By James Simons-
A senior doctor from Basildon hospital has told The Eye Of Media.Com that the high number of Covid-19 tests in the UK was speculated on and not independently confirmed by medical doctors as we were led to believe.
The doctor who insisted on anonymity said there was no need to verify each death because they could use their professional expertise to conclude whether those who died in Care Homes, died of the virus.
The higher number of deaths in care homes, when added to the fact that Covid-19 patients had been discharged from hospital back into care homes, made it a logical conclusion they had Covid-19, the doctor said
The doctor is helping researchers examining the true impact of deaths in UK Care Homes attributed to Covid-19.
She told The Eye Of Media.Com: ‘
”The fact there were a lot more deaths in care homes than usual that time of year made it obvious that those who died in care home died with Covid-19 . It won’t have been necessary to test all of them, but to be able to establish that too many of them have died in a short period of time for the deaths to be down to their other illnesses.
Add to that the fact that Covid-19 patients have been discharged from hospitals to care homes and a number of them have displayed symptoms of the virus, then you can see why it is easy to conclude they have died of the virus.
When you know that a virus like Covid-19 has been brought from hospitals to care homes and you know the virus spreads, it doesn’t take much maths to work out that a majority of the deceased would have died of Covid-19. The important thing is that moving forward this kind of error should not happen again”.
However, research published last week by the London School Of Economics revealed there were many deaths which could at best be said to have been caused indirectly by Covid-19.
The brilliantly analysed article highlights how the concern that only people who tested positive for Covid-19 were being acknowledged to have the virus, when it was clear that the means to test everybody was not available. As a result, many who had mysteriously died , or showed any symptoms of Flu, were registered as having Covid-19, despite no direct medical examination conducted.
Not all deaths certificates that had Covid-19 written on them were independently checked by a doctor.
The LSE researchers highlights one of the problems with the initial approach of relying on the number of positive Covid-19 test as representing the true figures, as being its omission of all those who died of indirect Covid-19 causes. Example given includes people not using health care services for other conditions due to difficulties linked to social isolation measures.
There had been good reasons to conclude that the numbers of Covid-19 deaths being recorded outside of hospitals were considerably underestimating the actual figures. The concern now is that in trying to reflect the accurate picture, it may have been overstated.
The number of overall deaths in Care Homes were more than double their usual over the five year average between Match and April.
Experts studying the data now examining the extent to which the much higher number of deaths were caused by Covid-19 or mixture of other causes.
Myer Glickmn from PHE England told The Eye Of Media.Com: ”Doctors completed data in accordance with their professional opinion. In some cases, they may have observed symptoms themselves, or spoken to nurses who confirm that a particular patient showed symptoms of Covid 19.
Symptoms can also be ambiguous, and doctors do take into account the wider circumstances too.
Certifying a death is a serious medical responsibility, doctors have to give their professional opinion”.