Nurse Who Switches Off the Ventilator

Epidemic in the UK: the nurse's blood was frozen

Having access to a ventilator can mean the difference between life and death for patients who are seriously ill with Covid-19. But sometimes even these breathing machines cannot save someone's life.

Switching off ventilators is part of Juanita Nittla's job.

Thanks to these devices, oxygen goes to the lungs and carbon dioxide is expelled. Because of the coronavirus, they can no longer do this procedure themselves. However, this process does not always save lives.

In such cases, that is, if the condition of the patients gets worse and it is not possible to get rid of it, the medical teams taking care of these patients make a difficult decision such as unplugging the breathing apparatus and ending the treatment. The task of pulling the plug also falls on the nurse.

"Unplugging the breathing apparatus is extremely traumatic and painful emotionally. Sometimes I think I am somehow responsible for the death of a person."

Chief nurse Juanita Nittla, who works in the intensive care unit of the Royal Free Hospital in London, describes it as such.

Born in the south of India, Nittla has been working as an intensive care nurse connected to the National Health Service (NHS) for 16 years in the UK.

We met with the 42-year-old nurse on the day of the leave. "Turning off the breathing apparatus is also part of my job." he explained the process.

Juanita Nittla

Last wish 

One day in the second week of April, Nittla had just gone to the hospital to start work, who entered the intensive care unit, said his first task that day: A Covid-19 patient had to end his treatment.

Moreover, this patient was his colleague. Being a public health nurse in her 50s, this woman did not respond to treatment.

Before ending the treatment, he spoke to the nurse's daughter: "I promised her that her mother would never suffer, sleep peacefully. I asked her if there was a last wish or religious necessity that her mother wanted to be fulfilled before her death."

The beds stand side by side in the intensive care unit. Other patients, unconscious, lay on both sides of his patient, who was about to end his treatment: "He was in a room with 8 beds. All other patients were also very heavy. I pulled the curtains and closed the alarm."

At that moment, the entire medical team stopped silently for a moment: "The nurses were silent. Our patient's dignity and comfort were our priority."

Then he held the phone in his patient's ear and waited for his daughter at the other end of the phone to say his last words to his mother: "I just opened a phone, but it was very important for his family. In fact, they wanted to talk to video, but unfortunately cell phones are not allowed in intensive care."

"I held my hand while I was exhaling" 

At the request of his family, Nittla first opened a music they wanted on the computer. When he started playing music, he turned off the respirator: "I sat on his bed and held his hands while he was giving his last breath."

It is a decision made by healthcare teams after a very serious process to turn off the devices that help breathe and stop treatment. The patient's age, chronic diseases, response to treatment and the possibility of recovery are carefully examined and evaluated.

This 50-year-old nurse also died 5 minutes after Nittla unplugged her breathing apparatus: "As I was looking at the flashing light on the screen, I saw that the number of heartbeats dropped to zero, and then the line was flat."

Die alone 

The treatment was now over. He also removed the tubes from which the anesthetic medication was given to the patient. Her daughter, unaware of what was happening there, was still talking to her mother on the phone, while praying. Nittla then took the phone to her ear with great difficulty, telling her daughter that everything was over and her mother died.

As a nurse, Nittla's mission does not end when her patient breathes her last: "With the help of another nurse, we washed her in her bed and wrapped her with a white shroud. Then we placed her body in the funeral bag. I made a cross mark on her forehead before closing."