I found the infusion center and it is at a hospital by me BUT don’t I have to get a doctor to prescribe? I am worried they won’t prescribe it for my son- he is 18, 6’1 and maybe 205 at this point. Wasting away because he has been non stop coughing for at least 7 days...nothing touching it. Doctor said if he didn’t start getting noticeable better within next 2 days then he will need to go to hospital to get chest scanned. My fear is they will admit and then not approve the infusion and I will have no say
If oxygen level ok they will likely not admit him. He needs steroids and monoclonal antibodies. You can call the infusion center and see if they have a doc they work with But either way he needs care - the ER may be your inky choice
It looks like a desperate situation. I think there has been great progress in treating COVID patients since the pandemic started. American doctors have connection with medical systems around the world and new information is coming in continuously. I wish your son well and success in his fight.
I bring up this example because it illustrates how medical innovation can come from unusual places. I just saw a NOVA presentation on PBS about a man who had stage 4 cancer of the lungs that had progressed to his other organs. He had weeks to live. He found out about a lung cancer vaccine that was having success in Cuba (evidentially lung cancer was big in Cuba from the tobacco use). He flew over and got the vaccine. Every few months he had to fly back to Cuba for another injection. The cancer receded and it bought him a few more years of life. Now there are clinical trials with a mRNA vaccines for Metastatic Melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer and Pancreatic Cancer. Medical science is just zipping along with warp speed (warp speed going to another star is another conversation).
They can’t admit him if he refuses and they can’t give him any treatment or procedure that he refuses. You are 100% in control of your own body, even in a hospital. This is something often missed by patients, particularly pregnant women who want a minimal intervention childbirth but believe they’re under the control of the hospital. Not true at all.
I would call ahead and see if you can talk to someone there about it. See if they have a doctor assigned to the infusion center who can directly evaluate each of you for monoclonal antibody therapy. With any luck, it’s done on an outpatient basis and you’re in and out of there and feeling better in a day or two.