Wellness in the Midst of a Global Pandemic

• Author: Judith A. Hoechst
• Pages: 43-45

WINTER 2021 43

art: law & practice

By Judith A. Hoechst

I

was a registered nurse before I became an attorney. As a

nurse I had the good fortune to work in highly respected

pediatric and neonatal intensive care units at large

university-aliated children’s hospitals before and while

attending law school. I began my legal career as a medical

negligence attorney and over the years moved into family

formation and assisted reproductive technology (ART) law

after my own struggles to have a family. While practicing law

full time I continued working in a Level IV NICU for a

number of years on weekends. As part of my required yearly

continuing nursing education I was taught that a viral

pandemic would likely come about in my lifetime. For many

years, the prediction never came about, and then, in 2020, it

did—with a vengeance. March 2020 is when life as we all

knew it changed due to the novel coronavirus COVID-19.

ough the COVID-19 pandemic was in the headlines

since early February, it barely registered on my personal

radar. I was maintaining a busy law practice and working

with colleagues on the passage of legislation in Colorado of a

fertility insurance bill and also a surrogacy bill I had co-draft-

ed with a colleague. en on March 12, my world seemed to

stand still. My husband, a surgeon, had just nished a

surgical case when he became severely ill and needed

emergency surgery. He spent four nights in the hospital, and

it was there, with COVID-19 escalating in Colorado, that

we both realized the seriousness and the potentially wide-

reaching fallout of the pandemic.

We saw that every nurse, physician, and hospital worker

wore a mask at all times, not just in patient rooms but in the

hallways and central workstations. We recognized that this

was highly unusual. We were told there were COVID-19

patients lling up the hospital beds and ICU beds. My

husband was frantic to be discharged to minimize his

potential exposure to the virus. His immune system was

compromised due to having had surgery. A week later he was

re-hospitalized, and we learned that there was a very severe

shortage of personal protective equipment including masks,

gowns, gloves, and sanitizing cleansers. ere wasn’t enough

equipment to protect the physicians and nurses from

contracting the potent, easily transmissible COVID-19 viral

infection that could end their lives or result in long-term

Wellness in the Midst of a Global Pandemic

health sequelae. COVID infections and patient hospitaliza-

tions were on an upward trajectory that was alarming.

Colorado shut down under what became a “stay-at-home

order” on March 14, the eects of which felt like a rolling,

widespread, slow-moving earthquake. Our daughter’s college

classes were cancelled. She moved home a day later as the

remainder of her semester transitioned to virtual learning.

Our son’s high school classes were also cancelled, and he

transitioned to virtual learning. His sectional and state swim

meets were cancelled, and his high school and club swim

teams terminated the remainder of their swim seasons.

All nonessential health care was cancelled in our state due

to insucient personal protective equipment. Fertility

clinics, labeled “nonessential,” closed. Restaurants, hair

salons, gyms, day cares, and so many other businesses closed.

Published in Family Advocate, Volume 43, Number 3, Winter 2021. © 2021 by the American Bar Association. Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved. This information or any portion thereof

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