WASHINGTON – The woman was dying. New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital was about to call her husband and break the news that there was nothing left to try.
Then Dr. Hooman Poor took a gamble. With high-stress, high-stakes decisions, doctors around the world are frantically trying to figure out how COVID-19 is killing their patients so they can attempt new ways to fight back.
One growing theory: In the sickest of the sick, little blood clots clog the lungs. Poor couldn’t prove it. The tests required would further endanger his staff, who were already at risk of getting the virus.
But the lung specialist saw clues that were “screaming blood clots.” So Poor pulled out a drug best known for treating strokes, and held his breath. “I said, ‘What do we