Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

A previously healthy clinician, now critically ill with COVID-19

Kristina Fiore
Conditions
March 12, 2020
Share
Tweet
Share

A New Jersey physician assistant who was the state’s first COVID-19 patient is speaking out from his hospital bed, calling his illness “severe” and raising concerns about his treatment.

James Cai, a 32-year-old non-smoker with no other health conditions, has been at Hackensack University Medical Center for about a week and says his illness has worsened significantly over that time.

“In the beginning, they just treat me like normal flu. They say I’m young, I’m not going to die, but they don’t know the truth about corona[virus],” Cai said during an interview posted to Twitter over the weekend.

Cai didn’t respond to MedPage Today’s request for an interview, but he told CBS New York that his illness progressed rapidly. He’s now having trouble breathing and will likely need to be placed on a ventilator soon. He’s one of 15 cases in New Jersey as of press time. On Tuesday, the state reported its first death: a 69-year-old man with underlying conditions.

His story came to light over the weekend when Bill Pulte, a self-described Twitter philanthropist, posted a live interview with Cai that garnered social media attention. (Pulte is the grandson of William Pulte, founder of the large U.S. home construction company.)

Pulte said in a tweet that Cai’s family reached out to him for support, and he took up the cause because Cai “needs a patient advocate right now.” He said he wanted to help amplify Cai’s request to transfer to Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, where his brother works, and to get into a clinical trial of the antiviral remdesivir, first developed to treat Ebola but now repurposed as a potential coronavirus therapy.

Hackensack University Medical Center confirmed Cai is a patient there, but would not comment further. Gilead, which makes remdesivir, told MedPage Today it couldn’t comment on individual patient cases.

During the interview, Cai appeared at times to be struggling to breathe, and Pulte halted the interview at one point to give him time to catch his breath.

“For the last one week, it’s been hell,” Cai said during the broadcast. His symptoms have included dyspnea, chest pain, high fever, watery eyes, and diarrhea. A repeat CT scan performed over the weekend showed evidence of disease worsening, he said.

At one point, he said his oxygen saturation dipped below 80%.

“I don’t think they really understand what’s going on here,” he said. “My brother at Mount Sinai main campus, he understands. He can advocate for me.”

In addition to going to his brother’s hospital, he said he hopes he can start taking remdesivir soon.

“I need those two things,” he said. “I don’t know how many days I can last.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Cai worries for his 90-year-old grandparents, his wife, and his 9-month-old daughter, and confirmed his family is currently in isolation.

He believes he contracted the virus during a medical conference he attended at a Times Square hotel in New York City the weekend prior to his hospitalization on Tuesday, March 3.

Cai urged on CBS New York that people should “take coronavirus seriously. It’s very serious.”

His pleas come as experts sound alarms that the U.S. health care system isn’t prepared for a substantial influx of COVID-19 patients and may quickly be overwhelmed.

Update 3/12:

Encouraging news: It appears that Mr. Cai is recovering.

Kristina Fiore is director of enterprise & investigative reporting, MedPage Today.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com

Trusted clinician commentary on COVID-19 coronavirus from the KevinMD community:

  1. A COVID-19 coronavirus update from concerned physicians
  2. A plea from an emergency physician on the front lines
  3. The idiot’s guide to coronavirus from an emergency physician
  4. An ER physician’s advice to the general public: How to flatten the curve
  5. COVID-19: Why I’m very concerned
  6. A previously healthy clinician, now critically ill with COVID-19
  7. I’m an infectious disease doctor and I’m in quarantine
  8. An infectious disease doctor answers your COVID-19 and coronavirus questions
  9. A physician’s chilling COVID-19 diagnostic journey
Prev

I'm an infectious disease doctor and I'm in quarantine

March 12, 2020 Kevin 7
…
Next

We can’t deny death, even if it’s a colleague

March 12, 2020 Kevin 0
…

Tagged as: COVID, Infectious Disease

Post navigation

< Previous Post
I'm an infectious disease doctor and I'm in quarantine
Next Post >
We can’t deny death, even if it’s a colleague

ADVERTISEMENT

More by Kristina Fiore

  • Is medicine really a model family-friendly profession?

    Kristina Fiore
  • a desk with keyboard and ipad with the kevinmd logo

    Why the media will slow the healing of Sandy Hook

    Kristina Fiore
  • a desk with keyboard and ipad with the kevinmd logo

    Involuntary commitment for James Holmes: Is his psychiatrist to blame?

    Kristina Fiore

Related Posts

  • How to get patients vaccinated against COVID-19 [PODCAST]

    The Podcast by KevinMD
  • COVID-19 divides and conquers

    Michele Luckenbaugh
  • State sanctioned executions in the age of COVID-19

    Kasey Johnson, DO
  • A patient’s COVID-19 reflections

    Michele Luckenbaugh
  • Starting medical school in the midst of COVID-19

    Horacio Romero Castillo
  • COVID-19 shows why we need health insurance

    Jingyi Liu, MD

More in Conditions

  • Facing terminal cancer as a doctor and mother

    Kelly Curtin-Hallinan, DO
  • Why doctors must stop ignoring unintentional weight loss in patients with obesity

    Samantha Malley, FNP-C
  • Why hospitals are quietly capping top doctors’ pay

    Dennis Hursh, Esq
  • Why point-of-care ultrasound belongs in emergency department triage

    Resa E. Lewiss, MD and Courtney M. Smalley, MD
  • Why PSA levels alone shouldn’t define your prostate cancer risk

    Martina Ambardjieva, MD, PhD
  • Reframing chronic pain and dignity: What a pain clinic teaches us about MAiD and chronic suffering

    Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Meds
    • How President Biden’s cognitive health shapes political and legal trust

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
    • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

      Holland Haynie, MD | Policy
    • America’s ER crisis: Why the system is collapsing from within

      Kristen Cline, BSN, RN | Conditions
    • Why timing, not surgery, determines patient survival

      Michael Karch, MD | Conditions
    • How early meetings and after-hours events penalize physician-mothers

      Samira Jeimy, MD, PhD and Menaka Pai, MD | Physician
  • Past 6 Months

    • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Meds
    • How President Biden’s cognitive health shapes political and legal trust

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

      Holland Haynie, MD | Policy
    • Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

      Sabooh S. Mubbashar, MD | Physician
    • The hidden health risks in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act

      Trevor Lyford, MPH | Policy
  • Recent Posts

    • Beyond burnout: Understanding the triangle of exhaustion [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Facing terminal cancer as a doctor and mother

      Kelly Curtin-Hallinan, DO | Conditions
    • Online eye exams spark legal battle over health care access

      Joshua Windham, JD and Daryl James | Policy
    • FDA delays could end vital treatment for rare disease patients

      G. van Londen, MD | Meds
    • Pharmacists are key to expanding Medicaid access to digital therapeutics

      Amanda Matter | Meds
    • Why ADHD in women requires a new approach [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

View 3 Comments >

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Meds
    • How President Biden’s cognitive health shapes political and legal trust

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
    • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

      Holland Haynie, MD | Policy
    • America’s ER crisis: Why the system is collapsing from within

      Kristen Cline, BSN, RN | Conditions
    • Why timing, not surgery, determines patient survival

      Michael Karch, MD | Conditions
    • How early meetings and after-hours events penalize physician-mothers

      Samira Jeimy, MD, PhD and Menaka Pai, MD | Physician
  • Past 6 Months

    • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Meds
    • How President Biden’s cognitive health shapes political and legal trust

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

      Holland Haynie, MD | Policy
    • Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

      Sabooh S. Mubbashar, MD | Physician
    • The hidden health risks in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act

      Trevor Lyford, MPH | Policy
  • Recent Posts

    • Beyond burnout: Understanding the triangle of exhaustion [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Facing terminal cancer as a doctor and mother

      Kelly Curtin-Hallinan, DO | Conditions
    • Online eye exams spark legal battle over health care access

      Joshua Windham, JD and Daryl James | Policy
    • FDA delays could end vital treatment for rare disease patients

      G. van Londen, MD | Meds
    • Pharmacists are key to expanding Medicaid access to digital therapeutics

      Amanda Matter | Meds
    • Why ADHD in women requires a new approach [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

A previously healthy clinician, now critically ill with COVID-19
3 comments

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...