Ten nurses have been suspended with pay from their jobs at Providence St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California, after they refused to treat coronavirus patients without N95 masks. The nurses said they weren't provided masks and then told to care for patients. Now the hospital, which said it has started issuing the masks to everyone treating COVID-19 patients, has placed the nurses on paid suspension as they investigate.
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Nurses across the U.S. have complained about the lack of personal protective equipment. Among them were 33-year-old Danielle Dicenso, who died after being exposed to coronavirus at the Miami hospital where she worked.
"I wish I could turn back time and bring my wife back, but I can't," her husband David told Inside Edition. The family is now raising money on GoFundMe for funeral expenses and Dicenso's son. "I have a 4-year-old that's not gonna have a mom anymore and it breaks my heart.
Days before getting sick, she texted her sister, "This place is filled with corona. Oh and they don't have masks."
"She was afraid to go to work," David said. "And for a person who loves her job, and for her to be scared to go to work is a really bad sign because all she wants to do is protect people and she knows that she's jeopardizing her family she loves so much."
After working a shift without a proper mask, Danielle began experiencing a fever and cough, her husband said. Although she put off going to the hospital, she had no underlying health conditions.
"She just really brought a lot of light into a lot of dark situations," her husband said. "And she's just an awesome person and an awesome mom."
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