Letter to the Editor: Neurosurgeon Deaths from COVID-19 During the Past 10 Months (January to October 2020): We Do Not Forget Them

Abstract

Letter: The COVID-19 pandemic has infected over 46 million global-confirmed individuals worldwide with more than 1.2 million deaths as of November 2, 2020. 1 Health care workers caring for COVID-19-infected patients are at high risk of contamination and potential fatality. On April 15, 2020, it was reported than 1% of physicians' deaths from COVID-19 were neurosurgeons. 2 Following the first 10 months of the ongoing pandemic, I tried to establish the list of neurosurgeons who died after contracting COVID-19 infection all around the world. Between October 31 and November 2, a Google internet search was performed using the keywords “neurosurgeon,” “neurosurgery,” “surgical neurology,” “death,” “die,” “COVID,” “COVID-19,” and “Corona disease” in English and repeated in Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, and Arabic. Data were collected retrospectively. Also, the information has been completed from the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies 3 and the Medscape websites. 4 During the first 10 months of 2020, out of the 56 neurosurgeons who died, 36 were following COVID-19 infections (Table 1 ; Figure 1 ), and 20 were from non-COVID-19 disease (Table 2 ). It is important to remember by name our masters, colleagues, and friends. Table 1 List of 36 Neurosurgeons Who Died Following a COVID-19 Infection Between January and October 2020 Name Age (Years)/Sex Country Date of Death Liu Zhiming 51/M China February 18 Robin Humphrey 82/M Canada March 18 Hugo Diez Perez 62/M Paraguay March 20 Jörn Kubicki 54/M Germany March 28 James T. Goodrich 73/M USA March 30 Jorge Chica Ramirez 68/M Ecuador March 30 Jeanne P.M.R Winaktu 65/F Indonesia April 2 Jesus Vaquero Crespo 69/M Spain April 17 Simon Hercules 55/M India April 19 Octavio Ernesto Anchundia Rojas n.a./M Ecuador April 19 Ronald Brisman 80/M USA April 20 Alexey Filippov 51/M Russia April 20 Francisco Brito Barrera 58/M Mexico April 26 Pedro Marin Esquirol 47/M Spain/Venezuela∗ April 29 Mahmoud El Hendawy 59/M Egypt May 4 Lukas Budiono Atmaji 78/M Indonesia May 5 Gerson David Trejo Gómez n.a./M Mexico May‡ Edilson Toshio Shoji 44/M Brazil May 14 Younis Anis bin Taleb 53/M Yemen May 16 Marino Purizaca Amaya 67/M Peru May 31 Tahir Khalili 38/M Afghanistan June 2 El Sayed Roshdy Mahgoub 42/M Egypt June 6 César Augusto Marroquín Solórzano 53/M Guatemala June 15 Sergio Ernesto Méndez Borjas 37/M Mexico June 17 Makhoul Moussallem 75/M Brazil July 1 Ramiro Alvarado Reyes 72/M Bolivia July 20 Francisco Javier Rojas Cruz n.a./M Mexico July 29 Otoni Raimundo Costa Filho 69/M Brazil July 30 Cipriano José Brito 78/M Venezuela August 1 Muzammil Abbas† 28/M Pakistan August 5 Lucas Augusto Pires 32/M Brazil August 8 Robert Lansing Timmons 94/M USA August 9 José Luiz Neves 70/M Brazil August 26 Geberth Tamayo Millán 60/M Venezuela August 28 Carlos María Domínguez Sánchez n.a./M Paraguay August 30 Héctor López n.a./M Venezuela September 9 The author presents his regrets for any omission. M, male; F, female; n.a., not available. ∗ Neurosurgeon from Venezuela who worked and died in Spain. † Third-year resident in neurosurgery. ‡ The day is not specified. Figure 1 Bar graph showing the monthly distribution (from January to October 2020) of cases of neurosurgeons who died from a COVID-19 infection. Table 2 List of 20 Neurosurgeons Who Died from Non-COVID-19 Infection Between January and October 2020 Name Age (Years)/Sex Country Date of Death Cause of Death Molly Hubbard 33/F USA January 7 Avalanche Valmore A. Pelletier 84/M USA January 7 n.a. Thomas Kaye 67/M USA January 29 Plane crash Pablo Goetz 49/M UK February 27 Colon cancer Shebl Abdelsalam 44/M Egypt March 14 Cardiac arrest Robin Paul Humphreys 82/M Canada March 18 Fall injuries André Gouazé 92/M France March 25 n.a. Kazem Fathie 91/M USA April 19 n.a. Sameh Zakaria 42/M Egypt April 19 Brain tumor Bartolomeo Armenise 87/M Italy May 4 n.a. Gian Carlo Nicola 92/M Italy May 14 n.a. Sanatan Rath 86/M India June 9 Cancer/heart attack Devendra Kumar Chhabra 78/M India June 30 n.a. Rajib Bhattachariya∗ 36/M Bangladesh July 28 Burn injuries Benoît Bataille 66/M France August 6 n.a. Giovanni Marini 66/M Italy August 9 n.a. Vincenzo Di Stefano 70/M Italy August 24 Aortic aneurysm Walter W. Whisler 86/M USA September 6 Cancer and heart disease Thomas Moore Fletcher, Jr. 92/M USA September 16 n.a. Roberto Bragazzi n.a./M Italy September 25 n.a. The author presents his regrets for any omission. M, male; F, female; n.a., not available. ∗ Final-year student of neurosurgery. The median age of neurosurgeons' deaths from COVID-19 is 60 years, compared to 70 years for those who had not been affected by this virus. Ninety-seven percent (35/36) of the deceased neurosurgeons were men. The continents with the most reported neurosurgeon deaths were United States (23/36; 64%), Asia (7/36; 19%), and Europe (4/36; 11%) (Figure 2 ). Figure 2 Bar graph showing the worldwide distribution of cases of neurosurgeons who died from a COVID-19 infection according to their country (from January to October 2020). The real number of neurosurgeons who died from COVID-19 is likely to be underreported but it allows us to have a global estimate during the ongoing corona pandemic. On February 18, Dr. Liu Zhiming, the director of Wuchang Hospital in Wuhan (China), was the first neurosurgeon to die at the age of 51 years. The last one was Dr. Hector Lopez from Caracas (Venezuela) on September 9 (Table 1; Figure 1). I will end with this emotional testimony of Dr. Lucas Augusto Pires, a 32-year-old Brazilian neurosurgeon, victim of COVID-19 on August 8, 2020: “I got this disease by doing what I love, taking care of my patients with love and dedication. Would do it all again.” 5