A doctor who worked in a New Jersey emergency room died a week after developing symptoms of COVID-19, according to his family.
Dr. Frank Gabrin was 60 years old. He worked at East Orange General Hospital before his death.
Gabrin had been staying at home since March 26 because he felt ill, his husband Arnold Vargas told NBC New York.
“He had a lot of coughing and two days ago he was very sick,” Vargas told NJ.com in an interview. Vargas said his husband woke up on Tuesday, March 31 and said he couldn't breathe.
Vargas said his husband had not been tested for the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19, but the two of them were fairly certain he had contracted the virus because he treated patients with similar symptoms. Vargas also said his husband would often reuse his N95 masks and gowns.
Gabrin, a two-time cancer survivor, thought he had things under control and would recover at home.
“He told me, ‘I can handle this. I survived cancer and this is just the coronavirus,’” Vargas told NJ.com.
Vargas said he called the police on Tuesday when his husband's condition worsened, but Gabrin died in his husband's arms before help could arrive.
The president of The American College of Emergency Physicians released a statement mourning Gabrin's death, highlighting the "dire shortages" of personal protective equipment for health care workers in the US. According to the ACEP, Gabrin was the first emergency physician to die of the virus.
“We are deeply saddened to learn that a former ACEP member and our current colleague on the frontlines—an emergency physician—has lost his fight against this virus,” ACEP president Dr. William Jaquis said.
“Emergency physicians understand that sometimes in our efforts to save your life, we may end up sacrificing our own. This is not a decision made lightly or a post abandoned in times of need. We know the risks of the job we signed up for, but we are on the frontlines in this historic war against COVID-19 with insufficient protection."
Dr. Alvaro Alban, the Chairman of the Emergency Department at East Orange General Hospital, also mourned Gabrin.
“He had every intention to help. He was eager to keep working in the E.D. and was disappointed when he started to get symptoms. His intention was that his fever would break. Dr. Gabrin was motivated, on a mission and wanted to keep working," Alban said in a statement to NBC New York.