Indianapolis doctor: ‘Once you see it, it’s real’
MARCH 24, 2020 UPDATE: Dr. Theresa Krueger said the patient in this case tested positive for COVID-19. Also, she said, she got a COVID-19 test Monday from Eli Lilly and Co. and is waiting for her results.
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — An Indianapolis doctor on Thursday issued a warning to take COVID-19 seriously after she treated a patient who showed what she called “terrifying” symptoms.
The doctor believes the symptoms were from the novel coronavirus.
“It was very scary and I think it made it very real for all of us on all our staff,” said Dr. Theresa Krueger.
Krueger was still shaken more than 24 hours after what she witnessed Wednesday morning. Her family practice is near 90th and Meridian streets on the city’s north side.
She says a woman in her late 50s walked through the doors of her office and, in the 15 minutes from when the woman walked in to the time her flu tests came back negative, things took a sharp turn.
“She was unresponsive and drooling. I tried to awaken her and she did not wake up. She continue to have altered status the whole time and would stop breathing, and I would have to sternal-rub her so she would breath again, repeatedly,” Krueger said.
The doctor says an ambulance rushed the woman to Ascension St. Vincent Hospital.
Krueger says as a doctor who has seen a lot, how quickly the woman deteriorated was shocking.
“I’ve trained in the ICU, the cardiac ICU, codes, I’ve done CPR on people. This was scary for me because the onset was just very rapid,” Krueger said.
Luckily, the woman survived and is doing better.
Krueger says the woman was tested for COVID-19, but those results won’t come back for 72 hours.
The doctor says if this was COVID-19, it was probably one of the more severe cases, and she hopes people take it seriously.
“People need to heed warnings. I know it sounds far away. I know it’s hard to think it’s real. But once you see it, it’s real,” Krueger said.
The doctor says cleaning at her office has been ramped up since this happened. She is also self-quarantining until the results of the patient’s COVID-19 tests come back.