Two Covid patients die after power outage at hospital in Maastricht

Two patients in hospital with the Covid-19 died after a power outage temporarily cut off their oxygen supply in the night from Thursday to Friday, a spokesperson from the MUMC Maastricht stated to De Telegraaf.

The power outage caused medical devices to shut off, including the Optiflow units which supplied the coronavirus patients with additional oxygen. Afterwards, the condition of the two male patients deteriorated. The men were from Maastricht, aged 67 and 76, the hospital wrote in a statement.

The spokesperson emphasized that investigations into if the power outage was the true cause for the patients’ deaths are still ongoing. The healthcare inspectorate is looking at if there could be another explanation, such as an underlying condition.

Normally, the emergency power supply kicks in should a power failure occur. It is still not clear why this did not happen that night.

“In the end, both patients died. We deeply regret this and sympathize with the patients’ relatives”, the MUMC Maastricht said.

A niece of the 67-year-old man said to De Telegraaf that her uncle’s condition had been improving since he was admitted to hospital. “My uncle was admitted on Monday”, she said. “Even the pulmonologist was amazed that he was recovering. A day later, on Friday, a doctor suddenly said that he was close to the end. How is this possible?”