COVID put thousands of procedures in WA on hold, frustrating patients and worrying surgeons

Scott Matsuda’s cancer was worsening.

He was diagnosed with myelofibrosis — a rare type of leukemia — 15 years ago, and for the most part had been able to keep it from spreading too quickly.

In late 2019, however, it became obvious he would soon need a bone marrow transplant, the 67-year-old said.

“We geared up for it,” he said. He had a medical team at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. He found a donor. He and his family made arrangements to stay near the treatment center after the procedure.

“Then, in the beginning of March [2020], everything got shut down,” he said, recalling when schools, businesses and other workplaces began closing in an attempt to limit spread of a new, mysterious virus.

Matsuda is among thousands of Washingtonians whose medical procedures have been pushed back during the pandemic, as hospitals cleared space for a crush of COVID-19 patients. Delayed procedures vary widely, from colonoscopies to cancer care — anything that, if postponed, is not anticipated to cause harm to a patient within 90 days, according to a recent emergency order from Gov. Jay Inslee that paused all elective care.

Even now, exhausted health care workers are scrambling to catch up as patients with the omicron variant clog hospitals. Hospital leaders have said they expect it will take months, if not years, to work through the backlog of delayed procedures.