly funded medical centre, and also worked nights at the Kings County Hospital, the outlet reported.

The hospital served a predominantly black community, and Mr Mahoney was an inspiration to African American students, according to the Times.

Like many medical centres in the US, and especially New York, the University Hospital of Brooklyn had a shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) at the start of the outbreak.

Mr Mahoney worked during both 9/11 and the Aids Epidemic, and Dr Robert F Foronjy, a doctor at the hospital, told the Times that he felt that he needed to stay on and do his job, despite the lack of PPE and the seriousness of the virus.

“There were people who were really reluctant to go into the rooms, and you could understand why,” he said. “He saw another human being in need, and he didn’t hesitate to help.”

Mr Mahoney worked from home from mid-April after coming down with a fever, but was taken to his hospital’s emergency room on 20 April, according to the outlet.

On 26 April, Mr Mahoney was taken to the Tisch hospital, to get treatment from a specialist machine, but died later that day.

Five of Mr Mahoney’s colleagues were able to follow the ambulance to the hospital, and the outlet reported that he was surrounded by friends and family when he died.

“I got to visit him, hold his hand,” Mr Foronjy said. “And he knew how much I loved him. And he knew how much everyone here loved him.”

According to a tracking project hosted by Johns Hopkins University, there are now more than 1.4 million people who have tested positive for coronavirus in the US. The death toll has reached at least 89,666.